celestial strings | h.js

two.

"Take Hyunjin to the hospital," you told Seungmin. "Don't let Jisung go anywhere."

He noticed your one-way stare, and he understood it.

Felix would protest against leaving you despite being in danger himself. He was that kind of boy, that kind of friend. More importantly, he was hard to refuse and hard to upset, which were traits you were not immune to. Jisung was an even bigger problem for obvious reasons. His protests would be loud and outrageous, without a care for his safety as he charged into danger for your sake, only to almost always make things worse. He could not help you; you would never say that to his face again, but the truth remained unfortunately dear to you. In this case, confidence does not precede logic.

Seungmin, though. He who was your best friend, he who knew your way of thinking more than anyone else, he who was good at accessing situations. You looked to him because you trusted him. You looked to him because you knew he would agree with your plan and because you knew he would let you go. Even if he hated to, even if he was afraid—he kept Hyunjin's body close to his side while he tightened his grip around your hand. As the teleportation portal hovered over him, he kept his grip on your hand promising; it screamed for you to come back, come back to me, come back to all of us. He would let go when the portal closes.

"Jisung is being so loud," Seungmin laughed.

You raised your brows. "I know. I'm trying not to look–"

You got cut off and pinned against the nearest wall. The impact blown to the back of your head knocked on an uncomfortable sore spot, and a clone wrapped your neck in its hand. Your body writhed at the loss of ground, but you disregarded the pain to look off to the side where the teleportation portal was. Seungmin's eyes were wide as he looked at you. Both of his arms were circled Hyunjin's body now, and he looked like he regretted his decision to let you go. You ignored it as you reached your hand out meekly, your fingers curling shut to close it. Once it did, you deactivated the teleportation spell and recharged the strings on your forearm for an offensive attack. You slammed your fist against the clone, and it crumbled to the ground with you following it.

You caught up with the breaths you lost in those few seconds of being choked. A fleeting sensation of electricity flowed across your arms before the sting became permanent. You have used your strings for more than their intended purposes, and they were starting to fight back by taking from you. But the pain was not so severe yet. You could negate it for a better thought. Knowing that your friends were at a safer place made you feel immeasurable relief even though you were finally sent back to face the root of your trauma alone. It was always supposed to be this way, you thought. You had support along the way, but the final blow was an act only you could do.

You were always meant to face the councilman by yourself, so you would. Stumbling to stand up, you raised your head to look at the older man, and your heart dropped.

Why was Jisung still here?

This was in character of him! How did you not anticipate his rebellion? Of course, he somehow managed to step through the portal before you could close it fully! Why couldn't he just listen to you? God! Why did he always have to complicate things? All you wanted was his safety, and he flat-out refused that at every turn!

"He didn't jump through the portal," the councilman broke your aggressive chain of thoughts. "I snatched him out of there before it closed. I might have broken your friend's fingers."

"You broke Felix's fingers?" Jisung accused as he struggled against the grip a clone had on him.

"An inconsequential question." The councilman waved him off dismissively. He was only focused on you. "I've got your soulmate in my hands, so let's strike a deal, [Name]."