Gold: Kim Taehyung ✓

Turquoise

"Where exactly are we going?"

We'd been driving for at least forty minutes, and I was sore. We'd left the city, hitting countryside, and occasionally the car would jerk, hitting a pothole, or a bump in the road. I wasn't sure precisely what injuries I had, but whatever they were, this wasn't helping. My body felt hot, clammy. My eyes travelled to the bruising on my inner elbow.

Namjoon and Yoongi exchanged looks in the front. I glanced at Taehyung. After a few minutes of driving, he'd dropped his head to my shoulder. He was hunched in a way that did not look comfortable, but it didn't seem to bother him- judging by the soft snores that were leaving his open mouth. I'd been concerned about the bandaged boy sleeping, he'd lost a lot of blood, but the snores comforted me.

"A... safehouse, of sorts." Namjoon looked at me briefly over his shoulder, then faced front again. "Since they located you and Taehyung, you're not safe there, anymore. Not anywhere in the city." I looked down at my knees, then mine and Taehyung's entwined hands. He had refused to let go, holding them in his lap, hostage. "This place is remote, far enough away that we should be secure, there. For a while. And, there's... medical stuff."

Again, my eyes traced Taehyung. He seemed to have at least one broken bone, maybe more. But, who knew how long it would take him to heal. The angry bloodied marks that ringed his wrists peeked out from under his sleeves, where the bandages had come loose. "He'll... be fine, in a few days, right?"

"Most likely, yeah. But nothing's certain from that place." Yoongi's gaze was focused on the road, I could see him in the rearview mirror. His expression was hard. "He's not the only one to worry about, though."

Seeing the look on my face, Namjoon sent Yoongi a look, and sighed. "Noona," I furrowed my brow at the change of honorific, but let it pass, "You were there for quite a while." Yoongi pulled an odd face, but stayed quiet, "I don't think-" he sighed. "We... don't know, what they did to you. To be safe, we'll run some tests."

I bit my lip. The words didn't seem real, like some faraway script in an old movie, masked by static. My brain struggled to process it, "I... I won't... become like-"

"If that was the case you wouldn't be conscious right now." The breath I'd been holding onto unknowingly rushed out of my lungs at Yoongi's words. "Trust me, Seomin... it's not pretty."

Silence fell over us again, perforated by the soft noises of sleep that Taehyung made. Reaching up, I brushed my fingers through his bangs softly. He fidgeted a little, and a smile pulled at his lips. My heart skipped. He woke up just from that? My hand dropped back to my lap, and his eyes opened. He pouted at me, whining, "Noona."

A grin struggled onto my face. "What?"

He sighed, then frowned, wrinkling his nose as he sat up, and speaking louder. "What's that smell?" I blinked, sniffing at myself discreetly, and he shook his head. "Not you. You smell great. Outside."

"I don't smell anything..." I mumbled, trying to not be embarrassed over how casually he could say stuff like that.

"It's the barrier." Yoongi was pulling a disgruntled face, too. "We're nearly there."

Taehyung didn't respond, a strange expression on his face. I rolled my eyes as he unwound his fingers from my hand, using my palm to cover his nose and mouth, grumpily. Stuffing down my embarrassment, I looked out of the side window.

It was just fields, stretching as far as the eye could see. Fields and trees. Ahead of us, a lot of trees were clustered together, developing into a full-blown forest. The car headed in amongst them, and it darkened as the sunlight was blocked out. I could feel Tae's breathing softly against my hand. He muttered, softly, sounding sulky. "It stinks."