Honor and Glory | ATEEZ

017

When I woke up, it was still dark outside, and the little bit of sky I was able to make out through the entrance of the cave was deep blue instead of purple.

It looked almost like a bottomless sea dotted with the glittering lights of countless stars.

The bonfire was living on borrowed time, the flames dying down and leaving mostly embers among the burned wood.

I blew a little more life into them and stuck my hand into the new flames as I tried my best to rearrange the wood, stacking and organizing, giggling at the tickling feeling of the flames licking up the side of my arm.

I let out a satisfied huff once I finished and dusted off the soot and ashes on my already dirty pants, cleaning it off as best as I could for the time being.

A sound cutting through the silent cavern made me jerk my head back to the entrance, lighting another flame in the palm of my hand to get a better look into the darkness.

A figure was shuffling across the slippery floor, trying his best to make his way across the ice as silently as possible as he made his way toward the cold landscape outside.

"What are you doing?" I asked, careful not to speak too loudly as I didn't want to wake the others.

At the sound of my voice, the figure froze, stopping completely in his tracks before slowly turning back to look at me.

I couldn't help but feel like the world stopped turning every time I stared into those grey, almost white, eyes.

It was as if the ice elemental was able to freeze time itself with a single look.

And even though I didn't want to admit it, it took my breath away every single time

"I'm going home," San said, and I let out a breathy laugh as the words slipped past his lips, rolling my eyes at his ridiculous statement as I looked him up and down.

"No," I said sternly, and it was almost funny at that moment how the situation had taken a 180° turn during the last 24 hours or so.

Before, San had been the one with the authority, the power, when he took care of me after my dangerous dip into the river when I had tried to save Wooyoung.

But now, I was the one who was in charge, I realized, and he wasn't going anywhere.

Not on my watch.

San looked shocked for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to say, but my words had made him stop moving, and that was progress.

Finally getting a grasp of the situation, he furrowed his brows at me before crossing his arms over his chest, though he looked pained at the movement.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said no," I whisper-shouted, but our voices were gradually getting louder as the tension between us grew.

I didn't want to wake the others, and I didn't want to start a discussion about something like this.

I got up from the floor and stomped my way over to San whose gaze, to my surprise, changed from one of defiance and confusion into something that looked submissiveness.

I came to a halt as I stared at the exhausted ice elemental for a moment, my eyes softening at the sight.

There was no reason for us to fight about this.

"You're not well enough to go home yet, San," I said, lowering my voice and trying to sound as careful and convincing as possible.

"Stop being ridiculous and let me help you."