Unstitched Wounds

Chapter 14: Filthy Stains

 It's easy to forget that dawn waits for no one. It's as persistent as time itself. As the hunger in the pit of his belly, gnawing at his dry throat and creating the ache within his bones. Each step becomes harder, his vision beginning to become too bright, practically blinding.

Ever since he had drank from the Great Mother and allowed his body to morph into something more, Jeongguk has only attempted to see the day once. A moment of when he craved sunlight against his skin. The scent of summer grass and humanity. To remember who had been once.

Except that the price of Mother's power. Of her being becoming entwined with yours. The day is no longer for you to tread. For you are the night. You are made to slink in the shadows and remain hidden within the darkness of your birth.

Young, foolish, and wanting, he had stepped onto the mansions rooftop at the break of dawn. Every second of daylight in his eyes was torturous. All his eyes could take in was endless white light, effectively blinding him and penetrating his skin until his whole body felt as if it was burning.

There was no flames. No true heat. Just pain of not belonging.

Hissing, Jeongguk stumbles when his foot clips a raised part of the sidewalk that he couldn't see with is aching eyes. He would have face-planted if Jimin hadn't managed to grab the back of his jacket and yank him up.

Every second of the skies getting lighter makes seeing even harder.

A wet nose brushes against his hand and he startles, momentarily ripping his hand away when his slow heart-rate skips a beat. Then, he remembers. It's only Yoongi. The wolf version of him, who because of his shiny white coat, is completely invisible to him when his eyes are swallowed by light, light, light.

"I- I can't see. It's- it's too bright."

Carefully, Yoongi takes some of Jeongguk's pant leg between his teeth and pulls. He has no choice but to obey and stumbles forward. His hand reaches down and grabs the nearest thing which just so happens to be tufts of thick fur.

Despite his embarrassment at his own weakness, at the extremely public display of exactly what he is, Jeongguk feels his lips twitch into a wry grin. "Ah, my very own seeing eye dog. I guess no matter what form we take, we'll always be this, won't me? Useless me, always following you."

A low growl rumbles from beneath Jeongguk's hand. A deep vibration. It travels all the way up to his hands and into his arms, but he doesn't feel fear. Not even a lick of it. He knows that Yoongi will not hurt him- his wolf will not hurt him.

Bemused, Jeongguk tightens his fingers a fraction within the coarse fur. "Don't growl at me for only speaking the truth."

"You're not useless," Jimin mutters petulantly from behind him, his pudgy fingers gripping the back of his jacket to keep himself upright. "I can't believe I just agreed with a snarling beast who wasn't even speaking."

Humming, Jeongguk opts to not answer verbally. In a way, he knows that he isn't. He never was, but that doesn't change the ache. The memories of a body that acted as his prison. The way he could never be what he yearned for. Not fully. He was stagnant while Yoongi was ever-changing.

With the fur beneath his fingers, the sensation of muscles rippling beneath that coat made of a wild beast tamed beneath his hand. Of power that is well deserved.

Not suckled from the dark like his own.

As if on cue, his shoulder-blades tighten and his bones creak as his jacket lifts off his spine. Demanding freedom. Demanding sanctuary from the blinding light of the unforgiving sun.

A questioning rumble echoes through Yoongi's throat, and Jeongguk doesn't have to speak wolf to hear, "Are you okay?"

Swallowing it down, ignoring the way Jimin's hand pushes against his spine to force the wings back, to stifle them, Jeongguk forces a grin. "I'm fine, fluff butt. How much farther? I'm blind as a bat."