It wasn't blood that hit your face like you had anticipated, it was more like water. Taehyung was confused at your cries of pain as he held you. You heard another swing of a sword and someone hit the ground. Then you heard someone crash into a wall, you felt the impact in your arm as if you yourself had hit the wall. But you were still standing, with Taehyung supporting you. You heard something clatter on to the floor and were able to make out what looked like a bloody kitchen knife.
Taehyung turned, his back was uninjured and the guard who had swung at you was lying on the floor, he must've been killed. Then you saw Yoongi who was barely holding himself up against the wall. It looked as if the ocean was spilling out of his body at his wound.
He looked over his shoulder at you and Taehyung and smiled, "I got here just in time."
He nearly collapsed but you ran to him, brushing past Taehyung, barely making it in time to catch him and slowly lower him onto the ground.
"You didn't get hurt, right, Leggy?" His voice was weak and you scrambled to try and apply pressure to his wound, but it was too large for your hands to be effective.
"I-I'm fine, but why would you do that!?" You choked out the words trying to hide the pain you felt, not just physically.
"I didn't want you to get hurt because of me," he replied, still smiling.
Your hands were soaked in seafoam as tears threatened to fall from your eyes. You quickly turned to Taehyung,
"Taehyung help me!" You begged, he stood still, the wound was too large for the two of you to be able to do anything. Neither of you had medical supplies, and no one would help you in the castle. You saw the solemn expression on his face and you turned back to Yoongi, who was still smiling, "You're gonna be fine, I promise we'll get you out of here and bring you back to camp, they'll help you there."
He chuckled, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Leggy."
You ignored him, "Taehyung help me carry him."
"Y/N," Yoongi said, his tone changing to be much more serious, "You should go, I'm content now that I've lived my life with you."
"I won't leave you to die!" You wailed, snapping back to Taehyung, "Taehyung, please! Do something!"
"I'm sorry," He murmured.
"Stop!" You yelled, squeezing your eyes shut, "It's not fair! I didn't get to live my life with you, Yoongi!"
You opened your eyes, your vision was blurry as you looked at Yoongi. He couldn't comfort you anymore, all he could offer was the same stupid smile. You sobbed bringing him close to you and gripping on to him as if it would make him stay longer. You didn't know what else to do, until finally, all that was left was seafoam slipping out of the palms of your hands. You stared at it like it was mocking you as if to say it was your fault he had slipped out of your reach. You leaned over bringing your hands to your chest as you wailed. Gripping your wrist where the scar of his name was still engraved in your skin.
Taehyung let you mourn for a moment before approaching you, placing a hand on your shoulder.
"Y/N..." He began, "I know it's not a good time... but we need to leave..."
You nodded, but no matter how hard you tried you couldn't pick yourself up off the ground. Taehyung brought you closer, sliding an arm underneath your legs to pick you up. He carried you bridal style out of the castle. You felt numb, you had lost several people since Philomena took over, but never had you witnessed someone's death with your own two eyes. And not only that, you could feel everything.
You bit your lip and buried your face into Taehyung's chest to prevent yourself from sobbing and giving yourself away as he ran through the castle. You couldn't remember much of the trip back, all you could remember was Yoongi's smile as he died in your arms.
"Oh thank god," You heard Namjoon's voice break through your thoughts.
Were you back already?
You heard Namjoon call out something and footsteps approaching. Two new voices spoke but you weren't paying attention. Your face was still buried in Taehyung's chest and you hands refused to let go of his shirt. The only way you could keep yourself from crying was by focusing on his familiar scent and reminding yourself of memories from your childhood. But even then, you thought of Yoongi and how he saved you when you were younger.
"Y/N, is it okay if I put you down?" Taehyung said. His voice was gentle, like it had always been when he comforted you.
You slowly nodded letting go of his shirt as he lowered you on to the ground. Your knees buckled as you put your weight on them, so you continued to lean on Taehyung for support.
"I have to get my injuries checked out, will you be okay if I leave you with him?" Taehyung motioned towards Namjoon.
