You're in fire.
It's so hot, you're melting in sweat, feeling the acrid scent of smoke swirl through your nose like a phantom.
Someone calls your name out with a fierce growl. A girl.
You open your eyes, shut them, open them again. "Bea?" You mumble. Was this deja vu?
"No. The other bitch," the voice says. You blink your eyes open, craning your head up to see Noel.
Ah. Your favorite person.
Her hair is messy, cheeks dusted with chalky white smoke. She no longer looks so scary to you anymore. You frown at her. "If I'm dead and you're here then I assume this is hell?"
She rolls her eyes at you. "Very funny. Get your ass up. The fire is spreading."
Fear catches in your throat and you strain yourself to stand with a grunt, feeling one of your ass cheeks go numb.
"Where's Jungkook?"
You recall your last moments with him—No, they're not going to be your last moments with him. You will see him again. You have to.
"Jungkook! Jimin!" You yell, looking through the thick smoke that clogs your vision and makes you cry.
From what you can tell, you're stuck somewhere in the Reaper's training area. There's a colorful hula-hoop stuck underneath a stone and a destroyed tent between the ruins of the tiles. There's nothing but grey bricks and crumbled pieces of equipment all around you.
Noel looks defeated but she's looking around this confined place calculatingly. "Y/N," she hisses secretively, and you turn to her. She points to a spot a little above a massive rock. "We can squeeze through that. What do you think?"
You squint. It was a hit or miss. If you do happen to squeeze past it, then great, but there was a tilted pillar on top of the rock. If that's not intact, then it'll fall right against you and the both of you will be sandwiched into a killing position.
Your heart beats rapidly as you gauge the place for better options but there's only flames of orange and yellow dancing hungrily around you, darkening anything that came close.
"It's worth a shot," you say, feeling the heat creep up to your spine. Noel nods at you curtly.
But the space to squeeze past the rock was too high up. You couldn't make it out with your short height. Noel, however, just needed to be on her tippy toes to reach the rock.
The thought makes you realize that she didn't need you. Only you needed her.
Knowing her, she would leave this hellhole without glancing back to see if you could make it.
You recall Bea. The way she betrayed you. The way you trusted her when she helped you up, only to stab you in the back the second you looked away. The thought makes a wave of pure angst claw your heart. She'll leave you.
Noel's face is sturdy–determined. She was ready to survive alone, even if it meant leaving you behind.
"Shit," you curse, feeling the hot flame burn the side of your thigh. "Hurry up," Noel says. "The fire will swallow us up. It's either now or now."
You inch closer to her. "You first."
Noel rolls her eyes at you, kneeling down under the massive rock. She brings her hands together, cupping them as a gesture for you to climb. You blink at her. "You're...making me go first?"
She gives you a wry look, tone laced with sarcasm. "What gave it away?"
Shaking your head at her, you take a deep breath before stepping on her hand, then you grab her head for support before you stretch your body up, praying to Jesus that the rock won't slip and fall against your head.
Noel lets out a groan under you. "For your size, you sure as hell weigh a megaton."
"Shut up. I'm not even--Oh my god."
Noel cranes her head up to look at you and your lips slowly tug into a smile. "I think the rock is sturdy enough."
She lets out a deep, shaky breath. "Ok then, maybe you should focus your energy on getting your big ass up and not on talking."
You bring your body up, groaning as you spread your arms towards the floor above you, using it to bring your body up. "I–I'm almost," you feel your arms burn out and just before you can make it to the other side, you hear something grind against your biceps and your heart drops. "Fucks sake."
The rock beneath your arms crumble, and you loose your balance, feeling a massive cement hit the side of your face on your way down.
Then right on top of you, the massive pillar falls, and you squeeze your eyes shut, heart caught in your throat as you wait for it to smash against your head.
But it doesn't.
Your eyes blink open in shock and you cannot believe it.
"I fucking hate you," Noel grunts, and she whimpers, carrying the massive pillar on her back to shield you from it.
The guilt and dread you feel is unfathomable. "N-Noel," you choke out, horrified. "Oh my god. Why would you do that?"
She bares her teeth, whining at the weight she carries, her face flushing red and her eyes blood shot. "Good question. I have no fucking clue why."
She's shaking, trembling, vibrating with so much struggle that you start to feel your eyes water and you immediately reach your hand up to hold the pillar, carrying the weight with her.
"Holy crap. This weighs more than the heavens we're about to see." It's deathly heavy. You're going to die.
"Help!" You yell out, and your voice makes the baby hairs on Noel's head fly.
