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jeongguk can feel it the next morning when he wakes up in taehyung's house. he had insisted on staying with taehyung yesterday, and taehyung didn't argue.
rolling off the bed, jeongguk rubs his eyes and is confused when he realizes that taehyung wasn't next to him.
"hyung?" he calls as he went down the stairs. he's met with an empty living room and kitchen. swallowing down the feeling of dread that was climbing up his chest and grabbing at his throat, he leaves the house and wanders town.
there's a crowd by the news stand. jeongguk inches closer and listens in.
"kim namjoon... murdered by that boy... taehyung... committed suicide by the train tracks..."
he only catches a bit of their conversation, but it's enough to make him sick. namjoon is dead and they blame taehyung. and they think taehyung was dead, too.
no, he's alive. he has to be.
so jeongguk wanders town, looking for taehyung.
he begins to get desperate.
"taehyung?" he calls, hoping that taehyung is just playing some stupid game of hide-and-seek.
now he's running through town, yelling taehyung's name. people are giving him weird looks, but he doesn't care.
"taehyung! taehyung!"
the cave. jimin's cave.
he must be there, he has to be there.
jeongguk runs as fast as possible to the cave, ducking in and reaching jimin's cage.
"taehyung?" he asks, eyes searching the room wildly.
"just me," says jimin. he looks less pale and healthier than when they first found him, considering the others had been bringing him food. "taehyung isn't here. were you looking for-"
"jeongguk."
jeongguk turns around to see hoseok standing near the entrance.
"hoseok hyung, thank god, did you hear what they're saying? namjoon is dead and they blame taehyung, and they think taehyung is dead too. i know he's around here somewhere, i just need to-"
"jeongguk."
"-find him. maybe he ran away again, he did that once. i think he-"
"jeongguk."
at this, jeongguk stops talking and gets a good look at hoseok's face. he looks grief-stricken and jeongguk knows it's because of seokjin and namjoon, but what he doesn't get is why hoseok is looking at him so pitifully.
"hyung, what-"
"jeongguk," hoseok says, his voice shaking. "they recovered the body from the train tracks. it's taehyung. he's really dead-"
"no, no he isn't," jeongguk says, angry that hoseok would believe the town's lies. "i'll find him myself."
jeongguk ignores hoseok's protests as he pushes past him and leaves the cave, yelling at the top of his lungs, "taehyung!"
("kim namjoon... murdered by that boy... taehyung... committed suicide by the train tracks...")
"taehyung!"
("...taehyung isn't here...")
"taehyung!"
("...they recovered the body from the train tracks. it's taehyung. he's really dead...")
as reality begins to settle in and jeongguk knows he can't deny it anymore, he gives one last scream, hoping that maybe, maybe he was wrong and taehyung was okay and he'd be there to wipe the tears off of jeongguk's face.
"TAEHYUNG!"
there's no answer.
everything happens at once — the stars come crashing down, the sun burns out, the moon cries, and the world crumbles to pieces.
(jeongguk breaks and taehyung isn't there to hold him.)