Mists of Celeste - an Ateez Fanfic

act one ➻ part seven

"Aw, if I had known we were doing a meet up with the new girl, I would've come sooner!" A new voice resounds behind you. It causes your head to spin, a swirling of confusion, and you stumble back from Yeosang. You would fall if not for his continued grip on your arm. You jerk towards the sound of the voice, eyes finding the new form and recognizing him in an instant. Charcoal hair. Tan skin. Metal collar. It's the little shit who plugged an anesthesia shot into your neck.

"You." The word is hissed out between gritted teeth, and you twist away from Yeosang to start in his direction. The blonde keeps you in place, however, his hand not relenting in its grip on your arm. The sudden spike in anger radiating off of you at the sight of the newcomer must've been a warning sign to him.

You attempt to tug away from him, trying your best to break his hold on you so you can go beat the shit out of the newcomer. His grip is too strong for you to fight though, even with your good arm, and he manages to get you rooted to the spot for the time being.

"Fuck off," you spit at Yeosang, eyes bore holes into his form now. "He knocked me out and plugged my neck with an anesthesia shot. I have every right to knock the shit out of him." Yeosang's eyes widen at your words. His grip on you nearly falters, but he recovers less than a second later.

"What the hell?" It is San's voice that rings through the room next, along with Seonghwa's echoing the same words a fraction of a second later. You tilt your chin back towards Wooyoung, pleasantly surprised to see an expression of fear coating his features.

"Uh, wh-what?" He repeats with a shaky smile. Even at a distance, you can see the way his throat bobs as he swallows roughly, an obvious sense of nervousness surrounding him. "I-I swear – it's n-not as bad as it sounds!"

Yeosang's grip leaves your arm all of a sudden, and he pulls your attention back to him for a moment.

"By all means, go knock some sense into him. Eye for an eye, no?" The hand that just gripped your arm now motions towards Wooyoung, as though inviting you to go exact some form of revenge on him. You nearly jump at the opportunity and start towards him, only to be stopped yet again within seconds. This time it's San who stops you though, one arm jerking out in front of your chest without even sparing a glance in your direction.

"Wait," the man says under his breath, eyes following Seonghwa as the lieutenant spins on his heel.

"You were given specific orders not to go into the med bay after the surgery, Wooyoung," he says. Now that Hongjoong is nowhere in sight and it's just Seonghwa present to deliver orders, you can clearly understand why the man is so well-suited for the position. Just his posture while berating Wooyoung is threatening in and of itself, but that combined with the chilling tone that leaves his lips causes you to stop in your tracks.

"N-No! No, Yunho allowed it!"

"Last I checked, Yunho wasn't the captain or the lieutenant, was he?" While the question is meant to be sarcastic, there are hints of vehemence in the words Seonghwa utters.

"H-He asked for help. He needed someone to help clean up after the operation and take inventory. I-I offered to do it si-since I was allowed to help with the operation itself!" Wooyoung stammers through his defense, eyes still blown wide as he blinks back at Seonghwa.

"That's not true, Woo," San cuts in. His arm falls a little, nearly hitting your chest as he moves, but you make a quick move to lean back. "I was the one who was supposed to take inventory, not you. Yunho asked me to help because he felt bad for our argument. You knew that."

"I-I... I..." Wooyoung is unable to get any further words out, gaze moving from Seonghwa to San before landing on you. Something in his dark eyes seems pleading, like something is on the tip of his tongue, but the words never come out so you are left wondering what on earth he could've wanted to say. San's arm falls back to his side limply, an evident sign of relenting, and you take it as an invitation to go exact your revenge at last.