Kaput

Chapter 52

Things felt just as broken now.

No, things were more than broken.

They stayed the same.

A vicious cycle.

Milliseconds felt like hours. Hours to endless days, days to months with no response, no answer, no way out.

"Ji-ah, you can't keep like this, none of you can. Please guys, I'm begging you."

Ae-Cha's voice was filled with pleading. She's been trying to get them to live, to do anything these past few months.

"Your birthday is almost here Ji-ji. I was thinking we could at least cut a cake for you." Eun-ji looked up from the hospital bed into her mother's eyes. Her face was hollow now, her cheeks long shedded their baby fat. The dark circle under her eyes permanent tinted on her pale skin.

None of the others moved at the Luna's suggestion, well the other three in the room with him anyways.

"I don't want to be reminded. It was my fault everything happened." Eun-ji blamed herself more than anything. It was her stupid birthday the catalyst for their pain, for all their loss, for how he sacrificed himself.

"Stop blaming yourself. It's not anyone's fault." Namjoon answered her. They all had gone through stages of blame, accusing themselves for things out of their control.

"Erick and Selene are coming back. They already sent word!" The Luna knew if there was anyone to help her out of her endless void of pity it was him.

Eun-ji groaned.

She didn't want to hear their lecture.

"So get ready to at least cut a cake Ji-ah." The Luna smiled at the mates, her eyes lingering longer on the bed, heart broken.

Always so selfless.

She gave them one last smile before she left the room.

Silence. They didn't talk among them. Not much anyways.

"It would be nice to celebrate your birthday Ji-ah. It wouldn't hurt to at least do something." Jimin's voice sent shivers through them.

None had talked about their relationship. It didn't feel right. The loss they experienced brought them together. The deprivation of their mate was more than enough to show them how real their connection was but they were too numb to move on. They couldn't be happy knowing something was missing. Their hearts still mourned for him.

"If we cut a cake then I want a birthday wish. I want all of us to spend some time with him."

Her words were a whisper, but held power.

They all knew that couldn't happened.

Seokjin refused to see him. He had been in his room all this time, almost never coming out. The idea he fail to protect as the oldest fresh in his mind. He wished he could switch places. He wished he could have been stronger. He wished he hadn't turned his back on his mates. It killed him to know the last time they interacted was when he screamed saying he was leaving back to China, to marry his girlfriend and have his pups. He was mad it wasn't him. He didn't get the torture the other two did. He healed before Taehyung. He didn't protect them.

Taehyung came every once in a while. He felt guilty for not being strong enough. He was mad at himself for getting captured, because his strength failed him. He spent the days training and developing his ability. Now he had different types of poison he could conjure up. He could make his opponent paralyzed but still have the ability to be conscious. He could completely paralyzed them with different hour spans and he could kill. He developed a venom to kill slowly, to make his pray withered in pain till it begged to be killed.  Never was he not going to protect his mates again. Never was he going to be weak again.