Broken Glass - Taekook

8

I wake up to the faint glow of the sun beginning to rise, hours later. I turn to face the fire, only to see that mere embers remain. Aphelia's light is almost invisible, and for a moment I'm worried that she's gone, somehow, or that something has happened to her. But the second the thought enters my brain, she becomes much brighter, as if to reassure me that everything is fine, and the concern fades away. 

There's a quiet grunt from the other side of the fire, and Seokjin sits up slowly, stretching his arms above his head, pushing his shoulder blades closer together in the process. The resulting crack is audible even from my side, and I wince, even as Namjoon stirs in his sleep, disturbed by the sound.

 I catch Seokjin's eyes, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him, and he mouths an apology at me for the noise, even as Taehyung rolls over and sits up, rubbing the blur out of his eyes and sending a glare to his brother's partner. 

"Thanks for that, Seokjin," he mumbles sarcastically, his voice deeper than usual. "I really wanted to wake up to your bones cracking before the sun has even risen. How'd you know?" 

Namjoon stirs again, and then sits up himself, his mouth opening in a wide yawn almost immediately. "Tae's right, babe, even if he didn't say it too well. You do seem to have some very loud joints," he comments tiredly, chuckling a little. 
"Well frankly, I'm offended," Seokjin states, but even from here I can see the humour dancing in his eyes. "How dare you insult my bones like that? You're supposed to me on my side, here, Joon."

"His bones aren't the only loud part of him," Yoongi says, his voice perfectly clear, and I glance over at where he is, eyes open, lying on his back with a wicked grin on his face. The meaning is lost on me, but Namjoon starts laughing, and Taehyung just throws his hands over his ears, looking shocked out of his mind.
"That's  disgusting!" the younger brother complains, face screwing up in horror. 

Yoongi raises an eyebrow, sitting up properly. "I was talking about how loud he is when he eats, Kim Taehyung. Get your mind out of the gutter." 
"Hey! This is a personal attack!" Seokjin protests, looking between his partners for some backup, and then glancing over at me pleadingly. I hold up my hands, smiling, and shaking my head.
"Don't get me involved in this," I say simply. He pouts at me, pretending to be genuinely upset. 
"This is betrayal at its finest," he mumbles to himself. 

There's a faint hum, and I glance around at everyone, only to realise that they're all staring at Aphelia, faces slack for a moment in concentration. Then Namjoon speaks. "Pack up," he says simply, his words short and his expression serious. I don't move for a few seconds, though the others scramble into action. 
"What?" Namjoon gestures towards my bah, which is sat just in front of my feet. 
"Get your shit into your pack. Quickly. But quietly. We don't have any time to lose."

I don't question the instruction, choosing instead to jump up, roll up my sleeping mat as quickly as I can, shove it into my pack, and throw the whole thing on my back. Around me, everyone else is doing the exact same, though I see Taehyung carefully take out a small knife and attach it to his belt, before he packs his own sleeping mat. 

Seokjin approaches the campfire, stamping out the last of the heat, kicking the charred remains of logs into dust. Yoongi takes some water from one of his spare waterskins, wipes it over the rock where the fire was started, and the ashes disappear completely, remains shifting onto the earth. From there, it's buried with leaf litter, as Taehyung brushes over the places where we lay with his foot, smoothing out any indication of our presence on the ground. Hiding the traces before we go. 

Namjoon returns Aphelia to her little pouch, slides it into his belt. He takes a deep breath, then whispers something I can't understand in an elegant tongue that's completely different from anything I've heard him use before. The lines on his arms and his eyes glow a dazzlingly bright green for half a second, then he sags slightly where he stands, drained of energy for a moment.