This isn't reaaaally proofread with how little sleep I've had ahahaha but I tried to make it make sense! Thanks for sticking with the story, enjoy reading~ <3<3<3
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Many times, Yoongi had hoped for someone to come and rescue him. He couldn't remember how many days it had been, perhaps even weeks since he was taken into the tunnels. He had been on his way to an appointment, that was all he could really remember from that day besides the dead police officer and the nightmares. But every day consisted of nightmares now. That day he was taken had started reasonably well, but everything took a turn for the worse and after that, he had started to lose hope with every day that no one but the demon came to visit him.
He wished someone would save him, yes, but his mind soon changed about that.
He shouldn't have wished for anything, really, because when the demon came and it was dragging Yoongi's beloved dongsaeng with it, Yoongi blamed himself. It was his fault, his wish that brought Taehyung here. In danger. Hurting.
But a tiny, selfish voice inside his head was glad that he was no longer alone. Having no one to talk to for days on end and living in the dark and in fear for so long messed with his head. Badly. At least now he had Taehyung to talk to. He had a reason not to give up, too, because he needed to protect Taehyung. Well, as far as protecting someone goes when you're tied up yourself...
It had been at least five or six days since Taehyung was brought here. Yoongi knew, because the demon never visited more than once a day and it had been here five times since then. Somehow, it was crazier than before. It had gotten obsessed with taking bits and pieces of Yoongi's soul, even though it wasn't necessary. It had definitely turned into a crazy addiction, though not one that would ruin the demon. Rather than that, it was Yoongi who was the one being ruined by it.
"Hyung, don't give up. He can't take all of it. I'm sure," Taehyung had told him once again yesterday, after a particularly horrible hour with the demon. Taehyung had sounded so sure about it. So sure that Yoongi would be okay after all this. But then why did he feel so empty?
Taehyung was waking up now. He groaned softly, alerting Yoongi and pulling him from his dazed state of mind. It had become easier and easier each day to fall into that far-away daze.
Taehyung was still injured from the day the demon brought him here. He told Yoongi all he remembered. The fight at the dorm, Taehyung running for it, and the demon suddenly appearing in front of him. He told Yoongi how he had had no chance to run at that point, because somehow looking into the demon's eyes was enough to put him to sleep.
And then he had woken up, being dragged into the tunnel. Taehyung had tried to fight. That's when the demon hurt him, enough so he couldn't fight back anymore. Taehyung's breathing was off, had been like that for a few days now, and Yoongi was sure one of Taehyung's legs was broken. It had probably been as easy as snapping a twig for the fully transformed demon. But that wasn't even the worst.
"Taehyung-ah..." Yoongi croaked out, his throat feeling like sandpaper. He had yelled a lot yesterday, and not only because of his own nightmares or his soul literally being ripped from his chest, but also because the demon fed on Taehyung's pain and reveled in hurting the boy and Yoongi tried to say anything to get it to stop. "T-Tae, are you awake?"
Taehyung groaned again, a bit louder this time. His eyes fluttered and closed again. Even after being passed out for a long time, he was still exhausted. He was on his stomach, arms lying on each side of his head. His leg probably hurt like hell if he lay like that for so long, but he likely didn't have the energy to turn around. Yoongi longed to help him, wished he could do anything to lessen the pain.
"Tae... are you awake?" Yoongi asked again. He was twisting his wrists subconsciously, not even registering the sharp pain that came from pulling on his already injured wrists. The restraints wouldn't budge, they never did.
Taehyung opened his eyes this time, looking straight at Yoongi but not yet completely present. He was still drowsy with sleep (and... probably pain).
"Did-"
Taehyung interrupted himself by letting out a loud wheezing sound and he flinched. He tried to curl into a ball at the pain he felt in his chest and stomach, but cried out when his – likely broken – leg moved and he felt as if his bones were on fire.
"Don't move, Tae, please," Yoongi begged. He didn't want Taehyung to hurt himself even more. He knew from the past few days that Taehyung was stubborn and moved around way too much for someone with his injuries. Not that he got far, but Yoongi worried nonetheless.
