Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 11 : Red Dawn

"No," Hongjoong answered after a few heavy, silent moments. It seemed Wooyoung already expected that answer because Seonghwa didn't see his face fall at all, there was no hope in his eyes to begin with. "I was too late. There was nothing I could do."

Wooyoung just nodded his head in a very robotic way before he turned around and sat back against the seat cushion again without another word. Seonghwa took in a breath, looking back at Hongjoong and finally reaching forward to grab at the younger's injured arm. He didn't think at all before he was grabbing at the bottom of his own shirt, tearing the cotton fabric with what strength he had left. Hongjoong just watched him with glossy eyes that were not quite protesting the older's actions.

Seonghwa managed to pull away a long strip of fabric before he rolled it up and took Hongjoong's arm in his hands again and tried to tighten it above the wound like a clamp. Hongjoong grunted and Seonghwa knew that he was in pain, but this had to be done. He tore off another piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt and tied it around the actual wound itself.

"I'm surprised you waited this long to undress next to me," the younger commented, his eyes once again closed but Seonghwa could tell that they were most likely sparkling. "This is kind of a weird time to do such a thing, but I did say anytime and anyplace."

Seonghwa dramatically pulled the fabric into a knot tightly causing Hongjoong to let out a pained noise again.

"It's no use," Hongjoong tried to tell him, pulling his arm back weakly but Seonghwa kept a tight grip on it. "It's really no use."

"Don't say that," Seonghwa told him, a slight snarl on his face. "I already told you that you don't get to die before me."

Hongjoong chuckled dryly at that, his lips curling upwards at the edges just enough for Seonghwa to see.

"You're no fun," he muttered with a light and airy tone. "You know that?"

Seonghwa sighed and dropped Hongjoong's arm, his eyebrows furrowing as he let out a hot puff of air. He ignored the younger man's comment completely, slightly happy he still was able to make his unnecessary comments and joke around. That meant he was most likely going to be okay, but with the amount of blood on Hongjoong's clothes and now Seonghwa's own hands, and not even taking into account what had been dripping on the floor, the odds were not looking good.

Seonghwa turned to his left, sticking his head out the door again, and looked behind them. The base was no longer in sight, but the dark cloud of smoke was still visible. The red sun was rising above the horizon at a quick rate and Seonghwa couldn't help but nearly look right at it. He ignored the pain in his eyes from the direct light, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. The tears running down his cheeks no doubt were from the sun drying and burning his eyes, but even then, he still couldn't look away.

He knew this was going to happen. He knew they were lucky they were able to live the way they had for so long, and that it wouldn't last forever.

Seonghwa had seen the signs. He had even talked with Hongjoong about it- they were prepared. So how did this happen?

Why did it have to happen?

Sixteen hours earlier.

It had been two days since the last mission Mingi and Jongho had taken some of the men on. It had also been two days that Seonghwa had secretly signed himself up to be a spy. His target? The man who had been acting very weird ever since he returned. He would follow him around every now and then, but when the man figured out what Seonghwa was doing, he nearly ripped him a new one so Seonghwa decided he would have to change tactics.