Chapter 9
블루 로즈 (B L U E R O S E)
"You're almost there," a fairy announced, flying in front of Taemin's face.
Minho sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, damp from sweat, Jinki doing the same.
"Where's a source of water when you need it?" Jinki asked.
"We don't have time for that, hyung," Minho replied sternly. "We have to hurry."
"H-Hyung," Taemin lightly tugged on Jinki's tank top, then held on to it tightly.
"What is it?" As soon as Jinki turned around, he tapped Minho's shoulder. "I think you should see this."
"What? I don't have time for—YAH!!!" Minho jumped nearly a hundred feet in the air after seeing a corpse hanging by a rope that was around its neck. "HOLY !! WHY WOULD YOU SHOW ME THIS?!"
"Because it's a sign," Jinki said quietly.
"FOR WHAT?!"
"That we are most definitely near the end," Taemin said, his voice shaking.
"Hmm," the fairy that followed them flew around the corpse. "He committed suicide."
"Why?"
"He couldn't take it anymore. So he gave up and killed himself so it would all be over."
Jinki sighed. "Poor guy..."
"Can we get moving now?" Minho asked, still very disturbed by the dead body. Taemin and Jinki walked in front of Minho, the latter following them in a hurry.
Not too long later, the three had reached another cave, identical to the last one.
"Weren't we just here?" Taemin asked, tilting his head in confusion. He flinched and clung to Minho on instinct as he heard something in the cave.
"Don't tell me," Minho sighed.
"I think we've met our challenge for the last time today," Jinki said nonchalantly. Another hiss came from the cave, and their eyes followed a very large shadow coming their way.
"We're dead," Taemin mumbled. "We're dead we're dead we're dead we're dead—"
"So, would it be bad if we ran away?" Minho asked, his gaze rising from the ground and up so far that he had to tilt his head back as well as Jinki.
"Um, yes, actually," Jinki answered. "Yes, it would."
"What if it was for self-defense?"
"Then it's cool." The snake in front of them stood a good 100 ft tall, thicker than two of the thickest trees in the forest put together. It opened it's mouth and let out an ear piercing screech that blew the trio back, crashing on the ground with their hands covering their ears.
"JINKI!!! SHOOT IT WITH AN ARROW OR SOMETHING!!" Minho yelled, hoping that the older man could hear him over the snakes screech.
Jinki risked his hearing and reached back into his bag to get two arrows and his bow. "RUN!!!" He positioned the two arrows on his bow as Taemin and Minho got up on their feet, not taking their hands off their ears, and started running as instructed. Pulling the bows back just the right length, he let them go, the bows going through the snake, causing the latter's screech to worse because of the pain it was in.
Jinki screamed as his ears began to hurt terribly and he covered them again, rolling on his side on the ground. He was suddenly pulled up to his feet and being dragged away second before the snake ceased his screech.
"Jinki, you okay?" Taemin lightly slapped said name's cheek a couple of times when his eyes started rolling in the back of his head.
Jinki blinked a few times before focusing his vision on the two boys in front of him. "Thanks..."
"No problem," Taemin smiled. "Minho, c'mon. We have to—"
"Taemin!" Jinki called out as said name was snatched up by the python's tail. "Don't look into his eyes!"
Shutting his eyes tightly, he yelled back, "WHY DO YOU THINK I HAVE MY EYES—" Taemin nearly busted a lung with the scream he emitted when the python tightened his grip on him.
Just as the snake opened his mouth and leaned closer to Taemin, he retracted when he felt an arrow pierce the side of his head, glaring at Jinki as he hissed loudly.
"LET HIM GO!!" He fired another arrow that stuck to his tail, the latter releasing Taemin. Before Taemin so much as touched the ground, Minho caught him, both tumbling after the catch.
"Taemin-ah!" Minho yelled, hovering over the boy. "Yah!"
"My arms," Taemin whimpered, tears forming in his eyes from the pain.
"What?" Minho searched the boy's arms for any injury, but went back to Taemin's face as he latter began to speak again.
"My arms," he repeated. "I—I can't feel my arms..." Minho cursed as he glared up at the python before picking Taemin up.
"Hyung! Keep shooting arrows at him! I need to get Taemin somewhere safe!"
"Hurry up!" Jinki shot yet another arrow as Minho sped past him. "I can't do this all day, you know! This fairy's getting tired of giving me spare arrows!"
"Minho," Taemin choked as said name set him down on the grass, fairies and pixies surrounding them. "I can still help... I can still walk—"
"No, Taemin," Minho said with finality. "I can't have you fight in this condition. Because arms is what we need the most right now." Minho looked worriedly over Taemin's body for any other injuries.
Taemin let out a shaky sigh as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry..."
The older of the two looked at him questioningly. "For what?"
"For being useless..."
Minho smiled. "If it weren't for you giving me CPR, then I'd be dead right now. If it weren't for you talking things out with Jinki when he shot my arm, we wouldn't have been fighting together like this. You did more than you think, therefore, you are not useless."
Taemin laughed bitterly, "I guess not... Now go, Jinki needs you."
Minho ran a hand comfortingly through Taemin's hair before standing up, starting his run back to Jinki. "Take care of him, please!" He shouted over his shoulder at the pixies and fairies before disappearing.
By the time Minho got back, Jinki had fired his last arrow.
"There," he panted, leaning back against a tree. "He's been weakened."
"Thanks, I think I'll take it from here," Minho said, looking up into the tree Jinki was leaning on. "You think you can shoo one more arrow?"
"Yeah, why?"
Minho pointed to a nice long branch, thick enough and looked pretty easy to carry. "You think you can get that down?"
"Without breaking a sweat," Jinki said he nodded to a fairy, the latter making a much more bigger arrow appear and already in position. He pulled it back and let it go, hitting the branch Minho was talking about. As soon as it hit the ground, Minho instantly grabbed it.
"Thanks." Jinki nodded before the you get ran towards the python.
"YAH!! DOWN HERE!!!" The python shook his head before looking down at Minho, who was waving the branch in the air. He dove his head down at Minho, who dropped to his knees and rolled over to dodge it. Seeing as how the snake took it's precious time to get back up, Minho stood back and ran to the tree next to him, climbing it a few feet before turning his head to get a lock on his target.
"Go for his eyes," Jinki shouted. Minho nodded before jumping off of the tree and landing on top of the snake's head, right in front of his eyes.
"You won't be eating anyone anymore, you son of a ," Minho slowly raised his branch, then brought it down to the snake's eye, the branch tearing through it and the blood splattering over him. He hung on tight to the stick as its owner started to flail around, hissing and screaming at its loudest.
Minho quickly pulled the branch out of its eye and did the same to the other before slipping off, landing harshly on his back.
Jinki rushed over to the other, pulling him far away from the snake and they both watched as the python fell on its side, letting out one last painful screech before going completely still.
"We did it," Minho panted, not taking his eyes off the dead snake before him. "Hyung, we killed it!"
Jinki smiled whole heartedly, "Yeah... We did."
They both continued to stare unbelievably at the python, but their eyes grew once in disappeared within thin air, a strangled scream of terror sounding around them, echoing through the forest.
"Hyung... What was that?"
A/N: lol totally didnt it?
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