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#me: *having a crazy busy week and returning with this gifset*
andy-clutterbuck · 1 month
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The Ones Who Live | 1x04
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btsmosphere · 15 days
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Supercharged | JJK
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Chapter 1: the Light Dies
masterlist | next
🗲summary: It starts with a blow to the chest that changes your life. When your city’s most celebrated hero pays a visit, it turns out the noble Bolt has no trouble tossing lives aside. Lives that won't be missed. Lives like yours. Seven mysterious and powerful men give you another chance – one that starts to feel more like a curse the moment you meet golden boy Jungkook. The boy who wants you as far from his brothers as he can get you. Is it you he hates, or the blue lightning that now runs through your veins? And could it be his golden light that illuminates your heart when darkness threatens? 🗲this chapter: He’s the hero. Unfortunately for you, you’re not the villain.
🗲pairing: jungkook x female reader 🗲word count: 6.6k 🗲genre: angst, action, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, slow burn, superheroes/villains au, it’s sorta like a mafia au but they have superpowers lmao 🗲rating: pg15 🗲warnings: violence with superpowers, minor character death, attempted murder, injury, loss of consciousness
a/n: I have to say thank you to @casuallyimagining and @bluewhale52 for betaing this chapter, although this might come as a surprise to them since that was maybe 3 years ago now?😅I'm really not sure how much my writing had changed since then, but you guys can be the judge of that as the future chapters unfold! In the meantime, enjoy! If you want more supercharged in your life, you can also search my supercharged tag to find some musings, rambling, gifsets and visuals etc that inspired me and kept me going while I lost my mind over this story!
Lastly, I present the supercharged playlist✨ I had a lot of fun making this – several songs align with plot events, while some of them are there for the title, the vibe, or even a single line! Feel free to guess which are which or come and chat with me about it👀
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An ear-splitting roar was barely contained behind shuddering steel doors. Just down the corridor, your fingers still clicked away, unperturbed, at your keyboard.
Tapping your foot, you looked impatiently up at the clock as another thunderous bellow assaulted the air. If the full-length windows weren’t reinforced by your boss, Kuyang’s own design, they would be rattling in their frames.
Blowing to rid your face of a strand of hair, you returned to your work, not even sparing a glance towards the source of the racket. It was only around half an hour until you could leave work for the weekend.
Finishing your task, you turned to filing the correspondence on your desk as a few yells carried through the air, mingled with the monster’s uproar. Bills and business deals the lot of them, you tucked them away in their respective places to be dealt with next week – only to stop on the very last one. How many times had the postman ignored the very clear sign for no newspapers?
You supposed the city felt the need to remind everyone that there was some semblance of central control – not really of much concern in a workplace such as yours, mind. Glancing across the front page, you realised why. You didn’t have a tv at home, but you would have to live under a rock not to recognise your city’s most celebrated superhero. Bolt, the media’s beloved, had claimed another victory against some crazy start-up trying to build their own bombs downtown.
The hero’s blue-masked face grinned confidently up at you from the desk, while police led what looked to be two scruffy teenagers into the back of their van. But Bolt’s vivid presence eclipsed them in his suit that matched his bright eyes.
Not bothering to read further, you pushed the paper into the waste bin at the end of the table.
Just as you were tucking away the final bits of paper, your boss emerged, wiping his brow on a cloth that looked as dirty as his face. Smiling pleasantly despite his ruffled state, you rotated on your chair to face him.
“Frank’s all good and sleepy now,” he said, “if you could get him sent up to the chamber.”
“Sure,” you nodded, already getting up and straightening your jacket.
With nothing more than a weary nod of appreciation, he left for his private laboratory. This was through a series more armoured doors, to which only you and a small number of lab workers knew the codes.
He was a scientist. And you were sure he was unhinged, but the job paid well, so that was all you concerned yourself with.
In fact, you had got very lucky. You had been surprised when such a good position had become available and quickly given to someone as ill-qualified as you, with no references to give. But your lack of connections seemed of no concern, and here you were, finally making ends meet and no longer in fear of being turned out of your run-down apartment at the edge of town.
