I'm running through the halls of the base again.

I don't remember how I even got here.

Blood covers the walls, the ceiling, the floor. I slip several times but I don't fall. I refuse to fall. Not with so many bodies all around me. Not when every body carries a face of a person whom I loved. No. I would not fall. I would not... would not....

Shadows sweep across the floor. Screams haunt me, following me. Screaming my name. To rescue them. To help them. I run the other way. I can't rescue them. I can't help them. I'm a coward. A scared coward.

Gunshots. Pain. Hate. Grief. A veil of all things hideous and monstrous envelop me. Drowning me.

I slip. I fall.

Nausea rises as I become covered in blood. My hands are coated with the blood of all those people I killed, with all those people I couldn't save.

I finally begin to see the bodies around me. Yoongi lies a few feet away, sightless eyes staring up at the ceiling. I see Irene, limbs splayed. Yuta, his russet orange Marks extinguished forever. Wonwoo, face twisted in terror of his last moments. Jimin— wait.

My lungs deflate. I can't breathe. No. No no no. Why is Jimin here? No he isn't dead. He can't be. He—

"JIYEON!"

Someone shook me awake and I almost started screaming if it weren't for the familiar face hovering inches from mine. Soft glowing silver Marks— glowing, not extinguished— wrapped around his neck and bare torso, spiraling and interweaving down his arms as he gripped my shoulders tightly.

"Just a dream," he was saying over and over as the roar of my blood slowly died from my ears and I could hear properly. "It was just a dream. A nightmare."

I realized I was panting, gasping for breath. Shaking. Without another word I wrapped my arms around him tightly and buried my nose into his chest. Alive. He was alive. Breathing. Warm.

Just a dream. A nightmare.

It was becoming a more common occurrence. The nightmares, the insomnia, the night terrors, the vomiting.

"It's going to be okay, partner," he murmured, rubbing soothing little circles on my neck. "Breathe. Deep breaths. I'm here now, don't worry."

"You were dead," I whispered against his skin. The words tumbled out of my mouth like an unstoppable waterfall. "Everyone was dead around me. You were dead. Covered in blood. You died. You—"

I was cut off by warm lips.

He cradled my face in one hand, though I could feel the tautness in his muscles as if he was restraining himself and forcing to keep his touches soft like a delicate petal. His mouth moved against mine, slowly.

He finally pulled back a little, eyes hooded and burning with dark intensity down at me. "I'm alive," he said. "I'm not dead. I'm alive."

As if to further prove his words he guided my hand to his chest, right where I could feel the faintest thud of his heart underneath his skin. Steadily beating. Alive.

I let loose a long breath and fell back against the pillows.

He slowly laid down next to me, keeping his arms around me. "Is there anything that might help you?"

"You."

The word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. When it did slip out, though, I felt no regret. I felt him tense a little beside me and I turned to face him.

My fingers slowly traced his cheekbones, outlining the soft roundness of them. My heart began to speed up again, but for a different reason. Especially when he shivered under my touch.

"Jiyeon..."

This time I leaned forward, pressing my mouth to his, silencing him. His hands immediately slid down to my hips and, in one deft movement, pulled me on top of him.

Heat flooded through me as our bodies immediately moved against each other as if by natural guided instinct; perfect rhythm and in time to each other. The delicate kisses became fervent, harder. A small moan escaped me at the friction of him beneath me. My knees instinctively straddled his hips tighter as the sensations flooding up between my legs.

His own hands tightened on my hips and he pulled back for a moment, gasping. "Are you sure about this?" He whispered, voice raspy. "I need to make sure you want this. I need to make sure you're not just trying to use this as an escape."

Alive. I felt alive. I leaned down to brush our noses together, my eyes never leaving his in the dim light. "Yes," I breathed, trembling a little. The emotion, the yearning, that had been building up in me ever since our first kiss the in the kitchen was finally spilling all over me. The knowledge that he'd stayed by my side through all of it chased out my doubts. "Yes."

And then his mouth crashed against mine. His hands glided up my side, whipping off my shirt smoothly. The cool air of the bedroom caressed my skin, further emphasizing how quickly I was heating up.

My breaths hitched and caught as his hands moved across my bare stomach. My own hands found themselves entangled in his hair as I let him touch me, his fingers bringing forth little whimpers from me.

I pushed my hair over a shoulder when his hands reached around to find the clasp of my bra on my back and I bit back a little gasp when I felt the clip come undone. His hands coaxed me to lean down further to him until his mouth touched my skin.

I sank my face into the side of his neck as his tongue and teeth scraped across sensitive skin. A groan ripped from his throat and vibrated where his mouth met my body. A small grin tugged across my mouth as I realized what I'd unintentionally done.

I buried my face further into his neck, right where two lustrous Marks interwove down one of the tendons of his neck. His body bucked under the touch and my hands tightened as I felt him press himself between my legs, against my thigh.

"You cruel... cruel woman," he gasped, sensing the smirk on my lips as I continued to run them over his Marks.

Boldness seized me and I opened my mouth, running my tongue right up one of the silver lines. His head fell back against the covers, a rough moan cracking through him and his body pushing even closer and deeper into mine.

I was burning up. Fire coursed through my veins and the heat and tension was becoming almost unbearable as I kissed up and down his Marks, allowing my tongue to run over his skin every now and then, marveling at how bright they were glowing and yet how colder than ever they were.

I barely noticed when his hands took hold of the waistband of my pants and tugged them down, hands running down my thighs in the process. I never broke contact from his skin, only shifting to allow him to slide them off. Both of us were breathing heavily as the remaining clothing between us disappeared.

And when I could feel him, with nothing between us any longer, I pulled back slightly to meet his eyes.

"I love you."

His eyes fluttered close briefly. "Say it again," he breathed. His hand began to stroke me, immediately causing my body to convulse against him with need. I briefly wondered if I'd even catch my breath enough to say the words again.

But I did. "I love you," I breathlessly whispered, my body shaking when his fingers found home and increased intensity until it was all I could do not to explode and burn up right then and there.

He connected our lips once more. "I love you too."

And I felt the truth behind his words as we finally became one, shattering the very last barrier between each other.

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