"Was it here?" Taehyung forced out, before taking a few pained breaths and squeezing his eyes shut. His hands balled to fists and there were tears in his eyes.
"No," Yoongi replied. There was a silence at that, because they both knew that meant that it wouldn't be too long until the demon came to visit. With Taehyung already in this much pain, that wouldn't promise anything but a very happy demon ready to exploit his suffering. And Yoongi would be in despair about it all, giving the demon even more emotion to feed on.
At least after it was done, Yoongi couldn't feel anything. Taehyung always passed out, which was also a blessing. A break.
"Hyung... it hurts..."
Yoongi sighed with a sad look on his face, shaking his head at the boy when he tried to move again.
"I k... know it does, Tae-yah. Ju... Just stay like that. Don't move."
Taehyung stayed still, thankfully listening to Yoongi.
Yoongi hadn't noticed the footsteps until then. His breath hitched and his anxiety spiked in a split-second when he heard them, believing wholeheartedly that the demon was here to visit them. It never really gave them the courtesy of a warning. It almost always appeared from out of nowhere, the only exception was when it dragged Taehyung in, fully transformed.
But these footsteps were fast, and they didn't come from right in front of him – where the demon would usually pop up out of thin air – so Yoongi turned to look to the right, where they came from.
Fuck, another illusion, he thought, his lips forming a thin line. He shook his head and looked away from the obvious hallucination and wondered if the demon was here and doing this to him. He never really did know when the demon was making him see things. He only figured it out once it was over, which was obviously way too late.
He heard the sound of crying and then the illusion was in front of him and he felt arms around him. Suffocating him. He panicked. This never happened before. He could never feel an illusion. Maybe he was imagining how warm the hug felt? How tight the arms were wrapped around his shoulders?
"H-Hyung, oh my god, oh m-my god we found... f-found you, oh my god!"
The crying had turned into sobbing and more footsteps echoed through the tunnel. Yoongi was confused. Confused to the point he got scared and he pulled his shoulders away from the illusion, pressing himself tightly against the pole he was tied to. He stared ahead with frightened eyes.
"Go away!" he yelled. He knew that it never worked to yell at his hallucinations, but he couldn't help it.
The illusion didn't move. It kept sobbing, even though it now stayed at a safe distance. It wasn't hurting Yoongi. Not yet. It would, probably very soon, just like all the other times the demon had messed with Yoongi's head like this.
Yoongi shook his head not unlike a wet dog, trying to shake the illusion from his mind. It didn't work. He was still hallucinating and he knew this could only mean the demon was here, messing with him.
"Please, please don't do this!" Yoongi pleaded, hoping that just this once the demon would have mercy. But demons didn't have mercy. They never did. And the illusion stayed.
"H-Hyung?"
Taehyung's voice broke him out of his scared pleas and he turned to look at the younger, seeing more illusions standing there, moving closer to his dongsaeng.
"Hyung, it's... it's them..."
Yoongi looked back at the illusion in front of him. His eyes were still wide and frightened, and he shook his head in disbelief. "They're not here, T-Tae. Illusions. A-All of them. Don't... don't fall for it!"
"We're real!" the illusion yelled at him through the sobs.
"We really are, hyung," the one standing next to Taehyung said.
"Taehyung, can you push yourself up? Can you use your arms?" the third one crouching next to Taehyung softly asked the younger. Then, when Taehyung hesitated, "Do they hurt?"
"Of course they... they hurt!" Yoongi snapped, half out of breath. The demon had some nerve making the illusions act all caring like that. "You threw him around enough to hurt... all of him!"
For a moment, nothing happened. But then the second illusion moved towards Yoongi as well. It moved its hand up and Yoongi braced himself for a slap, a punch, anything. But then the hand rested on his shoulder and squeezed softly. Their eyes met.
"Hyung. There's no need to be afraid anymore. We found you. We're here. We'll get you out."
And again, he felt it. He felt the hand on his shoulder. The squeeze. The embrace that followed the words. And it didn't make sense. No sense at all. He could never feel the touch of illusions. That was all they were, hallucinations, nothing real. But this touch was real. These eyes looked real, staring into his own.