The pillar goes lower and lower, until you're on your back and Noel's face is inches away from you. "You wish I was Jungkook, huh?" She teases, humor evident in her voice but you don't understand how it's even possible when you're both about to get smashed.
"Help!" You yell again, fighting through the tears that sting your eyes. "Someone help!"
The pillar shakes against your strength, and you groan, barring your teeth as you cry for help. "Jungkook! Jimin! Someone!"
Noel has tears in her eyes and it's a sight you thought you would never see. The look on her face is unbearable. You shake your head at her, sniffling. "Don't give up, girl. We–We can do this."
She bites back a smile, before she eyeballs something above your head. "Hey," she says, voice a whisper. "Listen to me."
You snort. "It's hard not to when your face is literally kissing me."
She swallows. "You have potential," she says. "I.. don't. You can easily slip away while I'm holding the–"
"No," you growl out, knowing exactly what she's trying to say. You shake your head at her, heart standing perfectly still. "Shut up. Shut up. Not happening."
Noel groans, her biceps stretching and stretching, her face hinting a light red color. "Y/N. Don't make this worth nothing."
"Just hold on a little longer," you urge. "Someone will help."
"The thing is," she says, pressing her lips together. "I can't hold on longer. Just look at me."
You suck in a deep breath, hating yourself for even contemplating what she's saying. "I...can't leave you."
The fire is growing, and you can feel the heat creep around you, the way the flames lick and tickle parts of your skin, leaving it to sting like a curse. You cough, trying not to burst out crying.
Then you feel her arms grow weak and the pillar is pressed against her back so hard, you can feel it in her breath. The way she can't even breathe in or she'll fall against you.
She stares at you, eyes growing intense. "I'd be damned if we both die together, Y/N. I hate you. But not enough to kill us both."
You swallow, sucking in a deep breath, before you look above your head, at the space where you have to slide your body up to save yourself.
You look back at Noel and for the first time, her lips hint a slight, genuine smile, making this so much worse. "You know," she says. "I never really hated you. I was just jealous of you. You really are gorgeous."
"Noel," you groan, tears welling up in your eyes. "You're making this so fucking difficult."
She swallows, and you watch the tears leave her eyes as she starts to cry. "I don't wnna die," she wails out, and you cry with her. "Oh girl, I would hug you but the pillar would hug us to death instead."
She laughs, and that's the last thing you hear before the pillar groans, and you take it as a sign to stretch your body up and away in front of the tight space above.
The rock above the pillar tumbles down, and you slide your body up just in time before the pillar clashes into the ground, and you close your ears so you don't hear the sound of her getting smashed under the pillar.
At some point, everything goes mute, and you cannot feel your senses. You're frozen like a rock, unable to comprehend how close you were to death. How close someone was to death just so you're not.
Then it comes to you in waves, in slaps, in bricks of emotions that hits you hard in the face and you burst into cries, wails, screams that rip through the flames around you. You're wailing so hard you don't notice the hand that's reached out to grab you from under your shoulders.
The person pulls you up towards the crack in the floor above. "Shh. You're okay."
The smoke chokes you and you cough, feeling his fingers wipe away your tears. You open your eyes to stare up at Jimin's pretty face.
"Noel–she —" you start, looking back down to the place where the pillar fell but Jimin angles your chin away from the ruins beneath you. "Look at me," he says. "You're safe. She sacrificed herself for you. You have to live to make it worth it."
There's something stuck in your throat and you can feel your insides roil. You sniffle and Jimin brings his arms around you, steadying your posture.
"Come on," he says. "Let's get you out of here."
You look around the floor. "And Jungkook?"
Jimin tenses. You stop walking, turning to him fully when he hesitates to speak. "Y/N–"
"Where is he?"
Please Lord. Please make him be alive.
Jimin grabs your arm in a vice grip, but you're stronger than him. "I asked you where is he."
At your tone, Jimin swallows, turning behind him.
"He's alive. He's fine. It's just that–there's civilians. Little kids that were stuck inside the building still. We heard their screams and we had to go back to save them. But Jungkook ordered me to find you and get you out. I heard your voice. Sorry I couldn't come sooner."
You inhale a deep, shaky breath. "Okay," you say, trying not to scream and pull all your hair out. "Okay," you mutter again. Then without a thought, you walk in the other direction, making Jimin curse.
"Y/N please don't do this. Think rationally. If something happens to you, Jungkook will murder me."
"Jungkook won't murder you because nothing is going to happen to me."
"Y/N, stop being so stubborn. We're only minutes away from making it out of the building."
