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

Chapter 8

Jeongguk closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep, but found that he was far too antsy. He sat up, his back aching, and whispered, "Eden?"

No response, not that he really expected one. He sighed and lay back down, closing his eyes. His fingers kept twitching on his stomach, pent up energy threatening to suffocate him. If only he could move. He wasn't sure if it had been a few hours or over a day since the initial meeting with Taehyung and the archangels, but he hadn't seen or heard from anyone since.

What was Taehyung doing? Was he trapped in a similar cell, laying on his own cot, wondering where Jeongguk was? Or was he elsewhere, facing his own trial, one that was rigged in Raphael's favor?

At that thought, Jeongguk shot to his feet and crossed to the door, pounding his fist on it. "Hey! Anybody out there?"

At first, there was no response, but then the door slowly creaked inward. He stepped back to let it open fully, eyes wide in surprise. It was his female guard, and he cocked his head. "Uh, thanks."

"What do you need, young one?" she asked gently.

Jeongguk stared at her. Now that he could look at her properly, he could take in her features. She had long brown hair and hawk-like wings that shined dully in the light from the hallway. Her armor was slim-fitting and simple, consisting of thin sheets of metal with black fabric underneath. Her grey eyes flashed and Jeongguk jumped to attention, "I, uh, I wanted to know if I could see Taehyung."

"You can't," she said. "You disrespected the archangels. There will be no favors granted to you."

Jeongguk slumped, dropping his gaze. "Oh. Do you at least know if he's okay?"

"He's fine, young one. In a very similar situation as yours."

"Okay," Jeongguk heaved in a shaky breath. "Thanks."

"Of course. I am sorry I cannot help more. Is that all?"

"Yeah."

The woman nodded and pulled the door shut. Jeongguk plopped down on the ground, running a hand over his face. The emotional toll suddenly hit him like a truck, followed by exhaustion, and Jeongguk heaved himself up to cross to his cot. He lay down, blinking at the ceiling, before feeling himself fall fitfully asleep.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Eden was waiting for him, frowning impatiently. "Took you long enough."

"To sleep?" Jeongguk snorted.

"Yes! I told you, there are things I want to teach you."

"Like what?"

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to take out the magic that was left in you before -"

"What?"

"Oh, yeah, I told Taehyung but I didn't tell you -"

"You saw Taehyung? How is he?" Jeongguk cut her off excitedly.

Eden huffed before offering a sly grin. "He's fine. Missing every bit of you like crazy, if you know what I mean."

Jeongguk blushed.

"Now, the reason you could visit Taehyung in the first place is because I tried to use you to talk to him. I thought you had seen him before, but I was wrong, and in order to not hurt you, I had to get out of there fast. The damage was already done, though, sorry about that, but now you have some messenger magic infused in your brain, so I guess it's not all bad."

"What part of it is bad?" Jeongguk wondered.

Eden frowned, knitting her eyebrows together thoughtfully. "I actually don't know. I mean, right now your subconscious can't stay out of Taehyung's, so there's the lack of privacy. But I'm going to try to fix it and make it so you can control when you go into his mind."