"Namjoon-ah," Yoongi brought out, followed by a sob. Tears spilled from his eyes and he cried out even louder when he couldn't move his arms to return the embrace. It felt so familiar. So safe. Was this really their leader? Had his friends found him for real?
"I'm here," was the response that followed softly. Namjoon's sincere and calm voice couldn't be missed. In no other hallucination had he ever sounded this close to the real deal.
And then the first pair of arms embraced the two of them.
"Hyung we're... real, we're... we're getting you- and... and Taehyungie-hyung out."
It was said in between sobs, and only then did Yoongi believe that it was Jungkook. The maknae was just as real as Namjoon. And then the third boy next to Taehyung...
"Jin-hyung?" Yoongi cried out, turning his head to the eldest.
Namjoon and Jungkook let go of him so Jin could hug him, which the eldest did with as much desperation as the other two. God he had missed his eldest dongsaeng, worried so much about him. He started crying as well.
"I'm so sorry, Yoongi-yah," he sniffed, squeezing his eyes shut as he pressed Yoongi's head against his own. "I'm so sorry, I didn't believe any of you, I didn't believe until it was too late, I'm so sorry!"
Yoongi couldn't reply. He was overwhelmed. Only a minute ago he had believed there was no hope, and less than a minute ago he was frightened to death that this was another illusion, conjured up by the demon's tricks.
And then his breath hitched and he pulled his head away from Jin as if the elder was burning his skin.
"The demon," he breathed out, "it will be back today! Take... take Taehyungie away, get... get him to s-safety..." he said, sounding very much out of breath.
Namjoon still stood next to him – Jungkook had left to sit by Taehyung's side – and the leader put a hand on Yoongi's shoulder. "Hyung, breathe. It's going to be okay. We're ready to fight to get you out of here. We're not afraid."
"Right, but first we'll have to get you out of your restraints," Jin said.
"Oh, Namjoon-hyung can probably do that just fine!" Jungkook exclaimed, his teary eyes not matching the grin that formed on his face.
Yoongi frowned in confusion, blinking away his tears. Jin helped him with that, wiping away the tears from his eyes with his hands. "There you go," Jin said softly, smiling reassuringly. Yoongi couldn't believe his hyung was here, actually smiling at him and taking care of him. It seemed too good to be true.
When Namjoon magically pulled out a backpack filled to the brim with tools, Yoongi's stomach did a little flip. He felt hope. Namjoon, his friends, they were getting him out of here. For real!
"Okay, while you get started on that, I will try to message Hobi and Jimin," Jin said to Namjoon, who nodded and immediately got to work. While Namjoon brought out his tools and tried to somehow snap the cuffs around Yoongi's wrists, Jin took out the new phone they had bought and tried sending their location to the other two members along with a message of what had happened.
And Jungkook was busy comforting Taehyung, who seemed very upset that he couldn't get up and give them a hug as well, though he couldn't put it in as many words.
"Hyung, it's going to be okay, we'll get you out of here, yeah? We'll give you plenty of hugs when we help you up, okay?" Jungkook said softly, carefully rubbing circles on his back.
"Hurts..." Taehyung cried softly.
"Shit, I'm sorry!" Jungkook immediately went to pull away his hand, but Taehyung shook his head as well as he could.
"Not... not y-... not you..." Taehyung brought out, his breathing coming out in short rasps. Jungkook understood what he meant, but he frowned as he carefully continued rubbing his back.
"Hyung, I don't think you should talk, you sound really hurt," Jungkook said worriedly. He started petting Taehyung's hair as well, which seemed to calm his hyung down a bit better. Taehyung's eyes fluttered and it looked like the boy could fall asleep any moment now. Jungkook figured that would only be better, with how much pain Taehyung was in, but it scared him nonetheless.
Then he heard Namjoon's voice, followed by a soft grunt.
"Got it!"
Jungkook looked up to find Yoongi slumped over into Namjoon's arms, holding onto them to try and steady himself. It didn't look like he had much energy to do so. He was still on the floor, with Namjoon crouched in front of him, keeping him upright.
