The Bandits of Sawtooth Mountain

16. Flooding

Smut after the arrow ->

(This is all consented)

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Hongjoong felt himself be grabbed and wrechned away by the masses of water very abruptly. He had barely noticed the wood behind them creaking threateningly, not really felt the first burst of the stream against his back. But now he was being whirled around by the water like a little toy in the hands of a child throwing a tantrum. It turned and tossed him around, making him crash against walls and rip his clothes on sharp edges.

He had protectively curled around himself, hiding his head between his arms while he was taken with the stream, losing every sense of direction. While his heart and brain were confused and worried at the sudden shift of surroundings his senses were numbed enough that he could concentrate, wait for the stream to grow a bit weaker and spread more through the tunnels so he could find his way out.

The vague thought of watching out for Jongho and making sure Youjin drowned also crossed him sometime, finding its roots in his mind as the most important thing for now, everything else came after.

A few seconds in, hardly a minute, he had no idea where he was, the stream of cold water having brought him somewhere far but it had spread enough already that Hongjoong could get a gasp of air in, holding himself up on the surface.

It was a treacherous race, ducking under ragged stones and protecting his body as best as he could when shovels and whole wagons were whirling through the rapidly flowing water. Hongjoong had to take a few painful hits, trying his best to not get hurt.

As it seemed he had arrived in the larger tunnels leading further up again, the living quarters of the bandits probably on the other side. Which was great, really, because then they would be hit with water from above and have less chances to be rushed out like he was.

Hongjoong took a big breath and ducked down again, narrowly avoiding another sharp rock only to be momentarily blind in the dark water.

He could absolutely not see that shovel coming and he was not at fault. However, he felt the pain explode behind his eyes when he was hit. For a moment he struggled, trying to clear the fog in his head and moving helplessly but his body betrayed him. His limbs grew heavy and his sight even more dark as his consciousness slipped from him.

Hongjoong could not stop it.

-

Hongjoong awoke to something soft pressing against his lips, opening them up to blow warm air inside. It hurt.

He rolled his body away from the feeling, water rising in his throat and forcing its way outside to wet his chin and shirt. He coughed it all out, taking a deep breath only to cough again. His throat hated him for it while the rest of his queasy and weak feeling body seemed to appreciate the thought.

"Oh damn it, what happened?" Hongjoong startled at the roughness of his own voice, lifting his head to touch his forehead that throbbed in pain.

"Apparently your stupid self thought it was a good idea to basically commit suicide. Such an intelligent idea.", a voice dripping with sarcasm noted to his left, followed by a just as tortured sounding cough.

Hongjoong whipped around with big eyes, finding a man with a dark uniform but missing the hat and mask sitting at his side and staring out at the stream flowing right beneath them, ripping away everything. They appeared to be sitting in some sort of niche in the stone right now but that was not important right now.

"Seonghwa? You're Seonghwa, right? Thank god, but- Seonghwa. Seonghwa???"

Faster than the other man could react Hongjoong had already threwn his body at the other with all his might, pressing him down on the wet stone. Seonghwa's eyes snapped up at him at that, giving him a glare.