TAE POV:

It's with a numbness that I take Hobi hyung out, a sort of haziness that clouds my mind as I lead him to the bathroom. Slowly I peel away his clothes, eyes lingering on the dark stains on them, watch as they fall to the ground. My fingers shake as I undo the waist of his trousers, try to breathe and swallow past the lump in my throat which has taken refuge there since we've found her.

Since we've found (Y/N), it feels like it's difficult to breathe- even though it's been centuries since I lost that habit, it feels like my insides are being pulverised and all I can do is try and hold myself up, and stop myself from collapsing as a boneless heap next to her. The instinct to fall next to her, to cover her vulnerable body with my own is overpoweringly strong but still fails to penetrate the thick fog clouding every sense, dullening it.

I tug Hobi hyung to stand under the shower spray and step in after him, forgoing taking my clothes off as I help wash the red off him, watch the water discolour as it pours down the drain, lather him up slowly with a stiffness that permeates my limbs.

Hyung is shaking.

I reach out to draw him close, cradle his wet vulnerably body in my arms as he cries, loud shuddering gasps drawn in as he tucks himself into me.

"She...she...so hurt." he mumbles brokenly, wetly.

He shudders as I hug him, clings onto me just the way the sodden clothes hang on my frame.

"I know." I reply.

"She doesn't—deserve it." He cries, clutching at me tightly, almost hard enough for the force to actually hurt, but still aware that he's holding his mate, even in his pain.

"I know." I repeat again.

"I'll kill him." he swears vehemently.

My hands tighten around him, finally breaking the repetitive phrasing I've been dully echoing.

"We will." I promise.

Our tears mingle with the shower spray as the two of us cling onto each other, our bodies curve desperately into each other even as we step out, dripping water onto the tiles. Our hands shakily dress each other and towel each other off, and it's with the support of one another that we stumble back to her room.

The first thing I note is that the sheets are gone, the bloodstained white sheets have been changed, now they're dark and bitterly all I can think is that blood doesn't show on dark materials easily.

The second thing I note is that her blouse is gone, the light fabric that was seeped with her blood is gone, the shreds of it taken away.

The third thing I note is that the others have crowded around her, even as Jin hyung holds her- eyes showing that frantic desperation that if he doesn't he fears she'll slip away.

The Ims are huddled around each other, leaning wearily onto each other for support- literally too I note, seeing the exhaustion that lines red eyes, as if the incident has aged them all beyond measure. Eunwoo and MJ hyung are seated near Gyeomie, the two maknaes clutch at each other tightly, seeking desperate comfort from the presence of one another.

MJ hyung's are tired, drained but alert as they watch (Y/N), keep attentive eyes to spot any distress or pain.

The two of us are drawn into the circle of our mates, I lean onto Jungkookie, resting my achingly numb head onto his shoulder, drawing him close when he sniffles.

I watch (Y/N), see the exhaustion that lines her body even as she doesn't awaken.

I don't know how potent the tonic is, how deep she'll sleep and how long it'll take for her to heal but I'm already yearning so deeply, so painfully for her to open her eyes, for her to utter or make a single sound. It feels like time has trapped us within this agonising moment, seeping slowly like sludge, slow and heavy but also as if eons have passed since I last saw her smile, move...do anything.

The knot in my stomach yanks twists viciously when my eyes flash back to the sight of her blood that had seeped and stained the dark street and my mind flashes back to the boy, the young child who in his dying moments pleaded us to save and thank our mate.

I straighten up.

The boy.

And even though my soul tears and screams in agony as I get up and move away, I need to get to him, give him the respect and honour and right to a funeral, to be mourned and returned to his family. I don't know how much time has passed but all I know in that moment is that I need to find him, ignoring the worried calls of my name as I leave.

It's Jiminie who catches up with me, tearstained puffy eyes alight with understanding and the two of us leave the nest, leave our weeping broken souls behind as we go to get the boy.

The nameless boy who'd made all the difference.

RYAN POV:

(Y/N) isn't there when I step out, but I follow the sweet scent of her to a bloodstained alley, barely feeling the way my knees fall as if I've been felled, falling into the large puddles of crimson, staring vacantly at the devastation and horror that wrecked this street.

How had I left her outside? Why hadn't I dragged her in with me?

My hands come up stained and I feel sick, repulsed by the sight of it- instincts recoiling when they catch her sweet scent under the metallic tang.

