Chapter 22: Whatever It Takes
The chill of the damp night filtered in through the windows as Rosie's eyes cracked open, and a ridiculously painful, sharp pain struck her head. She forced her eyes to remain open despite how much her body protested. She felt hard metal beneath her.
She realized that she was bound and captive in the back of one of the vans that Jungkook and the Azures used to transport shipments. She glanced down at her aching wrists, chained in cuffs, actual metal cuffs- Jungkook wasn't taking any chances- and watched them bore into her wrists like her skin was paper.
She felt the all too familiar sensation of a gag in her mouth, likely some dirty cloth Alan had lying around. She tried to sit up, but felt the pain weigh her down. She had a concussion. She'd studied them, treated them, seen them time and time again. She needed to rest. She peered up, eyes finding Alan as the only one in the car, far at the front, driving frantically.
Rosie tried desperately to push at the doors, seemingly welded shut before her.
Escape attempts were futility in its finest form.
Rosie felt her lids close, and she lashed out, desperately trying to speak, to scream, to cry, even.
Darkness enveloped her once more.
She dreamed of Jennie.
When Rosie woke the second time, she was met by the freezing air of the very early morning, sending shivers up and down her spine.
The van doors had opened, revealing more pitch black darkness, the early hours of the morning as frigid and unwelcoming as Alan and Irene's faces.
"You made it in one piece, Alan." Irene sighed, eyeing Rosie with great disdain.
"Hardly." Alan mumbled, watching Rosie's eyes open. "She didn't come easily."
"And what of the other part of Jungkook's plan?" Irene asked nervously, concern tingling her tone.
"Jennie lives." Alan's voice shook with indiscernible terror.
Irene's expression, although dim in the light, was etched with relief. "Good." She breathed quietly.
Rosie growled before she even knew what she was doing.
She tried to ignore the rush of relief that swept over her.
Jennie was alive.
Her Jennie.
She felt a deep pit of turmoil arise within her. If Jennie knew she was missing -and by now, she did- she was going to come looking for Rosie.
Rosie wanted her to move on, to forget. Rosie wanted her to be safe.
Rosie didn't want to be rescued if she knew it would endanger Jennie.
Irene's blonde hair was falling around her shoulders, her piercing eyes flaring when she locked gazes with Rosie. "I was expecting more from Jennie." She murmured, a smirk painting itself on her lips. "Then again, one could make the argument that Jennie was simply using you to get over me."
Rosie shook with anger, rage swelling in her chest. How dare she. How dare she break Jennie's heart. How dare she utter Jennie's name on her lips of deceit.
"Oh, have we never formally met?" Irene asked with a wry smile.
Rosie's heart was hammering. The last time she'd seen Irene, she'd given her a shiner to remember her by, and judging by the bruise that clouded the beauty's forehead, she hadn't forgotten.
"The gag, Alan." Irene ordered, her voice icy, cold. "She can scream, there's no one this far out."
Alan sighed, yanking Rosie forward, wincing as he tore out the gag.
Rosie spat, choking as a fresh wave of air hit her throat. "Don't." She growled, pushed against the van exterior by Alan, who was keeping her from trying anything. It wasn't like she could fight, or run, as she was bound to the extremes. She had to endure.
"Don't what?" Irene asked, lips twitching in a smile.
"Don't talk about her." Rosie warned, voice low and threatening.
Her bravado was brave. She certainly wasn't in a position to be making threats.
Rosie's eyes could barely see in the mist of the morning, but judging by the lack of sound, they were far off from the city, towards the scrapings of countryside and wilderness within a few hours' drive.
"Where's Jungkook?" Rosie demanded, her voice cold, unwavering.
She needed to think like Jennie. Jennie was strong, brave, unafraid. Rosie knew she couldn't break. She knew she had to think like her girlfriend.
Irene blinked, rather unimpressed. "He will be joining us here. I think you'll like what he has in store for you. After all, you're in love, right?" Her voice was teasing, brutally true.
Rosie bit her lip to keep from uttering a reply to get her killed. She needed to keep a level head.
"Oh, you think Jennie's coming to get you?" Irene let out an amused laugh, hauntingly beautiful and melodious, and Rosie had to wonder what kind of person she was before she betrayed Jennie.
"Rosie..." Irene took a step towards her, eyeing her with scrutiny. "Don't fool yourself. Jennie is a killer, a businesswoman. She never loved you. You were something to warm her bed at night, something to fuck her anger out into."
