chapter twelve / shipi
Burning Up (Fire)
(012)

I ignore the instinct to turn and run, never looking back. Instead, I tighten my grip around my sword, my knuckles turning white as I grip onto the leather hilt. Before we came here, I added a lethal poison to the blade of the sword. It's impossible to see, and it won't come off unless I put it back into my inventory and separate the poison and sword. One cut from this, and it'll be the end of the dragon. The only thing that could save it is one of my potions, but of course, I'll only be using that for me and my friends.

The dragon let's out a loud roar, sending flames in our direction as it does. I bring my arms in front of my face to shield myself, but to my surprise, I remain unscathed. I lower my arms to see a shield in front of me, one much like the shield Jungkook used in the man hunt game. The dragon still stares right through our souls, so I'm sure it can still see us. This shield must not be used to cloak, it's one to protect us from outside attacks. I silently thank him, relieved that someone like him has our backs. We might actually get through this.

The beast snarls at us, showing off it's large, sharp teeth. I'm sure if it got to us, it could tear us to shreds. Yoongi, who stands by my side, shows no sign of intimidation. Hoseok lets out a loud roar cry, and starts to charge towards the creature, starting the plan Namjoon created on the way here. Under no ordinary circumstances would Hoseok be the first to run into a dangerous situation like this. I know that he's probably cursing us all as he runs to the dragon, wishing he had any other part in the plan besides this one.

Despite the danger we face, I chuckle remembering how Hoseok whined and fought with Namjoon as he formed his plan.

"Are you insane?" Hoseok yelled at the boy, "You're all conspiring to get me killed aren't you?"

"We're not trying to kill you. Just trust the rest of us to follow through with the plan and everything will be fine," Namjoon reassured him. Hoseok reluctantly agreed, but only after trying to volunteer everyone else in the group to do the job instead.

The dragon lets out an annoyed huff as the boy continues screaming and running towards him. It whips it's tail around, aiming to hit the boy, but at the very last minute, Hoseok is teleported by Jungkook, out of it's way, and rematerializes him to a spot above the dragon in a tree. While the creature is confused as to where the boy went, Hoseok throws a dagger at the dragon. The weapon slices through the air, searching for a victim to plunge through. It finds it's target; the long neck of the beast. A deafening roar of pain comes out of the dragon. I didn't think the small weapon would be able to do very much due to it's thick scales, but it must have done some damage.

The dragon turns around to find where the knife came from. When it sees a terrified Hoseok clinging for dear life in the trees, it lifts one of it's arms to claw at him. "Jungkook, hurry," the boy yells worriedly. Just as the dragon's claws hit the tree, Jungkook teleports Hoseok back to safety. I watch as the dragon breaks the tree that Hoseok was just in. The tree snaps loudly, and the top half goes flying. Hoseok's jaw drops as he stares at the damage done by the dragon.

"I could've died," he gawks, pointing at the destroyed tree.

"But you didn't," Jungkook smirks. Jin interrupts the moment to remind us to carry on with the plan, we can't waste time. We all nod, readying ourselves for the next part of the plan. While the dragon is distracted by the disappearance of Hoseok, we make our move.

Jin, Yoongi, Namjoon, Jimin, and Taehyung are teleported to the dragon. They all work on distracting it with their attack to keep it's back facing me. I give Jungkook a nod, signalling to him that I'm ready to attack. He taps a few things on his holopad, and suddenly, white blocks appear in front of me, each one higher than the previous one. I step on the first one, testing it out to make sure it won't fall out of the air once my body weight is on it. Once I see that it's safe, I began to move. I jump across each floating black, my foot only meeting each one once as I leap through the air, getting closer and closer to my target.

The dragon still seems occupied with the boys that are fighting it from the ground, so I don't think twice as I jump from the last floating block, ready to pounce on the dragons neck. I ready my sword to slice at the beast as soon as I make my landing, but as I'm still falling through the air, the dragon takes notice of me. It swiftly lifts it's tail up into the air and takes a swing at me. I'm totally helpless, as there's no possible way to dodge this while I'm in the air, and I'm sure this turn of events was too quick for Jungkook to ready a shield.

I brace for the impact, but I could never do enough to prepare for it. It's tail is significantly strong, and as it collides into the side of my ribs, I feel the air being knocked out of my lungs. The force of the hit sends me flying away from my previous target.

