o16: Girl Talk

X Marks the Spot
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o16

 

 

Girl Talk


 

Chanyeol and Luhan were sent out in the end to search for Baekhyun and Hei, so that left the rest of the crew to pack up their belongings, which wasn’t much. Most people didn’t have a lot to bring (Chanyeol was apparently the only one who had an abundance of belongings, and he wasn’t even there), so the whole rest of the crew ended up moping nervously in the living room. Yixing had been temporarily appointed to be in charge of things, though he occasionally looked out the window, obviously worried, and there were no further instructions given.
 

Jongdae was also uncharacteristically quiet, too. He sat on his own on the single person couch, eyes flickering from the doorway to over the room like he was unsuccessfully trying to read everyone to no avail. Jinqiong wondered if she ought to say something to him, though she also figured that telling him that Hei and Baekhyun would be a lie because it had obviously been too long for it to be nothing to worry about and he could tell immediately if she were lying. So, with the rest of the crew, she sat in silence and waited and tried to swallow the guilt that was creeping in every couple of seconds. If it had something to do with Junsu, which it did more likely than not, then both Hei and Baekhyun were in danger as long as she didn’t hand the gem over. She didn’t need Byun Baekhyun leaning over her shoulder telling her what he’d do if his wife was hurt; this was bad enough, knowing that she could be because of her. And sitting there doing nothing just made it all the worse, amplifying the fear and the worry and at the same time dragging time out painfully slowly.

 

It must have been at least thirty minutes since Luhan left that Kyungsoo actually got up to do something. “I’m going to grab my bags,” he said. Jinqiong couldn’t tell if his voice was grim or if he were just usually his normal voice. “They might be back at any moment.”

 

Something about Kyungsoo’s always no-nonsense tone of voice must’ve snapped a couple others into action too. Junmyeon muttered something about doing the same thing, Yixing said his bags were already there, and the remaining crew dispersed too. Yuxuan announced that she was going to wait near the door in case they came back and she needed to tend to injuries, but if that made matters worse, no one told her.

 

A couple moments later, it was her, Jongdae and Yixing left in the living room. Yixing was, out of everyone, the only person who still seemed lost in his own world, and Jongdae looked worried sick out of his mind, so Jinqiong took pity and turned towards him.

 

“They’ll be alright,” she said.

 

He gave her a tired look. “You don’t believe that.”

 

“Both Baekhyun and Hei are capable of getting themselves out of situations like that,” she shot back. “Look. Even so, Junsu’s not going to kill them. He knows that he can’t find either of us right now because he can’t track the jewel right now, and if he hurts Song Hei, I doubt he’ll get a word out of Baekhyun. He needs them alive. So if it’s Junsu that’s somehow caught up with them, it’s still not the end of the world.”

 

Jongdae managed a weak smile. “I never knew you had it in you to say something encouraging.”

 

“It’s not encouraging,” she protested weakly, though Jinqiong couldn’t find any energy left to argue with Jongdae. “It’s just…”

 

Before she could say anything else, the door of the room swung open. Yuxuan poked a head inside. “Where is the gauze?” she demanded, then turned to Yixing and spoke something in rapid Chinese. The only thing Jinqiong managed to understand was Baekhyun, and then a couple sentences later, Hei, although Jongdae was already up on his feet and walking in her direction.

 

“Are they back?” he demanded.

 

Yuxuan nodded breathlessly. “Injured,” she said. “Gege is with them right now, but Baekhyun is saying we have to leave right now—”

 

Jongdae had pushed past her and was running towards the direction of the door without another word. Hesitating, Jinqiong got up too.

 

Byun Baekhyun probably doesn’t even want to see you there, a small voice nagged. I mean, aren’t you the reason that they’re hurt right now?

 

She shoved the thought back and turned to Yuxuan. “Where are they right now?”

 

“The guest bedroom,” she said, and then, directing her attention back to Yixing, she asked for the gauze again.

 

Jinqiong hurried towards the direction she had been pointed in. It wasn’t that hard to find them, because by the time she’d gotten to the room, most of the crew had gathered there, Jongdae included. Luhan was attempting to wash the wound on Baekhyun’s arm, though all the while he was protesting about Hei, who sat on the edge of the bed a couple of feet away. Jinqiong lingered at the door—no one seemed to notice her there, apparently—and tried to peer over Chanyeol, who practically blocked the whole doorway.

