Irene sat in the grass, legs crossed, her unfocused eyes resting on the dancing orange forms before her. Most of the sounds around her were muted by the crackling of the fire and Seulgi’s absurdly loud snores. Still, Irene could hear the faint sound of frogs and crickets, a sound that she associated with childhood camping trips with her parents.

    She was still amazed at how swiftly the world had repaired itself once she’d put the crystal into The Living Mountain. Granted, she had no idea how long it had been since she’d done that, as time seemed to have been altered in some way, but to her, it felt instantaneous. The black-haired girl took a deep inhale of the night air. The world even smelled different now. It smelled alive. Before this whole nightmare had begun, Irene had been terrified of the woods at night. Now, however, the rustling branches of the trees seemed to invigorate her, to fill her with a new life, much like the new life that the world had been granted. Despite her horrifying previous encounter with a forest that had literally tried to consume her, she could feel that this forest was different. It was a real forest. With real animals, and real trees, and real grass. They’d even been able to hunt around here, as the forest was teeming with wildlife: squirrels, chipmunks, deer, wild hogs… But they’d never hunted the rabbits, regardless of how many they’d seen.

Instantly, Irene’s heart dropped to her stomach and began to feel full. The image of the fluffy little creatures immediately shifted her mind to thoughts of something she’d been trying her best not to think about. Something that kept her up into the late hours of the night, something that she knew would haunt her for the rest of the her life, something that was gone entirely because of her. Yerim.

Irene looked up at the sky now, focusing on the waning crescent moon that hung low in the sky, trying to ignore the moisture that was beginning to obscure her vision. She tried to follow the exercises that Wendy had told her to perform at times like this; to focus on her breathing, to think of nothing else but the physical sensations she was experiencing now, to block out all conscious thought. But it wasn’t working. Her mind kept flashing back to the top of the mountain. She could smell the soot in the air, could feel the sweat on her body. Her heart raced just as fast as it had in that moment, and her breath came in short gasps. She felt the spray of sickly warm crimson that had streaked across her visage. She could still see Yerim’s face as the younger girl had lay on the cold, unforgiving ground, a small rivulet of blood dripping down from between her lips, her dying eyes filled with pained tears.

“I love you,” Irene unconsciously whispered the words to herself, hearing them in Yerim’s sweet, high voice.

Irene tried to contain herself, but couldn’t. She let out a short, wailing cry, bringing her knees up to her face so that she could attempt to mask the sounds of her emotional breakdown. Her whole body began to tremble, and the pit in her stomach deepened further. The tears came freely and without any sign of ceasing, rolling down her cheeks and soaking her pants.

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered into the darkness, “I’m so, so, sorry…”

After a few minutes of this, Irene felt a gentle hand pressing against her back. She didn’t have to look up to see who it was.

Seulgi pulled the older girl into an embrace. Irene tucked her head into Seulgi’s shoulder, in that little hollow just above her clavicle. It was a familiar spot to Irene by now, one that she’d visited many times in her near-nightly emotional breakdowns.

Seulgi’s comforting skills still left much to be desired; most of the time, she’d merely hold Irene in her arms until the older girl cried herself to sleep. Truthfully, the monolidded girl had no idea what to say, and there was always an odd stiffness about her body that indicated she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the whole situation. Still, Irene appreciated it greatly. Merely having a literal shoulder to cry on was enough for her.

“Why couldn’t I have died instead, Seulgi?” Irene asked, her voice muffled by Seulgi’s shirt, “She didn’t deserve it. If only I’d acted faster…”

“Don’t say that. There was nothing you could do,” Seulgi replied, comfortingly running her palm up and down Irene’s back, “The mountain was attacking you. It’s not your fault.”

“It is my fault though,” Irene hissed. Although her voice was still low, her tone was becoming dangerous now, “I was weak. I could’ve fought it off sooner, but I didn’t want to. It was so comforting, the thought of home, and my family, and my world. I wanted to get lost there, to never have to deal with any of this ever again. I should’ve died. It should’ve been me.”

Seulgi was silent then, although she began rocking the older girl back and forth in an attempt to soothe her.

“I-I’ve never regretted something so much in my entire life, Seul,” Irene continued, “I don’t deserve to be alive right now. I killed her. I killed her, Seulgi. She ing died because of me. Sometimes, I feel like I should die. Like I should just ing end it all and then the universe will be in balance, because I-”

“Irene,” Seulgi growled, grabbing the older girl by her shoulders and holding her at arm’s length, “You’re talking nonsense. Killing yourself won’t bring Yeri back. You said yourself that you think she’s still alive, right? And that we just have to find her?”

“But what the does that even mean? I had that thought in a fever dream, Seulgi. I probably just imagined it all, how can I even know that it’s not just my brain trying to cope with Yeri’s death?”

“You’re telling me that after all the that’s happened to us, you having a dream about Yeri being still alive is that crazy to you? You must actually be insane, then.”

Irene chuckled lightly in spite of herself. She could feel her breaths beginning to even out, and even gained enough composure to wipe away some of the snot from her nose. She looked up at Seulgi. The younger girl’s eyes were filled with a deep concern, her eyebrows furrowed and turned down into a grimace. Irene felt a hot wash of shame overcome her as she realized how much she’d worried her friend.

“I know it’s tough losing someone that you love,” Seulgi murmured, pulling Irene back in and holding her once again, “But you’re not alone. I’m here for you, okay? You need to get some rest. Joy and Wendy will be back soon, I think it’s safe for us to relax.”

Irene nodded but didn’t move. Seulgi stood, taking her exhausted companion by the hand and leading her over to her sleeping mat on the other side of the fire. Irene wordlessly clung to Seulgi’s elbow, and when the younger girl turned to look at Irene, she could see a pleading fear in her eyes. It took Seulgi a moment to figure out just what Irene wanted.

The younger girl guided Irene over to her own sleeping mat, and they lay down together. Irene nestled into Seulgi’s arms as if it were second nature to her, cuddling up against the monolidded girl’s chest and clinging on to her like a scared child. She fell asleep almost immediately. Seulgi did not.

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Surprise, haha. This is gonna be a short series that's essentially just revolving around how everyone handles what happened. This chapter was, obviously, about Irene, and how she's coping with Yeri being gone. The next one will probably be about Seulgi.

Thanks for reading<3