The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 47: Freeing Awa

Calista almost jumped out of her skin as Shin-ah's fingers skimmed her bare shoulder, but caught his wrist before he could pull away completely. He gazed down at her, expression indifferent, waiting for her to say something.

She bit her lip in hesitation.

He had been avoiding her before she decided to go undercover, and now that he was in front of her, she couldn't find the right words to say. She didn't know what would happen if he stepped away from her. All she knew was that she didn't want him to.

She had no idea what she could say. An apology seemed trivial and insincere, but he still deserved one as well as an explanation. They all did. 

Shin-ah tentatively reached up and cupped her jaw, cradling her face in his hand. It warmed her skin and she instinctively closed her eyes. The battle going around them faded away into the back of her mind as she leaned into his palm.

There was nothing but peace that flooded her being. No anxious thoughts, none about what Kum-ji had done to her, nothing about the aftermath or usual running of statistics of probability in her mind.

Just blissful peace that he had granted to her with just his presence.

Jae-ha shot out behind him, blocking the sword from hitting her with knives between his fingers, engaging back into the fight. Calista squeaked as she was startled out of her trance and accidentally careened into Shin-ah. His hand dropped from her face to her waist to steady her, recoiling back when she flinched.

Her gaze darted away from his as her hand pressed against her ribcage, willing the pain to die down.

Calista wasn't aware of it, but Shin-ah's beautiful golden eyes had gone black behind his mask, and he longed to rip it off, unleashing the power that he swore to never use. The distress radiating off her made him tense in fury. When he had first landed on the ship with Jae-ha, he was already beyond upset when he saw the many scratches and scrapes on both Yoon and Yona, but he was infuriated to no end to see the raven-haired girl hurt.

She was bleeding, badly, and he couldn't find out where it was coming from. There were some kind of metal cuffs locked around her wrists, the chain between them broken, and he could see that the skin underneath was already starting to bruise.

Calista picked up on his panic fast when his hands glossed over her frantically, hovering an inch from actually making contact.

Unable to speak, she mouthed that she was okay, knowing he saw it by his frown deepening. Despite the pain she was in and her pounding head, she felt at ease by his side. 

Jae-ha was occupied with the battle, but he was struggling under the sheer number of trained men that there were. Yona having finally freed Yoon, had shuffled them both over to a hidden corner near the back of the boat, so they were out of harm's way for now.

Calista took a deep breath and finally got her feet to pry herself away from Shin-ah. Picking up speed, she intercepted a hit meant for Jae-ha with her handcuffs, halting the sword in midair. Grabbing the mercenary by his neck, she threw him down to the ground.

Picking up the discarded short sword, she brought it up challengingly with a feral gleam in her eye as she faced the men surrounding them. 

You're all in trouble now.

Jae-ha smirked as she appeared by his side, chancing a glance. He caught the nod she sent him out of the corner of his eye and he chuckled. 

"Decided to join us after all, huh?"

Calista made a noise of disagreement to spite him, charging into the fray. She fought side by side with Jae-ha, and his power was truly impressive. He was clearing them out several at a time, compared to her, who only was able to take out single targets that were stragglers or backstabbers.