 

“I’m fine,” Jinqiong heard her sister protest. “Seriously. We need to leave now. There’s no way Baekhyun drowned Junsu, and even if he can’t come out in this sun, his men can, and there’s… there’s probably not going to be a second chance if we give him one.”

 

Baekhyun shrugged Luhan’s hand off. “You’re injured, though,” he started, then looked at Luhan. “Can Yuxuan heal her?”

 

Luhan hesitated. “Yes, but it’ll take a while.”

 

“And we don’t have a while.” It was Jongdae who spoke up. “They got away. That’s pretty much a miracle given what situation they were in, but as much as I really wish Baekhyun just drowned Junsu and his whole crew, it’s going to take a bit more than a little water to kill him. The best is that it slowed him down, but…well, he’s going to be after you two now. The sooner we get out of Xiyuan and get on sea, the better.”

 

Baekhyun chewed on his bottom lip. “But…”

 

At that moment, Yuxuan appeared behind her at the doorway then squeezed inside, holding a roll of what was probably gauze. She weaved through the whole crew apparently effortlessly before she was standing in front of Hei and Baekhyun.

 

“I can bandage it for now,” she said, then looked at her brother as if waiting for him to approve something. Luhan nodded at her, and Yuxuan continued, “I can also stop the bleeding, though it will only be for an hour.”

 

Baekhyun hesitated. “Are you sure she’ll be alright?”

 

Yuxuan nodded. “It’s not too deep of a wound,” she started. “I will dress it and then heal it a bit. And then we can leave.”

 

“We need to figure out a way out of the city without running into anyone else, then.” Jongdae straightened, then, to Jinqiong’s surprise (and slight horror), he turned towards her. “Jinqiong, do you think you’ll be able to mask us with your power? Or at least some of us? Especially Hei.”

 

Baekhyun seemed to relax slightly at the suggestion. “It should be fifteen minute’s walk max to the ship,” he said, then stood up. “Let’s get ready. I’ll…” he glanced at Yuxuan. “Come out after you’re done,” he said, then fixed his gaze on Jinqiong, voice serious. “Let’s figure out something.”

 

***

 

It hurt, and it took all of Hei’s willpower not to mention that to the crew (especially Baekhyun) when they’d all gathered around her. She let out a breath of relief when he, obviously a little grudgingly, disappeared out of the door with the rest of them, leaving only Yuxuan next to her, the girl already beginning to inspect the wound. Baekhyun’s arm had already been wrapped, albeit a little messily, in bandages and also treated with water, but the cut down her back had looked so nasty, fabric half torn, that Hei would have rather kept it like that than have anyone attempt to treat it. She’d sat through the pain the whole time, also feeling sick from what happened with Junsu (and Baekhyun, admittedly, and she was still a bit unnerved by his words) though not quite willing to bring it up to everyone else.

 

Yuxuan set down the roll of gauze. “Gege said we have to be quick,” she said. “Uh… I’ll heal it just a bit so it stops bleeding and then wrap it, okay?”

 

Hei tried to crane her neck and look, though she couldn’t quite turn far enough to. She would have to trust Yuxuan. “Alright,” she agreed, a bit nervous, and then Yuxuan moved to sit down on the bed behind her.

 

She shifted again. “Do I need to take the dress off?”

 

Yuxuan shook her head. “Not yet,” she instructed. “I have to heal it a bit first. Then it will hurt less.”

 

That sounded like a relief. She sat still, and a moment later, Yuxuan had raised her hands, fingers hovering over the wounded area of her back.

 

At first, there was nothing but slight warmth, and Hei was tempted to ask the other girl just what exactly she was doing and if it was going to be any help. And then, somehow, the sharp pain began to fade slowly to numbness, all the way until there was nothing but a dull throb—nothing that would have signified a bad cut.

 

“Okay,” Yuxuan announced. “We’re done. Uh… I can bandage and you can change into another dress?”

 

So she did, and a couple minutes later, Yuxuan had apparently temporarily numbed the wound, stopped the flood flow and wrapped it up with her roll of gauze. Hei changed into a looser dress—it still stung slightly when she tried to slip the gown over her head—and Yuxuan sat back, frowning.

 

Hei glanced at the other girl. “What’s wrong?”

