Body And Soul

53. Confrontation

Yoongi watched Hobi and Jimin as they quickly disappeared out of the station to go check out the scene outside.

'Today seems to be the day we get hit by cars,' thought Yoongi morbidly, giving the cat equivalent of a smirk as his chest hurt again.

With Hobi outside, Yoongi began to wonder if Yoongles was sitting by himself in the now chaotic station. Looking up at Seokjin, Yoongi saw that his gaze was focused on the front door much like Namjoon's. Since neither of them were looking, he delicately hopped down off Seokjin's lap and moved to disappear amongst the legs of the people that seemed to be multiplying to watch what was going on outside. By the time Seokjin realized that Yoongi had hopped off his lap, he had lost sight of him.

"Namjoon, I lost Yoongi," said Seokjin as he sprung to his feet, casting his gaze about frantically.

"What do you mean you lost Yoongi?!" asked Namjoon. "Wasn't he just sitting on your lap?"

Yoongi could clearly hear the two of them bicker back and forth about where he had run off to since he wasn't all that far away. Yoongi knew that he shouldn't run off on them again, but he was worried about Yoongles. Careful to navigate his way through people so as not to hurt his cat body anymore, he made his way deeper into the police station to see if he could find where Yoongles was.

He eventually made it to the area where Yoongles was still sitting. Due to all the commotion going on, an officer had been tasked with putting Yoongles into a holding cell. Yoongi was just in time to watch the officer yank Yoongles up from the chair with a hand under his arm to guide him. Yoongi quickly followed after them, managing to slip into the holding cell undetected right before the door shut.

Yoongles didn't notice him at first, sinking down onto the hard cot pressed up against the white brick wall. Yoongi watched as Yoongles kept his head hung down low so that his eyes could linger on the handcuffs still on his wrists. As Yoongi began to make his way over to Yoongles, Yoongles looked over at him. Yoongi had never seen such a look of haunting sadness in all his life.

Yoongi moved a paw to rest on one of Yoongles' feet since he was in too much pain to jump up on him. A tear or two tripped free from Yoongles' eyes, falling off his face and onto Yoongi's fur. Yoongi closed his eyes, moving to press the top of his head into Yoongles' shin with a small purr of comfort.

'It'll be okay,' thought Yoongi as he kept his eyes shut. 'It wasn't your fault.'

When Yoongi opened his eyes again, he was shocked to see that he was back in his own body, staring down at the cat below him who was now lying on its side on the floor. The cat looked dead.

"No, no, no," mumbled Yoongi as he shifted down off the cot and onto his knees beside the cat.

Even with his hands cuffed, Yoongi was able to slip his arms underneath the cat to pick it up. He had never been a pet person but having traded souls with Yoongles the cat seemed to have changed that for him. Yoongi moved towards the door with Yoongles in his arms, kicking at it with his foot.

"Hey! Is anyone out there?! You need to get me help now!"

- - -

To say she was a mess was an understatement. If it wasn't for Mrs. Jeon, Laylin was sure that she would have shattered into a million pieces by now. She stood in the bustling waiting room of the local hospital as the secretary seemed to painstakingly look up the requested information at the speed of a sloth. Mrs. Jeon was just as upset as her, but remained a steady force as she reached out to place a hand gently on Laylin's back.

"They are still in surgery," said the secretary finally as she looked up from the computer in front of her. "We'll inform you of the outcome as soon as we're able to."