Until We Drown : Vhope

【パート6】

The Syloe attacks had almost completely stopped in Seele, maybe one or two every few weeks but from faces they'd never seen. It was clear that there weren't any Syloe gangs hunting on their city anymore, only Lone Syloe passing through to other cities, looking for a quick meal.

Taehyung had surprisingly told the truth, but that didn’t stop them from letting their guards down.

They’d went from sending five squad members on duty each night to three, switching members out every few days instead of every day. Things had calmed down in the city almost abruptly, and news about kidnappings or animal attacks were rare.

Hoseok spent his free time training the other members and the new recruits to the Divenire, spending extra hours in the combat room or in the library teaching strategy and formation. When he wasn't busy with the Divenire, Hoseok allowed himself to wander aimlessly around the base to calm his busy mind, smiling at anyone that passed him like sunshine through a screen. The white of the base was comforting, clean and untainted, newborn hands reaching out to the light.

Sometimes he’d pass by the quarantine room and sometimes he’d stop to stare at the door, trying hard not to purposely listen but eventually pretending to himself that he was trying not to.
Namjoon had caught him once, standing outside of the room blankly as the door slid open, revealing Namjoon’s surprised face. He wanted to turn away quickly and play it off, but he figured it’d be more obvious and embarrassing than standing his ground. Hoseok had made up some half-assed excuse about mistaking it for his own room, and although he knew Namjoon would see through his excuses, he tried anyway. Needless to say, he'd stopped visiting the quarantine room as often.

With his added free time, Hoseok had started something of a friendship with Jimin. He sat with him in the cafeteria when Namjoon and Seokjin were busy with other responsibilities.

Jimin, Hoseok found, was an optimistic boy with a nice laugh and a bright smile that reached his eyes, a
warm day in the middle of winter. Jimin was perfectly compatible with him, and before Hoseok knew it, he started considering Jimin a good friend.
On days when he had too much time and too little to do, he helped Jimin with combat, showing him tactics that could help him become victorious in his classes. Jimin was considerably more toned and defined than he was, and in certain situations, could probably break Hoseok in half. But
Jimin was younger and less experienced, which made him less of a fighter than Hoseok, both mentally and physically.

Since Jimin was preparing to be released for ground duties as an active Divenire, Hoseok tried his
best to prepare him for what was to come, the horrors of encountering his first Syloe attack and possibly his first face-to-face combat with one of them. In return for his hard work, Hoseok
promised to request for Jimin to be on his squad.
But every so often when he didn’t have free time, Hoseok got the guard shift, and he spent hours in silence or lost between dreams and reality during these times. Sometimes Taehyung would close his eyes, and Hoseok would steal a look at the latter, watching him carefully, curiously, and there was so much he wanted to know yet no way to really put it into words. But as Divenire, he
knew not to get emotionally attached to anything, and spilling the pages of his notebook with the stories of a Syloe was definitely more than feeding his curiosity.

On nights when sleep didn't come easily or even thoughts couldn’t occupy the time, Hoseok allowed himself to fill color in the white of Taehyung’s skin and the grey of his eyes. He allowed himself to wonder about his fingerprints and what they’d marked, if they'd ever marked the wrists of another or maybe the walls of a home. He wondered if Syloe remembered what humanity was
like or if there were any Syloe that had humanity left in them.

When Hoseok can’t distinguish the line between dreams and reality, the feeling of being watched never leaves him until morning comes and it’s Jimin’s turn to take over.