Yunho POV
We sneak around the corner and look out for any soldiers.
"We lost them, search the rooms!", I hear someone shout in the distance.
"Where are we going?", San asks.
"I am searching for the stairs. I think the bedrooms might be on the second floor.", Hongjoong answers.
Hopefully it is not too far. I feel pretty miserable. My shoulder is hurting, I am sweating and feel dizzy and weak.
San has his arm around my waist to support me even though he is hurt himself. The woman that we met looks around nervously while we make our way through the castle.
We find a staircase that leads upstairs.
Two guards stand directly in front of it.
"We need to distract them.", I whisper. In this moment a soldier comes around the corner.
"Intruders!", he screams which also alerts the guards at the stairs. We run through the castle, sometimes barely dodging soldiers who are trying to stop us and othertimes fighting our way free, until we reach the staircase again. At the top of it wait two more soldiers who try to block our way. After a short fight we are able to get past them but alert even more soldiers additionally to the soldiers from downstairs. We run through the corridor when suddenly a door next to us opens. It's Yeosang! He knocks out the soldiers next to his door and joins us.
"I am so glad to see you!", he exclaims. He takes a quick glance at Marsola.
"Who is that?"
Before anyone can answer, a loud screams comes from a few corridors away.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"
It sounds like we woke up Yeosang's father. Yeosang motions us to follow him. I feel like I am about to pass out but I can't stop now if I want to stay alive. We run back to the stairs into the arms of a bunch of soldiers.
"Move out of the way!", Yeosang shouts.
Funnily enough, they instinctively do what he says. We run past them down the stairs.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PRINCE YEOSANG IS A TRAITOR! DON'T FOLLOW HIS ORDERS!!!", someone screams from upstairs.
From the stairs Yeosang leads us a completely different way to where we came from. A bunch of soldiers gather together to block our way. Yeosang tells us to move back and turn left.
After a few turns, we run down some small stairs and get to a hallway. A bunch of servants are hanging around here and some of them get pushed to the side by us.
"Sorry, we need to get through!", Yeosang shouts.
"STOP THEM!", someone shouts a few seconds later from the end of the corridor. But by that time we have already entered a bedroom. Someone left a window open. We quickly climb through it. There is no time for a pause. We take each other by the hand and walk through the pitch black night.
"Yunho are you okay? Your hands are really cold.", Yeosang asks.
"No, I am not. I feel like I am about to faint and my shoulder hurts really bad."
"We're almost free. Stay strong for just a bit longer."
After walking for a few minutes, we apparently reach a fence. Yeosang starts climbing over it.
"Be careful! It has sharp spear-like ornaments at the top.", Yeosang warns us.
He doesn't climb down the other side and instead waits for me. Hongjoong and San help me up and Yeosang grabs me once I reach the top. With their help I make it over the top. Yeosang then climbs down, grabs me from behind and makes sure I safely make it to the ground without making my injury worse. The others follow quickly.
"We need to meet up with the others now. Since they are going back to the prison they might need help. Marsola where is that house that you mentioned?", Hongjoong asks.
"Wait the others are going back into the prison?", Yeosang asks confused.
"They are saving Wooyoung.", San explains.
We grab each other by the hand and Marsola leads us to the house while San explains what happened after he gaves us his brooch.
We reach the building. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere but I can see the light from the barracks not too far away. The door is open and there are voices coming from the inside. As we get closer I see our friends surrounded by a lot of soldiers and the doctor who was taking care of my wound at the door. Yeosang immediately storms inside.
"STOP!", he screams while we catch up to him. Everyone looks at him confused before the soldiers start bowing to him. Jongho, Wooyoung, Seonghwa and Mingi use this moment to get away and hide behind us. Jongho's arm seems to still hurt and Seonghwa is limping.
"Prince Yeosang, I heard you are a traitor. I expected nothing less. The way you kept crying every time somebody got hurt and were trying to look away or flee when I was teaching you something, made it very clear that you are a weakling. I shouldn't even call you prince. You are never going to become king if you keep being such a scaredy-cat. You can't even cut someone's finger off. That valet made you so weak.
