Wooyoung ran, legs shaky and breath unstable, but he had refused to stop. There's nothing able to stop him; he's like a loose cannon, and he's sure the General wouldn't be too happy about his behaviour later, when they sit down to eat their dinner, if he gets out of this alive.

 Mingi is in danger, though. And Wooyoung will not let him die. Not now, not ever.

 And so he runs, runs until he feels his legs give out but he only speeds up, and he can't process how his body is still holding him up by this point; it's like not a single tiny fiber wants him to stop until his noodle of a friend is safe in his arms. It's a miracle, because he'd just spent hours upon hours sitting in acrampled cockpit, legs stuck in one position and he feels the static run through them as he runs. He's struggling, limping and stumbling over thin air, gasping for air as his long fingers fumble with the pocket knife, but he figures that his friend is much more important than his very own well-being. And he groans, when he's unable to find the swiss knife. It seems like his very last  option is to smash his elbow into the thick glass. It will hurt, but who is he to care.

 "Captain Jeong, don't you dare touch that goddamn Viper," General Jung threatens, voice rough and loud but Wooyoung doesn't listen - he never does, in fact, and lets himself climb the wing of the aircraft. For the first time in five years, he finds himself disrespecting his senior, and he does it with strength and power nobody had ever seen him give out before. It's like he's driven on adrenaline a million times stronger than the epinephrine of flying.

 There are tears threatening to spill from Wooyoung's eyes, when he finally reaches the hardened glass of Mingi's smoke filled cockpit and he makes out the unconscious face of his friend over it, and he coughs and hits the glass with his fists. Mingi stirs slightly, and it's enough to have  Wooyoung try harder, balling his fists tighter before hitting the glass even more, but when that doesn't do, he curses. When he looks around, nobody's there to help except for a young soldier, admitted to the crew only a year ago, handing the pilot a pocket knife with a screwdriver opened up and ready. Of course, the more experienced pilot snatches it with a grateful, quick smile, before smashing the glass, black smoke seeping out of the cracks just like water would out of a plastic bottle with a hole in it. He tries more, and his brains forces out the sizzling threatening the two men with a fire; the fuel is about to catch in flames, and neither one of the pilots are in a safe distance from the threat - it drives Wooyoung even crazier, makes him try a tad bit harder.

 Soon enough, he's hooking his arms underneath Mingi's armpits, pulling him out and far away from the aircraft; enough so he's not threatened anymore, and the other soldiers immediately tend to the small glass wounds on his face from when Wooyoung had smashed the glass. And even then, when the giant man is safe and sound, Wooyoung runs back, threatening his life only to retrieve a silver necklace with a butterfly on it, glass cutting through his stomach as he leans on the shards that made the rest of the broken window, but he doesn't wince, doesn't wail.

 The pilot struggles, where he's meant to let go of the plane and run back; struggles, when he circles an arm around his own waist to keep the bleeding away from the worries gazes and finally leaves the danger zone of the plane, feet wobbling with each step he takes. He never understood why Mingi wouldn't just wear the necklace, but didn't care enough to ask, he just knew it's far too important to let it burn with the plane.

 And it's only when he collapses to the ground and when the plane catches on fire, when he grits his teeth and seeths, eyes glaring holes into each and every single soldier that stood in a semi-circle around the two injured and a couple of medics tending to them. General Jung seemed shocked, thunderstruck even, and didn't dare speak when his eyes met Wooyoung's, because he knew there's something just about to slip from the young pilot's lips, something so incredibly dangerous and venomous, even.

 Clutching the necklace, Wooyoung groans and his head spins upon seeing all the blood, but he takes a painful, deep breath nevertheless before yelling out, "Who the fuck ran the check up this morning," and it's scary, terrifying, because the sunshine of a man is now pale in the face and his eyes are as dark as the night, voice rough around the edges and it cuts through everyone's hearts like a dull knife - hard, painful and so incredibly scary. His face was cut through and through, lips bruised with how hard he'd been biting on them and it's so painfully obvious that he's pissed beyond belief.

 And his eyes narrow on a Lieutenant, young and so incredibly naive, Wooyoung even feels bad for lashing out like this, but it was Mingi's life the kid had just threatened.

 "Lieutenang Song insisted he flies it," He mutters quietly, and the field falls silent, with the medics helplessly watching Wooyoung, who would refuse getting his wounds treated, unless Mingi is completely patched up. General Jung winced and waited for the Captain's response, but all he'd got was a scoff, arrogant, and some curses nobody could really hear anyways.

 "That's fucking bullshit, and you know it," he growls, voice dropping a few octaves, but it's all he manages, before his knees begin hurting, too, and he sits down, head spinning like a fortune wheel. It's silent again, when General Jung dismisses the men and stays to wait for the ambulance to take the two pilots and it's not in his mind to scold the Captain for acting so fucking reckless, because he had just saved a life.

 Wooyoung wails where he lies, because the medic is digging his fingers into the wounds to fish out the glass to avoid complications, and it's Mingi who makes his shut his mouth mid-cry. "Woo," he asks, red hair moving on its own to reveal his patched up forehead, and Wooyoung almost scrambles up to his feet to hug his friend, if it weren't for the doctor pinning him down. Mingi is incredibly pale where he sits, leaned against General Jung's legs, and there's still dried blood on his face where the glass shards had hit him earlier and although Wooyoung feels enraged for having his friend get hurt, he still feels relieved because they were only small cuts, they will heal.

 "You're good now, Gi,"

 And exhaustion gets to him, then.

---

haha hi , i am back. i polished up my writing style a little more again , and i am happy to annouce that ill be back to rewriting this fanfic because i love it way too much to let it die out.

if you're curious about my other works, feel free to check out my ao3 (archiveofourown.org/users/autonoae), where this book will be published as well !! i post mainly drabbles on there, usually about a.c.e or sf9, but i do plan on writing for ateez again !

with that said, i hope you enjoyed the new, rewritten chapter ! see you next time !

much love , navi <3