You're still speed walking down the destroyed hallway, lunging over rocks and trying not to cough your lungs out. The heat is flung against you like a heavy, suffocating blanket and you feel the way it melts your bones.
You cough, so many times it turns your throat into sand paper. Into dust.
Jimin continues to call your name, nagging you to leave but there is only one thing–one goal on your mind: Jungkook. You're so elated--so happy that he's alive. Thank goodness.
There's a grim thrill in your heart when you hear surrounding voices of children. The fire is everywhere now and you're stuck, not sure how to get around it. But Jimin finds a way somehow, holding your hand in a grip that's more secure than your future.
"Step over the ledge. Good. Now take my hand." His voice was natural, lacking any form of emotion because you gave him the impression that all you care about is Jungkook and he cannot convince you to leave. He's accepted it. You're scarier than Jungkook after all.
You grab his arm, lunging over the rock before making it to the other side. And right in front of a room, you catch two girls and one younger boy waiting. You hurry towards them.
"Are you guys okay? Anyone hurt?" Their faces are coated in dirt. The two girls are dressed in ballerina outfits, most likely were in the middle of practicing when the bomb went off. You can't imagine the terror they felt. They looked no older than ten years old.
Jimin sweet talks them, distracting them while you take a peek at the ruins further into the building. Then you see him--through a cracked glassed window--a shirtless man inside with his muscles chafed with sweat that makes his skin glisten like battered honey.
Jungkook.
The ground trembles and shakes under you and it enrages you because you have no control over this--or how this will end. Whether you'll have enough time to make it out alive before the fire swallows everything.
Jungkook is in the fire. Inside. Like in it completely, stretched over on the hot, hard, unsteady ground to grab another child that's stuck under a desk that's fallen through the floor. The little kid is crying and doesn't seem to cooperate.
Heart racing like a horse, you make your way into the room through a nearly ruined door, violently coughing as the thick smoke clogs your gut. "Y/N," Jimin hisses. "Careful."
You nod, and he steps beside you, his arms wrapped around your shoulder as you stumble your way through the ruined rocks and puffs of fire all around. You owe Jimin your life for taking care of you.
The heat makes you nauseous. It's heat of a million degrees so high it's a miracle you're still alive. The sound of your breathing gives away and Jungkook's body tenses, his muscles bunch up when you say his name. Quietly but loud enough for him to hear.
He turns at the speed of light, eyes widening at you before he brings himself up to a stand. You break into a smile, and his chest falls, rises again and you can just tell he's not in a good shape.
You walk towards him and he immediately grabs your head into his chest, hugging you against his hot, racing heart.
"Oh, Red," he whispers hoarsely, pulling away to look at you. "Are you okay? Where's Noel?"
Jimin lets out a snort. "I'm doing good. Thanks for asking."
Jungkook gives Jimin a brief pat on the shoulder. "Hyung," he acknowledges. "Thank you but I told you to get Y/N out of the building. Not to come back here."
You glare at Jungkook, feeling the rage simmer in your veins. "Are you fucking kidding me? What makes you think I'd just leave you like this?"
Jimin scratches the nape of his neck, feeling awfully like a third wheeler.
You turn to Jungkook, your heart racing in your chest. "Noel--she couldn't make it. She saved my life and I couldn't even thank her." Your voice breaks and the guilt washes over you like a tide. "I'm so sorry."
Jungkook's expression hardens and he grabs you into his arms again. "It's not your fault." He kisses your forehead, before glancing at the children waiting outside where the fire wasn't strong.
"Listen to me," he says, "I need you to take the kids and go. There's three of them outside. I still need to evacuate a few more that are underground," he points to the a crack in the floor, where another child is stuck between an array of wires. "I have to do what I can before the firefighters come."
You peer over his shoulder. "I'll help you."
Jungkook's jaw tenses, and he steals a thoughtful look at Jimin before locking his gaze with you again. "You can help me by taking the kids outside with you. You and Jimin are not tall enough to help--No offense."
Fire, something hotter courses down your body like a tempest. "No," you growl, balling your hands into fists. You're not losing someone again.
"I'm staying with you."
Jungkook's grip tightens on your arm, and you watch his expression flicker into a shade of fury. "I can do this alone, Red. I need you to believe that for me."
You step closer to him as if he was going to slip away from you. "I said I'm staying with you."
Jungkook's expression darkens and you've never seen him like this. So raged and angry and furious yet so freaking sad. "You will do no such thing," he says with a grunt. "I will not allow it."
You glare at him. "For once, allow me–."
