On The Run || JJK ✔️

46 - Unearthed Depths

The shadow is slowly dissipating, like fog becoming lighter when it starts to clear. It's eerily quiet outside since the fight has long ended, so Jimin and J-Hope walk instead of run as they find their way back to the battleground. They're still careful to keep an eye out just in case.

"I'm surprised you all came back for me," Jimin murmurs. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just let this go?"

"How could we?" says J-Hope. "We're not complete without you."

Jimin kicks snow into the air as he thinks. He doesn't even know how to begin expressing his gratitude that they'd still go back for him even at the risk of their own lives. He wasn't sure he deserved it. "Thank you," he settles on saying. "So much."

"Of course."

They continue trudging through the empty land together.

"Was this dark shadow thing you by the way?" Jimin asks, thinking of other things to talk about.

"Well, kind of." J-Hope launches into detail about how Y/n must have super saiyan-ed in battle after something terrible happened, how the energy was transferred to him, how he didn't really know what to do with it so he tried to diffuse it, and how the shadow stuff was the result. He also compares the energy transfer to the similar experience he had in the truck escape from school.

"That makes sense," Jimin says slowly. "When I was imitating the dark stuff back in, well, you know where" - J-Hope nods in understanding - "it felt like your powers, but it also wasn't you at the same time."

"It didn't feel like me either. I don't think I was controlling light."

"Can you do it again now?"

"Uhm, I don't think so?" J-Hope tries to. "Yeah, not anymore. Maybe it was a one-time thing."

Jimin tries to use his imitation powers but it's picking up on nothing, either. The shadows are fading anyways. "So Y/n's energy is the key here because that's what got you to switch."

"Yeah, and I could feel how sad it was. I didn't think emotion in elementals could be a thing. The threads were also white instead of gold this time... "

They become thoughtful. After another few minutes they enter a clearing where snow has completely melted, trees nearby are burned down, dead bodies of Fighters are dispersed all over the place, terrifyingly large crevices are tearing the ground open, and bridges above them made by Earth fighters are still haphazardly hanging on to each side. The battle must've happened here.

"I can't believe this," Jimin runs a hand through his hair. "Did anyone survive?"

J-hope doesn't answer. Neither of them has any way to know.

They make their way past all the fallen bodies. They don't say anything to each other, but they both know that they're scanning for their friends. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

Jimin can't stop thinking about Y/n. As they wander around, his mind flashes back to the withdrawn look in her eyes when he said "I'm sorry" to the Commander at the abandoned parking lot that day. Again he thinks about what she told him when he tried to take her away - "You don't have to do this Jimin, you have us! We're your friends, remember?" - and he desperately wants to make it up to her, show her that her trust wasn't ill placed. His intentions have changed for the better now because he has learned to stand up for himself.

As they approach one of the crevices, something feels off.

"Hyung, wait."

J-Hope looks up from the ground to see Jimin with a hand out in a "stop" gesture, gazing down at one of the crevices. The wind blows his clothes around his slim figure, which has become visibly weaker from his time in Training Headquarters.