Rosie felt rage boiling within her. She knew how wrong Irene was, how she'd mischaracterized Jennie's soft fluttering kisses, her whispers of adoration, the way she'd held Rosie and worshipped her like she was some heavenly body.
"You bitch." Rosie muttered lowly, practically foaming at the mouth. "You never deserved her. She trusted you! She loved you! She would have protected you, if you just trusted her!" Rosie seethed, roaring into the black abyss of the night.
Irene struck Rosie across the face, back handing her, sending her falling over into the hard, packed dirt beside the van. Rosie could feel blood oozing from her lip, her eye stinging. She couldn't help the rage that welled up within her.
If Jennie wasn't coming to save her, she was sure as hell going to make her last words count. Spitting out blood, she leaned up, eyes finding Alan, who'd been quietly cowering in the corner.
"And you." Rosie growled, low and guttural. "Her family's most trusted friend? Their loyal servant?" She spat. "You helped rob her of all she had left!" She shook with anger still.
Irene watched the way Alan's expression shifted, guilt overtaking his features. It was clear that he still cared for Jennie, for the family. Why was he committing this atrocity? Blindly following Irene and Jungkook? What had they offered him?
"Jennie's not here, Roseanne!" Irene hissed, her aggressive side showing as Rosie felt yet another, harder blow to the face, crying out in pain. "No one to protect you from your own idiocy."
Crimson blood trickled from Rosie's nose, and she felt her eye shut in absolute searing pain. She struggled to breathe as Irene placed an aggressive kick to her ribs, and Rosie screamed in agony, almost sure that they were broken. She was a doctor, but she couldn't think rationally. All she could imagine was Jennie. Protecting her, coming for her.
But that was selfish, and she knew better.
"Hey!" A voice sounded from the corner, and leaning against the van was Chanyeol Park, hands shackled, feet bound, his face absolutely bruised and beaten in. "That's enough! Why don't you leave her the fuck alone!" His voice was hoarse.
Irene made a movement to step forward, to block Rosie from moving, but her phone buzzed in that moment, filling the tensest of silence's, like Rosie's utterances of pain. "It's Jungkook." She muttered, turning to Alan and arguing something in a hushed whisper. Alan's eyes widened, and Rosie felt anger pool within her broken body, not for herself, but for Jennie. For his cowardice. For his betrayal.
Rosie seized the opportunity of a little distraction. She turned her head back to her nameless defender.
Rosie's eyes widened in recognition as she spat out the blood pooling in her mouth, feeling her entire body protest yet again. "Chanyeol..." She whispered, shaking her head. "No, no, what happened?" Rosie dragged herself over to him, gingerly taking her shackled hands to cup his face, his hands reaching out to her ribs to inspect the damage.
"Kook fucking lost it." Chanyeol muttered, his voice strained. "When I heard he was going to attack, to take you, I tried to leave, Princess, I tried to warn you." He wheezed, head bowed. "What happened?"
Tears welled in Rosie's eyes as she felt her soul collapse in on itself. How many people needed to get hurt because of her?
"They're dead, Yeol." She whispered, and he winced visibly, hearing of the death of his comrades. "They attacked, and we..."
"Fuck." Chanyeol growled, lowly. "FUCK!" He roared louder. He watched Irene whisper something to Alan, his eyes narrowing.
"The girls?" Chanyeol growled questioningly. "Manoban? Jeon?"
It was heartwarming to see her "brother" still had familial inclinations and loyalties to the right side.
Rosie wanted to laugh. The right side? As if there were such a mythical thing. She knew it now, all too well. She was no longer the doctor with the glimmer in her eyes, and hope in her heart. She was realistic, stronger, battered. She knew she didn't care, she couldn't hold any convictions against Jennie. She was in too deep. Rosie would follow her until the ends of the earth.
"They're alive." Rosie whispered, wishing death upon herself to somehow cope with the immense pain.
"Do you know where we are?" Rosie murmured, her hands dropping to her sides.
"No. Not a fucking clue. We're gonna fucking die here, Park." Chanyeol muttered.
Rosie could hear Irene arguing with Jungkook and Alan with hushed whispers over the phone. "Jungkook. Do not let your feelings get the best of your judgement-" she hissed convincingly.
She couldn't hear his rebuttal, but she imagined he didn't enjoy being told what to do from someone he considered a pawn.
