Awakened

Soldiers marched through the halls of the base, their thoughts occupied by the new dispatch at the morning meeting. After seven years of waiting, the Colonel was finally ready to pull the plug on Jae Rin. Literally.

“What do you mean you’re pulling the plug?!” Sungjong snapped as he stormed into the Colonel’s office.

The Colonel quietly gestured to the couch and watched as the younger man stomped over and aggressively settled himself down. Hands folded, the Colonel rested them on the desk as Sungjong went on with his interrogation. He couldn’t help but let his eyes wandered over to his bookshelf, suddenly becoming more interested in the tattered spines that graced his presence like any other day of the week. Though his gaze lingered over the faded texts, he forced himself to look back at his guest.

“Can you at least tell me why you decided to let her go?” Sungjong asked, his voice trembling as he stared down at his hands. He pressed his palms against his knees as he waited for the Colonel’s response, waiting for him to cut through the deafening silence.

“Sungjong, it’s been seven, long years. There’s been no progress, and quite frankly, there’s nothing we can do for her. The government is cutting our funds and support, which means this project is getting scrapped.” The Colonel shifted his chair, leaning back into it as he looked up to the ceiling. He took a deep breath before continuing. “We’ve scheduled to shut her down at 15 00 hours. I suggest you get your good-byes in now while you still have the chance.”

Sungjong jumped to his feet and bowed to his Colonel out of habit. He caught himself halfway, raising an arm in salute instead and exited the office. He caught the door as it was closing, cushioning it with trembling hands as it slowly clicked into place. The soldiers in the hall nodded or saluted as they passed him, all of which he shakily returned. None were aware of the cold sweat drenching the back of his shirt.

Pushing himself off the door, Sungjong clambered down the hallway towards the infirmary. He didn’t know why he had the sudden urge to head in that direction. It could’ve been because the entire situation was fresh on his mind. Or, it could’ve been the fact that he was suddenly feeling light headed and was seeing triple. Either way, he had to get to the medical wing. It was there or up on the surface where nothing was what it seemed.

Sunggyu rubbed his eyes, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he rubbed his throbbing temples. The words from the morning dispatch still echoed in his head, pressing against his skull as they forced their way into reality, a reality he didn’t want. He didn’t want to believe the Colonel because deep down, he still had hope for Jae Rin. But, he knew better than to question his superiors.

It was in these moments when his intrusive thoughts clawed their way to the surface of his consciousness, occupying his mind and taking up vacancy where his logic was supposed to reside. What if, just as a hypothetical thought, the base let go of all the other projects and patients. Wouldn’t their lack of existence cover the fund cuts? Were they as much of a priority to the cause than Jae Rin? Or are they expendable? Sunggyu didn’t want to have these thoughts. He truly didn’t. Loss does this to people though, and he knew fully well that it was his way of coping. Yet the thoughts alone, even if they are not enacted, were enough to convince him that things were supposed to happen as fate had decided. And, it seems like this is what fate wanted.

Getting up from the chair, Sunggyu walked over to Jae Rin’s bed. He held her right hand, sighing as he gave it one last pat. Although it was warm to the touch, he couldn’t let himself fall victim to the pseudo-signs of life. Her blood may flow, but her mind lay as stagnant as the oldest mountain range. Unyielding.

Letting go of her hand, Sunggyu walked out of the room and shut the door behind him for the last time. He noticed white coats rushing past him in all directions, all walking with a purpose, all with tunnel vision. Wondering why they were in such a rush, he checked his watch and realized there was only 30 minutes left before the plug was pulled. He paused for a moment, contemplating whether to stay for the procedure or not. His instinct told him to run, but his conscience was edging forward in the race.

He couldn’t will himself to leave Jae Rin entirely on her own, so he decided to sit in the cafeteria next door until the time arrived. It would give him enough time to mentally prepare for the worst.

Sungjong stumbled into Jae Rin’s room and collapsed into the chair next to her bed as sweat glistened on his forehead. He didn’t know why he was suddenly feeling so ill. Even with the shocking news, he shouldn’t be feeling this distraught. She was only his friend, nothing more. It’s not like he almost lost his life for her. Not at all.

