SCINTILLA ❦ | YANG JUNGWON

two ❦

People You Know . Selena Gomez

The walls were warm. There was no trace of the comforting, cool air that Seolyeon had grown accustomed to. There was no trace of the refreshing breeze that she'd spent hours upon hours just basking in.

To Seolyeon, even the simplicity of warmth was scorching and painful.

She couldn't stop thinking back to the day she'd given in. Would there have been hope had she not? Had she made the right choice in trusting her enemy?

Questions would circle through her head as she threw granules and pebbles against the metal bars—there was nothing else to pass her time.

It's been two days since that day at the Great Divide. Two days since she'd made the decision to listen to his voice, to her thoughts. Two long, painful days since she'd left the wilds for the Fire Nation. Two dull, lifeless nights she'd spent in the dreary, isolated cell.

Not once had anyone visited her. There was no Jungwon, no guard, no general. Her food seemed to magically appear within her cell when she'd least expect it—she'd somehow already grown accustomed to a routine of sorts.

Each time she closed her eyes, she found herself at the age of seventeen, soaring past the vast buildings of the Western Air Temples. She found herself reminiscing the beauty of the skies, the misty clouds that glowed with the sun, and the vivacious plants made simply to mimic external life within the skies.

A smile lifted the corners of Seolyeon's lips. Her lips then parted, releasing a soft sigh as her eyes slowly fluttered open to the same, dark cell she found herself in.

A scowl immediately formed upon her as she rolled her eyes, lifting herself from the ground before tumbling onto the oddly comfortable cot. She then lifted her heavy, cuffed wrists and whisked them around to create an infinity.

Unlike the usual currents of winds that would form with her call, the air refused to budge. The murkiness of the fire, of the heat—Seolyeon was growing sick of it.

She wanted to feel something as soft as the reassuring breeze she loved to surround herself with. She wanted to feel something other than the stale, sickening humidity.

She wanted to hear something. No, she needed to hear something. She needed to hear anything to help fuel her need to escape—the simplest sign that there was indeed life guarding her. Without confirmation, she couldn't accomplish anything. The risks were too great.

Minutes passed by as she continued to wait, closing her eyes and tuning her ears to the air around her. Her mind only seemed to grow restless, however.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes had passed—and yet, not even a whisker registered within her ears. It was a fruitless attempt, just as it had been the last twenty times Seolyeon had tried to do so.

Another sigh escaped her lips. She didn't bother opening her mouth to speak or sing—both seemed rather tedious to her. Time wouldn't pass by any quicker simply because she'd found something else to occupy her spirit with.

Once again, her brain thought back to two days prior. Yet this time, her heart chose to remember him.

She couldn't truly recall how he looked. Maybe his hair was styled half-up half-down, revealing a part of his forehead as his signature prince-like mannerisms graced his every gesture. Maybe the rain had washed away any sense of familiarity, removing the tidy, orderly look he'd had minutes prior.

Maybe his hair rested naturally above his eyes—just as it had when she'd first seen him.

If Seolyeon had told herself from the past of the future she lived in, she was sure the younger wouldn't believe a word from her mouth. The difference between the time of innocence she'd lived in then and the harsh warzone she pushed through now was incomprehensible.

The times were simpler, back then. Her mind was unsullied, back then. Her voice rang with beautiful harmonies as she traveled across the lands.

Just five years prior.

Where did everything go wrong?

Seolyeon asked herself time and time again—she'd been asking herself for years at that point. She didn't have the answer, no matter how many times she tried and failed to justify these five years within her head.

All she'd do was silently close her eyes and think back to the moments she found most precious. Soft raven hair silky to the touch, obsidian pearls for eyes that only held kindness in them, thin heartful lips that complemented every other feature upon the face—she could remember it all so clearly.

"I've never seen someone look at me with such eyes."

The words rang within her ears—a melody of sorts she wished to never stop hearing.

She could hear the laughter in her head, the sounds of slow, serene waves hitting the shores of beaches she'd spent a month around. Her second home that no longer existed—she had nothing left to return to. Physically, the place may exist, but who she longed to see lived only within her memories.

And so, just as every other day, her eyes fluttered shut. She let out a contented sigh from the beautiful golden temples that filled her mind, from the limitless clouds she'd once lived upon. She could clearly remember the faces she'd seen for the last time that day—the faces of Zhumi, Great Nomad Yunjin, and little Seolhwa.

She wished to return to those times.

She wished to return to the times of happiness and joy—of innocence and youth. Back then, her mind wasn't riddled with the death by her hands nor the peace she fought day and night for. Her mind wasn't plagued with war and heartbreak.

"One day, I'll take you to see the world as the clouds do."

And so, she slept. She slept soundly, reliving the age of seventeen within a dream—

reliving happiness in a dream.

A/N: Short chapter!! They'll get average length again, this is almost a filter/segue chapter so :D

I forgot to post this yesterday so sorry about that- I'm planning on weekly updates for now but ill keep updating you all if that changes~

love yall<3 cya :D