So you did your job as well as you could, worrying yourself over nothing except pleasing the odd man that was Kuyang.
Even so, it was still a little daunting each time you had to come face-to-face with one of his experiments.
Reaching the steel doors that had not long ago been seriously threatening their hinges, you took a breath. Holding your thumb over a scanner by the door, you plastered a confident smile on your face as you walked inside.
Affectionately dubbed ‘Frank’, a great lump of teeth and dark furry flesh several times bigger than you was sleeping in a pod at the centre of the room. Surrounding this were multitudes of screens showing graphs and readings you couldn’t hope to understand.
At the edges of the room, a smattering of other workers were slumped against the stainless steel lab walls, almost as rumpled as their boss had been.
A hulking guard, Taeyeon, stood near the entrance, and you quietly confirmed with her that Frank was under and secure. Nodding, you gestured to Taeyeon’s team, another man and woman with the same uniform and intimidating stature.
Together, you assembled in front of the tank that held Frank, Taeyeon typing authorisation into one of the computers. The others locked down the external doors, just in case.
Though it was a familiar sight by now, the opening of the pod always prompted you to run through your training. If you hadn’t read it in the documents you dealt with, you would not have known Frank was also known as Necrus X, a new prototype Kuyang was working on, although you could not imagine what for.
Kuyang had been sure to tell you how to knock out the creature if it ever came to it, though. There was a spot behind his ear, which was more of a ridge at the side of his enormous head.
With the pod open, a panel rose from the floor, taking Frank rotating upwards. You caught sight of the patch behind its ear, zeroing in on it. Just in case.
The smooth expanse of ceiling split then, a hole revealing itself as the roof shrunk away into the walls, leaving a clear path for Frank to rise to the next floor, where he was stored.
As effortlessly as the ceiling retreating, a smooth steel staircase emerged from the walls. You and Taeyeon climbed it, spiralling around the edges of the circular space until you drew level with Frank, now snoring on the upper floor. Here, the space was wide open like an empty art gallery, half the walls comprised of expansive windows, no lab equipment to be seen.
The floor closed up beneath you both and you walked around Frank, opening a secret panel in the wall. As before, you raised your thumb to a blank scanner – but got no further.
A deafening smash sent you crouching to the ground in panic. Livid blue painted all the walls in the space as shattered glass skidded across the floor.
You had thought that glass to be unbreakable. At least that was the intention. But when you turned, you were forced to believe your ears: the central panel of glass was completely blown in, all the others down the row cracked from the force.
At the same moment the glass had shattered, you could suddenly hear what before had been hidden behind soundproofing. Outside, there were shouts, screams, car horns and alarms blaring from every angle – and above all, sirens. Sirens wailing through the air like disembodied banshees, descending, apparently, on your building.
Shuffling along the floor, you peered past the sleeping mass that was Frank in front of you. Walking across the room was a man in a tight blue suit, the same hue crackling in the air around his hands.
Bolt.
Mind short-circuiting, you were frozen. What should you do?
What was Bolt doing here? Was there some kind of threat? The image of him should have brought you relief, even though you knew nothing of what the danger was, but you hesitated.
Only having the presence of mind to shrink back silently behind Frank, you looked between the beast and the control panel you had abandoned. But you had no more chance to move before a fearsome crack ripped through the air, another flash of blue, sending the hairs on your arms bolting upright.
Spinning back to face Frank, you were met with a thump. A body, falling onto the floor.
Though she was mostly obscured by Frank’s sleeping form, you stared in unbelieving horror at Taeyeon where she lay, unmoving. Breath accelerating in your throat, you moved at last, scooting yourself back and away. Closer to the wall.
First you lunged to sound the alarm, mounted inside the wall panel, which instantly lit the room up in throbbing red, blaring loud enough to drown out the sirens outside. Then your hand was fumbling across the scanner. You had to get Frank locked away.
The walls of the pod which safely contained Frank overnight began to descend, much too slowly for your liking. Whirling to face the room, your heart seized in your chest when the imposing figure of Bolt, now shaded purple by the red light, met your eyes.
