Recrudescence (✓)

Chapter Eighteen

Namjoon carefully reaches for YN, soul withering at how pale she looks. YN barely looks alive, her skin waxy and unanimated. He hoists her into his arms, treating her as if she may break if he moves too suddenly or breathes too hard.

Hoseok and Yoongi stand nearby, looking at YN with extreme guilt on their faces. Hoseok's body is shaking, trembling under the weight of his actions.

"She'll be okay," Yoongi voices, trying to soothe them all despite having no way to tell if his words are true.

She's alive, but barely, trapped in some limbo between the present world and the afterlife.

"What have I done?" Hoseok murmurs over and over to himself, wanting to grasp YN and shake her harshly, to tell her that her game isn't funny.

Namjoon flinches at Hoseok's thought, shielding YN from the other man, making Hoseok hate himself even more.

He should have listened to what his manager said. He should have spent less time with her. But . . .

"This is his fault," Hoseok says, looking at the scattered ash they've all trodded over, the remains of what used to be a contestant, a fan.

Pure bitterness washes over him as he lifts his foot to stomp on the ashes, to smear them all over the closet floor. Over and over and over again, Hoseok vents his frustration, his fear onto the ashes.

"Pull yourself together, Hoseok," Namjoon snaps at him, even though his emotions are the exact same, "We have to work together to get her to the underworld,"

"I - I know," Hoseok says, skin smeared with ash, "I wish I could have tortured him,"

"Maybe we can make a deal with Hades," Yoongi says, "But we have to get there first,"

With a final look of disgust at the piles of ashes, the trio exits the closet, striding with purpose. If it had just been them, they could have easily transported themselves to the underworld in a blink of an eye. But because YN is human, they have to search for and seek out a preexisting portal.

Thankfully, because Seokjin isn't nearly as stupid as he looks, BigHit is built right on top of the only remaining portal in all of South East Asia. It can be accessed from the lowest level.

Yoongi and Hoseok flank Namjoon on either side, preventing any passerby from getting a glimpse of YN. The last thing they need right now is for someone to try and ask questions.

But luck isn't on their side today. As they turn a corner, Cerberus runs smack into Jungkook. The siren opens his mouth to say something but his eyes are drawn down to the very obviously not okay YN. Panic colors his features and he reaches for her, only for Yoongi to shove him back harshly.

"What the fuck happened?" Jungkook growls out, his voice causing their ears to ring.

"Doesn't matter. We have to fix it," Namjoon says, glaring at the slightly smaller male, "And right now, you're getting in the way of that,"

Jungkook, momentarily stunned, just blinks at him. The hellhound takes his chance to move past him, continuing on their mission.

"Where are you taking her?" Jungkook calls out, jogging to catch up with their swift pace.

"The underworld,"

"Did you kill her?!" the siren shrieks, voice so jarring that the lights above burst, glass sprinkling down upon them.

Yoongi covers YN's exposed skin, protecting her from the fallout.

"If you don't stop yapping and let us go, she will die," Hoseok says, a lump growing in his throat as tears spring up, "Just . . . just tell the others that we've gone, alright? I'll explain everything when we get back,"