Kryptonite (Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin)

Twenty

"Yeji, stop. Listen to me for a second," Woojin screamed, closing in on her. But the girl was awfully close to the river and the boat was about to leave. He needed to find a way to persuade her to stop before she got on the boat.

But Yeji didn't want to hear any of it. Her only sibling was still in that burning building and if there was any way she could save him, she would take the risk.

"Forget it. Jisung s in there. I need to save him!" she jumped into the boat but it wasn't long until Woojin was standing on the dock, trying to pull her out but to no avail. As he expected, the boat began to move shortly after and he had no choice but to jump in if he wanted to persuade her to leave it.

"Look at me, Yeji. Chan's in that building too and it honestly kills me to see that and just imagine him dying in there. But we can't do anything about it. They are already gone-"

"Then kill me along with them!" she tried to push him off but he didn't even budge. Grabbing her small hands, he forced her to look at him.

"You don't mean that. Besides,just think of what Jisung would say if he ever found out you ran inside a burning building for him."

"I don't care about what he would say. I won't be able to live with myself if anything happened to him and I wasn't there to help."

"Don't be daft-"

"I'm not! Easy for you to say when you know both your siblings are safe. And at least you have two. If one passes, you have the other. You can find another best friend whenever you want but I can never find another brother!"

Woojin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Fine. We'll go to the palace and try to save him but if it's too dangerous or there's no way to get to him, I'm dragging you out of there."

Yeji smiled thinly.

"Thank you. That's all I ask for."

Once the boat finally reached the other end of the river, Woojin got out first then held out his hand to help the princess out too.

"Are you sure you can go around in that outfit?" He asked, gazing at her now torn and dirty dress.

She glanced down before shrugging.

"Well what can I do about it? It's not like there would be jeans hiding in the forest."

"Fair enough... Jump on my back then," he told her, turning his back to her.

"What?"

"Jump on. I can't let you walk around like that. The least I can do is carry you."

Yeji smiled as she followed his instructions and allowed him to carry her."

"Thanks," she grinned as he began to walk with her on his back.

"It's nothing, honestly," he shrugged it off.

Yeji placed her chin on his shoulder and sighed loudly.

"I hope Jisung's okay. I really hope he isn't still in there."

"I hope none of them are in there. And I hope nothing happens to anyone else, including Seungmin, Hyunjin, Eunbyul and Suzy."

"Yeah. I mean, although they started it, they had a reason and I don't blame them. I just hope things will work out to our favour and we can clear the royal family's names."

It won't be that easy though..." Woojin sighed. "Why do I have a feeling we'll never be welcome back?"

"We all have that feeling but the most we can do it hope."

"I guess... Isn't it crazy how everything turned upside-down in just a few weeks?" Woojin forced a laugh.

"Not even a few weeks, in five years. The whole of Wonderland went downhill when the First King died."

"Agreed. But everything only spiralled down when Hyunjin ran away. Why did he leave anyway? He always wanted to be King. I wonder what happened."

"Maybe he just couldn't stand to be in the palace without his father..."

"Could be-"

Woojin froze.

"What's wrong?" Yeji asked before following his gaze. Her lips parted a bit before slowly forming a smile.

Jumping off the Second Prince's back, Yeji sprinted to the figures in the distance.

But her smile soon faded.

"Oh my gosh," she covered her mouth with her hand. "Are you okay?"

The answer was obvious. None of them looked anything close to 'okay'. They're whole bodies were burnt badly and even walking seemed like the hardest thing ever for them.

Woojin traced their bodies before realising something.

"Where's the rest?"

Chan only shook his head.

"They refused to come along with," Jeongin said, a tear threatening to escape his eye. "Jiyeon was nowhere to be found. Minho was still unconscious and Minjung refused to leave him."

"And Hyuna?"

"There was no trace of her," Jisung uttered.

Woojin couldn't help but sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Let's get you to shelter. We'll talk later on."

And with that, he replaced Yeji with Jeongin riding on his back while helping Chan go about. Jisung used Yeji for support and they all hesitantly walked away from the palace.

And their friends too.