Amnesia

XIX.

Remy would have liked to say that she woke up calmly and peacefully. Sort of like Sleeping Beauty. But what actually happened was she opened her eyes and screamed her damn lungs out. She was getting tired of screaming. Then she got her bearings, realized she was flat on her back, and sat up. The first thing she was Namjoon. He looked... shocking. Shocking as in stunningly beautiful, even in the grainy light given by the single lightbulb above them. He looked exactly as he did at the concert. He still had his jacket on.

Speaking of which, Remy felt a cool breeze on her arms. She looked down and realized she was wearing the expensive blue dress again. The one her mother had brought her. The one she had removed because it was covered in Taehyung's blood. Now she was wearing it again, and there wasn't a speck of blood on it. Some dirt, likely because she was sitting on a concrete floor in what seemed to be a basement. But otherwise, it was still perfect.

"It wasn't real," she said quietly. "It really was just a dream."

There were in a small, dimly-lit room. The walls were shiny with moisture and the air tasted metallic. The lightbulb above them flickered. There was a rusted metal door that was just cracked open enough to see that it was brighter outside.

There was muted yelling from outside the door in Korean.

Namjoon swore violently, then scrambled to his feet. He reached a hand out to Remy, who was yanked upright without any effort on her part.

"Are you okay?" he asked her in a quick breath.

Define okay. "Yes."

And with that, Remy was pulled through the door and found herself staring at the wiry man and her good friend, TB&U.

This day was really turning out to be one hell of a shitshow.

The outside of the room looked a lot like the inside. They seemed to be in some sort of long hallway. There were no windows, and the only light came from a few lightbulbs on the ceiling. Just beyond a few rooms like the one they had just came out of, a large machine was rumbling. There was a glass chamber on the machine that was slowly filling with some sort of liquid. The drug, Remy realized. This machine was creating the drug they had all been given.

Five of the boys, the ones who had been shot or otherwise stabbed after Jeongguk vanished, were staring down the two men. The men looked nervous, like they weren't sure what to do. They certainly didn't seem happy to see Namjoon or Remy.

"Where's Kookie?" Namjoon asked.

"Haven't seen him," Yoongi said. "These two haven't told us yet."

This sparked some argument in Korean, and Remy rolled her eyes. This wasn't getting anywhere quickly. She approached the two men, who looked at her as if she were some sort of strange insect. She had been correct, they looked different in real life than they had in the dream. But they each had a gun holstered at the hip. It was probably a good sign that they weren't reaching for the guns yet. Or it was a bad thing, and it meant that they were already where they were supposed to be picked up, whatever horrors that entailed. "Our friend. The youngest, with the long black hair. Where is he?"

They glanced at each other nervously.

Remy gritted her teeth. "Maybe you didn't hear me. Where," she paused, "is," another pause, "he."

TB&U pointed at a door that was slightly cracked open, close to the machine.

Remy nodded. "Thank you."

"Why did they listen to you?" Taehyung complained.

"Female powers of persuasion," Remy said, pushing the door wide open. She jumped back at the sight of Jeongguk's body carelessly thrown on the floor. His eyes were closed and his forehead was tight with tension.