A glance up at the descending walls. They were halfway to the ground by now, but you still had to enter the code to lock them down.
Bolt yelled for you to stop, barely audible over the dizzying noise of the warning siren.
As he strode towards you, you could only watch, pressing yourself desperately against the wall as if it could swallow you up.
Bright light cut through the imposing red as the heavy door at the opposite end of the room was thrown open. Bolt stopped, both of you turning to see Kuyang enter. His hair was still sticking up from earlier, a strange expression on his face that you hadn’t seen before.
Paying no mind to the maniacal smile that had no place on Kuyang’s face, you took the moment of distraction to scramble for the code lock.
Without a sound, the gap between the floor and Frank’s pod closed, and your fingers were already leaping to action, typing the numbers behind your back at lightning speed.
Kuyang was running now, a direct path towards Bolt. But Bolt turned back towards you.
You were nearly done, but his hand was raising towards you…
In a split second, your fingertip met the final key of the code. Almost instantly, it was ripped away as shocking blue light cut through the air. You felt the impact before you could even notice that it was aimed at you.
Hitting you square in the chest, white hot pain scorched through your every nerve as your body was flung backwards, powerless as a ragdoll sailing through the air. The collision with the cracked window behind was almost lost on you. More intense pain was writhing its way down each limb, making you cry out, uncaring about the rain-spattered wind that whipped about your face now.
But you could see shards of glass as they fell along with you, like daggers aimed at the ground.
Biting wind rushed in your ears, the sound crashing over you like waves. And just as a pan sizzles down off the heat, the ferocious attack of pain seemed to reduce just as fast as it had invaded you.
Your heartbeat was the loudest thing, booming over the insistent web of sirens and whistling air.
Breathing choppily, you screwed your eyes nearly closed, suddenly aware of the tempest around you as you fell. Above, the already darkening winter night was illuminated with flashes of that awful blue.
You were falling.
It hit you then, as if you hadn’t been falling all this time. But it was only now that your senses caught up with themselves. You worked on a very high floor of the skyscraper, but as you were tossed around in the air, you saw the ground rapidly approaching.
A horror gripped your chest like nothing you had ever felt before.
Below you, and rushing towards you at terrifying speed, a skip sat surrounded by heaps of trash on the street. Unable to think, you could only shield your face with your hands, stretched out in front of you as if to stop the inevitable collision.
Though your eyes fell closed, you felt the jerk that flung your whole body backwards.
That wasn’t what you had expected.
Eyes snapping open in confusion, you found your vision lit with blue. In front of your face, blue light was shooting from your palms, pushing you up and away from the ground.
Your mouth fell open. Gaping in shock, you did nothing as the light died and you slowed again in the air.
Though you began falling much slower this time, you barely had time to notice your surroundings – much nearer the ground – before you were plummeting again, and this time nothing could stop you.
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Your eyes weren’t even open when you felt your body slide off something. Not a second later, you were crumpling onto hard concrete which grazed your cheek.
You groaned.
It was dark. High above, any flashes of light didn’t reach you here, having landed in a thin alley beside the building. And though this shielded you from the commotion on the main streets out front, sirens still pierced the air, each one feeling like a stab to your head.
You clutched it as you maneuvered to sit. It took you a few tries, groping for a wall or something to lean against as you regained your balance.
Eyes cracking open, you waited patiently for the dark splotches to dispel before looking around.
Right next to you was a car which blocked you from view of the road beyond this alley. Evident from the dent that caved in its bonnet, that was what you had landed on.
Turning your head, you had to squint even more as light assaulted your sensitive eyes.
Among a blazing light, you could make out the vague shapes of rubbish bags and an overflowing skip that you recognised. Out of these, a vibrant fire was now burning. The correlation was too strong for you to ignore.
Breath shallow, you turned your horrified gaze to your hands.
They had done this… but how? They looked totally normal now.
Frowning, you brought them up closer to your face, so that your nose was practically buried in your palms.
No difference.
You were sure you hadn’t imagined that blue light which saved you earlier. Was there a way to make it come back?
