District 9 // Chanlix [Completed]

IX: Nine of Swords

     They slept in shifts. Once it was Felix's turn, he made sure to wait until everyone was asleep before sneaking away.

     Maybe not everything Jisoo said was a lie, but it was exaggerated. Felix had stolen Jessi's bag and was running as fast as he could. He had no idea where he was going, but he felt like he was being chased. When he looked back, there was no one there. But he entertained the thought that one can never be so sure.

     So he kept running. Until he reached a slightly secluded area between rocks. He then again covered himself in leaves and let himself fall asleep. He woke up to the sound of a cannon. A few leaves fell as he tensed up.

     What if they were attacked because Felix wasn't watching? What if they killed Jisoo? Wild thoughts ran around in Felix's mind. He didn't want to be responsible for their deaths.

     He flinched when he heard frantic footsteps running towards him. They found me. He told himself. But when they spoke, it was different.

     "I hate this. I hate these fake stars and I hate this game and I hate human beings. Why do they want this?" One of them questioned. Their voices quieted down but didn't fade away.

     They were still there, talking. Felix took entertainment in their conversation. He found out it was Jeongin and Bang Chan. Jeongin had killed someone.

     Felix was slightly put at ease as he realised the death was not of who he thought it was and it was not his fault. However, Jeongin was still a killer and he was close to Felix. If Felix revealed himself somehow, he knew he would die.

     He waited until sunrise to move.

     Chris was awake, however, Jeongin was not. So he waited. Once Jeongin was awake, the two made their way down the tree.

     It happened quickly. Too quick for Chris to react. He stared at the arrow in Jeongin's chest with wide eyes, watching as Jeongin's shaky hand reached up to touch it pulled the arrow out, staring at it in horror.

     Chris turned around, spotting Momo, Changbin, and Jessi. Jessi held the bow. Chris glared and raised his bow, shooting an arrow at the woman as well as Momo. He aimed for Changbin, but the latter was too quick. He looked around before turning back to Jeongin.

     Silence blanketed Chris. He could not hear anything around him as he looked at Jeongin and watched him fall to his knees. It gave him a feeling of numbness. Something unbelievable had happened in front of him.

     When he had come to his senses, he rummaged through his bag to find something to patch the younger boy up. He looked at Jeongin, both of them teary eyed, and laid him down, telling him to relax as he looked at his wound.

     "Chris it's okay-"

     "Jeongin, it's not... it's not okay, let me look at it." Jeongin shook his head as tears ran down his face.

     "You... You can't stop it now...." He said, his voice almost a whisper as it broke through tears. "I'm gonna die..." He said. Chris froze and stopped patching him up as he heard those words.

     "No... Jeongin, no." Chris said quietly. Jeongin closed his eyes to avoid eye contact. "Stop that, open your eyes, please!" Jeongin did as he was told. In his mind, he had completely given up, as if nothing Chris said could convince Jeongin that he would live.

     Of course he couldn't convince him. He couldn't even convince himself. He knew Jeongin was going to die and that this was it. He didn't want to give the boy any cruel sense of false hope. So he gave up too.

     "Jeongin... I'm so sorry." He said. Jeongin's hand reached into his pocket and he took out the card. He handed it to Chris but the elder shook his head. "She'll protect you. Keep it."

     "Thank you.... You'll win, I know it." Jeongin told him. He looked up to the arena sky, tears sticking to his eyelashes like raindrops on spiderwebs. "Please don't forget me." He said.

     "I'd never forget you." Chris said through tears. Jeongin cracked a small smile, however it was covered by pain and tears. "I will never forget you." Jeongin nodded. He hiccupped and looked up.

     "Thank you." He said weakly.

     It was then that his eyes became still, reflecting the perfect, corrupted blue of the arena sky. Chris' hand hovered over Jeongin's eyes for a second before he closed them.

     He sat there for a bit, not knowing what to do. Not wanting to do anything. He stared at Jeongin's now lifeless body, hot tears rolling down his cheeks. He felt a wave of emotions go through him all at once and let out a scream.

     Standing up and looking around, he grabbed whatever he could just to throw it. He wanted to break things and scream to let whatever it was out. Anger, pain, frustration.

     "This is bullshit!" He yelled. He looked to a tree, seeing a glare in a hole of it. It was a camera. He looked to the camera. "This is what you want? This is what you fucking want for entertainment?!" He smashed the glass of the camera with his fist.

     He looked back to Jeongin's still body. He felt the anger in him replace with sadness and emptiness. He walked over and let his hands brush through his hair. His tears fell onto Jeongin's face and he quickly wiped them away.

     I can't stay here long. He thought. He sat down and gave Jeongin's body one last hug before getting up and leaving. It was hard to leave. He felt the constant disbelief that he was now alone.

     He kept wanting to turn around, so he ran before he could. Ran as fast as possible and as far away as possible. He finally came to his senses when he reached a river. It felt calm and unsettlingly beautiful. Chris sat down on the river bank behind a rock, looking through his coat pockets. He found his cards and as he pulled them out, dropping one.

     He stared at the card in its position. Three of swords, reversed. Recovery and turning a new leaf. He knew what it meant, but it felt so far away from Chris. He could feel how his deck was incomplete. Missing two major arcana. However, he knew they were needed where they were.

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Chapter preview:

     "Chris, help!"
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     "I can't... I can't do this anymore. I can't kill anyone else... Please... Just do it."

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     "He was with you... Wasn't he?"