Black Roses and White Chrysanthemum

renegade °3.5° ou

He avoided the third step from the top as he went down the stairs, noticing the eery silence throughout the building as he did. The only thing he could hear was the creaking of aged wood as he reached the first floor, pausing to listen.

Usually everyone was awake by now, and he would be able to hear sounds from the dining area as some cleaned, or the louder ones jesting about before leaving. But there was none of that today.

If something had happened, they would have told him. Right?

But even as Hyungwon checked around the run down building, there were no signs of anyone.

He went to the front door, where someone was usually stationed to keep watch, but found the chair empty. Hyungwon pulled the door open, wood groaning in protest, and looked out to the well lit streets.

Empty. But that wasn't new.

Hyungwon went outside, immediately going left- his feet taking him to the first place he thought of. The site they had been at yesterday.

He kept his head low, heart pounding heavily in his chest. He didn't even know why, but he didn't like it. Something was wrong here.

He didn't realize he had started walking faster.

It took half as long as he remembered to get there, breaking out of the street and into the emptiness of where a building used to be. There was nothing but rubble, as he scanned the area. Then he saw it, a military convoy.

Hyungwon pressed his back to the wall of the nearest building, and squinted at the vehicle. He couldn't tell which side it was. Either way, he didn't want to get involved with it.

There were men milling about, turning over some rubble here and there. They must've been looking for something.

But Hyungwon wasn't here for that, so at the first chance he had, he slipped back from whence he came, and past the dark alleys.

Coming the opposite way he was there was a small security detail- strange. They usually just patrol in the evening, for any stragglers out past curfew. Before they saw him, Hyungwon slipped into one of those dark alleys, and tried to melt into the wall.

He didn't feel as secure as when Hoseok had been there with him.

As the steps passed, he heard a soft groan from further down the alley. Hyungwon narrowed his eyes and looked back, and propped up against a wall was a boy, only a few years younger than Hyungwon.

There was a deep gash across the side of his face, and a small corner of his ear appeared to be missing.

One thing was for sure, he was wearing a blue armband. He was a rebel.

Only when he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore did Hyungwon act, crouching by the pale soldier. There was no questioning it, he must've been apart of the fighting yesterday.

"Hey," Hyungwon reached and shook his shoulder, and the boys eyes flickered open, wide at first as if he was about to recoil in fear, then, realizing Hyungwon wasn't a guard or patrol officer, relaxed some. "How did you get here?"

Hyungwon furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't look strong enough to have made it on his own, and he needed to know if someone else was going to jump out at him at any second.

The book tried to shake his head, trying to say he wasn't sure. "There..." his voice was hoarse, and the boy closed his eyes a second before trying again. "a man. He brought me."

Of course Hyungwons first thought was Hoseok. But why leave him here when he would have brought him back to the safe house?

"Did he tell you his name?" Hyungwon glanced behind him, almost paranoid. He needed to get him back to somewhere safer.