Sungjong didn’t want to believe that today was the end. He couldn’t let it be the end especially with everything he sacrificed. He reached for his chest, feeling the raised scar tissue that ran from his left clavicle to the tip of his sternum. The battle was forever burned into his memories, branded into the deepest depths of his darkest thoughts. They simmered at all hours of the day, a constant reminder of the insurmountable loss that he and his friends suffered. He couldn’t let the Colonel go through with it. He couldn’t let Jae Rin go this way.

Grabbing the bed railing, Sunjong pulled himself up off the couch and stood next to Jae Rin’s bed. He closed his eyes and tapped into his powers. The medical team were all skilled healers themselves, but he had to try a second time. It saved her once already, it could save her again.

The Touch of Life. The ability to bring someone back from near death. The one chance Sungjong had to save his friend.

Reaching into his powers, Sungjong searched for the foreign tendrils of light that saved Jae Rin from visiting Death last time, biting his lip as his energy glowed around him. Although it saved a life, it nearly took his own away. The only reminder left was the scar across his chest, a trophy of his efforts. A branding of his pain.

But he had to try. He had to do something.

The door burst open just as Sungjong was beginning to sense the Touch of Life, startling him back into reality. His breath caught in his throat as he forced down the tears that pooled in his eyes.

“I was so close! Just a couple more seconds and I could’ve saved her!” Sungjong screamed, glaring up at his old friend Sunggyu.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Sunggyu shouted, shoving Sungjong to the door and straight out into the hallway. “Do you have a death wish?” Sunggyu snapped, shoving his friend into the wall. He kept a vice grip on the younger man’s arm and whipped out his receiver to call for back up. At a sensitive time like this, he couldn’t afford to lose another one of his friends even if he had to be the bad guy. A voice crackled through his receiver confirming backup and he nodded as he turned his attention back to Sungjong. “I’m going to ask you again, what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m trying to save her!” Sungjong snapped, eyes flashing as he tried to pull his arm away from Sunggyu. The familiar, dull throbbing was returning to his temples as he tugged himself closer to Jae Rin’s room. His heart pounded with a sense of urgency he couldn’t quite describe, a foreign feeling different from his usual, numb self.

“There’s nothing else that we can do! They’re pulling the plug, Jong. Please, let her go,” Sunggyu sighed. He felt Sungjong go rigid under his grip as the boy slowly stopped struggling in his hold, shoulders dropping of all the fight he had left in him. Sunggyu didn’t want to believe his own words, but he knew he had to listen as a subordinate to the organization that saved him and his friends. There really was nothing left for them to do.

The men stood in silence, neither moving. Both solemnly processing the fact that they were going to lose another one of their friends to a fight that haunted them and their home country. Although nobody said anything, the both of them knew that this was a scar that they would never be able to recover from. Not now, not ever. The moment she leaves them will be the moment that everything changes forever because aside from having no answers, an underlying question will remain: What is going to happen to them now?

“Hyung, can I at least be in the room with her?” Sungjong couldn’t bear to look at Sunggyu knowing that his chances were low. But, he was shocked to hear the older man whisper an ‘okay’ before pushing him towards the door.

“As long as you let me come with you, that’s my price,” Sunggyu mumbled as he brushed past Sungjong. He entered the room first and occupied the chair on the other end of the room, the furthest seat away from the bed. “Sit, the doctors are on the way. I’ll call off the backup.” As he spoke into his received, Sunggyu watched Sungjong take a seat in the chair next to Jae Rin’s bed. He watched as his friend picked up her right hand and brought his head down, forehead to the back her hand. Sunggyu hesitated and leaned forward, contemplating whether he should go over to Sungjong or not, but ultimately decided against it. He settled back into his seat when the door swung open to reveal a team of doctors and nurses entering the room. Sunggyu nodded at them as they went about their business, busy with their preparations to take Jae Rin off support. ‘Whatever you do, Sunggyu, don’t look away. You have to be there for the both of them.’