I'm about to hit a nearby tree, but it seems like Jungkook noticed my predicament and took action. I'm quickly teleported to the ground, and out of the air, but since a few seconds ago I was flying through the air, I'm not ready to be on ground again. Before I can get my legs to prepare for something being under them, I collapse to the ground, but thankfully, it's not as far of a drop as it could've been.

I try to get to my feet as soon as possible, knowing I'm still in fighting range of the beast, and at this very moment, I'm incredibly vulnerable. I pick up my sword and get up, but as soon as I'm standing, I hear an alarmed voice and someone rushing towards me.

I can barely even make out who it is before I'm tackled down to the ground, once again, the air being completely knocked out of me. I land with a thud, my bones aching for the rough treatment to stop. I wonder why I just got tackled by one of my own teammates, but it doesn't take me long to figure it out when the tail of the beast comes swinging at the very spot that I previously stood.

Once the immediate danger of it's limb whacking us has passed, the person that threw me out of harms way lifts himself off of my body. It was Namjoon. My immediate reaction of warmth and glee is swallowed away when I remember that I'm supposed to be angry with him. He smiles brightly at me, but I only return it with a glare, standing up to brush the dirt off of my clothes.

"I don't need your help," I hissed.

Namjoon scowls at my response. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you hoping it was going to be Yoongi that came to the rescue?"

"Well I'm sure you would have rather been laying on top of Luna," I huff.

Namjoon's face twists in confusion, but then he finally registers what I'm talking about. "Is that what this is about?"

"Of course it is, you idiot!" I yell, feeling frustrated and embarrassed at the same time.

"Oh my god," Namjoon says incredulously, "we'll talk about this later." He sighs and turns away from me, readying himself to go back into battle, but before he can even take a step, a blur of green and black flies through the air. It lands on the dragon. Once it finally stops, I'm able to make out what it is, or should I say, who it is. Luna is on the dragon's neck, a long sword held in her hands, extending into the beast's flesh. It lets out a piercing shriek as it's body goes limp. We all run to get out of its way. The creature lands onto the ground, a strong wind resulting in the impact.

The girl from the train jumps off of the beast she just slayed, a triumphant smile on her face.

"You guys were so cute having play time with your friend here," she laughs, "I'm sorry I had to interrupt."

We all stare at her, feeling defeated that after all the hard work we put in, someone else took down the boss. At least we all got out alive.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a castle to raid. I doubt it was put there just for the dragon's aesthetic." She waves goodbye as she taps on her holopad and disappears into thin air.

We all give each other pointed looks. We need to see what's in there, and get something before she takes it all. Without a single word spoken between us, Jungkook teleports all of us inside the castle at the speed of light. Because we've never seen the inside of the structure, he can only guess where the best place to teleport is. We end up on the staircase that spirals up through the tower, light leaking in through the open windows. We race up the steps, hoping to find something useful before Luna, but then, Namjoon collapses beside me.

"Joon!" I rush to his side. His skin looks pale and sickly, and his breathing is ragged. I saw him just a few seconds ago, and he looked fine. What could've happened so quickly that his health bar would go down so quickly?

"Did you get injured?" Jin and the others quickly surround the boy.

He shakes his head in response. "I don't think so."

I check his body for any possible wounds. Nothing is obvious on his bare skin, but when I lift his arm, that's when I notice a streak of blood on his sleeve. I pull the cloth up to see a small cut on his arm. It might be a little deep due to how much it's bleeding, but I don't think it should be serious enough to cause him to collapse.

"I started feeling weird after you got hit by the dragon's tail," he informs me, his words starting to sound slurred as he gets weaker. I remember, my sword is laced with poison. Did he get cut by my weapon when he pushed me out of harms way? I'm not taking any chances; he's getting the antidote.

"You guys go ahead, I'll take care of him," I instruct them, rushing to take the antidote out of my inventory.

"I'll stay with Noona," Jungkook announces as the rest of the boys continue up the staircase.

Jin stops his ascent. "No you won't, you're with us Kooks," he commands, "these two have some things to discuss. If they don't work out their problem I'm gonna kill someone, I'm tired of them acting so stupid." I scowl at him, but Jin doesn't notice because he's already leaving us behind. Jungkook sulks as he joins them.

Once we're left alone, silence envelops around us, almost like a thick fog, making the atmosphere very awkward. I don't bother trying to say anything, I just focus on getting him the antidote. Once I take it out of my inventory, it appears in my hand. A small glass container, no bigger than a pill bottle. The green liquid looks very uninviting, but so does death. I'm sure Namjoon would rather take the green liquid. The liquid sloshes around as I hand it to him, but by now he barely looks conscious, so I doubt he can even lift his hand to take the container from me.

