|Weak Hero| Dawn Na

Chapter 67

Make sure to read the author's note at the end of this chapter.

When Janghyeok delivered the news of Orion's death, everyone was devastated. Dawn broke down while Donald once again buried his emotions. Everyone had thought Orion would die surrounded by everyone, by his entire family. But after everyone else had gone home for the day, Orion had died in Janghyeok's arms.

After the funeral, Dawn became a shell of herself. She wouldn't speak anymore and wouldn't even communicate in sign language. Most of the time she'd lock herself in her bedroom. She barely ate, and only did so when Donald fell to his knees and begged her to eat because he didn't want to lose her too.

She rarely left her bed, only getting up to use the bathroom. She wouldn't even go on her phone while in bed and instead just stared at the wall with dull eyes that were dead to the world.

Forrest visited and even though Dawn didn't acknowledge his presence as he sat down beside her, he still spoke to her. He brought flowers each time he visited. It hurt him to see his girlfriend in such a state, but he didn't want to give up on her. She needed all the support she could get.

All of Dawn's brothers took turns visiting. They told her about their day and tried to get her to speak, but she ignored everyone.

Gijoo only visited once. He then devoted all of his time when not with Cheongang to working on his dimensional traveling device. He didn't care how many burns, bruises, or cuts he got from his failed trials. He didn't plan on giving up any time soon

Ownership of Sweet Cosmos had been given to Janghyeok. He hired some staff to take care of it for the time being. He had to devote his entire attention to Dawn.

For the first time in his entire life, Donald had witnessed his uncle break down. It was late at night and Donald had wanted to visit Orion's old apartment to reminisce. Janghyeok had had the same idea and had arrived minutes before him. 

Janghyeok, thinking no one was around to hear him, wailed. "I have to be strong for Donald and Dawn! I have to be strong for the rest of the family just like I promised you, Orion!" He hiccupped. "I...I'm trying...but it's painful, big brother! I'm not as strong as you were!"

Janghyeok fell to his knees and rested his forehead on the floor. "It's been a month, but Gijoo still hasn't managed to fix that so-called dimensional traveling device of his. I'm losing hope..."

XXX

"Dawn," Stephen gently told her. "You need to eat more. You need need to get out of bed more,"

Dawn remained silent.

"Orion wouldn't want you to be like this," Stephen said. "He'd want you to be healthy. He'd want you to be living life because you're still alive,"

"Living is painful..." Dawn whispered.

"It is," Stephen agreed. "Our grief never disappears. We just learn to grow around our grief and move on with our lives,"

Dawn cried. "I don't know how to grow around my grief. I don't know how to move on,"

"You're not alone," Stephen reminded. "You have your entire family here with you to help you along the way," He held his hand out. "Why don't we go outside for some fresh air?"

"Where...Where are we going to go?" Dawn hesitantly reached out to his hand.

"Why don't we gather everyone and check up on Gijoo to see how he's doing?"

XXX

"How are things going, Gijoo?" 

Gijoo was kneeling in the middle of a burnt patch of grass. Pieces of his dimensional traveling device were strewn about. "Not good," His voice cracked. A large burn stretched across the left side of his face.

"You need to go to the hospital!" Jaeryeong exclaimed.

"I'll be fine, Jaeryeong," Gijoo waved off his concerns. "It'll heal up completely in about two to three weeks. I have a better healing rate than the people in this universe,"

"It looks like you have no progress at all," Donald scoffed at the sight of the destroyed dimensional traveling device.

"Part me of wants to fix this machine or die trying," Gijoo admitted. "But a part of me wants to give up again. Nothing I've done works. I don't have a new dimensional crystal. The one I had before got destroyed when I ended up here,"

"Wow, you're so fucking pathetic,"

Everyone froze. That voice sounded exactly like Gijoo's, but it came from above. They all looked up to the sky and saw a man with an identical appearance to Gijoo except wearing different clothes, floating in mid air.

"Fuck, Gijoo was right about the multiverse," Wolf said.

"Everyone, get back!" Gijoo warned, but he knew it'd be useless if his variant decided to become hostile. "He's me from S-00123 and he's a dimensional slayer,"

"Aww, you've heard of me!" Evil Gijoo chuckled. "You're lucky I'm not in the killing mood,"

"Why are you here!?" Gijoo demanded. "What do you want!?"

"I'm just strolling about," Evil Gijoo claimed. "Anyways, you're so fucking pathetic. You want to give up? I thought you wanted to see someone you love,"

"I do—"

"Then why are you thinking about giving up!?" Evil Gijoo snapped. "There someone I want to see smiling again, so I'm not going to stop until I achieve that! I don't care who I hurt along the way! Each universe has at least one dimensional crystal. If you can't find the crystal, then find an alternative!" With that said, he activated his own device and left.

"Did...Did he just come here to give me advice?" Gijoo mumbled. 'Why would he help me? That variant doesn't care about anyone and only causes destruction,'

"Where can we find the dimensional crystal?" Gray asked.

"It could be anywhere," Gijoo shook his head. "Even in space," He began picking up the pieces of his dimensional traveling device. "I don't know what to use for an alternative,"

"What about the dimensional goop in between universes?" Dongha suggested. "Isn't that what the crystals are mainly made of? Concentrated dimensional goop?"

"How the fuck am I going to get—"

"Break the fourth wall," Dongha grinned. "Like this: HEY SKAI KAISHI!"

A large chunk of the sky fell near Dongha and Alistair came rushing to him and kicked him. "STOP BREAKING THE FUCKING FOURTH WALL!"

Gijoo was quick to gather some dimensional goop before Alistair managed to fix the fourth wall. "I have no idea what the fuck Dongha did or how he did that, but this will have to do,"

"It won't automatically bring you to the universe that Orion Na is in," Alistair warned. "That's what differentiates it from a crystal. The pure goop doesn't allow you to choose which universe you travel to,"

"I don't care. We'll travel through as many universes necessary in order to reunite with him," 

Thank you for reading Dawn Na.

Prior to creating the Yuriverse in the Gravyverse, I had intended Dawn to be the one that dies, breaking the entire family up since she was what brought them together and held the family together. But then I decided to add Orion from the Dawnverse into the Yuriverse and so I killed Orion off instead.

There's going to be a collection of Dawnverse chapters in Donald Na X Gravy [And Other Short Stories] that will revolve around the dimensional traveling and attempting to reunite with Orion. The chapters will be titled Dawnverse: Dimensional Adventures.