No Fate | Y.Jw

† 18 †

As my smile faltered my eyes immediately widened at the collapsed lump in front of me. I fell down to my knees beside the lump. Jungwon had curled up on the floor, his knees bent and his back hunched forward. He almost laid in a fetal position.

I slowly began panicking as his eyes stayed closed and his breathing picked up into fast hitches. He was panting and having trouble breathing. I immediately grabbed his shoulders and bent my face down in front of him, softly slapping his cheek.

"Jungwon?" I called out, "Wonie?"

"Nhm," a small hum came from Jungwon, signaling he was still somewhat conscious.

I quickly slid an arm under his shoulders and pulled him up in my lap, running my hand through his hair and sliding his jacket down from his shoulders, to give him cold air.

"Stay with me," I urged and waved my hand as a fan in front of his head, and held his hair back with the other.

"No," Jungwon frowned as he weakly shook his head.

"No?" I questioned in confusion and stopped all of my actions as he shook his head weakly once again.

"Ex... haustion," he breathed out, "we need to continue."

"But you're-" I started and he shook his head again.

"I can go," he said and I shook my head at him.

"No, you cannot," I shook my head at him in denial, "you... you stay here, promise me to stay conscious," I stated and carefully placed his head on the floor once again, turning it to the side so he couldn't choke on his tongue if he actually passed out, "I'll run and go find the broom closet or any type of food or water and then... then I'll run back. Yeah."

I was about to stand up, before I felt Jungwon grab onto my hand, just in a soft grip. I immediately looked back down at him as he slowly pushed himself up on his other elbow.

"I can do it," he hissed as he sat up, and held tightly onto my arm for support, "come on... I'll carry you."

"Jungwon, you need to lay down," I sternly stated, making him shake his head at me and move over to sit on his knees. I immediately cupped his face in my hands, making him lean into them immediately as his eyes fluttered completely close once more, "you can't go on. You need to rest."

"You're not... you're not going alone," he breathed out, trying to shake his head but failing miserably before he collapsed in my hold and had let his head fall onto my shoulder, that wasn't injured, "I can't let you... go alone."

"Jungwon you can't go on," I shook my head at him.

"I need to," he insisted and placed his hands on my shoulders, pushing himself away to try and sit upright.

I let out a small huff at the sight of him. I knew he wouldn't let me go any time soon, and if I would make it much further than him, I didn't know. I was exhausted as well, but right now there was no doubt that Jungwon was a lot worse than me.

"Then I'll support you," I stated and threw one of his arms around my shoulders, as my other arm slid under his shoulders.

"Your.... your shoulder," he shook his head weakly.

"Forget my shoulder, we need to keep going and you refuse to let me go get something to help you," I hissed at him and pulled him up on his feet with me.

"Ji..." he breathed out as I began pulling him along as he just limped beside me.

"Shut up and let me help you," I hissed at him.

I let out a sigh as I continued to guide him with me through the hallway, ignoring the thumping pain in my shoulder. I did my best to ignore the pain and exhaustion as I focused all my energy on getting Jungwon through this damn hallway.

"You're hurting," Jungwon muttered as I opened a door to another hallway and worked on getting Jungwon through the door before I followed after and got my grip on him once more, "Ji..."

"Shut up, it's my time to save you," I interrupted, making him sigh and let his head fall forward.

I glanced to look at him, seeing how exhausted he actually was. I've never seen him this exhausted before. He was pale, nearly transparent, his usual rosy red lips were almost blue or purple, a very light nuance that is, his usual big boba eyes are barely open or not open at all. His raven dark hair stuck to his forehead in lumps unable to escape the cold sweat on his forehead. Meanwhile small hitched breaths escaped his mouth. It was scary how much he had turned from his happy cheery self to this nearly ghost person.

I sighed lightly before looking back down the hallway and immediately widened my eyes. Even though we had been in countless hallways in this castle I knew this one. I knew it within a heartbeat.

"We're back Wonie," a small smile spread on my face, "the broom closet is in this hallway."

"Mhm..." Jungwon hummed at me, his head rolling back and forth between his wide shoulders.

I grinned widely as I began my quest to help Jungwon along. As we moved I could feel more and more of his weight rest on my shoulder, sending sharper pains throughout the left side of my body, all coming from my one injured shoulder. I knew I probably shouldn't be moving this fast but I didn't control it, my body did.

But I was so determined, maybe a bit too determined. We were getting down to that broom closet no matter how hard I had to work for it. We were going into that broom closet and my bag better be there, so that we could get just a tiny bit of food and water.

Relief already washed over me as I saw the door to the broom closet just come closer and closer. I swear I could've almost cried. I was so exhausted and so worried about Jungwon, and so mentally exhausted from these past few days. I could just fall to my knees and cry at this very moment.

"It's right there Wonie, it's right there," I said. It was first when I heard my own voice that I realized how hoarse and strained it was. My exhaustion had also begun wearing on my voice.

"I... can't," Jungwon breathed out.

In a second I felt all of his weight fall onto me, making my knees buckle as well. I toppled down on the floor beside Jungwon, breathing heavily. All I could do was turn my head and look at the broom closet door, just a few meters away. We were so close.

"I'm sorry," Jungwon breathed out, his hand reaching over to weakly fall limp over my waist, "I'm so sorry."

"We can do this," I shook my head in denial, trying to push myself back up, only to have my arms buckle under me and send me back onto the floor with a hiss of pain, erupting from my left shoulder.

"This is it," Jungwon shook his head weakly, "it's over Ji... we failed."

"No," I denied, "we can't stop... this is not it. We can do it, we can save you."

I tried to push myself up again, only to fall down feeling even weaker than before as I desperately looked at the door to the broom closet we were so close to.

"Ji..." Jungwon sighed and pushed himself up in front of my face, softly placing his hand on my cheek, making my eyes meet his, "it's over. We can't save me now."

"But..." I trailed off making him slowly sigh before I felt him wipe something away under my eye.

"Don't cry... it's fine," he assured. I slowly reached up a hand and touched one of my cheeks, surely it was wet. I hadn't even realized I had begun crying.

"But... but we had to save you," I croaked out, making a weak smile spread on Jungwon's lips.

I didn't get to do anything before he softly and weakly placed his lips on my own, slowly calming me down. It was incredible how soft and weak his lips were at the same time of showing genuine feelings. It was impressive how it could make me calm down so much in just a split second. I felt his thumb caress my cheek softly before he pulled his lips away from mine, staring straight into my eyes.

"It's okay... close your eyes," he assured, "it's alright..."

"No," I muttered as I felt my eyelids begin to droop and fall more and more close by the second.

"It's alright... I love you," he spoke softly.

"No," I croaked out once more before feeling Jungwon's hand go completely limp against my own cheek and my eyes immediately fell close.