I struggle to lean him up so he doesn't choke on the drink. I let him lean his body weight on me as I help him lean his head back and tilt the bottle to his lips. His face scrunches up as he gulps down the bitter liquid. When he finishes, he weakly lays his head on my chest. All of the burning anger and jealousy that I felt today has been pushed away. Namjoon is hurting because he tried to help me, and what did I do to thank him? I snapped at him and accidentally poisoned him, almost killing him. All of that anger is now directed towards myself for being so stupid. What if he did die? I would've been eaten up by guilt and regret.

I take in a deep breath, the smell of lavender coming from Namjoon's hair filling my nose. I open my mouth, an apology at the tip of my tongue, but before I can get it out, Namjoon speaks. "Wren," he calls out weakly, "I'm really sorry."

I run my fingers through his hair and let out a small chuckle. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who was being a jerk; I had no right to act like that when you did nothing wrong. I have no right to be jealous if you find a girl attractive." I say that, but I still get a strange ache in my chest at the thought of him liking someone else.

"I shouldn't have gotten jealous over you and Yoongi. It's not like we're a couple or anything," Namjoon laughs awkwardly. I laugh along with him, but my heart is screaming how badly it wishes that were the case. Even though he's in my arms, my heart wants him closer. I purse my lips.

"What if we were a coup-" Before I can finish my sentence, Namjoon turns to face me, gently placing his hand on the back of my neck, his long fingers sending heat on my skin. His lips meet mine. Once the initial shock fades, I begin to melt into the kiss, loving how soft his lips feel against mine. I close my eyes and kiss him back, my chest feeling like it's been set on fire, the flames hotter than the ones the dragon breathed out. My hand lifts to rest on his chest, and I can feel his heart beating rapidly through the soft fabric of his shirt, like it's trying to break out of his chest to be closer to mine. He turns his head to the side, deepening the kiss as he starts to tangle his fingers through my hair.

We finally break away to take a breath of air. Only our deep breathing can be heard as we rest our foreheads together.

"I'm sorry, I should've asked first," he laughs breathlessly.

"It's okay," I smile, "I would've said yes anyway." Namjoon glows at my response. Sorry, Hoseok, but Namjoon just stole your position of being the sun. Namjoon tries to go in for another kiss, but I push my hand against his chest, stopping him from doing so. He gives me a confused and disappointed look.

"Let me clean up your wound," I laugh. The antidote seems to have spread through his bloodstream because now he's able to move on his own. He sits down on the stair next to me and lifts his wounded arm for me to take care of. I take out something to clean the wound out of my inventory. I warn him that it might sting when I pour it on. He nods, but still tries to retract his arm from my grasp and hisses once the liquid settles into his cut. It starts to bubble, and after a few seconds, Namjoon's muscles start to relax. I take a clean cloth and press it to his arm so that it'll soak up the excess alcohol and the blood that surrounds the cut. I keep my eyes glued to what I'm doing so as not to hurt him, but I can still feel his intense gaze on me.

"The girl on the train was pretty, but no one can get my heart racing like you," he admits sheepishly. I stop what I'm doing and meet his eyes. I feel like my lungs no longer know how to get air into them, and my heart has forgotten that it's supposed to be pumping blood. His features look so soft, and so much passion is sparkling in his eyes. I find myself getting lost in them for a moment, his beautiful brown eyes that hold so much warmth, like melted chocolate or a cup of hot coffee.

I feel overwhelmed and flustered, and the gears in my brain have basically stopped turning, so I don't thank him, I don't smile. Instead, a blush deeper than the blood on Namjoon's arm appears on my cheeks and I stutter and fumble over my words. "I-I'm gonna put a bandage over the wound now..." I trail off, wishing I had more to say, but when I look at the playful smirk on Namjoon's face, it's all I can do to remind myself to breathe. I take the bandages and gently wrap it around Namjoon's arm, trying my best to ignore the feeling of electricity that surges through my fingertips every time they brush against his skin. When I finish wrapping his bandage, I look up at him and give him a shy smile.