"Oh, now it's too far?" Irene demanded angrily.
Rosie felt her heart skip a beat. Was Jungkook defending her? Where was he? What was his goal, his angle, his purpose?
"Alan shot at her." Irene declared haughtily. "Not me."
Alan offered a meek apology, something about being startled.
"Jeon." Irene spoke chillingly, hands tightening around the phone. "If you can't do it, I will."
Rosie knew that, no matter how she looked at it, death awaited her at every turn.
***
Wes had been reduced to a bloody, whimpering pulp, the shell of a man he once was.
Jennie had been ruthless, merciless, and brutal. She'd embodied the colonel she was expected to be.
Mostly, she missed Rosie.
She'd spent nearly four straight hours terrorizing Wes. She'd broken bones, even knocked a few teeth out. She made him writhe and scream in agony.
And yet, she was unable to draw forth a confession, a piece of Intel, anything substantial at all.
Jennie's head was throbbing. There was a reason he was Jungkook's lieutenant, much like Jisoo was Jennie's. He was tough, and Jennie had pushed him far over the breaking point. He was curled up, clutching at his battered body, begging Jennie with silent, pitiful whimpers.
It was almost as if he'd assumed that she wouldn't go through with the brutality, the atrocities she'd just committed.
He'd taken to apologizing, then.
He cowered as Jennie towered above him, his split lip quivering as he murmured, "I'm....I'm sorry....Rosie...was a hero."
And it was the subtle use of the past tense that sent Jennie spiraling over the edge of her own sanity.
"Was?" Jennie whispered, bile rising in the back of her throat.
Wes flinched as he nodded painstakingly slowly. "I'm...I'm sorry...." He swallowed a bit of blood before continuing. "Jeon...said...she loved...you...."
Jennie's eyes were tearing up, a choked sob escaping her lips as she yanked her gun from its holster. He jammed it to the side of Wes' bruised temple, her lips quivering with unvented sorrow. "No..." She whispered.
Wes saw his way out. The only way to escape the clutches of a ruthless, hell bound Jennie Kim.
He took it.
"Rosie's...dead...by now..." He spoke through gritted teeth. "They...played...you."
Jennie felt a part of her soul die instantly. The part that was human, the part that loved Rosie with soft whispers and delicate brushes of lips on blushing skin.
The final shred of her humanity.
Jennie pulled the trigger, and ended Wes' life with a shot that echoed and shook every wall surrounding her, including those she'd let down in her heart for Rosie.
***
Jisoo had placed a gentle kiss to Lisa's temple, the signs of worry quite obvious from her glance alone.
"What is that brilliant mind of yours busying itself with now?" Jusoo murmured, watching the way Lisa threw her phone across the table in exasperation.
Lisa visibly relaxed under her lips, and Jisoo took in a breath wearily, tired of waiting on word from Jennie. It'd been nearly four hours. She had begun to think that perhaps her best option was kicking down the damn door and dragging Jennie out.
Never, in all her years of knowing Jennie, of befriending her so intimately, had she seen her leader so distraught, so lost.
Jennie had truly fallen so deeply in love with Rosie that she was incomplete without her. Jisoo couldn't blame her. What was earth without heaven to preside over it? What was the sky without the cosmic, heavenly bodies that adorned it and lit the way?
"I just..." Lisa bit her lip. "I don't understand how we could've been so blind."
Jisoo furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" She asked wearily. "You couldn't have known about the attack, you-"
"Not the attack." Lisa sighed, her voice tired, her gaze still glassy from getting slightly angry and emotional over Rosie, whom they'd heard no word about. "Jungkook. I thought I knew him. I thought he was good." She murmured.
Jisoo tilted Lisa's chin up, looking directly into her amber eyes. "You couldn't have known. You loved him. He was your family. Don't apologize for being loyal."
Lisa took in a breath, her body leaning heavily on Jisoo. "Love..." She shook her head. "I was stupid. I was blinded by it."
Jisoo allowed herself a melancholy little smile. "You sound like Jennie."
"Just look at her." Lisa muttered. "Rosie's absence, look what it's done to her."
"I can't condemn her for doing everything in her power to get Rosie back." Jisoo shook her head.
Lisa nodded, gaze darkening. "I think she's doing what's best."
Jisoo glanced around, making sure no one else was in the kitchen. Hyori was out guarding the garage doors, eagerly awaiting Jennie's return. Darius had finished "disposing" of the "mess" that had been left in the kitchen, opting for a smoke break just outside.