And I stagger back, eyes wide and haunted- needing to find (Y/N), needing to get to Deok-mi so we could get to her, mind whirring with endless horrific, ghastly scenarios and then my eyes catch onto a pale face on the ground. At the small defenceless dead body.

And pick him up with trembling arms, knowing that I can't leave him here, can't leave the boy to perish in whatever nightmare had occurred here.

And just as I leave, I catch a bitter waft of a scent- vile and corrosive. Putrid.

And realise it must belong to the monster behind it all. Right now, I need to get this boy back to his family and then I need to find my own.

----

I watch with an aching heart at the way his parents weep over his mauled body, covered with a sheet to protect them from the horrors done to it. Their eyes profusely seep endless tears and even with Deok-mi's grounding hand, I feel unstable and shaky.

Turn away.

"(Y/N)?" I breathe, fearful of being alerted to similar news. That she too has...my mind can't bring itself to finish the thought.

Deok-mi looks visibly shaken, face pale and sickly looking under the hospital lights.

I clutch at her, feeling a wave of nausea threaten to overwhelm me.

"She's...JB didn't call with good news. He said...he said we might want to see her." she adds shakily, clutching back just as tightly. Our world shaken and torn from under our feet.

And she guides me out the hospital, mind already plagued with what could await us.

Just as we're heading out, two of the Bangtan coven's nestlings nearly come crashing into us, faces gaunt and eyes wide. They stop when they see us, eyes bleeding a profuse red.

And I figure if they're here for the boy.

"He's with his family. We should give them the privacy to mourn." I mumble, through a mouth that feels stuffed, words forcing their way out.

Their shoulders slump and just as immediately they turn to leave.

Before Jimin turns.

"(Y/N)...I think she would have liked it if you came." He murmurs, voice hoarse and broken.

Devastated.

And truly nothing can prepare me for the sight of when we reach their nest and see her, body pale and cold and bandaged, delicate and tiny as she lies still on her eldest mate.

And within that moment I wonder...whether this could've been prevented had I taken her in with me.

And whether her current state is my fault.

JIN POV:

My soul is soothed by seeing Jimin and Tae return but feeling (Y/N)'s light, motionless figure on me makes my throat swell up. It's hard trying to be strong and composed when inside every part of me is shattered and broken and devastated at the damage that has happened tonight.

Damage I don't know whether it can be fixed.

And the uncertainty of our future is so bleak and grim and horrifying that I can't help but fear for what'll happen.

Because (Y/N) is hurt, I don't know how long it'll take for the venom to settle and for her to turn fully, to awaken as a vampire.

But the fatigue that clings to everyone is shaken off, because not a single soul here is going to be at rest until she wakes up, until we can assert that she's fine.

And the worst thing is...we don't know when that is.

----

A day passes. Nothing. 

The tonic had worn off and we'd all been shocked out of our comatose states by the whimpers that had broken the silence, that had broken the restless waiting with a tiny tremor that began imperceptibly and grew until she restlessly tossed and turned in my arms, writhing as her body was changed, as each part of her internally accustomed itself to her new changes, her new system.

I held her as she whimpered, the vibrations of the sound felt against my chest and directly shot at my heart, making it lurch fearfully, arms both firm and gentle as I held her, because her movements could cause pain to her injuries, aggravate her wounds. And nothing had hurt more than the feeling of being utterly helpless to do nothing but hold her through her pain, able to do nothing except wait with sickening anticipation for when she'd finally wake up.

Yugyeom hadn't left her side since either, hand still clutching hers, fingers occasionally straying to brush against his bloodmate claim, brushing carefully over the puncture marks on the inside of her wrist. And occasionally he'd stirred, risen up to hover fretfully over her, eyes pained. He'd refused any attempts his nest had made to draw him away, had looked so destroyed at the notion that they'd simply kneeled beside him and tried their best to comfort their hurting mate. My soul yearned for our youngest to be awake too, for us to be able to take care of her, assess her needs but we needed her eyes to open first.

Kookie had broken down into tears, hysterical and panicked as he'd fumbled over the question of why she wasn't waking up, his doe-eyes were now lined with the red of his tears and burning crimson as he'd curled up on the other side next to her- his pain so deep it felt like shards of glass embedding themselves into our skin.

His hand brushes over her hair, lingering on her face as he whispers wet pleas for her to wake up, talking about how much he needed her, how much it hurt to not see her looking at him. His raw words added to the thick cloud of pain that was constantly hovering over us.