"I'll... I'll fall over i-if you let go..." Yoongi mumbled, looking embarrassed.
"Well, I won't let go then," Namjoon said with a reassuring smile. "Let me help you up. But be careful, you probably haven't used your legs much."
Yoongi huffed at that and shook his head with a bitter smile. "Once a day."
The three of them could only feel angry at those words.
"Well, I sent Hobi and Jimin a message. Told them we found Yoongi and Taehyung and that we're trying to get them out of here, but we need help," Jin said. "I added the phone number, so they can call us if they get to a phone."
"Where are they?" Yoongi asked tiredly, leaning onto Namjoon who had helped him up and was basically carrying him with how much support the boy needed.
"They're either still with the shaman or they're home."
"S-Shaman?" Yoongi asked in confusion.
Jin gave him an apologetic smile. "We'll explain everything later. Let's get you and Taehyung out of these tunnels first, okay?"
"Should we call an ambulance?" Jungkook asked.
Namjoon nodded. "Definitely," he said, looking at Taehyung, who was passed out again, "he needs immediate help. We can use finding his kidnapper and following him to find this place as a cover story. But Yoongi-hyung is a different story. No one knows he's been gone."
"Then what do we do?" Jin asked, his eyebrows furrowed into a serious frown.
"There are two things we can do. Option one; we split up, two of us stay with Taehyung-ah and wait for help to get him out of here safely, and one of us helps Yoongi-hyung outside and gets him far away from this place. Option two; we bring both of them outside and explain hyung's injuries were caused by fighting the kidnapper."
"Or option three, we all stay together in here and wait for help," Jin said.
Yoongi's eyes widened at that and he shook his head frantically. "Please, no. I-I can't stay here anymore, please."
"Hyung, you don't have to-"
"No, you don't understand! Please, please, please, don't make me stay! Please, please help me out of here, please!"
He moved away from Namjoon as if the younger was going to force him to stay here. And he couldn't stay here! The demon was going to be back today, it would probably come back very soon and if he was still here, his soul would get ripped to shreds again! He couldn't have that happen again, not now that he was finally freed from the restraints!
Jungkook was still sitting next to Taehyung, watching the situation unfold. Namjoon noticed how Yoongi had started breathing even harder than before. He was panicking and staring at Namjoon as if he was somehow going to hurt him.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Namjoon said softly, carefully holding his hands out for Yoongi to grab onto. He really didn't seem all that steady on his feet. "That's why I said there are only two options. I won't make you stay here any longer, okay, hyung?"
Yoongi hesitated, but he had to remind himself that Namjoon would never make him do anything. He nodded. "Okay..." he said carefully, returning to Namjoon to steady himself. The leader held him gently, consciously not holding him tightly so Yoongi wouldn't feel like he was forced or trapped in any way.
Jin hadn't interfered in any way, but rather tried to make himself useful by calling for help. However, there was barely enough reception in here for him to make the call, so he handed the phone to Namjoon. "You take Yoongi outside and call for an ambulance. After that, get out of here. Jungkook and I will try and see if we can move Taehyung, but if it doesn't work, we'll have to stay here."
Namjoon took the phone and looked at Jin with determination in his eyes. "I will. But I'm waiting outside for ten minutes, okay? I'm in favour of option two, after all. Sticking together. If you're not out in thirty minutes, I'll leave with hyung."
"You might not have that time, Joon," Jin said softly, giving the leader a meaningful look. Namjoon knew what it meant. There was no way they could know when the demon would appear. It could be any moment now.
"Alright, twenty minutes. And we'll hide while we're waiting for you, okay?"
Jin sighed. "Alright. Be quick. Call an ambulance. Maybe message Hobi and Jimin again. Then hide."
Namjoon nodded. "Roger that."
And so he left with Yoongi, leaving the other three in the tunnel.
Yoongi had a hard time comprehending that he was actually being rescued. He kept looking around in confusion and occasionally glanced at Namjoon. He was trying to figure out if there was a chance this wasn't real. But how could it not be? He didn't get hurt, he was freed, and he had felt the hugs of his friends. And the demon was good at creating realistic illusions, but it had never created one that included feeling anything, such realistic voices, and the actual emotion in their eyes.