"You're all set," I announce. Namjoon sweetly thanks me, but then the air grows silent again. The silence feels heavy because there's a certain anticipation that comes along with it. The way he looks at me, and the way he bites his bottom lip, I can't seem to settle the nervous stirring in my stomach, or the thumping of my heart. Part of me wants to run away, too overwhelmed by the suddenness of everything. Even though we've all been living together for the past few weeks, and we've grown incredibly close, a small voice in my head is saying that this is too soon. There's another voice in my head, one that's far louder. That one doesn't care how long I've known him, it reminds me that I could die tomorrow because of the dangerous journey we're taking and that I don't want to die with regrets. I don't know if I love Namjoon, but I do know that I care very deeply for him, and he cares for me. I also know that I want to taste his lips again.

We lean towards each other, my lips parted and my eyelids closing, but before we can meet, a loud voice rings through the stairwell.

"I'm telling you, Yoongi," Jin exclaims, "you always need to be positive, I know it's hard, but if you look close enough, you can always find a bright side to any situation." Right after Jin's little lecture to Yoongi, I hear a scream, and loud banging. Namjoon and I quickly break apart to see what's going on. Not long after, Jin comes tumbling down the stairs. He finally stops near the end of the stairs, groans of pain coming out of him as he lies on the ground.

The other boys come running down the stairs to see if the boy is okay. Once they see that he didn't crack his skull open, Yoongi's lips tug up in a playful manner. "What good came out of your tumble, Mr. Brightside?"

Jin just lays there for a moment, his chest rising and falling rapidly. At first, I think Jin will yell at Yoongi for his smart comment since there's no possible "bright side" I can think of to be found in his current situation, but he proves me wrong when he smiles and says, "I sure got down those stairs fast." We all stare at him in disbelief. What the-

"Noona, we got a key and some power boosts," Taehyung cheers. They must've gotten to it before Luna.

"We had to fight the green haired girl for it," Jimin adds.

I lift an eyebrow. "Where is the green haired girl now?"

Jungkook looks down at his feet, scratching the back of his neck as he lets out a nervous laugh. "She's at the top of the tower.... unconscious," Jungkook mutters softly, but he cringes, knowing that I was still able to hear him.

I flick his forehead. "She's not our enemy, why would you attack her?"

Hoseok rushes to the boy's defense, "but, Wren, those power boosts are super rare!"

I glare at him, not impressed by his response. "Jungkook, go leave one of the power boosts with her. She helped us take down the dragon, we can't just take everything."

"I mean we could-" I cut my eyes at Jungkook, "but of course we won't because that wouldn't be the right thing to do."

Jimin pouts and wraps his arms around the box that they carried from upstairs. "We're keeping the potion for better stamina," he demands. I roll my eyes and shoo the younger boys to leave at least one thing with the sleeping girl that I had spent the whole day envying.

How ironic that she has green hair and is someone that could spur on such hideous envy. Even though she was the source of such negative feelings, another reason I wanted to leave one of the power boosts with her I guess is to thank her. I felt bitter towards her because when Namjoon looked at her like she had just fallen from the sky, I felt that she had something I didn't, something I desperately wanted. Now I feel like I have everything, I feel whole. I feel like I'm outshining the stars in the sky because the boy I chose saw the green goddess, but he still chose me.

__________

A/N -

I wasn't planning for Namjoon and wren to be together so soon, but I have no regrets. To anyone feeling like it might be too soon... they've been living together for the past few weeks, they've already faced some difficult situations together that have brought them closer together, and since they're going after the bosses, they could die, so they're just like... yeah, screw it.

Also, I feel like not every romance has to be super complicated. In real life, a lot of people find someone they see attractive and they're like "hey ssup, can I have your number". The main focus in this story isn't Wren's love interest. The theme is about loving yourself and facing the difficult trials you meet in life, so I didn't want to make the romance part very complex. The focus is going to be on the characters finding ways to deal with problems in their real lives, and fighting to get back to the real world even though things may not be perfect for them.

This is a really long explanation as to why I decided to have Namjoon and Wren show their feelings for each other so soon, so I hope you understand. To put it simply, it's because it's not the most important aspect in this story. That will be shown in later chapters as not a lot of focus will be put on their romantic relationship, the focus will be on the important theme of self love. Something that I find very important and something I'm trying to learn myself, something I'm practicing so that I can take care of myself. I'm trying to teach myself that I deserve that. BTS' love yourself concept is something that has helped me a lot, and I wanted to express that through this story.

If I achieve anything through this story, I hope that it reaches my readers the way that BTS has reached me. You're worth it. No matter what trials may come your way, it's worth it to stick it through. You are wonderful, you are spectacular, and you deserve to receive love from yourself. Please take care of yourself, and don't think of it as selfish. You are just as important and valid as anyone else. Never forget that.

Peace out my dudes ✌🏻