010

Ken dozes next to me, pillowing his head against his arms. Leo had come in earlier to sit at Ravi’s side, perched on the stool similar to that of an owl, speaking to Ravi in a soft murmur. He stayed like that for a good half hour before a nurse came in to check the machines, startling Leo out of his one-sided conversation. He put Ravi’s snapback on the nightstand to the left of the bed before leaving.

I decide to head back out into the hallway, the beeping of the monitors too haunting for me to endure any longer. Rebecca is curled up against Leo again who sits quietly, staring blankly ahead. A rush of movement catches my eye as several familiar faces make their way towards us.

Miyoko wraps her arms around me in a vice-like grip, and I hear her whisper the words I’m sorry. Seeing her, Leo gently eases the sleeping Rebecca off of his shoulder to pull Miyoko into his arms, placing a kiss in her hair as he whispers something inaudible to her.

Hongbin and Misa slip into Ravi’s room, and I hear her draw in a sharp breath at the sight of Ravi and she hides her face into Hongbin’s chest.

A warm hand is placed on my shoulder as I’m spun around, staring up into warm brown eyes.

Dad.

“Where have you been?!” I whimper.

I choke on my own breath, the air around me is too hot and my body starts to tremble as I feel myself coming undone, realizing I’m crying harder than ever.

“Rebecca called and told me everything. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here sooner when you needed me, Mari. I’m so sorry.” my father says and brushes the pads of his thumbs across my cheeks, “Seoul is in chaos. Riots and protests, the city’s in a complete deadlock, it was a miracle that the call even went through,”

“Wh-why? What’s going on?”

His hands move from my shoulders to cup my face, eyes glancing to the floor before meeting my gaze again, his voice low and urgent.

“It’s the virus. Word got out that an Augment’s system shut down, though the public doesn’t know about N or Ravi yet, thank god,”

My father pauses to draw in a shaky breath.

“People are talking, the hysteria out there is unbelievable. They’re saying that the virus was intentional and that this was all AIRCE’s design, part of some doomsday plot that we’ve been hiding. The more they say it, the more believable it seems to them.”

“You mean people think that the virus was planted?”

He jerks his head in a nod and my mind flashes to N lying unconscious two rooms away. My head slumps forward as hot tears squeeze out of my eyes, my breath hitching as I choke back a sob.

N, the hardworking, diligent friend who I’ve known since childhood was now suffering the consequences of a careless mistake; one wrong line of code now had two of my best friends on the verge of death. Even after N wakes up, things can never go back to the way they were. An entire city is now fueled with raw anger, years of tension between the government and Seoul now bursting at the seams as the possibility of a civil war looms large. His life is now in danger. N is now a target.

“We’re boosting up security. No one will be able to get to N.”

He pulls me into his chest and I nod at his words, yet the tears continue to flow.

“He’ll be safe, don’t worry, sweetie. Trust me.”

I’m scared. I’m scared less, I’m terrified. I can only cower in my father’s arms like the little girl that I am.

~~

Leo, Misa and Miyoko have their chairs pulled together in a tight circle in the waiting room, talking in hushed whispers. Miyoko has her head resting in the crook of Leo’s neck, his arm draped protectively over her shoulders. Her back is to me, but I can tell she’s crying softly by the way her frame is shaking and I have to turn away to keep myself from losing my composure.

“Hey,”

It’s Hyuk. He has a few sandwiches wrapped with cellophane in his hand, two bottles of water in the other. He sits himself down on the floor next to me and crosses his legs, leaning his back against the wall.

“Where’s Rebecca?” he asks and twists off the cap of one of the bottles.

“She went to the cafeteria,”

“And Ken?”

“Ravi’s room.”

Hyuk nods, taking one of the sandwiches and handing it to me.

“You should eat something. Here.”

I don’t answer, partly because the thought of food at the moment makes me feel nauseous.

Hyuk scoots closer to me and peels back the plastic wrapping on the sandwich, stretching out his hand to offer it to me.