While you were puzzling, you lowered your hands again, still staring intently as you rotated them in your lap.
Then, quick as a blink, a blue flash darted from them again. So fast, in fact, that you had no time to react before one of the bolts was fired directly into your opposite arm.
Snatching it away reflexively, you hissed in pain as a burning sensation crawled, tingling, over your skin there.
Despite the pain, the blue light didn't cease shooting from your hands. They tingled, a strangely uncomfortable sensation. It was as if something warm was wriggling its way up your veins and spilling from your fingertips.
“Stop! Stop!” you whispered in panic.
You turned them outwards, aiming away from you, but if they kept at it for much longer you were sure to draw attention.
Moving your hands around jerkily, the beams of light shook along with you, but did not go out. With each unsuccessful movement, panic made you more frantic until the glowing rays jerked erratically around the small space.
Straying too far, the light came into contact with a post at the alley’s entrance. You could only watch, helpless, as light like blue snakes skittered up it and latched around the wires it supported.
To your relief, the strange current seemed to have found an outlet, and only remained a second longer before cutting out. You were left blinking in the relative darkness. Panting heavily, you stared down at your hands, although you did not bring them too close anymore.
Once again, they appeared utterly innocent. There was nothing to suggest they had just channelled lightning through them.
Suddenly, the world plunged into darkness. The fire still burned at the other end of the alley, or you would have been left totally blind. In the building behind you, in the street, all the lights had gone out.
Almost instantly following the blackout, screaming rose again in the air.
Gulping, your eyes travelled to the blackened post at the corner, which you had accidentally electrocuted.
This was bad. Your head was spinning, both from your short, hard fall and from the whirlwind of events that had happened in what could only have been minutes. Surrounded by darkness, with the wail of the city and a fire for company, you could only see one course of action.
Run.
You had to get away from here. It wasn’t safe. You had little idea where was safe, but you couldn’t be here anymore.
It wasn’t like you had anyone to call who would care enough to come and pick you up. Nor did you have the money to try a hospital, though you felt as if you may need it.
But especially with electricity shooting from your hands at the drop of a hat, it probably wasn’t best to be anywhere around people.
The dizziness from your unfortunate landing on the car had worn off while you were sitting, but the world swayed anew the moment you made to stand. Pushing determinedly against the wall, you struggled on anyway, brand new dark spots in your vision offset by the brightness of the fire you walked towards.
This end of the alleyway led out through smaller streets, away from the city centre and furore of sirens.
On reaching the opening, you cautiously assessed the road stretching away either side. Empty. And if there was anyone there, they wouldn’t see you in this darkness.
Shoving your hands beneath your armpits on some misguided hope of keeping them from causing problems, you lowered your head and ran. It was more of a jog, considering everything, but you still moved as quickly as you could beneath the dead streetlamps.
Head throbbing more with movement, you stumbled a few times as you went. The pavement tilted around you.
You had made it a few roads before you felt that awful tingling in your arms again. It itched, like something fighting its way out of your skin.
Nausea rolled in the pit of your stomach. This couldn’t be real.
Slowing down and stopping beneath a signpost, you drew your shaking hands out in front of you. The world careened on its axis, revolving around the sight of your palms as a faint blue glow grew in them.
You were going to throw up, you were sure of it.
You wanted it to stop.
A few flickers of blue darted down the veins in your wrist. Towards your fingertips. Sparks leapt from them, small tendrils of lightning crackling between your fingers like webbing.
At last, you gave in to the rising horror mixed with a sick feeling. The floor’s spinning became too much, your hands turning to a bright blur in the centre of your vision.
You passed out on the spot.
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Lights were turning on again around the city. Television sets flickering back to life to announce Bolt’s victory against the beast that had attacked earlier that evening.
But not on the street where you still lay.
The return of light only reached neighbouring roads, dim glow snuffed out before it could penetrate the middle of this street. A white-haired young man stepped forwards, but his face was totally obscured in darkness.
“Here,” he spoke to the silence.
The next moment, a deep red glowed in the middle of the road, though it brought little light. The red bounced off a signpost before it was gone, replaced by another man, seemingly from nowhere.