The other maknaes clung to each other, shaking, and trembling silently- voices gone in the face of the pain we were all suffering and the others looked close to shattering, as if they'd gathered their broken pieces to try and comfort each other.

And Yoongi...he was yet to stir from the foot of the bed where he'd been watching constantly with vigilance, eyes never wavering off her even as he tucked a distressed dongsaeng close.

I could feel our bond strain and try to overcome the hurt but it felt fragile, delicate.

And I didn't know how long each of us could hold out.

(Y/N)...wake up. We need you.

(Y/N) POV:

There's nothing but an endless abyss, dark, consuming and petrifying. Never have I felt so alone, so lost as it drags me in, ensnares me and forces that darkness through each nerve and crevice of my body.

My body feels alight, as if flames are constantly licking across my skin and consuming me, nothing but fiery pain and agony tearing through me, rendering me useless with it, body, and mind crippled from the pain- it's all I feel. And all I can do is lie there and suffer, unable to endure it but tortured with it anyways.

Fragments of memory explode across my mind, shatter the darkness with threads of remembrance, recollection of the pain as my flesh had been torn open, gouged into- the burn of fangs and claws sinking into me, mauling me.

Then comes the image of the broken boy, so defenceless and helpless yet it had been instinct to cover his body, to try and shield him from the pain, to prevent him from getting hurt.

Is this how my mum had felt, covering my body with hers- had she felt the same helpless agony consume her as she died, body pressing mine down into the mattress, her blood soaking and clouding my scent, her final defence for her daughter.

Through the pain and agony came flickers of comfort, respite that was brief but treasured.

The feeling of being held, of being soothed, of soft indecipherable words brushed against my burning skin and setting the flame to become a dull ember. But it's not enough, the momentary respite- I want to remain in the sanctuary it poses, escape to it.

But my body remains immobile and stiff- unwilling to move and comply to the screaming of my mind that begs it to move, to get to safety.

And sometimes it's not pain that burns a path across my skin but the memory of a cruel, malicious face grinning sadistically, eyes alight with pleasure.

Sometimes it's the heavy suffocating weight as I remember how I'd been pinned to the ground, helpless and alone.

Sometimes it's his voice, mocking and goading- telling me that Yoongi was his, belonged to him and my mind parted to silently scream that he wasn't, he belonged to himself. My heart wept for him and I wanted to wake up to tell him, leave the darkness to find him. But I couldn't.

But then the feelings of pain and suffering mingle with the pain of my heart and soul that twists and begs and writhes for my mates- to fill that emptiness.

It's the pain of everything combined that wells up higher and higher, gaining momentum like a powerful wave, sweeping in with crashing force and drowning me, suffocating me with the pain until my body finally escapes its frozen state and shifts, twisting to escape it, scream tearing out my throat, body jolting as I move.

And finally my eyes see something other than darkness, they push heavy eyelids apart, see colours blur and finally focus onto my surroundings, I bolt upright from a soft support and meet red eyes that widen.

I see red eyes, wide and filled with concern, disbelieving and frozen.

And then those red eyes blur when my eyes betray me with a stinging tell and tears course down my cheeks.

(THERE YOU GO! OUR BABY IS FINALLY AWAKE AND I'D BE LYING IF I SAID I WAS ACHING AND IN PAIN AND JUST READY TO SEE HER WAKE UP ALREADY...MY HEART STILL ACHES BECAUSE NOW (Y/N) IS CRYING AND I CAN'T HANDLE IT...AND YOU CAN BET THE ENTIRE ROOM FILLED WITH VAMPIRES CAN'T HANDLE IT EITHER! IS EVERYONE FINALLY READY FOR SOME COMFORT AND FLUFF NOW...I KNOW I AM! AND JUST...PAIN. IT WAS DIFFICULT TO WRITE THE PAST FEW CHAPTERS BECAUSE I FELT SO SORRY FOR MY LOVES IN THE BOOK, FOR THEIR SUFFERING THAT I HAD TO PUT AN END TO IT. AND FOR EVERYONE WHO WERE SECRETLY RALLYING TO COME AFTER ME, PUT DOWN YOUR PITCHFORKS- SHE'S AWAKE! STAY SAFE AND HOPEFULLY THEY'RE HAPPY TEARS NOW AS YOU READ!)

One moment can change everything, one decision can cause ripples and affect other paths we might've walked, it's one choice that could alter our fate.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3