 

“It looks messy,” she decided, then shook her head. “Baekhyun wants us to leave soon. I can’t fix it.”

 

“And Baekhyun’s the messiest person I’ve met,” Hei replied drily, peering at Yuxuan. “Hey. Are you worried?”

 

Yuxuan frowned. “Worried?”

 

It took Hei a couple of seconds to realize that Yuxuan had no clue what the word meant. For a good moment, she tried to figure out if there was a simpler way of saying worry, couldn’t find one, and instead amended, “Does any of this seem scary to you?”

 

Yuxuan considered it. “Not really.”
 

She looked truthful enough, and there was really no reason for her to lie either. “Seriously?”
 

Yuxuan shrugged. “The Lu family has taken me on a lot of dangerous trips,” she explained. “This is… the same, except with gege and you and Jinqiong and Kyungsoo—” she faltered a bit on the last name, then hurried on, “it’s not… really that scary.”

 

That seemed like a nice outlook. Her brother was there, her friends, Kyungsoo (she’d have to ask about that one  later on), except all the things that comforted Yuxuan made Hei more antsy. It was more dangerous and more worrying with Baekhyun, Jongdae, Jinqiong. Or maybe it was because she’d actually met Junsu. Her back seemed to throb slightly more at the thought of him.

 

“That’s nice,” she mused, and then stood up. “Thanks, Yuxuan. We’ll probably have to get going now.”

 

She got a bright smile in return. “I’ll heal it once we get back to the ship,” Yuxuan told her, and that was that.

 

***

 

Jinqiong was absolutely terrible on using her power on other people, mostly because it was hard to follow their movements, so she explained to Baekhyun that if he wanted Hei to take the safest route out of Xiyuan, it would have to just be the two of them because she could focus her power enough. For maximum effect, they would also have to be holding hands, or she wouldn’t be able to guarantee her power would also work on Hei.

 

Baekhyun looked less tha

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Emilieee
hello im a fkn LIAR. i was supposed to update today but i underestimated my ability to procrastinate and overestimated how fast i could write, so chapter 53 shall be up tomorrow instead. im sorry AHFKSJHF

Comments

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baekhyunnie_92
#1
Chapter 61: This was such a heartwarming and beautiful ending 💕 i can understand what Hei feels about goodbye bcz I also don't like them and Jinqiong and Hei now finally being real sisters was so heartwarming ❤ i can't believe this has ended I really loved this!!
baekhyunnie_92
#2
Chapter 60: Aaaww loved this chapter all crew members eating together, Baekhyun telling Jinqiong that he trusted Hei with her all of this was so overwhelming 💕 and now it's reaching end... *sobs sobs sobs
baekhyunnie_92
#3
Chapter 59: Oh my god I feel like crying now T.T
The ending of this chapter felt so unreal and finally they are out. I'm not ready to let go of this fic ^-^
baekhyunnie_92
#4
Chapter 55: Aaghhh what s a satisfying ending this is. From Hell's gate being just a mythical quest to killing a family leader, getting rid of gem and saving a elven hundred years old man from a curse. They have came so far. And finally everything is over now. Now I can't wait for some fluff 💞☺
baekhyunnie_92
#5
Chapter 52: This was crazy, how Jinqiong still has so much energy to fight junsoo with all the injuries is out of my head. But is Kim Jongdae really going to fight here. Wow that would be like a historical moment of this whole Cutlass series.
baekhyunnie_92
#6
Chapter 51: Agghhh why didn't Jungwoo decided of helping them first when he was going to at last. Idk how they are going to handle all of this.
baekhyunnie_92
#7
Chapter 48: This was really brave of Hei. Even in such a tight situation she was able to come with this great plan. Well now everything lies on Jungwoo.
baekhyunnie_92
#8
Chapter 43: I really appreciate them saving Taeyeong and i feel so happy for him but seeing Junsu in Central island is scary, it's like they can't get rid of him even though they went through hell.
baekhyunnie_92
#9
Chapter 36: Thank God they finally made up. WTF Jongdae and Jinqiong just kissed hahahaha.
baekhyunnie_92
#10
Chapter 27: Oh myyy she's really pregnant! can't believe they have came so far. I still remember them talking about kids and Baek wanted a girl first, I hope the baby is girl too. Can't guess what his and whole crew's reaction will be but hell I'm really excited about next chapters.