The newest arrival stood there, looking down at your figure, unconscious by the sign. Then he disappeared again, leaving total darkness behind as if he had never been there at all.
A few more moments passed, you and the hidden man the only beings on the dark road.
Not very long after, a car’s engine rumbled and sputtered into earshot. The bright beam of headlights rounded the corner, growing larger and shedding light on your form as it drew closer.
Pulling up next to you, the engine died along with the lights. Two doors opened and slammed shut.
As two pairs of feet stepped nearer to join the one remaining beside you, the streetlamp directly overhead began to glow. The faint glimmer grew until it illuminated the scene. Still no other lights joined it, leaving the small group of you lit up as if by spotlight.
“It’s her?”
The man crouching beside you asked the question without looking up, and the shadowed man answered.
“Pretty sure.”
“She’s breathing?”
“Yes.”
The crouching man hummed. Moving to kneel instead, his eyes roved over your somewhat battered face, dark hair obscuring his own.
“Namjoon?” he asked then, turning to the other man from the car. It was the same man who had momentarily appeared in the street earlier.
Taking his cue, the tall man, Namjoon, walked forwards and bent to lift your hands by the wrists. In just moments he was placing them carefully back, nodding.
“No doubt.”
“Okay then.”
“Can she travel, Jin?”
“Give me a moment.”
Producing a small object, he pressed a button and a small light sprung from the end. Carefully lifting one of your eyelids, he shone the light into it, observing like a doctor.
The first you became aware of was the far away sound of voices being quietly exchanged. But with the cloudiness in your head, identifying them didn’t seem very urgent. You were preoccupied with the swirling feeling that made the world swim around you, even though it was dark.
But as dim awareness was returning to you, the process of regaining your senses was violently accelerated as a blinding light was thrust into your vision.
You flinched, and as Jin pulled away he saw you blink, eyelids screwing shut in protest. His eyebrows raised in slight concern as he watched your first groggy movements.
Blinking around at the dimly lit figures over you, your eyes widened. The nearest man held the illuminated light stick. Was he a doctor?
Next, your eyes darted to the tall man standing behind him. You recognised neither.
Some strange feeling told you someone else was standing there too, but when you looked to your other side you were faced with nothing but empty shadow.
“Can you sit?”
The first man’s question was gentle, his hands ready to support you.
Nodding timidly, you heaved yourself up with his help. It embarrassed you to be panting after just that much movement.
“What happened?” came the next question.
As you replayed the events, you avoided their eyes. You could not let them know what happened, what you had become. They were helping you, and yet you might hurt them-
Fists clenching subconsciously, you stuttered in panic.
“I-I can’t pay,” you told them, but before you could say more a new voice was speaking. The standing man stepped forwards, his voice calm and surprisingly friendly.
“There’s no need to pay. We can help you. Can you tell us what happened?”
“I don’t, uh, I-I-“
His eyes travelled towards your hands, which you were trying to tuck behind you.
“You gained powers, didn’t you?”
You froze.
“I have them too,” he smiled, “I know what it’s like to be scared. But you can work with this and learn to control them. I’m Namjoon, and this is Jin. We’ve been through this before, we can help you.”
At your sides, your hands relaxed. Tension lifted from your tightly hunched shoulders. Wordless, you looked between the men who were watching you, ready to move, but only on your word.
Swallowing, a light frown creased your brow.
“What do you want-”
Namjoon’s smile dimmed into something kinder.
“At least let us check you over.”
Your hands fretted together. It was strange, you couldn’t feel anything there. Surely they should feel different? How would you know if these… powers, Namjoon had said, were to come back?
“You won’t hurt us, don’t worry,” he seemed to anticipate your thoughts as he watched you, “we can protect ourselves.”
“You were unconscious,” Jin spoke, drawing your perplexed gaze back to him, “did you hit your head?”
You blinked, but found yourself answering.
“I think so.”
Nodding, Jin shuffled at your side. He leaned a bit closer.
“I need to shine this light in your eyes again. You may have a concussion.”