"Namjoon-ah, when did you find out?"
Namjoon grimaced and looked forward, keeping a steady pace as he helped Yoongi walk. "Taehyungie told us. A few weeks ago. A few of us had a hard time believing him. That's... that's why we took so long. I'm so fucking sorry about that, hyung."
Yoongi shook his head. "Not your fault," he mumbled.
"Jin-hyung said we'd explain everything outside, but I guess I can start now," Namjoon said.
And he told Yoongi about the things that happened before they got to the safe house. How Jungkook and Taehyung were tormented by the demon, without anyone knowing. How Taehyung had to hide everything he knew because he was threatened that Yoongi would get hurt instead. He told Yoongi about the interview and how the demon slipped up, making everyone who didn't know already suspicious. And then Taehyung told them. And they had to hide that they knew.
And then he told Yoongi about the day the demon found out they knew... and how they had tried to fight it, but it managed to defeat all of them and take Taehyung.
Yoongi listened to all of it in silence, trying to process everything. When he heard about the fight at the dorm, he felt his eyes fill with tears.
"God... you could've died," he brought out weakly.
Namjoon grimaced. "The demon was very clear that it still needed us alive. Taehyung... not so much. We were really scared it would hurt Taehyung."
"It did," Yoongi replied, the tears silently spilling. "T-Taehyungie is very hurt. His leg is... is b-broken, I think, and he got... hurt and... and thrown around a lot-" he interrupted himself by coughing when he felt difficulty with breathing, Namjoon holding him still.
"Do we need to stop for a moment? Your breathing isn't all that great, hyung."
"Just tired," Yoongi said, refusing to stop any longer and forcing himself to keep walking. Namjoon could do nothing but help him.
"Taehyungie... he might have... damage to his lungs. He's been breathing weirdly for a few days."
Namjoon bit his lip and checked the phone. "We'll call an ambulance as soon as we get reception. Taehyung will be okay."
They walked for only a few minutes longer until they reached the door to the small room they had started in. As soon as they walked through the door, the phone started beeping from all the messages and missed phone calls.
Yoongi blinked at the phone, while Namjoon stared at it in surprise, his eyes wide.
"Well at least there was some reception in there, because Hobi and Jimin definitely got Jin-hyung's message," Namjoon said, looking at all the texts that were signed off with Hoseok's name.
"Call an ambulance," Yoongi reminded him, still out of breath.
Namjoon did so, and when they finally walked outside, into the fresh air, the person on the phone told him that they would be there in five minutes. Namjoon thanked them and hesitated about who to call next. Manager Sejin, because they had found Taehyung? Hoseok and Jimin? Taehyung's family?
Okay, definitely had to wait with the latter. He opted for calling Hoseok and Jimin, but then the phone screen flashed and a caller ID was shown. The guys were faster, already calling him. He quickly picked up the phone.
"Hey guys, this is Namjoon."
"NAMJOON-AH, WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL FOR AGES!" Hoseok's voice screeched through the phone. Yoongi teared up again when he heard the voice of his dongsaeng.
"You only got the phone number half an hour ago though?"
"HALF AN HOUR, JOON! AND WE WERE ALREADY LATE!"
Namjoon frowned at that. "Late? Late for what? Did something happen?"
"YES SOMETHING HAPPENED, AND IF YOU HAD PICKED UP THE PHONE EARLIER THEN-"
"Hyung, please, just tell him, stop yelling, there is no time!" Jimin's voice sounded.
Namjoon and Yoongi both had bad feelings about this. They locked eyes and saw that they were thinking the same thing.
"Jimin-ah, you tell me."
"Hyung, we got home after meeting with the shaman. We have his number. But when we got home, the... the fake Yoongi... the- the demon it... it just screamed at us when not all five of us arrived, it was demanding where you guys were and..."
"And what, Jimin?" Namjoon asked impatiently.
There was a moment of silence.
"I couldn't say anything for it to believe us, hyung. It's coming for Yoongi and Taehyung now."