The doctors and nurses began to shut down the machines one by one, unplugging them and rolling them away from the bed. Sungjong continued to sit next to Jae Rin without a whisper of movement as everyone bustled around him. A weight held his head down as he felt Jae Rin’s pulse slowly weaken under his touch. He didn’t know when they started to fall, but his tears soaked the sheets as they flowed freely, washing his sorrow and pain with them, all the while numbing his senses to her impending death. He felt her pulse finally fading as the doctors unplugged the last machine, taking out the tubes and wires attached to her. He felt them ebb to nothingness. Even if he didn’t want it, in that moment, she was finally free.

‘Jae Rin. Thank you for the memories.’

---

She was finally free of the constraints that held her to the world that she so desperately tried to escape. Her mind, once fogged and hazy, was finally clear. She could see the light. She could smell the light. She could feel the light. She was the light.

---

Sunggyu only had about a second to react when he saw Sungjong look up from the bed before something bright exploded from the center of the room. He threw up his hands to shield himself from the blast, but that didn’t stop it from burning his vision with an eclipse like dark light. A déjà vu moment for the both of them as they thought back to the morning’s events. Sunggyu lunged forward, launching himself towards the bed as he grabbed Jae Rin’s left shoulder, anticipating the worst-case scenarios. He glanced over at Sungjong to see him doing the exact same thing, though he was holding down on Jae Rin’s arm. Terror flashed across their faces as she began to glow black once more, the wind picking up around her as the darkness seemingly slithered out from within her abdomen. Tendrils of dark light reached out and latched themselves onto all of the nearest surfaces. They were visceral, thick with hard matter, yet were translucent and carefree like mist.

“Hyung, what do we do?” Sungjong gasped from the other side of her bed. He flicked his hand away as the darkness creeped towards him. He caught Sunggyu’s eyes and he knew that at that very moment, the both of them were just as lost as each other. At that moment, he knew that the only thing they could do was wait for their fate. And, fate didn’t rule out death.

---

‘Come on, Luhan! Hurry up!’ Luhan weaved through the crowd towards the commotion, pushing his way past people with hurried apologies. He came to an abrupt stop and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Much like the morning situation, Jae Rin was once again surrounded by dark mist, and a gust was beginning to swirl around her. Luhan launched himself into the room and threw the door shut behind him with a flick of his wrist. He joined Sungjong at the side of the bed and, without a second thought, he grabbed Jae Rin’s right hand and put up a force field around her and himself. Sungjong and Sunggyu crashed into the walls behind them as the transparent shield forced them off of Jae Rin.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Sungjong screamed. “I can save her!”

“Not without losing your own life, you can’t,” Sunggyu snapped. “Luhan, get yourself away from there!”

Luhan couldn’t hear either of them. All he could hear was the thumping of his own, racing heart, and Jae Rin’s quiver of a pulse. His body reacted instinctively, and he found himself pushing his force field through her arm, up through her torso, and down to her feet. He didn’t know how he did it. He didn’t know why he did it. But, he did it anyway.

And because of that, Jae Rin’s eyes shot open with a start, and she gasped for some air. Suddenly, everything went quiet. Nobody moved, nobody dared to breathe even though Jae Rin was alive and breathing and awake in front of them. Her eyes darted around the room, flitting from one wall to the other, absorbing her surroundings and the people in the very room with her. She glanced up at Sungjong’s wide eyes, and looked over at Sunggyu’s equally shocked face. A squeeze of her wrist brought her back to the person standing next to her, a strange individual who was smiling down at her with bright, sparkling eyes. Looking around the room once more, she pushed Luhan’s hand away from her.

“Who are you? What am I doing here? Where am I?”

So I guess it's been a while, eh? I've neglected this fanfic. Even though I'm pretty sure nobody reads it, I still find joy in writing this story. I'm also at a point in my life where I think I need to write or else I'm going to go insane from work.

If you're confused about what's going on, please check out the prequel I wrote called "Epicenter". It should make some more sense then.

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Awakened

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