Broken Glass - Taekook

1

The first thing I feel is the cold.

Every limb is a dead weight, and I don't even know if I'm breathing, because I can't feel the air passing through my body. My veins feel like pipes, pumping through icy water instead of blood, and something in my head hurts, like I've been punched in the temple.

My ears pick up muffled, almost static noises, as if covered by several layers of furs, and that's when I become aware of a faint dizziness, a sort of quiet nausea that just sits uncomfortably on my chest, immovable and unchangeable.

The next thing I know, there's a faint warmth spreading through my limbs, and everything begins to hurt, a dull ache that washes over every single part of me with each heartbeat, reminding me that I'm still alive. There's a heaviness to the air around me, and there's a weird pressure in my head. Like I'm being compressed or something.

Someone is speaking, and I don't know if they're trying to get my attention, keep me awake, or communicate something to someone else. I can't tell, too busy wondering where the hell I am, and what the hell is going on, to care about anything else. Their voice is still muted, but if I really strain to listen, I can get the general flow that makes up ordinary speech.

Someone lifts a cup to my lips, and I find myself unable to open my mouth to drink. A hand gently holds my jaw, and something is poured onto my tongue. There's a faint sweetness to it, but the general taste is bland and rather boring. I swallow when someone taps my cheek lightly, and then everything fades away again.

"He's definitely alive, Father. We can't just leave him!" The voice is deep, smoother than silk, even if there's a strained quality to the words. But I've never heard it before.
"And how am I supposed to explain my absence to the soldiers when they come to demand this week's taxes? I cannot say that he's my son, they pay too much attention to the numbers, and you know what they will do to us if they know what we are."

"I can cast an illusion over him, Seunghyun. He can be seen as a sick animal. He's comatose anyway, so nobody will ever have to know any different. A whimper is not a human-specific thing," a female voice offers.
"And what if your concentration wanes? What then?" the second speaker returns. "If the picture wavers even slightly, they will be suspicious."

"I can carry him to the pig pen. It's still warm in there, and the pigs won't mind. We can pretend we're checking on them, and in that way stay with him. A small illusion will make him look like a sleeping animal," a fourth voice suggests.
"It's too dangerous! He's in no state to be moved. Until he's responsive, I don't want him to go anywhere," the first voice insists.

Someone sighs. "I'll check on him. It's possible that Taehyung's potion worked better than we think."
"And what about the mirror?" the second voice questions.
"What about it?"
"We'd have to explain where it comes from! He won't let it go, we can't just leave him holding a mirror."

I hear footsteps, and suddenly there's a hand on my arm. "If you can hear me, and you probably can't, make some movement."
"He can't hear you! It's only been an hour, and-"

I close my right hand into a fist, and suddenly hear a crash, feel searing pain in my palm. Out of sheer reflex, I open it out completely, and someone curses in a language I don't understand. "Well, he seems to understand, at the very least. And we have the mirror now."
"It's broken!"

The next time I'm aware of anything feels like moments later, but clearly isn't, because everyone seems to be celebrating the fact that they hid something from some soldiers. I try to force my eyes open, pay attention to what's going on, and I hear someone rush over to me.

"Be careful, we don't know if you're okay yet!" they tell me in a worried voice. "You shouldn't be moving for a few days, really!"

I open my mouth, cough slightly at the tightness of my throat, and then someone places a hand on my forehead, and I can breathe easier, as an odd warmth spreads through my body. "I can heal him properly now, the soldiers are gone," the voice I recognise as Seunghyun comments quietly. "He'll be able to speak very soon." There's a pause. "Someone get him some water and help him to drink it."