Monster High - Kim Taehyung (BTS V)

Chapter 17

"Sori, wake up!"

"Just try again..."

"I am, Jesus Christ! Don't hurry me!"

"I'm not! I want her alive just as much as you do, you know!"

"Shut up, you're distracting me!"

"Fine, just do your stupid trick."

"Sori, wake up."

I jolted awake with a painfully harsh gasp. My heart was pounding to the point where I could feel it against my sternum, and every breath was searing the back of my throat. When I opened my eyes, I could feel that there was something wrong. Why didn't it burn my eyes?

I propped myself up on my elbows, only to wince and groan in pain.

"Hey, hold on," said a familiar voice to my side. "You're still healing."

"Jimin!" My eyes widened in surprise. "Why are you here?"

His eyes watered. "Because I had to heal you," he sniffed, his voice quavering. "You died, you know."

My hand went to my chest. Sure enough, there was a scar where the stake had pierced my heart. I swallowed uncomfortably. It was almost completely healed, though, a whisper of dried blood against my light skin.

"Are you okay? Are you crying?" It felt dumb asking that, seeing that I was the one who actually died. My death scene kept replaying in my head, and I wanted to cry myself at the fact that my mother had ended my life. That was the ultimate betrayal.

"Of course I am!" Jimin cried indignantly. "You died!"

"But... I ended our connection," I stammered. "You're not my guardian angel anymore."

"But I'm still your best friend, aren't I?" Jimin's voice shook again with threatening tears. "I still grew up with you. I still care for you more than anything else."

He grasped my free hand. It wasn't as warm as I thought it would be. His hand was still warm, but it was more like my temperature. My other hand was still on my sternum, and I became acutely aware of my heartbeat under my fingertips.

"...Am I human?" I asked, glancing at Taehyung, who was kneeling on my other side. "Why am I alive?"

"I convinced you to become human again," Taehyung stated plainly, staring at me with concern. "Only your vampirism was killed, so as I coaxed you to become mortal, Jimin healed you."

My eyes flickered towards Jimin again. His eyes were still swollen and a little teary, and I had never felt so grateful for a friend in my entire life. Even though he wasn't obligated to look after me, he still acted like we still had that unbreakable bond. Maybe that bond ran deeper than a simple assignment to a human.

"Thank you," I breathed, unable to find the right words to convey everything that I was feeling. "Just... thank you."

"And the others?" I was full of questions. The empty room had no furniture wreckage to indicate any conflict. "What happened after I died?"

"Well, we-" Taehyung looked down. He couldn't finish his sentence. Something like guilt plagued his dark eyes, and his voice lowered to a whisper. "We killed them all."

"You killed them all?"

Jimin nodded solemnly. "After you died, he went into a fury," he whispered. "And Taehyung rallied everyone together with his voice."

"And you killed my mother?"

They both nodded.

My throat constricted. Tears flooded my eyes, and I couldn't hold them in any longer. My body racked with sobs, and suddenly, I was a little girl who had lost her mother. It was a pain so inexplicable. It felt like my heart really was breaking, worse than when it actually had been pierced, but since it was only emotional and on the inside, I could do nothing to stop it. I could only hug myself as I bawled into Taehyung's shoulder.

It didn't matter that she had killed me herself. In that moment, I was newly orphaned. I had just lost my last surviving family, and I had never felt so alone in the world.

"I'm sorry," Taehyung murmured, wrapping his arms around me. "It was me. I don't know what came over me."

"I-It's okay," I sobbed, trying to coherently string a set of words together. "I don't b-blame you. She deserved it."

"But you don't deserve this," Taehyung whispered in an almost-sigh. "I'm sorry for that."

I pulled away from him, backhanding the remainder of my tears.

"Did we win at least?" I managed a forced smile.

Taehyung nodded.

"Then... that's all that matters." I choked on the last words before breaking down again. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm-"

Jimin reached out his hand and motioned for me to take it. I did, though I did hesitantly. Instantly, warmth spread from my fingertips to the rest of my body. It was like a warm hug on the inside. It gave me the same feeling as a hug from my mother when she tucked me in as a child.

I felt my eyelids grow heavy with comfortable drowsiness. My heart seemed to mend, and I closed my eyes, feeling like I was falling asleep in my mother's arms, before she vowed to hunt monsters. Before my father died.

"Just sleep," Jimin whispered, resting his hand on my forehead. "Find your peace, Sori."