Darker Blood

Chapter sixty-four

Jimin pov~

"There, that should do it."

Taehyung stepped back from his masterpiece, beaming at the seams with silent pride. A monument, no, a pile of jagged rocks stood in front of us, mere inches from them, hardly a tribute at all to their memory.

But Taehyung made it, such a haphazard collection bringing the boy to grin. Why aren't I grinning too?

"Good job, Tae," I choked out, looking up at his bright face that faltered at my words. He stepped closer to me, holding out a hand for comfort and I accepted, letting the waves of emptiness continue to flow over my soul like a blanket.

"You don't have to be brave for me, master."

"Never call me that again."

My hand dropped out of his shocked hold, and I could sense the bubbling 'master?' forming in his throat. I let out an irritated sigh, frustration only fuelling the leaks of water in my eyes.

"Can't you see that we're equal? You're so strange, Tae."

His face screwed up cutely as he poked his tongue out. "I'm strange? When was the last time you looked in a mirror, eh?"

I let out a breath of laughter, looking up at his daring face, preparing to burn him for being a little shit, but his bright face faltered as if he was seeing someone else that wasn't me, mouth dropping open and eyes flickering between bright shades of blue.

"Taehyung? What's wrong?"

His knees gave out right before my eyes as he collapsed to the forest floor, glassy eyes still flickering. I jumped down, shaking his shoulders for any sort of response, eyes hastily searching every place over his body for any of the winter that had taken Yoongi and Namjoon.

"Taehyung!"

His skin was burning to touch and I feared he was going to let out a spark of fire. As I rolled him onto his back, a sound as loud as the sky cracking speared through my eardrums, and I looked around wildly for anything that could have caused such a thing. All the birds from the surrounding forest trees flocked away, flying high up into the air taking their shrill cries with them. The tops of the trees swayed and their branches rattled like they were being furiously shaken by an invisible force.

What the fuck is going on?

My senses picked up on it at the very last minute, and with a curse I flipped Taehyung onto my back, preparing to run as fast as I had to. Before I could even move an inch, the baby mountain that my creation made just a few moments fell apart and  into the crack of the earth and I toppled over, squashing Taehyung as we landed. The forest that used to be home to only whispers and thoughts now screamed as the ground split and shook.

With one hand locked onto his skin through his shirt and the other clawing along the ground, I pulled us away as fast as I could, hoping the house could offer some comfort. Just as I started moving, I felt a sharp grip on my own hand and looked down to see his eyes still flickering with a frown creasing his forehead.

"N-no hyung, it's not safe to go to the house in an earthquake."

"What happened to you!?" I hissed, refusing to loosen my grip on his tanned skin.

He sat up weakly, dirt smudged along the side of his face and a small cut resting above his eyebrow. "I can see Jungkook and Jin and Inori. P-please Jimin, we have to go to them."

The sky cracked again and Taehyung let out a sound of pain before bolting up and away from where I lay. I scrambled to my feet before I followed where I'd seen him go, sheltering my face with my forearms from the branches, leaves and dirt flying through the wind.