“Seriously, Mari. You need to eat. You’ll faint if you don’t put anything in your stomach.”

His voice is soft and mellow. I glance back to the food in his hand and he nods once with a close-lipped smile and gentle eyes.

At the first bite, my throat clenches as a dry heave rocks my stomach, bile rising at the back of my throat and I nearly gag. I clasp a hand over my mouth to keep from spitting up, forcing myself to swallow.

Hyuk immediately presses the bottle to my lips and I drink greedily, his hand cupping the small of my back as the water washes away the taste of vomit.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. He watches me closely as I carefully eat the remainder of the sandwich, chewing slowly until I finally brush the crumbs off my lap.

“See? That wasn’t so bad, right?” his smile crinkles his eyes and they twinkle like stars, his laughter breathy and quiet. He leans back on his hands, shifting his bangs out of his eyes with a little toss of his head.

He’s grown in the last few weeks, I can tell. Physically, of course, a broader set of shoulders and longer legs, yet Hyuk is growing into a young man beyond physique. The awkward boy that all of us had teased and watched grow since the armpit of adolescence was no more.

“I’m sorry, Hyuk. I should be taking care of you, not the other way around.”

“Stop.” he says, “that’s what friends are for.”

~~

Rebecca returns from the cafeteria shortly afterward. I help her when she attempts to eat soup, her body reacting similarly to mine as she starts coughing as well. With a little coaxing, she’s able to stomach it and I even have her try some solid food.

“I’m such a mess.” she croaks, voice cracked and dry. I smooth back her hair and she sniffles.

“We all are.” I say softly, bringing my hand back to rest it in my lap. She nods and brings her now empty plastic tray to the counter and drops it off.

“Can we stop by the gift shop?” she asks me, “I want to buy some flowers for N and Ravi.”

“Of course.”

The walk to the shop is quick, just around the corner and down the hall from the cafeteria. Rebecca picks out a large bouquet of fresh, white daisies and the attendant wraps them carefully in paper before handing them back to her.

The two of us make our way back to N’s room. My spirit falls as I step into the doorway, the sight of N’s bruised and beaten complexion something I’m still not used to seeing, his lips parting as he draws in quiet, slow breaths through the tubes in his nose.

Rebecca leaves to ask a nurse for a vase and I walk to the far end of the room, throwing open the shades despite the fact that the sky is a cold, gunmetal grey, rain cascading down the glass. I’d kill for sunshine.

The bed creaks behind me and I turn around slowly, surprised to find N stirring slightly. He groans, his hands into the blankets, eyes still closed. His brows knit together as he tosses his head from side to side like he’s warding off something unpleasant and my heart slams against my ribcage as I move towards him.

N suddenly bolts upright with a low wheeze. He’s trembling, sweat sticking his black hair to his forehead, eyes hauntingly wide and terrified. His gaze tears around the room quickly until he glances down to the various IV tubes bandaged to his arms and he starts to whimper.

“N?”

The tremors in his hands become violent and he looks at me.

“Where’s Rebecca?”

His voice is strained, his expression desperate and pleading. N’s fingers grasp my forearm and his nails dig into my skin.

“If I’m here, that means she and Ravi are here too. Is she alright? Where’s Ravi? Please...oh god..oh my god.”

A lump forms in my throat, making swallowing impossible. N shakes me once, his grasp on my arms so strong that I know he’ll leave marks.

“Mari...please. Please. I have to know, tell me. He’s my responsibility.”

“Rebecca’s alright. She’s safe.” I finally manage to say. N’s eyes flutter shut as he lets out a soft sigh, his fingers loosening slightly.

“And Ravi?”

I have to turn my head to keep from crying out. N’s gaze follows my every move, confused.

“Where’s Ravi?” he asks again, softer this time. My heart feels like it’s going to burst, rattling around inside my chest like a scared bird.

“Ravi..Ravi’s broken. His system crashed.”

N lets go of me then.

“We think he’s rebooting. He hasn’t gone completely offline so it’s...it’s hard to say.”

