The Scent of Miracles [ Jikook ]

Chapter 4

Even when racing back to the village while smelling burnt wood in the air, Jimin's brain didn't completely process what exactly was happening.
The pups might've lit a campfire when they weren't supposed to, he thought. Or, maybe, someone burnt their food.
It's possible, right? It had to be because if it wasn't, it meant that…

As soon as he stood in front of the wooden village walls, Jimin's lungs collapsed, his heart rate rose until it physically hurt his ribs whenever he tried to inhale.
He saw the fire, saw deceivingly beautiful flames twitch towards the still rather dark early morning sky, like dying snakes fighting for freedom. The painful feeling of choking desperation hung heavy in the smoke filled air.

Very slowly, as if he hoped things would just go back to normal as long as he didn't saw what the hell was going on, Jimin walked through the gate before collapsing to his knees, paralyzed from the horror he saw unfold in front of his blurring eyes.
His home, his whole life, was on fire.
It was such a small hut that it didn't take much time until it was completely falling apart but Haru, who stood dangerously close to the flames, still tried to save it by chugging water on the inferno. Some of the other foxes carried it from the lake to him, all of them trying hard to move as fast as they could.

Jimin should help them, he knew that, but somehow his body simply wouldn't obey. Not a single thought or command reached his brain, ears filled with nothing but screaming white noise as his whole life came to a sudden, screeching halt.
His world used to be a house of cards but now it collapsed. Even in his shocked state, Jimin knew there was no saving it.

"We found Sana! She's alive!"

As soon as those words hit his twitching fox ears, Jimin's head whipped around in an instant.
Hidden behind a few bushes, with a safe amount of distance between her and the all destroying flames, was his beloved sister curled up in the dirt.
Her eyes were tightly shut, skin covered in the charcoal black of the smoke.
How the hell she made it out of the burning house when she had clearly been in there at some point was hard to say but Jimin didn't care either way.
All he cared about was that she was here.
She was alive.

Only when he crawled closer, the people around him seemed to notice his presence and stepped to the side.
The looks they gave him were pitiful, some straight out miserable. Everyone could see how out of it the pink fox was, how his body trembled, the way his glistening eyes filled with tears, though they weren't ready to fall quite yet.

"Sana…" he whispered, a hand on her shoulder.
"Sana, wake up!"

When he started to shake the unconscious girl harder, Haru stepped in and dragged him away while gesturing for someone else to take the injured female away.
When Jimin started to scream for his Mom and Dad, the older pressed him against his chest as hard as he could in an attempt to stop him, to calm him maybe, but Jimin only felt more panicked and struggled even harder to free himself.
"I want my Mom! Take me to my Mom!" He continued to screech, feeling completely out of his mind, he almost wished he had indeed lost it because this couldn't possibly be real. It must be a dream. A delusion.

"I'm so sorry, Jimin." Haru whispered close to his ear, holding him tighter, fingers digging painfully into Jimin's skin. "You'll be okay, I promise."
But none of it truly reached Jimin's ears. The only thing resonating in his mind was the need to see his Mom, his Dad, his other siblings. He needed to see them smile, needed to feel their hugs and kisses. He needed it so badly, it hurt to the point of him breaking down screaming, crying for his family, for anyone to make it all better, to take the pain away.

Yet, nobody came.

They found the bodies of Jimin's remaining family not much later but the young fox dissociated from the situation during most of it.
He stayed by his surviving sister's side, held her hand for the whole day while watching her go in and out of consciousness several times.