Everything felt…fuzzy.
He couldn't quite explain it, but it was like he couldn't feel everything properly, he could feel his arms and legs, and the cloth that was on his skin, but at the same time, it was like he couldn't identify what exactly his body was touching. It felt like the link between his skin and his brain had been blurred somehow.
"how is he?" He felt disconnected, enough where he couldn't frown even if he wanted to. The voice was awfully close, and it wasn't a voice that he recognized. The more he listened, the more confused he got.
Why was it so quiet?
Even when he was recovering in the village, there was always something going on, there was always some type of sound ever so slightly overpowering the other sounds. If there wasn't the sound of children running around, then it was the sound of the cattle, the sound of farmers sending them to the fields to graze.
But yet, the only thing he could hear was an odd, rhythmic beeping, and the shuffling of clothes right next to him.
He could feel someone staring at him, and if he had been able to, he would have been jerking his arm away from whoever was touching it.
Instead, he was forced to let the person poke something into his elbow, his body completely and utterly unresponsive to his commands to move, but completely receptive to outside stimulation.
"We've decreased his pain medication," There was the clicking of plastic next to next to him, and he found himself even more confused when he heard another, deeper voice next to him, on the other side," He's going to be uncomfortable, but it should help him wake up."
"I see…will he wake up soon?"
He didn't recognize any of the voices.
"I'm sorry, I don't know."
Perhaps they were talking about someone else?
He had no one to sit at his bedside either way, and the few people that probably would have, obviously weren't the ones present.
"Its fine." If he could have, he would have bristled at the way someone was touching his head, running their fingers through his hair as if they were trying to find the best way to grab it, as if they were trying to figure out if it was long enough to grab it and to go about it. The contact sent chills up and down his spine, and not for the first time, he wished he could move so he could slap it away. It was repetitive, as if it was supposed to be comforting, but all it did was make him want to get away from the foreign touch.
He hated it.
It was his turn to stand watch over Ijin, and despite all of his training, he couldn't help but be bored. It had been almost an entire week since Ijin had been admitted, and apparently, it was a waiting game to see if their dear friend would wake up or not after the head injury unassisted. Much to no one's surprise, Ijin's brain had swelled dangerously because of his wound, and despite the doctor's best attempts to help, Ijin just didn't respond to the treatment as they wanted. According to Dayeon, their next step would have been physically cutting a hole into Ijin's skull and removing a decent part of bone so it could relieve the pressure until the swelling went down. But in a show of Ijin's rare luck, the swelling started to go down hours before the procedure was planned. So now it was inevitable that Ijin lost some of his memories, how much, they didn't know, but it was a problem either way. Honestly, everyone was helping that it was just memory loss rather than any other symptom of a brain injury.
But as one might expect, after sitting by Ijin's bedside for the past few hours, with nothing but his thumbs, phone, and imagination to entertain himself, it was starting to get rather dull. He found himself texting the others about Ijin's lack of consciousness and other menial things more than anything.
Seokju sighed as he glanced over at Ijin from his position by the window. His friend was as still as ever, fresh bandages wrapped around his head, and a fresh I.V on the back of his hand but other than that, there were no changes. His friend only looked worse under the hospital lights as he got closer, the blue undertones of his veins standing out under the fluorescent light.
He flicked Ijin's arm," hurry up and wake up, " he grumbled out, trying to control the anxiety in his chest as he said," it's boring when you're asleep all the time." He knew Ijin wasn't going to react to his flick or his words.
But it would have been nice if he had.
He had to admit that he was starting to miss Ijin's snarky remarks and stupid antics. Sure, he was comfortable with the others, but Ijin was the only one where he felt comfortable enough to get physical with. He would just feel bad if he did it to Yeongchan or Yeona, and while Jaehyung and Hyeokjin would hit him back, there was something just funny about annoying Ijin in particular. It was just amusing to make Ijin change his ever-so-impassive face to a scowl.
Now, he would be happy even if Ijin just stared at him with that impassive look.
He sat down heavily in the chair next to Ijin's bed," You know, it's boring waiting for you to wake up," He spoke idly, talking was supposed to help someone wake up right?" You still need to explain what happened, and why those men were sent after you. you can't squirm out of it this time, you hear me?"
