There was the urgency, of course, to dial 911.

Or to dial anyone, really, at this point.

Your mind fog, however, tried to drown you

as your fear began to subside into indifference.

It would be so easy... to just lie back down.

You glanced at your fingertips again,

almost giggling at how small and insignificant the little bruises were in size

for the fact that they were killing you.

Oh, and your soulmate.

Because he wouldn't live on without you.

Whoever that was, poor bloke.

Oh yeah, Jeon Jungkook.

Putting a face to the role, however, changed everything.

Now that your brain put a face to the person you'd kill by dying, it no longer seemed funny.

In fact, it was enough for you to reach over to your phone and try to dial 911.

Huh.

The screen wouldn't turn on.

Figures. You haven't charged it for what... three days now?

Or was it four?

You tried to find the tiny cord that you knew had to be by your nightstand but even when your fingers closed around it and you wriggled it against your phone for a few minutes you couldn't manage to plug it into the port.

Oh god.

Your hands were so numb now.

When you did feel them momentarily, you wished you wouldn't.

Your body hurt so much.

Even your legs now.

And if you're honest with yourself, breathing was no easy task either.

Well, guess somebody has to be the 25% who died from not finding their soulmate in time.

You almost pass out when you hear the quietest, softest shriek of a child from outside,

slipping through your walls.

Right.

Neighbors.

If you could manage to get to your front door and collapse outside instead, maybe someone would see you?

Come on, you tell yourself.

Getting up onto your feet actually meant falling to the floor and crawling with your elbows, and then when that failed you, kicking with your feet and squirming forward.

It was an eternity, with lots of breaks,

and you're sure you may have passed out for a few seconds during it all.

But finally, maybe half an hour later, you pull yourself up to the door knob

and your nails clip the chain and lock

and you twist the doorknob with whatever is left of your absolute willpower.

The door falls open with your weight and you smash, face first, outwards.

Fight, you beg yourself.

Please don't be a murderer.

And with that, you kicked out,

your shins scraping against the ground as you tried to shimmy forward,

out onto the grass.

It was a good thing, you knew, that you didn't feel pain now.

It let you reach the sunlight, and let you inch forward a few more feet.

I tried, you whisper in your mind,

as you lay on the grass,

your ears trying to decipher the running footfalls approaching.

I tried.

----------------

"What?" Came Namjoon's voice, calm and collected.

But there was an edge to it,

an edge that Jungkook could recognize even in the haze of his near-pass-out.

The edge that Namjoon almost never used,

but when he did,

it had always meant everything was on a precipice of make or break,

meant that they all held their breath in fear and clung to each other for survival—

"JUNGKOOK!" Namjoon yelled.

The leader leapt to his feet,

stepping so fast and large that he slid and collided into the side of Jungkook's sofa,

landing over Jimin and Hoseok.

But no one cared, everyone stared at him with eyes wide open as he said,

"They found her!! They found her, Jungkook!!"

------

A little to Jungkook's embarrassment, he wasn't fully conscious when he first met his soul mate.

He pried his eyes wide open in the commotion of two doctors, a nurse, three managers, a string of staff as they all urgently flooded into the dorms,

two people carrying a stretcher with a girl on it.

Her hair fell over her face so he couldn't see her,

but the truth was he could hardly register what he was seeing anyway.

His whole body thumped with pain, and whenever he passed out it was a mercy.

They didn't even offer him painkillers directly into his bloodstream because painkillers have been known to hasten the effects of soulmate bruising.

They would never give up on his life like that.

Soaked in sweat, Jungkook was only mumbling fervently,

his slurred words coming out as urgent moans as he tugged on Jimin's hand beside him.

"No, Jungkookie," Jimin smiled, "they didn't release your bonding information publicly yet. Bangtan is safe."

And with that, Jungkook gave into the darkness as someone whispered, "Just overlap their arms."

And he felt something bump against his hand even as Jimin cooed,

"It's okay, Kookie... it's okay now."

-----------

-----------

-----------

Hi ARMY!

Thank you with all my heart.

I got followers and comments and messages from some of you and it means the world to me, truly. Thanks so much for your support. I love hearing from you, whether it be feedback or suggestions or just telling me about yourself. I wonder about my readers all the time. What you like to do, who your bias is... please reach out to me!!!