And then you ran away! Like a coward! At least you came back as a little bit more of a man. I was happy to hear that I have the honor to torture the man that made fed you these lies and made you soft. Don't think that you can run away again, I won't let you escape!", the doctor utters. Meanwhile Yeosang motions us to slowly walk backwards out the door.
Except for him we are already a few steps away from the house once the man stops his monolog.
"Yeah, I don't care what you have to say. So, uhm, bye.", Yeosang says.
We all start running away. Wooyoung carries Seonghwa. The doctor and the soldiers chase after us. I see the lights of the city get closer with every step. But the closer we get the blurrier the lights get. I stumble over something but catch my fall with my hands which makes my shoulder hurt again.
My vision turns black, I can only hear footsteps around me and feel someone picking me up before I pass out.
The first thing I see when I wake up is Mingi's face. His eyes are swollen and red as if he had cried a lot.
"Are you awake?", he asks.
I look around. It looks like I am in a sort of basement. There are five other beds here, all of which are either occupied by one of my friends or another injured person.
"Where are we?"
"In the base of a rebellion group."
Rebellion group? Here? I thought Yeosang's dad always kills everyone immediately that is against him. How did this group manage to survive?
"How did we get here and are the others okay?"
"Marsola led us here. Apparently her lover is a part of this group. With their help we managed to hide from the soldiers that were following us. The others are fine. Yeosang, Wooyoung and I are unwounded and the others had their wounds treated and are resting as you can see. Their wounds aren't too bad though."
I nod. There is a moment of silence before Mingi all of a sudden starts crying and hugs me.
"I thought you would die.", he mumbles.
I put my arm around him and giggle about his cuteness.
"It's just a shoulder injury and a fever. I don't die that easily."
We stay in that position for a while before Wooyoung and Yeosang come in.
"Oh Yunho, you're awake!", Yeosang exclaims.
"Puppy!!!", Wooyoung shouts and comes to my bed to kiss my forehead.
I hear Jongho in the bed next to me sigh.
"Some people want to rest here, Wooyoung.", Hongjoong mentions.
"Sorry!"
"How are you feeling?", Yeosang asks, trying his best to keep his voice down.
"Okay. I am still a bit dizzy and weak."
"Are you hungry?", Mingi asks.
"I am starving.", I admit.
Mingi leaves the room to get something to eat for me.
"How long was I knocked out?"
"For more than a half day. It's afternoon now.", Yeosang answers.
I nod.
"What have you two been up to? And what is this rebellion group like?"
"They are pretty nice. Around twenty people belong to this group. This is the house of their leader. Apparently they meet up here every three days and injured people that either are hiding from the soldiers or can't afford a doctor are brought here.", Wooyoung tells.
"Their main goal is to help people who have experienced injustice through my father but they hope to eventually dispossess him. They have apparently existed since two years and until now they seem to be doing pretty good. We corrected some of their plans of the castle and information they got.", Yeosang explains.
"What did they say when they saw you? Weren't they angry at you?"
"No, apparently the word that I am not on my father's side spreads pretty fast."
I nod.
Mingi comes back with a bowl of rice with meat, vegetables and mushrooms and a cup of tea.
"I could only get some leftovers of our lunch. I hope that's okay."
We keep talking until the evening. Since Seonghwa, San and I don't feel well enough to stand up at eat at the dinner table the others eat with us in the bedroom.
"What are we going to do next? We still need the key but we haven't found any clues.", San asks.
"I went to the library and read some books. I couldn't get through all of them but I found out that the Salcrito Prince buried the things that he didn't burn that belonged to his ancestors on a small island west from here. It's probably the tiny one that's 2-3 hours from here.", Yeosang says.
"I guess we could check that out. Otherwise I would want to leave from here as fast as possible. Yeosang's father probably won't let go of him so easily. If we go to an other country they will have a harder time following us.", Hongjoong states.
All of a sudden Marsola and a man come in.
"Hello, how are doing? Are you guys feeling better?", she asks.