"We will find her." Jisoo assured quietly.
"Somi should have been here." Lisa growled softly. "This was her fight, as much as it was Rosie's, or Jennie's."
Jisoo could hear the implications behind Lisa's tone. "She's not answering?"
"No."
"Manoban, you can't be suggesting-"
"And why not?" Lisa sighed miserably. "That's his sister, Jisoo. She could have been working with Jungkook all along."
Jisoo's frown was unsettling. She stepped forward, cupping Lisa's cheeks as she placed her lips on Lisa's, savoring the sweet taste of her companion. Lisa immediately melted into the kiss, sighing softly, her anger dissipating.
She never would have imagined that the two angriest, most abrasive women in DC would have been so compatible, so soft and sensual and right for each other.
Now she didn't have to imagine.
Jisoo pressed her forehead to Lisa's, breaking their kiss off to gaze into her eyes breathlessly. "We will endure." She reminded.
Lisa was about to nod, to reply, when an earth-shattering bang was heard from the garage, followed by Hyori's shouting and Darius' running to investigate.
Jisoo instinctively put her hand over Lisa protectively, noticing that Lisa had done the same.
"Oh, no, Jennie." Jisoo murmured, sympathy hanging off every syllable.
"Heda!" Darius was shoulder to shoulder with Hyori as he sidled into the garage, worry etched into his gruff expression.
"Darius." Hyori muttered, shaking her head.
Their eyes wandered to Jennie, who'd stood there, leaning against the wall, Wes' crimson, accusatory blood covering the expanse of the garage as she stared blankly at them, tears flowing freely, lip still trembling.
The words weighed Jennie down as if they'd formed an anvil over her chest, dragging her deeper into the murky depths of disbelief, her heart stopping, her breathing faint and ragged.
"Rosie..." She choked out, the gun loose in her grip.
Hyori's eyes widened, and Darius' expression turned to one of pure shock.
It hadn't been an easy journey, but he'd come to like and respect the mighty Wanheda.
"Jennie," He murmured softly, approaching slowly.
This wasn't the colonel and her soldier any longer.
This was Jennie Kim, so young, vulnerable, world shattering beneath every step she took. This was the orphaned girl who'd lost her parents, and their close friend and personal security guard, who'd been like an uncle to her.
This was a woman of broken faith, of a dissolved heart.
Hyori glanced down respectfully, bowing her head. "Jennie, I'm...I'm so sorry." She murmured, turning sharply on her heel, likely to inform Jisoo.
Darius felt Jennie collapse into his grasp, and he held her like she weighed nothing at all, a mere feather. "You fought valiantly." He murmured, feeling her sobs and tears stain his shirt. "If what he said is to be believed, then she is at peace now. She is with your parents."
Jennie couldn't handle the grief that shook her to her very core.
She couldn't think, breathe, exist.
She'd just lost her sun and her stars, her universe, her reason for living, for trying at all in such a vile world.
Darius had not uttered another word as he'd taken Jennie to their room.
Just her room now.
Jennie felt a brief loss of contact before new arms had enveloped her, cooing softly, wrapping her in a tight embrace as she sat off the edge of the bed Rosie had been on not a day prior.
How quickly times had changed.
Jisoo had shut the door, leaving her alone with Jennie, who was still covered in blood and sweat, and now, her own tears.
"I'm so sorry." Jisoo whispered, and Jennie could hear that her voice wasn't far from breaking.
Jennie couldn't formulate a response.
There was no point, no purpose, no reason to propel herself forward in this life of misery.
Below, in her kitchen, she'd heard shouting, screaming, an assortment of sounds that sounded a lot like glass being shattered, pots hitting the floor.
She couldn't have cared less. She couldn't muster the energy to even open her eyes, gripping Jisoo's shirt in absolute fatigue.
She hadn't noticed how much time had passed. Jisoo had ushered her up, dragging her to the bathroom as she pinned Jennie against the counter, gently wiping the blood from her face.
She'd gone to Jennie's closet and fetched a fresh outfit as well, laying it out for Jennie as she motioned to it.
Jennie remained against the bathroom door, completely numb. She couldn't bring herself to do anything. If existing had been voluntary, Jennie would have ceased that as well.
"Get over here." Jisoo whispered exasperatedly, shaking her head. Jennie could see the tears welling in Jisoo's eyes, partially for Rosie, but also for seeing Jennie so broken.
