PURGATORY. Yu Ijin x Reader

1: FRIEND OR FOE?

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The boy quickly sprung up in fright, he looked at you with narrowed eyes as he observed your every movement. His pupils shook with fright and it was pitifully visible, the way his hands and his legs shake as he tried to put on a strong front even though it was clear that he was injured and by no means should he stand up the way he is now. Yet what was mesmerizing, is the way his face stilled with no emotions, emotionless and frigid. His lips are pressed into a tight line as he watched you, you noticed how it was chapped and dry and pulled out your water bottle and directed it to him.

"Here, for you." I say softly, and he made no moves on taking it. With a sigh, i explained my situation to him, "I'm no threat, i was in that plane too."

Persumably i was, but it was better than saying that i woke up with no recollection of what happened to me.

I looked at him silently, and i relaxed my guard as he took the water bottle with suprising gentleness and took a large gulp, and he looked satisfied as he handed the bottle back to me with the same gentleness as when he first took it. I observed the boy more and etched his features until it is engraved in my memory, he is taller than me, his build slender. His hair is the colour of a unique gray, his pale skin complementing his dark coloured eyes and the way he stood and looked at me silently made me stop my observation.

I turned my back on him and began walking away, i stopped for a second and glanced back over my shoulders, giving him a signal to follow me. Hesitantly, he began on walking towards me and eventually walking beside me. We walked until i found the river again, and we setlled ourselves beneath a big tree that can shield us from any incoming rain if there was any signs of it. I silently placed my bag beside me, and i glanced at him from the corner of my eyes.

"Whats your name?" I whispered to him, and he looked back at me with a type of look you'd only see on a corpse. "...I don't know." And he replied solemnly to my questions, his eyes looking down onto his lap.

What a pitiful sight.

He was so pitiful that i wanted to know what sin he did to cause him to be in this state with me, i had wondered what sin i did to be stuck in this place with a boy who couldn't even remember his own identity.

"How could you not know?" I pried gently, and focused my vision towards him fully, my knees tucked on my chest as i put my arms on top of it, placing my head onto my folded arms. He looked at me with so much grief that it was uncanny how much a child like him bore that type of misery, his gray hair is matted with blood that i wasn't sure was his. His eyes looked almost black in this type of light, and his lips parted with unease and hesistance,

"I could not remember what happened, i don't remember anything except the plane crash."

I hummed in thought, ah, he was the same.

"I don't know who i am."

He spoke with such sadness, and i untangled my arms and wrapped it around him. Shocked with my sudden gesture of affection, he succumbed to my embrace not long after, his tears staining my shoulders as he gripped mine with so much strength of a suffering man.

Grief is no match for misfortune, the boy in your arms could only grieve the life he had forgotten.

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You awoke in a state of deliriousness, the pounding headache and the constant ache in your shoulders brought you immeasurable discomfort. The soft breathing of the boy who laid on your arm as a pillow brought your attention and you exhaled a breath that was painful. Everything was painful, yet you hold it all in to not disturb the peacefulness admist the chaos of it all. You observed the way he clung onto your warmth, his lips parting as he slept soundly.

And you noticed the way he gripped your sides as if he was afraid you would abandon him.

It was a pitiful sight that it wretched a part in your heart that tingles uncomfortably, you wanted to save him from this hell—yet you don't even know him.

Waiting for what feels like hours for him to get some rest was easy, you were always a patient person, and it was you who found him to be pitiful enough to bear the ache in your arm that held the weight of his head. And soon he was awake, his eyes unfocused as he realized the state he was in and gently pried himself off you when he noticed the way he was crushing you with his weight.

"..Sorry," he spoke softly, and you crack a small smile

"No worries, did you get a good night sleep?"

He stared at you for sometime, it felt like he had something to say and is debating whether or not he should speak of it, in the end he settled with a nod.

"I did."

Atleast with your presence, he finally did.

You hummed in satisfaction and stood up, doing simple stretches to get rid off your aching sensations that was uncomfortable for you. Noticing his state that was slightly filthy, you bring him to the river and made him sit at the side and began scooping water up and washing off the grime that settled on him. He gazed up at you silently, his eyes blank yet you weren't bothered by it. Death does change something in a person, after all.

Gently scrubbing his hair, it was now wet, but was still considerably cleaner than before. You carassed his cheek softly and rubbed off the dried blood and dirt that was stuck on him, and you finished by an attempt of drying his hair with the cloth you found on the site of the plane crash.

Alas, now he was clean, and looked far more comfortable than before.

The sound of the river brought you on your nerves, the sound of the wind and the trees brought you discomfort. Yet you kept quiet, it was better to hold it for yourself to know. Rather than expressing it to someone in much more distress than you.

It was all that you've known to do your entire life,  it was something that you're used to do.

You gently hold his hand in yours, and he tilted his head slightly at you. You paid no mind, and brought him to find a stick to hold.

"Aren't you hungry? I'm starving!" You whined childishly, and began pointing at the river with the stick that you both have

"I'll show you my skills!" You exclaimed before rushing in the waters to try and catch the fishes in here.

In the end, you catched none, yet he catched four.

You pouted as you sat beside him infront of the crackling fire, dejectedly holding your stick as you gazed at it with contempt. Noticing the look in your face, he didn't even realize that he had cracked a small smile.

You noticed, and for once, your eyes finally gleamed with satisfaction. And he found it in himself to stare at your eyes for far more longer than he should've, basking in your comfort admist the misfortune.