Beyond Repair (Min Yoongi)

34. The Way The Dice Fell

Yoongi stood a few metres away from Jimin, trembling and bleeding. Blood gushed from Yoongi's eyes, nose, and mouth, and he was choking on it, gasping for air. Jimin ran toward him, but the closer he got to where Yoongi had been standing, the further away Yoongi seemed to become.

"Yoongi!" Jimin cried out, but what was supposed to be a scream came out as a whisper.

"Jiminie," Yoongi said, his voice ringing clear in the emptiness around them, "why?"

"What?" Jimin asked.

"Why didn't you try?"

"I—I did," Jimin said. "I did! I tried to save you!"

"You should have tried harder," Yoongi spat, his face darkening. "He's free. And I won't be there to save you next time."

A rope wound around Jimin's body, squeezing his neck as it pulled him backwards. "Please," Jimin choked out. "Help me, please, I'm sorry—!"

"It's your fault," Yoongi said, and then he collapsed, unmoving, into the darkness that slowly began to envelop his lifeless body. The void around Jimin rapidly flooded with blood—Yoongi's blood—and soon, Jimin was drowning in it. Yoongi's words continued to echo in Jimin's mind. "It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault."

~∞~

"Jimin."

Jimin jolted awake to a hand on his shoulder. He blinked the tears out of his eyes and saw Seokjin standing over him with a look of heartbreak and worry.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jimin sighed, swiping a hand down his face to get rid of his tears and to clear his head. "What is it?"

"The police are here. They want to speak with you."

Jimin covered his face with his hands and let out a low, exasperated groan. "Can't they wait?"

Seokjin offered an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid not. They've already talked to the rest of us. Come on now, get up, you need to get dressed," he said, gently taking Jimin's hands and pulling him upright.

Jimin slowly climbed out of bed, careful not to jostle Yoongi in the process, and followed Seokjin to his own room. Seokjin handed Jimin a change of clothes—Jimin barely cared enough to wonder who had gone home to get them—and kindly turned his back while Jimin changed out of the hospital gown. Once he was dressed in ordinary clothes, Jimin tapped Seokjin's shoulder to let him know he was ready to go.

Jimin didn't really pay attention to where they were going. When they got to their destination, Seokjin let go of Jimin's hand and knocked lightly on one of so many identical doors in this hallway, Jimin was surprised Jin had remembered which room was the right one. There was no answer, at first, so Seokjin knocked again and slowly started to open the door.

The instant the door was cracked open, Jimin was greeted with the gut-wrenching sound of Hoseok sobbing his heart out. Seokjin quickly closed the door, pulling Jimin with him against the opposite wall so Jimin was leaning against Jin's chest. Jimin didn't know whether the action was to get Jimin out of the way of whoever may exit the room or because, at that moment, Seokjin just needed something to hold onto.

When Hoseok emerged a short handful of minutes later, almost all traces of crying had vanished from his face. He flashed what Jimin thought was supposed to be a reassuring grin, but the tears still gleaming in Hoseok's red-rimmed eyes made it look more like a grimace.