You nodded again, Namjoon reached out to you and you took his hand and watched as Hoseok ushered Taehyung off to a tent. Your legs still felt weak but you managed to make your way to your tent with Namjoon as your support. As you made your way back you passed by Jimin and Seokjin, but you were too emotionally exhausted to greet them. You caught their expressions as you passed, and both of them appeared to be concerned.
Eventually, you reached your tent and Namjoon helped you sit down on your mat. He quickly looked over you to make sure you weren't hurt before sighing in relief.
"I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you, then maybe you wouldn't have gone." He began, "Can you tell me what happened?"
You opened your mouth to explain but as the memories hit you again your face broke and sobs escaped your lips. Your body shook violently as you hid your face in your hands to try and keep yourself from appearing so weak. Namjoon stood still before gently pulling you close to him and running his hand through your hair.
"Tell me what happened, I'll try to fix it." He said gently.
You shook your head, "Y-you can't."
"Why not?"
"B-because... I failed..." You choked out, "I-I couldn't s-save him..."
"What do you mean? Your friend is fine."
"No! N-not Taehyung... Y-Yoongi..." Even saying his name made you cry more.
"What about Yoongi?"
"He's dead..." You paused, "He's dead and it's my fault... I failed him."
Namjoon froze, "Dead?"
You nodded quickly, "I watched it... I went in there in the first place to save him and now I'm the reason he's dead."
"Y/N..." He murmured, "I'm sorry."
All you could do was sob. You don't remember how long you cried for as Namjoon comforted you. But eventually he had to leave, Jimin replaced him shortly after.
"I heard what happened." He said gently as he approached your mat.
You stared up at the ceiling blankly as you laid on your mat.
"Namjoon told me that you might want company, but if you want to be alone right now I can leave." He continued.
"No," you spoke, barely above a whisper, "Please stay."
He didn't hesitate for a moment before sitting down beside you. He gently took your hand, caressing your knuckles with his thumb.
"I'm sorry, Y/N," he began, "Maybe if I had gotten here sooner... or if I never left to begin with this wouldn't have happened."
You sat up and gently placed your hand on the side of his face caressing his cheek.
"I take full responsibility for what happened, had I not overestimated capabilities this wouldn't have happened. Yoongi would still be-" You choked on your words as tears threatened you yet again, "None of this is anyone's fault but my own. No one should blame themselves for this except for me."
"I'd rather you blame someone else." Jimin said, placing his hand over yours, "Please blame me, or anyone for that matter. Anyone but yourself, because I don't want to see you beat yourself up over this."
"But it is my fault."
"Yoongi chose to throw himself in front of that sword, you didn't make him do it." He stated.
"He only did it because of the curse."
He sighed, "Why are you so damn stubborn, even now?"
"I'm sorry..."
"Stop apologizing."
"I-" You stopped yourself before you could say you were sorry again.
"There, that's better. You need to be more forgiving to yourself, you need to care about yourself more." He stated, "You need to love yourself more than the people around you, you need to be selfish."
"Jimin, I-"
"If not for yourself, be selfish for me. Does that make you feel better about it?"
You stayed silent. You didn't know how to respond. Is this Jimin's way of telling me he cares about me? You thought to yourself.
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Double update!
I felt bad about the cliffhanger, so here you go. I'm going to try to finish this story up so I can work on Years Like No Other and Stars. Plus I have plans for a few other stories afterwards but those won't be until after I've finished my other ongoing stories.
Also! There's only a few chapters left before I start publishing the different endings and I wanted your guys' input on this. Whose endings do you want to see first, because I will likely publish them at different times so there isn't a super long wait in between the last chapter and all the endings. I was thinking of publishing them in order of who was introduced at the beginning, which would be Taehyung, Yoongi, Jimin, Jungkook, Hoseok/Namjoon, then Jin. But I'll leave it up to you, whoever I see has the most requests will probably be the one who gets the ending published first.
Thanks for reading!