Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

33

⊱ ───── { Jaemin } ───── ⊰

Jaemin approaches Jaehyun's desk: eyes vacant, body trembling. The man looks up from his papers and gasps sharply in horror. Jaemin appeared worse for wear with red marks around his wrists, disheveled faded pink hair, and Chenle's blood dried on his neck where Jeno had placed the used sacrificial knife. His face is drained of all colour, lips parted as he takes shaky breaths.

The reality of what had happened to him only just recently settled in. Jaemin was only gracing the earth for mere moments, but those few moments were all he needed to realize just how utterly fucked things were.

Revolting and terrifying humanoid creatures now run rampant; starting fires, attacking and killing humans, and destroying everything in sight. One with translucent skin and a lack of eyes and a nose had attacked Jaemin, slashing his chest with its long, sharp nails that appeared fused with its fingers. Jaemin currently covers this wound with his arms held close to his chest. He was lucky to even be alive. Had he not transported himself to Heaven, he would have surely gotten himself killed, for he was too dazed and devastated to properly fight back.

Jaehyun leaps up out of his seat and bolts for Taeyong's office doors. He opens them and ushers Jaemin inside, revealing both Taeyong and Mark were sitting at a round table, talking to one another. Their heads snap towards the two new bodies that had entered the room.

"Taeyong, something's wrong," Jaehyun says frantically.

"There's many things wrong, which one do you mean at this juncture?" the now silver haired man speaks calmly as his eyes flicker to Jaemin.

Jaehyun takes Jaemin's wrists in his hands and yanks them down, revealing his white shirt, now bloodied and torn with four slashes in it. Jaemin feels his head grow lighter as his vision tunnels.

"Jaemin!" Jaehyun screams as he clings to him and wraps a strong arm around his waist, "He needs help, now!"

Mark jumps from his seat and approaches the wounded man.

Jaemin shuts his eyes, waiting for the pain to go away. When it does, he takes note that the weakness he feels is still very much present. He scrunches his face but doesn't open his eyes.

"There. I think he's okay," Mark sighs deeply.

"Sit him down in the chair," Taeyong instructs, and Jaemin feels himself being moved towards the table. He opens his eyes at the feeling of being sat down. He now finds himself at the table with Taeyong to his left and an empty seat on the right. Taeyong nods to Jaehyun, then looks to Mark and jerks his head towards the empty seat. Mark complies and sits in the chair as Jaehyun walks away. The doors to the room close off quietly, signaling to the three that they're alone.

"Jaemin...what happened?" Taeyong asks calmly as he interlaces his fingers on the tabletop.

"I...I..." Jaemin struggles to speak, "I tried to see him...We...we were supposed to be alone..."

"Please tell me you don't mean Jeno..." Mark speaks up. Jaemin looks to him with solemn eyes and nods lightly in confirmation.

"But...Chenle followed me...so Jeno...h-he trapped us both in Hell," Jaemin goes on, "I tried to convince him not to, b-but...but he sacrificed Chenle. He...he tried to do the same to me..." Jaemin's hand reaches up to his throat, grabbing it as if to protect it from harm as he recalls the feeling of the blade against it. Quickly, he adds:

"B-but he didn't! He...he let me go. He forced me to leave before his father found out."

Mark rubs his face in his hands, stressfully.

"How were you able to contact Jeno?" Taeyong inquires, but Jaemin shakes his head whilst pursing his lips.

"So...what...he set you up just to capture and sacrifice Chenle?" Mark asks aggressively.

"What? No!" Jaemin exclaims, "He only wanted to meet with me, and to...to..."

"To?" Mark prompts him, but Taeyong raises his hand to silence him.

"I've heard enough," he speaks firmly, "We'll need to start preparing. Earth has already suffered a massive blow. We need to start enacting our plan as best we can. I'll need you to retrieve Donghyuck, first. The longer he stays down there without reinforcements, the more likely he is to-"

"I'm on it, sir," Mark agrees without a second's hesitation.

"Good. I'll be seeing you soon," Taeyong says, and with a nod, Mark disappears in a flash of light.

Taeyong sighs deeply and rubs the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Taeyong...I need to see him," Jaemin states.

"No. No more of this," Taeyong denies.

"But, Taeyong, I can fix this! There's still hope! He still loves me. If I can just convince him to-"

"Jaemin, enough!" Taeyong raises his typically soft spoken voice, "You've done enough..."

Jaemin remains silent at this, pondering what to say to convince the man that he was fully capable of changing Jeno's mind. He only needed one more chance.

"I'm going to have Mark and Donghyuck escort your to the bunker once they return. When we figure out how to fix this mess and how we'll be able to send you out without you getting yourself destroyed, we'll inform you. Until then, you clearly need to be guarded and kept in a safe space. You've put everyone and everything at risk by choosing to rendezvous with Jeno. We cannot afford to lose you, too," Taeyong lectures him.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you doom us all."