"my hand feels like it's broken." hoshi looked back to see woozi glaring at his own hand, black ooze falling from his fingertips and dripping onto the ground.
the very second that their phones had crashed, their surroundings suddenly seemed a lot bigger than before, the pair now walking around and trying to find a familiar face amidst the desolate landscape filled with nothing but debris and smoke -- the school was so unrecognisable that if someone had told them they were on a different planet, they'd believe it.
woozi pressed his hand against his leg, trying to stop the stinging that was shooting up his arm. "for fucks sake-"
quietly, hoshi grabbed his hand, interlocking their fingers together despite the ooze now staining his own hand black.
"what are you doing-"
"i want to take some of your pain away," hoshi interjected, his words flowing out easily which only further reinforced the idea that the fairytale world and their world had crashed into one another and caused a rift of sorts. "i want to save you for once," hoshi added, squeezing woozi's hand. "although, i may not know how to, i still want to try."
woozi knocked hoshi on the side of his head, catching the boy off guard. "you don't need to save me idiot." his smile betrayed his words, the pixie looking down at their hands which seemed to fit together so perfectly.
amidst the absolute hellscape they were stuck in, hoshi was like a beacon of light, the boy guiding him through the debris even though he himself had no idea where their end goal was.
whenever woozi looked back on all his moments with hoshi, he couldn't help but feel apologetic for he had looked at hoshi with annoyance all those months before and yet now, the boy who he had constantly tried to avoid or dismiss was the very same one that kept him moving despite their unknown ending.
he didn't know if it was because their future was uncertain or if he had always felt that strongly about him but when hoshi looked back to check on him (their hands still intertwined), woozi took two steps forward and planted a kiss on his cheek, embarrassment immediately hitting him afterwards.
"don't think too much about it. it's just that..." woozi mumbled, biting his lip when no other words managed to form.
hoshi wrapped his arms around the boy, resting his chin atop the pixie's head.
but before he could say anything else, he felt the ground shaking where they stood. and, using all the strength he could muster, he pushed woozi far away from him, the ground cracking open and hoshi just barely grabbing onto the ledge.
"i...i told you i'd save you!" hoshi said, his fingers slipping as woozi quickly assessed the situation and crawled over to him. "jihoon i lo-"
"don't say it." woozi grabbed his hands, doing his best to pull him up. "say it to me when we're out of here," woozi whispered, the ground cracking even further which caused him to stumble, hoshi barely holding on.
"jihoon-" he lost his grip, closing his eyes and mouthing the words that he wanted to say, woozi reaching out and feeling a sharp pain in his arm when he did so.
–––
"you don't need to carry me shua."
when he had blacked out, dokyeom couldn't feel anything.
it was as though all his senses had dulled yet he was keenly aware that whatever curse there was in the air was fighting its' way into his system, unaware of the dark magic already flowing through his veins.
when he had come to, he didn't expect to be on joshua's back, the older of the pair holding his phone with one hand and staring at it as though by some miracle, it would come back to life.
surprisingly, dokyeom didn't feel any different than before. he didn't know which magic had won but regardless of the traces of black running through his legs, he felt the same albeit a bit tingly.
"the campus seems a lot bigger now as compared to before," joshua commented, still focusing on the black screen of his phone. "but i get this feeling that we need to regroup i just...don't know where."
dokyeom rested his head on joshua's shoulder, the boy putting his phone back in his pocket and properly holding onto dokyeom.
just then, through the thick smoke dokyeom saw some movement, squinting just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating before he pointed it out to joshua (who still refused to let him go).
unsure if they would be met with an ally or a foe, they proceeded with caution. as they walked, dokyeom felt a buzz in his hands which he often associated with dark magic, his shadow slowly rising and waving at him.
"samuel can go check first," dokyeom said, joshua jumping slightly at the sudden appearance of the shadow who acted exactly like a human. "we need to be careful."
as the shadow disappeared into thin air, joshua finally put dokyeom down and stretched before sitting beside dokyeom whose hands were glowing black.
joshua opened his hand and nudged dokyeom, the younger of the pair smiling as he placed his hand in his.
"when we figure out everything here, what do you want to do?" joshua asked, leaning his head against dokyeom's shoulder as his thumb rubbed against the back of his hand.
"a picnic." it was a simple request that made them both smile because at the very least, they had something immediate to look forward to. "we can make those small sandwiches," dokyeom said, black clouds forming above his free hand in the shape of triangles.
joshua nodded, the world seemingly slowing down and allowing them to breathe for a minute or two before samuel came back.
"who is it-"
"i'm so glad to see you guys!" they recognised the voice, both of them quickly standing up and running over to hug a haggard jun who winced when they hugged him a bit too tightly. "i think i'm dying."
"don't be dramatic." the duo looked up to see minghao, his body covered in soot but his hair still perfectly arranged. "i was the one who fell off a cliff."
"you what?" dokyeom and joshua said at the same time, even samuel making a question mark appear on top of his head.
"it's a long story but first, we need to find the others," minghao said, jun immediately agreeing with him and that was when joshua noticed that jun's left hand was covered in burns, clearly too damaged to be used again.
jun followed his line of sight. "ah this? it's fine really! i had to fight against the curse so my hand is just a small price to pay..." his words faded in joshua's ears, the boy looking at dokyeom and wondering if that would happen to him too.
and as they walked around in search of the others, joshua couldn't help but realise the burns that were beginning to appear on dokyeom's hand the longer he used his magic to help them.
–––
(longish) vee talks!
i've been in a rly bad condition and ik i shldnt apologise for it but i still feel sorry that i couldn't update for a while but i thank yall for sticking around ;-;
(@he_likess) even drew wonderful fanart for me while i wasn't posting and it was very encouraging so rly thank you <3
that aside, i feel like there's only 5ish chapters left in happy ending! whether or not the ending will truly be happy is...up for interpretation.
i'm still not feeling great but i hope you guys are doing well and taking care of yourselves! if uw to, feel free to comment how your week has been :)
love y'all <3