Shadow Dancing | K.TH

Crossing Hearts and Fingers

Damn V and his stupid recklessness.

I glance at the silver ring of keys clutched in the man's left hand as the other continues to press the gun into V's wounded shoulder.

Those must be the keys for their locks.

Now the anger is obvious in the man's eyes as the assassin he had believed he'd subdued could still look at death face to face. A hiss escapes his lips as he moves the gun to V's heart.

"Let's just get rid of you already."

No!

I didn't have time to think anymore. With only my instincts to guide me, I lunge forward and draw the knife cleanly across the man's neck.

The flesh under my blade sickens me so much I hurl the bloodstained knife across the room, horrified as the head and body separates.

But I can't think. I only can act.

And to my dismay, the fading spell over me fizzes out of order— revealing my figure for the entire world to see.

The three men shout in alarm as I slide my gun from its place, cocking the weapon in record time. Without giving it much thought, I let my finger fall on the trigger.

And fire.

The first two men collapse like sandbags— the first bleeding from a fatal shot to his head and the other straight through his heart.

But the third one gets to his gun before I get to him. The moment of realization frosts my senses as both of us simultaneously aim at one another.

And fire.

I'm only allowed a precious moment of victory as I watch my bullet slam right into his figure. But then a tight pressure squeezes my upper chest— like someone had struck me with a wooden bat and had forgotten to control their strength.

Was I shot?

Numbness dulling my senses, I sneak a careful glance down at the area of pressure and heat. There's a weird spot of more dark than the rest of the shirt—like—

My fingers come away with red.

"Tzuyu!" Jimin's horrified scream snaps me out of my daze, bringing me back to my purpose. Surprisingly, there wasn't any pain—just a growing pressure that wasn't much of a big deal.

Chains. Unlock the chains.

The keys. I'd seen them with the man— he'd been holding it in his left hand? Right? It didn't matter anymore.

I just needed to free one of them.

The feeling of heat spreads, accompanying the pressure suffocating the breaths out of my lips. I think I can hear Jimin somewhere, but I can't decipher the words— it just sounded like mumbling.

The silver keys are cool in my hot palm as I approach V— who was the closest to me. For some reason, I feel like a dead person walking as I fumble with the ring.

Then everything explodes in a galaxy of pain and agony.

A scream tears my throat as a fire rips through me with a mass of heat and pain. Pain, pain, pain.

My vision blurs as the room tilts sideways— and then a shadow fills my sight like death. Is death. The reaper coming to take me. With each of the screams that claws out from my lips, I feel the fade taking control of me with the rapid increase of my heart rate.