"Yes, we are feeling much better.", Seonghwa replies.
"That's good to hear. This is my boyfriend by the way."
"Hello, my name is Lyram. Thank you for saving my girlfriend from the dungeon."
"I just wish that we could have saved everyone.", I mumble.
"Hopefully our group will change things for the better, so that innocent people don't even end up there."
"I also wanted to formally thank you again. I would be a cripple now if it weren't for you. So really, thank you."
After some talking, they two leave again.
"I am kind of jealous. I wish I had a girlfriend too.", Yeosang mumbles.
"Too bad. That you and Sophia couldn't date and that she got married to someone else.", Wooyoung says.
"Sophia?", I question.
Yeosang smiles and blushes. He nervously scratches his nape before he answers:
"Wooyoung and I would sometimes sneak into a bar in the late evening.
I met her there when I was a teenager and we caught feelings for each other but we decided that it would be the best to just be friends since it would be difficult to be together. Then I didn't see her for a year or so. When I asked her friend about her she said that she got married."
"Ah,that's too bad.", Jongho comments.
"And what about you, Wooyoung?"
"Ahh.. ehm, I tried dating two girls but both times it ended because we only could see each other at the bar.", Wooyoung tells shyly.
"Yeah, I had a similar problem. Me and my ex-boyfriend broke up because we couldn't see each other. We tried to keep in contact through letters but as I mentioned letters to other countries are expensive, so we lost contact and broke up.", Hongjoong mentions.
"I also had a relationship before but it was a bit on and off and didn't work out in the end.", Mingi confesses.
"At least you guys had relationships. I either was too shy to speak to my crushes or they didn't like me back.", I say.
"Yeah I also was always too shy.", Jongho adds.
"I never had a crush.", San utters and pouts.
Seonghwa has been looking on his blanket the entire time. He has propped one leg up with his chin resting on his knee. There's a sad expression on his face. He must have remembered his fiancée. Wooyoung seems to have notice too because he climbs into his bed and pokes his face.
"What's with the long face? You look more handsome when you smile."
Wooyoung kisses Seonghwa's cheek. The older guy giggles and rubs his cheek.
"Why do you always have to do that?!"
Wooyoung laughs and hugs him.
We talk for a bit longer but Yeosang, Wooyoung and Mingi are slowly starting to fall asleep. Wooyoung is still holding onto Seonghwa and resting against his arm, Yeosang keeps falling forward before he sits straight up again and assures us that he is still awake just to doze off seconds later. Mingi has fallen asleep with his arms crossed and his head resting on them on my bed. I keep running my fingers through his hair while we're talking.
After Yeosang almost falls off his chair, Hongjoong drags him into his bed and we decide to call it a day and go to sleep. Jongho quickly helps me to get Mingi into my bed since I don't want him to wake up with back pain tomorrow.
"Wait, why do I not have someone to cuddle with? Jongho don't you want to sleep here?", San complains and taps on the small empty space next to him. Jongho looks at him unimpressed before he blows out the candle on his nightstand. I also blow my candle out and close my eyes.
I wake up in the middle of the night because I feel Mingi's nails dig into my arm. My best friend is shivering and crying in his sleep. I immediately try to wake him up. Mingi opens his eyes and looks at me.
"Did you have a nightmare?", I whisper.
Mingi nods and wipes away his tears.
"I dreamed that we were getting tortured in the dungeon and Yeosang's father was laughing at us."
I hug him and carress his back.
"Luckily we are out of there. So it's never going to happen."
Mingi nods and closes his eyes again.
"I won't let anybody hurt you."
Author's Note:
I know, it's been a while again. As I mentioned I went to Berlin to see Ateez. It was amazing I had VIP on the first day and sitting on the second. I had a bit of an awkward moment with Hongjoong where I noticed him and waved at him a bit late and he was about to go to the next section but then noticed me and waved at me.
Anyways as a souvenir from the trip I brought a stomach flu with me and also mentioned I had a funeral to attend, so I didn't have as much time and energy to write. I am sorry that it's late again. 🙈
I hope you liked it though.