✔ || Save Me [[SEQUEL to DISTRACT ME]]

Chapter 3

Jeongguk had given up shouting for Eden and Taehyung and settled for laying on his cot, staring at the ceiling. His eyes had adjusted fully to the darkness, and he sighed, rolling on his side and curling in a ball. He wondered if it was daytime yet, and if the hyungs had realized the maknaes were gone. What would they do? How would they react?

Most pressingly, when could he return to them?

His throat ached and he swallowed. The darkness of the room was suffocating, and he couldn't tell if he'd been in there for a few hours or for mere minutes. Exhaustion overtook him and he fell into a fitful sleep.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

His dreamscape was as dark as the room he was trapped in.

"About time!" Eden's voice said, startling Jeongguk.

He turned and blinked. A small girl with short, spiky black hair and hard-set features stood in front of him. "Who -"

"Eden," she said, though Jeongguk already kind of knew that.

"Hi," he said, not entirely sure how to respond.

"Hi," she said back before starting forward. "Okay, listen to me, we don't have much time. Look, this 'trial' is rigged against you guys. Raphael wants Tae to burn, and the archangels are going to listen to him."

Jeongguk frowned, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because even though Tae's an idiot, I still love him, and I don't want him to go to hell." She smiled humorlessly, "And I don't think you do either."

"I don't. That's why I'm here." Jeongguk wetted his lips, "When can I see him?"

"They won't let you until the trial," she sighed, shaking her head. "He doesn't even know you're here. I think Raphael is planning on him tripping up when he sees you. Maybe thinks he'll say something incriminating."

Jeongguk widened his eyes. "What?! That's not fair!"

"Never said it was," Eden mused. "So I need your help."

"What do I need to do?" Jeongguk asked immediately.

Eden gave him a gritted smile. "I need you to talk to him so that he can't be surprised that you're here, but it's dangerous. Purgatory is not a place for magic. It could hurt you, I need you to know that."

"I don't care," Jeongguk snapped truthfully. "Take me to him."

Eden nodded, her hair falling into her eyes. She circled around Jeongguk, and the maknae knew what she was doing, so he stayed as still as possible. "You can't move much."

"I know," Jeongguk whispered.

"I'll be able to hear whatever you say, just not him," Eden added.

"Okay."

"And he won't be able to see you. It'll be like when I talked to you."

"Just fucking do it already," Jeongguk snapped.

Eden obeyed without responding, lacing her fingers together over Jeongguk's eyes, and pain lanced through his skull. He forced himself to stay upright, the prospect of seeing his hyung making him strong.

Taehyung was sitting against the wall of a cell similar to Jeongguk's, and the maknae gasped. His eyes were fixed to the floor, shoulders hunched in defeat.

"Tae," Jeongguk breathed.

The boy's head snapped up, his eyes searching madly. "Jeo-Jeongguk?"

"It's me, Tae," Jeongguk whispered, his voice cracking. It was so, so good to see him.