Jennie remained right where she was, unflinching, unfeeling, unspeaking.
"She could be okay." Jisoo's whisper was sullen.
Jennie glanced up, her emerald gaze meeting Jisoo's darker one, the only way she could possibly convey the pain she felt.
She knew Jisoo meant well, but it was all so plausible. Jungkook was wasting Jennie's time, having her search for a trail, when he'd probably already gotten his sick, twisted revenge for his unrequited love.
And she'd been the fool. The idiot who'd been so blinded by love and ego that she'd completely ignored the fact that she was out of time.
Jennie inhaled a sharp breath, and Jisoo shook her head.
"This isn't you, Jennie." Jisoo growled. "Get up. Fight."
Jennie stepped forward, ever so slowly, every step, every breath, every second without Rosie seemingly pure agony.
She stepped right past Jisoo, crumbling in an almost fetal-like position as she felt her emotions overwhelm her, Rosie's faint scent still on the pillow from her first breakdown, where nothing was as bleak or unforgiving.
She would never heal from this.
She didn't want to.
Rosie wasn't Irene. She was more.
And she was gone.
Jisoo muttered something about going after Lisa, storming out of Jennie's room in a flurry.
Jennie barely had time to register the door to her bedroom open, revealing Alicia Park herself, tears freely flowing down her high cheekbones, her hand clutched over her mouth in shock.
Jennie then realized, in her numb and grief stricken state, that it had taken Jisoo an hour to help clean her up and get her to breathe regularly. How pathetic. Jennie hated herself, she hated everything. More than that, she was empathetic. Unfeeling. She couldn't bring herself to yell, to kill, to spill the blood of hundreds in Rosie's honor. Rosie wouldn't have wanted that. But still, Jennie's sleep deprived state left her vulnerable to a sudden visit from Dr. Park senior.
Perhaps that was what Lisa had been shouting about. She'd opted to alert Rosie's mother. How had Jennie forgotten?
It was only fair, it was only right to know that her daughter- a beacon of light, of love, in everyone's life, was gone, wiped from the earth.
And it was Jennie's fault. Had she been more precise, more cautious, more unforgiving and less blinded by love, she could have preserved Rosie's life.
She'd made that promise to Dr. Park so seemingly long ago.
"Dr. Park!" Hyori barked, her voice carrying rapidly as she hurried behind her. "I cannot permit you to-"
Jennie wiped at her eyes, shaking her head. "Hyori..." She murmured, and Hyori bowed her head as she stepped off immediately, closing the door behind her.
"I..." Jennie tried clearing her throat, to make some sort of frail apology. "Dr. Park, I..." Her voice caught in her throat, like a thorned rose that never fully bloomed. "I'm so sorry." She murmured, and the tears spilled once more. Images of Rosie filled her mind, brilliant blue gaze and golden hair.
Alicia stepped forward, shaking her head. "Don't you dare." She muttered, and Jennie awaited the derision that was coming her way.
Once more, like the slap she'd thought she had coming in the hospital, the derision never came.
"Oh, honey." Alicia murmured, enveloping the young woman in a tight hug as she pressed a kiss to Jennie's head comfortingly.
Jennie couldn't believe it.
For so long, she'd needed the simple touch of a mother, a loving glance, a word of guidance. She and Rosie had both been deprived of that. But this was something else altogether. This was Alicia Park, a woman full of love and fire, forgiving her, pardoning her sins in the face of the darkest offense of her life: failing to protect Rosie.
For moments, Alicia rocked Jennie back and forth, simply allowing the younger girl to sob into her shirt and doctor's coat, clearly called from a shift at work.
When Jennie's heart rate returned to something that seemed to resemble normality, Alicia murmured, with a sniffle, "She loves you, you know. So much, Jennie. She's so in love with you." Alicia chuckled, drying her eyes with her hands.
Jennie glanced up at her questioningly.
There was that tricky use of present tense rather than past. Rosie had loved her, that much was true, but in death?
Was Alicia omniscient? Or simply comforting? How could she have known-
"She's out there, Jennie." Alicia murmured quietly.
Jennie opened her mouth to protest, but couldn't find words.
Alicia was delusional.
"I've known Jungkook since he was a boy." Alicia murmured, softly combing her fingers through Jennie's hair comfortingly. "He wouldn't do that."
Jennie felt the softest spring of hope in the winter of her soul. She couldn't afford hope, anymore.