As he expected, there was no response as Ijin slept in his hospital bed, he didn't even twitch despite the fact that the doctors said that he should have woken up days ago. The most movement he got out of the teen was the gentle rising and falling of his chest as he breathed.
He sighed," Hurry up and wake up you dumbass." He like the others were struggling to deal with the anxiety of knowing that people were after their friend, along with the fact that chances were high that Ijin was going to lose his memories.
He took advantage of the adjoining bathroom. It wasn't obvious, it wasn't until the hand dryer turned off that he noticed, but something had changed. His hand hovered over the doorknob, his eyebrows scrunching up as he tried to identify what changed.
It…it was quieter…
He couldn't hear the heart monitor anymore.
A chill went down his spine.
He had accidentally taken off the finger heart monitor enough to know that unless you knew where the mute button is, it would be causing chaos as it announced that a heart rate was no longer being sensed. There would be nurses rushing in to check to make sure that the patient was truly coding, and announcements would follow if they were.
So why couldn't he hear anything? He knew Ijin didn't know where the mute button was, he had seen the way he had gotten flustered the last time he was in the hospital after he got shot in the shoulder and accidentally knocked off the finger clamp. He had to help Ijin put the finger clamp back on just so the beeping could stop. So he knew that Ijin didn't know how to mute the machine even when he was in top condition.
Either someone unplugged the machine or someone else muted it.
Shit.
Without a second thought, he flung open the door, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he prepared himself for whatever was on the other side of the door.
What he wasn't prepared for.
Was the sight of an empty bed.
And the feeling of arms wrapping around his neck, his airway being suddenly constricted as he was dragged to the middle of the room, thoroughly out of reach from anything that could help him escape.
Seokju clawed at the arms around his neck, mustering every ounce of self-control he had as he tried to override the panic of suddenly being strangled so he could use his training properly to try and escape. For now, it was only his airway that was being cut off, but he knew that as soon as his blood flow was cut off, he would only have a few seconds before he passed out.
"Where am I?" The voice was rough, and despite the whispered state, he recognized the voice within seconds.
The arms around his neck loosened ever so slightly, just enough for him to take in a pitiful breath of air," I-Ijin its-!" He was cut off as Ijin tightened the grip around his neck again. He clawed at Ijin's arms, despite the fact that he could feel skin bundling up under his fingernails, Ijin was unfazed.
"Where. Am. I." the patient, but blunt tone that he had associated with Ijin was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Ijin was gritting out his words, an aggressive tone in his voice that he had never heard before.
Ijin loosened his grip again, and Seokju found himself coughing after he inhaled saliva by accident.
Something was wrong.
Ijin didn't recognize him, he didn't recognize where he was either.
Realizing that his own friend was going to strangle him, Seokju started to frantically pat at his pockets, trying to get to the pager that would let everyone know that he needed help.
The arms tightened around his neck one final time, and he barely felt the pager button click under his finger before everything turned black.
He held on just long enough for the boy to stop moving before he dropped him to the floor.
He had absolutely no idea where the fuck he was, but that didn't mean that he had to kill the guy. He looked around the room for a few seconds and was even more confused when he saw the clean and neat interior, the bright colors and clean whites that were prevalent throughout the room. That, combined with the odd machines that were by his bedside let him know that he was nowhere near the camp or their influence. He had no doubt that such a clean facility would have been destroyed ages ago if he was in Grian, so where was he?
He looked down at the boy at his feet and nudged his face with his foot so he could get a good look at him.
Well, he definitely wasn't anyone from the camp, or one of their mercenaries, they would have been able to escape his chokehold within seconds if he was.
He noticed the way the boy's hand was halfway in his pocket, and without a single ounce of shame, he started to look through the boy's pocket. Obviously there was something in there since the boy tried to get it, what it was, he didn't know.
He cursed violently under his breath when he saw the pager.
The door slid open, and despite his attempt to get to his feet to defend himself, his head injury affected him more than he thought. The world tilted on the way up, spots of black speckling his vision and damn near over taking it. He wavered on the way up as a result, and that moment of weakness was enough time for his attacker to grab him and pin him to the wall.
