After

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⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 – 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

Ⰶ║ July 31 2020 ║Ⰶ

"Wh-what? What do you mean he's gone?" Mark asks through gritted teeth. "Where would he even go?"

Jaemin just shakes his head, still crying. "I-I don't k-know...I h-heard the d-door close and c-came to check i-it out and w-when I arrived h-he was just g-gone..." He tries to wipe his tears but to no avail. The others looked on him with pity, only able to guess how much he was hurting. Jaemin had grown attached to Chenle and Jisung very quickly, taking on the role as their parent. So for one of his 'kids' to leave was hurting him inside and out.

Renjun frowns and looks at Jeno who just sighs and shakes his head. 

"He couldn't have gotten far...I mean he only just left right? We should be able to find him pretty quickly." Donghyuck says hopefully, not noticing the worried glance Mark and Renjun exchanged.

The monsters, Mark. It's not safe for us to go out there.

Even more reason we should! God knows what Chenle would do if something were to approach him.

Damnit.

Jaemin stands slowly and walks back to his bedroom, the 5 others following him. He grabs some socks and his high-tops. He slips a sweatshirt over his T-shirt and walks towards the doorway.

"Jaemin you aren't going out at this hour are you?" Jeno asks, worried. Jaemin just glares at him, his teary eyes saying Shut the fuck up. My child just ran away and you expect me to sit here like it's no biggie? Jeno gulps and steps back, letting him back through to the hall.

Jaemin grabs his bag of medical supplies and a flashlight, only stopping when Jisung grabs his sleeve. He turns to the boy. "Sungie, you need to stay here and rest up."

Lele?

Jaemin sighs and crouches in front of him. "I'm going to bring him back, don't worry."

But what if he gets hurt

"Then I'll just patch him up. I'm a medic after all."

Jisung pouts and nods. Be careful nana

Jaemin smiles. "I will baby, don't worry. And it looks like," he glances over Jisung's shoulder where he can see two other boys standing in the hall. "Mark and Jeno are gonna come with me. So I need you to stay here with Hyuckie and Injunnie. Can you do that for me?" Jisung nods and wipes a few tears. "Thank you sweetie..." Jaemin gives him a wary smile and stands, gently pushing him back down the hall.

"Okay Jaemin, knowing Chenle, he's probably headed towards the woods at the edge of town." Mark says. Rolling down his sleeves as he exits the house. The boy nods and follows him.

"Okay, we'll start that way." Jeno says, and begins to lead the way towards the South. "We won't return without him, don't worry."

"That goes without saying."

Ⰶ║ July 31 2020 ║Ⰶ

Jisung looks at Donghyuck in both worry and fear, making the older boy frown. "I know you're scared Sungie, but you need to rest. Chenle would want to see you healthy when he gets back.." Donghyuck leads the boy down the hall and into the makeshift infirmary. "Get into bed, and I'll stay here till you fall asleep."

Donghyuck is the only one, after Jaemin and Chenle, that Jisung feels open and safe. If Jaemin is his mother, then Donghyuck is kinda like that one aunt that lives with them; always helping out but not an actual parent.

"Do you wanna hear a story Sungie?" Donghyuck asks once Jisung makes himself comfortable. THe boy nods.

"Once upon a time," Jisung smiles, already liking the classic start. "There lived a young boy, around 14. He lived alone on a small island, his only friend being a boy who lived in the water surrounding his home. The boy on the island would sit on the shore every night, waiting for his friend. And when his friend appeared, they would talk for hours on end, just enjoying the night. But during the day, The boy's friend had to go back into the water, saying that the sunlight hurt his body. So everyday, the boy on the island was left alone. But this boy was special, for he had wings. Large, beautiful, white wings that he would use to fly around the island. You might think, 'well why doesn't he fly away to a place with people?' and that's a good question but you see, the boy wasn't allowed to leave. For some reason, whenever he tried to fly away, he always ended up back at the same small island where he first woke up." Donghyuck looks at Jisung, who was drifting in and out of sleep; he lowers his voice.

"And one day, while the boy was flying around and sitting on the tree tops, he heard someone call for him. It was his friend from the sea, he was standing on the shore. When the boy flew down to him, he asked his friend why he had legs. You see, his friend was a mermaid, and couldn't go on land, but now he was standing perfectly fine like anyone else. His friend explained to him that he had seen a large ship, and came to warn the boy about it. He didn't know he could transform, so he was surprised at his legs too. And later that evening, the friend had to leave because he was lacking the water he needed to survive. And the boy was left to watch out for the ship that was coming. And when it did, the sailors spotted the boy immediately thanks to his big wings. They wanted to take the wings for themselves, to trade them for lots of money. So they attacked the boy, and cut off his wings, leaving him injured on the sand. When the ship left, the boy's friend came back from the water and hurried to bring the boy into the ocean with him." Donghyuck smiles and pets the sleeping Jisung's head.

"In the end, the boy lived happily with his friend in the ocean. Finally free from that island. Turns out, the things he thought were beautiful and would help him leave, were the exact things that kept him stuck to the island." He gets up, whispering a quiet the end into Jisung's ear as he leaves the room.

Renjun had gone back to bed, so it was just Donghyuck and his walkie-talkie who were left awake.

"Hey guys," he holds down on the speech button. "How are things?"

There was some static before Jeno's voice answers, out of breath. "Hyuck we- we found him..."

"Really!? Is he okay?"

The walkie-talkie switches, now Mark speaking to him. "He's out cold. Jaemin says he has a concussion...something hit him, and it hit hard. He isn't responding to anything."

"Is..is he-"

"He's alive don't worry. But Jaemin says it's gonna be a while till he wakes up."

"Holy shit...Come back safe okay? I'll stay up."

"Alright, see you soon."

"Yeah..bye. Keep me updated."

"Will do."

There's some more static and then the beep of the walkie-talkie turning off. Donghyuck sighs. "Holy crap...This can't be happening."

⋘ Tʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴛʀʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ. ⋙