"He isn't like you." Alicia added gently, and before Jennie could recoil and ponder the statement, she murmured, "He isn't driven, like that. He would back out before hurting a hair on her head. Your partner, however..."
"Irene is not my partner." Jennie spat out venomously, surprising herself, even.
Alicia nodded. "I know, sweetie, believe me, I know." She took Jennie's chin in her hands. "I know how hard it is to know that somewhere out there, Rosie is suffering." She whispered solemnly. "I had to for years, while she lived away from me, involving herself in God knows what. But I also know how much you love her."
Jennie's eyes were now clearing, tears leaving a softened effect in the glow of her eyes.
"You're good, Jennie." Alicia whispered, staring straight into Jennie's eyes, like a mother would to her daughter. "You're so good. You have so much love to give." She pressed on, and Jennie felt her abused, shriveled heart swell at the words. "I know you are. Rosie knows, too. You just do what you have to. That doesn't change you. I want Rosie to have you..." She murmured through her tears.
Rosie.
Jennie's soul ached. This talk would have meant everything in the world to her, if Rosie had still been around for her to worship, to cherish, to prove herself to.
"She's out there." Alicia repeated firmly. She pressed a soft kiss to Jennie's forehead. "And I'm here, okay? You need rest."
Jennie didn't remember nodding, or allowing Alicia to gently push her onto her bed and closing the door behind her, her face set in determination to save her daughter, and her daughter's love.
This time, she couldn't afford to leave Rosie the way she had so many years ago.
Jennie, who hadn't slept for a second, finally sobbed herself to sleep, her body numb and her thoughts incoherent.
In her betrayed heart, in her saddened mind, Rosie was dead and gone.
"Jennie, my love, open your eyes." Rosie's coos were soft, gentle whispers, and she felt lips brush against her forehead, warm hands cupping her cheeks.
Jennie opened her eyes, and cerulean met verdant green, and the heavens and earth were reunited once more.
Jennie felt hot stains on her cheek, and she realized that she'd been crying. She took in her surroundings.
Rosie. First and foremost, Rosie.
Her girlfriend. Everything she'd ever wanted and loved in life.
Rosie had Jennie's head cradled in her lap, her eyes shining with relief, with brightness, with wisdom that Jennie always had- the same wisdom Jennie knew no twenty-five-year-old should have possessed.
"Rosie." Jennie rasped, her voice low and husky.
She slid her hands over Rosie's, still cupping her cheeks, smiling. "Rosie, I missed you."
"And I missed you too, ai hodnes." Rosie murmured in Jennie's tongue, leaning down to inhale her scent, to brush her lips against Jennie's comfortingly.
They were sweet, warm, and... empty. As if, for some unknown reason, Jennie couldn't actually feel them. As if she couldn't taste Rosie, who had the sweetest flavor in the world.
"No." Jennie gasped, eyes locking with Rosie's, who was now smiling sadly. "No, no, Rosie..."
"Jennie." Rosie's voice was but a whisper.
"You're dead, aren't you?" Jennie asked, her voice choked, sob threatening to rise in her throat. "This isn't real..."
Jennie paused, her eyes scanning anything but Jennie's, her long eyelashes batting away what appeared to be tears. She nodded with a sad smile.
"This...this can't be..." Jennie shook her head violently. "Rosie, I just got you!"
But something was wrong. Eerie, even.
Her surroundings were finally taken in, and she realized that it was not at all what she'd thought.
The streets of Washington, D.C. were now largely empty. There was no dull roar of traffic, no shouts from vendors and "oohs" and "ahhs" from tourists. There were no men and women in suits, heads down, donning monotonous colors on their daily commutes to work.
Instead, the streets were lined with people Jennie recognized. Infernos, Azures, people she'd killed. People she'd saved. Her family, her enemies, older people and children alike.
And yet, they were silent, still.
No one accused her, thanked her, bowed to her, or even glanced at them.
Jennie knew instantly that this was some sort of sick purgatory, and it absolutely destroyed her to think that Rosie was somehow stuck there alone, because she hadn't been fast enough. She hadn't been ready.
Jennie slowly sat up, her fingers caressing Rosie's cheeks. Rosie smiled softly, her gaze enveloping Jennie in a brilliant warmth.
"You have to be strong, Jennie." Rosie warned gently. "You have to keep fighting. Your fight is not over."