"For once," he growls at you, and you flinch "Allow me." His voice is as strong and hard as river stones. Thunder. With so much rage that you want to scream at him.
The glare in his eyes was so sharp it makes you gulp. "You've always been so fucking stubborn, Red. So fucking inflexible, uncooperative, and unwilling to ever just listen to me."
Jimin swallows. "Um. I'm gonna go wait outside and keep the kids company. Just don't try to kill each other, okay?"
Jungkook and you are only scowling at each other, ignoring Jimin as he walks away from you both, nearly stumbling on a rock on his way out.
Jungkook's chest rises and falls rapidly, the sweat dripping down his breasts. He stares at you furiously and you couldn't help but let your gaze drop down to his full lips for the briefest second.
He notices, and you watch him suck in a deep breath before he looks away. "Leave," he demands gruffly. "Please leave before I beg you to stay."
You shake your head at him, letting the tears burn your cheeks.
"Red," Jungkook hisses softly. "Stop crying." He brushes the tears away from your cheeks. "It's going to be okay. I need you to trust me."
You can't form sentences in your throat as you cry. Jungkook's eyes are glossy as he peers down at you. "Damn you, Y/N. You're cute even when you cry."
You laugh through the tears, feeling your heart knot into a stone.
Jungkook brushes his nose against yours before you hear him speak again, with a voice so gentle it kisses your heart.
"I love you," he declares, letting the delicate butterfly-words flee his lips. "I've loved you ever since we met at the monastery. I have always loved you. I just--I just didn't know how to express it because no one has ever loved me the same way. I'm sorry, Red. For taking so long. For being so late."
You freeze like a snowflake, gaze flicking to every corner of his face because you cannot believe what he just said to you. He loves you? You thought you annoyed him. You thought he hated you. Yet here he is, staring at you with his cute, big black eyes.
Then you feel something--a sudden urge to do something you've been wanting to do for a while now. It's like a magnetic pull--so strong you want to close every bit of space between you and him.
So you do it. On your tippy toes, you grab the back of Jungkook's neck and smash your lips against his.
The heat in your stomach rises, and you feel the butterflies dance in your stomach like ballerinas. Jungkook stiffens.
You press a firm hand against his chest and run your tongue along his lower lip--
A low growl leaves Jungkook's lips before he yanks your body towards him, deepening the kiss with a million times more hunger, more passion, more desperation.
He kisses you like you're all that he wanted—all that he needed. Like time was just an illusion and your souls intertwined for a brief second because you felt him, felt every part of him ignite in you so perfectly that you realized—sadly—that it was a goodbye.
He sucks your bottom lips, roves his tongue against the seam of your lips, his hot breath in your mouth, his scent drowning you into a fantasy.
Then he pulls away, pressing his forehead against yours. "What was the meaning of that?"
The beating of your heart is like an excited, fluttering bird. "It means I love you," you say, voice as shaky as your heart. "More than you can ever imagine."
Jungkook's muscles tense and he stares at you shocked, eyes glimmering at you like wet diamonds. "You--You don't meant that."
"Oh I mean ever damn word," you say, slightly annoyed he doesn't believe you. "You're the absolute bane of my existence."
Jungkook's lips slowly lift into a teasing smile before he grins at you like a bunny. "You have no idea how much I've dreamt of you saying that to me."
From the corner of your eye, Jimin peaks his head through the window from outside. "Not to be a cockblocker or anything--" he says, "--but we seriously gotta dip. The fire. And the kids... We gotta go, Y/N."
For a second, you forgot Jimin has been standing outside the whole time, witnessing everything you thought was just between you and Jungkook.
You swallow, glancing at the kids who give you an annoyed look. They look like they could push you both into the fire.
You turn to Jungkook, a massive lump in your throat. "Promise me," you say. "Promise me you'll see me outside. Unharmed. Unhurt. Very much alive and arrogant. Promise me."
Without a moment of hesitation, Jungkook pulls you into a kiss to shut you up. His tongue swipes the seams of your lips as he fists your curls into his hands, angling your head to deepen the kiss like he's only got one chance.
Then he lets go with a breath and your heartbeat catches in your throat when he steps away from you. You let the tears stream down your face and you shake your head at him. "Please don't do this to me."
But Jungkook doesn't hear you because he's already gone.
He disappears into the fire like a ghost.
~~~~~
Unedited. what the heck you guys, stop cutting onions 😡
The next time I update, it's gonna be a double update: The finale and the epilogue :) :(
I really don't want to stop writing this book ☹️