He blinks and shakes his head, the tremors returning until his frame is shaking so hard that his teeth start to chatter, burying his head in his bandage wrapped hands, mumbling into his palms.

“No. No, no, no. This is all my fault..th-this..this is all my..my ing fault!”

“Stop it.” I say. My voice breaks in a failed attempt to sound assertive and I gently pull his hands away from his face, cradling them in my own.

“Stop. N, look at me. Look at me.”

He obeys, moisture slipping out of his eyes, rolling down the plastic tubes looped around his upper lip.

“Don’t do this to yourself,” I murmur.

N lets out a choked breath.

“I can’t believe this. What have I done..?”

It’s quiet after that. He cries softly, tears splashing against the back of my hands and I move to sit across from him, the hospital bed shifting under our combined weight and I’m careful not to tangle myself in the IVs.

“I should’ve stopped you when you went to give the software update to Ravi.” N gasps. He’s having trouble breathing, whether it’s from his cries or his lungs I’m not sure. He stops me when my fingers hover over the call button for the nurse and he closes his eyes, concentrating on drawing in oxygen through the tubes.

“I had a feeling something was off with the coding, but I released it anyway. I should’ve..I-I should’ve double checked.”

He his lips, now cracked and dry.

“The power outage was the last thing Ravi needed. When our servers crashed, we lost so much data, all of it was practically wiped clean. Our firewalls were down for only a few hours and everything just tanked.

I remember how Ravi froze the exact moment the lights had gone out, his eyes burning bright orange. That must have been when the virus had sneaked into his system; when he was most vulnerable.

“If the virus eats away too much of his program, if we lose Ravi..”

“We won’t.”

N looks to me, eyes bloodshot, hair ruffled.

“I’ll never be able to forgive myself. I’ll never be able to live with the guilt of killing one of my best friends.”

His voice cuts off as a low whisper. Rebecca enters the room just then, balancing a glass vase filled with the daisies we had bought. She stops in her tracks when she sees N, practically dropping the vase as she sets it down on the bedside table, throwing her arms around him.

“You’re awake. Oh god.” she whispers into his shoulder and pulls away, smoothing his bangs out of his eyes. N beams back at us with a soft smile on his lips, face still banged and bruised. The three of us laugh breathlessly and I find myself brushing away more tears.

My father pokes his head into the doorway, a package wrapped in white tissue paper in his hand. He smiles at N and claps him on the shoulder.

“Glad to see you’re awake, N, really.” he says.

“I’m glad to be back.”

My father turns to Rebecca.

“Can you leave the three of us alone for a minute?”

She nods and gives me the first genuine smile I’ve seen in days.

“Of course.”

Rebecca hurries out of the room and my dad motions for me to pull over a chair, doing the same for himself.

“This is for you,” he pushes the package to N.

He unwraps it slowly as not to tear the tissue paper, revealing a small, delicious looking cake with Best Intern written with a careful hand in blue frosting.

N looks to me with a smirk before nodding his thanks to my father, setting the cake on the bedside table.

“I’ll save it for all of us when Ravi’s back.”

My heart clenches at his words and I squeeze his hand reassuringly.

“That’s a great idea,” I whisper.

He nods before he takes a deep breath and settles himself against the pillows.

“So, how do we clean up my mess?” N’s question is directed at my father who leans forward in his chair, jaw set.

“My superiors and I have been discussing a plan that could potentially ease the tensions in Seoul, but we’re still working on the basics. We’re going to need both your help on this.”

N and I glance at each other.

“We’re ready.”

A/N: Welcome back, readers! Next chapter is already in the works, should be up sometime next week! I'm so excited to say that this fic is getting a lot of new readers ;V; 

N is back. Yas. Except so much angst omg N pls calm down. 

I have some new goodies for you guys! I finally sat down and whipped up a different cover photo for this fic bc I was getting really tired of the old one lol

ALSO EXCITING NEWS -- I have compiled a playlist in order to help get the feel/mood of this story, feel free to take a listen to the songs while reading :D

Until next time!

xoxo Sahara