Jennie shook her head, tears falling freely. "Rosie, I'm tired..." She breathed. "I'm tired of fighting, of spilling so much blood. I missed you."
"Jennie." Rosie whispered, smile never leaving her features. "Be happy. Be free."
"I can't." Jennie sighed in anguish. "Rosie, I love you."
The reality was fading rapidly, and Rosie was beginning to fade out of Jennie's vision. She could hear ringing, and shouting, distant and hazy.
Jennie clutched the front of Rosie's jacket, shaking her head. "Rosie, don't leave me." She pleaded. "Don't leave me alone."
"I will always be with you." Rosie promised, before Jennie was jolted awake.
Alicia was standing there, her makeup smudged slightly, her hand over her mouth. Lisa was beside her, holding a ringing phone.
Before Jennie could make a motion to stand, the phone had been thrust at her, and she peered down at Jungkook's face, smiling as he posed for Lisa's contact picture.
Lisa, teary eyed and intensely staring at Jennie, growled. "Answer it."
Jennie felt her blood boil, her skin absolutely crawling with anticipation. She pressed the green button, awaiting Jungkook's voice to flood the speakers.
Instead, she heard the sweetest, most agonizing sound she'd ever heard in her life. It was relief and pain all at once, the very definition of bittersweet. It gave Jennie life, meaning, a reason to continually inhale and exhale, to survive and endure.
It was Rosie.
"Hello?" Rosie's voice rasped after a moment of silence, and there was thick emotion behind every syllable.
Jennie gasped, her hand flying to clutch her heart as she took in a ragged breath.
Alicia grinned through her tears, and Lisa took a moment to control her breathing, desperately trying to keep silent.
Jisoo watched from the doorway, her hand lacing with Lisa's ever so subtly.
"Rosie." Jennie spoke out, and it was a choked sob, her emotions at the pinnacle, her adrenaline filled body hyper sensitive to every sound, every breath, every movement. She could have honed in on the beating of Rosie's heart, if she had tried. "They....I...they told me...you were..." Jennie stumbled, unable to control her thoughts.
Rosie was alive.
Her Rosie.
The light of her life, anything and everything that was important to Jennie Kim.
"Hey baby." Rosie breathed, and it came out ragged and shy and ever so grateful.
Jennie wiped at the tears that had already fallen, the pained smile on her face a beauty that Rosie couldn't behold.
But oh, how she wanted to.
"Rosie, are you hurt?" Jennie demanded. "Did he hurt you?" Jennie's voice rose with every word. "I swear to god, I'm going to-"
Rosie's lack of a response was affirmative.
Jennie took in a deep breath, teeth gritting, jaw clenching, heart hammering.
"Where." Jennie muttered into the receiver. "Rosie, where are you?"
"I..." Rosie winced, and Jennie mirrored her reaction on the other end of the line.
What had they done to her?
"I don't know." Rosie admitted, and Jennie just knew that they were threatening her on the other end, likely dictating the conversation. "I..." She trailed off, and Jennie could hear hushed whispers in the background. "Please." She pleaded, and Jennie could hear her crying. Her heart clenched at the sound, at the thought of tears running down Rosie's cheeks.
"Irene...says its...where you lost yourself." She spoke, her voice wavering.
Jennie's heart dropped into her stomach. She knew exactly where Rosie was being held.
All the pieces were coming together, it seemed.
"Jennie, don't do this. I love you." Rosie pleaded. "I can't lose you, don't-"
"Rosie, I'm coming." Jennie promised firmly, ignoring Rosie's pleas.
There was no force in heaven or hell that could have stopped her from going. Her soul ached with the realization that Rosie, even in her lowly, broken state, was trying to protect her.
But she was the colonel.
She feared for those in her path.
"Kim. You heard that?" Jungkook's voice filled the speaker. "Every hour you delay, it gets worse. She already can't breathe."
His voice sounded reluctant. As if he hadn't done that to Rosie himself. As if he was in too deep, and had no choice but to carry on, as if this hadn't been his plan all along. He was in love with Rosie, wasn't he? How could he inflict so much pain on her, if that were true?
None of that mattered.
With the sound of the line dying, humming in Jennie's ear, she stood abruptly, fists clenched at her side as she locked gazes with Lisa, who had the same look of pain and determination in her darker gaze.
She was going to save the love of her life, who'd suffered, who'd endured so much to protect her.
"Jungkook Jeon dies today." She spoke boldly, her jaw locked.