The back of his head smacked against the wall, and it took an embarrassingly long time for his vision to clear again, and for the ringing in his ears to stop.
"001?" 006's voice echoed in his ears, and he found himself holding in a groan of pain. The blow to his head rattled him, it was taking everything he had to keep on standing, his legs shaking as if he had been running for hours. Nausea was settling in his stomach, and he needed to take a few seconds to swallow the saliva that formed in his mouth, as well to will the ringing in his ears to go away, " what's the last thing you remember?"
What did that have to do with anything?
He cracked open his eyes, internally cringing at the way the room seemed to be brighter after that hit, and glared at 006's stupid face," Where am I?" he could hear people moving around them, but he didn't break eye contact with 006.
006 stared back at him, the usual hard, defensive look in his eyes was gone, instead, he looked upset, sad even," Just tell me, what's the last thing you remember? A bullet grazed your head and we're just trying to figure out how you were affected."
Narrowing his eyes, he stared at 006, trying to find any sign of deceit in his eyes. He may have trusted 006, but with the way the Camp and Mad Dog had been riding his ass recently, for all he knew, he was grazed by a bullet because 006 was the one who shot it at him.
But he saw nothing of that sort, instead, he saw nothing but worry in his friend's eyes.
"Cerian," 001 said shortly, a tense tone in his voice as he nearly spat out," last I remember are those crazy bitches blowing up their own fucking town." 001, at last, started to push against his grip, leaning forward as he firmly said," Where. Am. I."
It was difficult to keep his face straight after hearing that.
He and Isak had talked about 001 from time to time, for the most part, it was simply reminiscing about their time in the camp and the way their friend was a total asshole when he was with them. But at the same time, it was the two of them secretly being happy that 001 at last, had something to live for, something that actually made him seem like a normal human being.
Hearing that the last thing 001 remembered was an event that happened when they were 14, almost 15, was absolutely gut-wrenching.
Five years.
001 lost five years this time, he lost his defection from the camp, his life as a mercenary, and his reunion with his family.
He wasn't looking at Ijin, nor was he looking at Jin.
He was looking at 001, the leader that used to be punished for every little thing that went wrong, the leader that would have to fight for them to be forgiven for their mistakes.
The leader that was so distant, sometimes, it seemed like he was a robot more than a human.
"001…" a hand wrapped around his wrist, Isak was holding onto his wrist, a pitiful look on his face as he looked up at their former leader," you…you lost your memories."
"I've noticed." 001 snarked out, his voice as aggressive as ever as he started to push against his hold again, subtly showing that if he didn't let go soon, then 001 was going to make him let go," Piss off if you're gonna say stupid shit I already know. And fucking let. Go."
001 twisted his wrists out of his grip, Liam stepped back before 001 could shove him away. 001 looked all kinds of pissed off as he glared at him and his brother, but based on the way he was still leaning against the wall, he knew that 001 was shakier than he'd like to admit.
He cleared his throat," 001, you lost your memories. Again. " The snarl that had been forming on 001's face fell away, and instead, 001 was clenching his jaw tightly, his face becoming for the most part, impassive.
Liam felt like a total asshole for telling 001 that he lost his memories, but it needed to be done. They needed to tell him so he could understand what was going on, and hopefully, that understanding would help him settle down and stop being so fucking abrasive for once.
He got straight to the point, "How much?" 001's voice sounded strangled, he had a pained look in his eyes," How much did I lose?" they exchanged looks again, and that almost instantly annoyed 001 as he snarled out," Stop pussyfooting around and tell me already."
Well, its not like they couldn't tell him.
Swallowing thickly, he quietly said," Five years." His words rang out in the room, and he was barely able to catch 001's pained look before he hide his expression," Its been five years since those women blew up their town…"
001 looked away from them, his fists balling up at his sides,"…get out…" his voice was shaking, whether it was shaking from restrained rage or sorrow, they didn't know, but it let them know about the emotional state of their friend.
They didn't argue. Instead, they listened to his request and left the room, giving him the privacy that he needed.
Now he had to figure out how to explain to 001's friends and family that for the time being.
The man they knew was no more.