Complying, you sat through the eye-watering brightness. He asked you things, like a doctor would, except he was working in the middle of an empty street in the middle of the night.
“Do you feel dizzy?”
“I did. I think still, a little.”
“Any nausea?”
“Yeah… but maybe because of the…” you gestured to your hands.
Jin sat back, taking the light with him. Namjoon shot you a sympathetic smile at that. You supposed he had been through the same thing, from the sounds of it.
Jin looked up at Namjoon.
“It looks pretty rough. Definitely a concussion, and she needs patching up, but in the long run she’ll be fine.”
“I-I’m serious,” you interjected, “I don’t have the money for hospital…”
Your voice faltered. You half thought of asking to just go home, but you were hardly sure of even making it there by yourself. And if you got there, then what? The prospect of burning down the place with these errant powers didn’t fill you with comfort.
“Good thing we’re not going to bring you there, then,” Namjoon said, “but I meant it when I said we could help. We can take you home, if you want… but you can stay with us, too.”
You stared at him wordlessly. Was it crazy that you were considering this?
“Just for a bit, if you need,” Jin added softly, “it’s just… now might not be the smartest time to be alone.”
You chewed your cheek. But your head was pounding too much to think very hard, and this seemed like the most straightforward option. The people in this city kept surprising you, after your first stroke of luck with Kuyang's generosity.
“Sure…” you spoke quietly, not quite able to look them in the eyes, “yes please.”
“Okay,” Namjoon took it in stride, “but let’s get moving.”
“Just one moment – we should wrap that.”
Gesturing towards your arm, Jin stood and went back to the car. On his return, he knelt again and began to secure cling film around the angry red blotch blistering your skin, where you had caught yourself with your own beam.
“We’ll sort it out properly when we get back,” he told you, “but Namjoon’s right, we should be going.”
You followed his gaze which seemed to dart up and down the street. However, nothing was there.
Jin helped you stand, still looking around. Sure enough, the dizziness from before hadn’t quite left you yet. Biting down on your lip, you focussed hard on getting the short distance to the car. You were led to the passenger seat and crumpled gratefully into it.
But just as Jin closed the door, you felt an uncomfortable prickling clutch your forearms again. Namjoon slid into the back seat in time to hear your gasp, noticing the way your fingers flexed in panic. Digging in his pockets, he produced a pair of thin black gloves and held them out to you just as the first trickles of blue appeared in your veins again. He watched with a studious frown as you pushed your hands into the gloves.
“Those will help,” he said, still looking at your wrists, “they can contain the powers. But you shouldn’t keep them on for too long.”
Jin was seating himself in the driver’s side as you frowned over at Namjoon. At first you had been relieved to have a solution to your erratic lightning problem, but that was ripped away at his last addition.
“Why not? It will keep you safe,” you questioned, but kept your voice quiet.
“Don’t worry, we’re more than capable of handling anything you could throw at us,” he laughed, “but you can keep them on in here. Best not to bottle up your powers forever, though.”
Resigned, you turned back to face front. The moment Jin stepped on the gas, all the lights in the road sparked to life at once. Startled, you blinked, looking around. On the pavement you were just pulling away from, a man was walking away, unidentifiable behind a hoodie.
Slumping back in your seat, you breathed a short, dry laugh. This mysterious happening was just the latest in this crazy night. You had no choice but to accept it.
The car ride was fairly short, but you were too tired and distracted to take in exactly where you were going. Streets seemed to blur together, aware only that you were heading out of town.
The itching in your arms had persisted for a while, but as promised, the gloves seemed to work. No fiery blue burst out of your palms, and, eventually, whatever it was decided to give it up, subsiding again by the time the car pulled up.
But no one got out yet. Jin had stopped at the end of a small road, big enough for only one vehicle, directly facing an expanse of crumbling and graffitied brick.
Curiosity woke you up from your daze, and you watched as Jin reached to tap something on his dashboard. Almost instantly, a groaning reached your ears from over the whirring of the engine. The wall ahead shook before shifting, sliding sideways until it tucked itself behind a dented dustbin, unveiling a space beyond.
Leaving you little more time to wonder, Jin started the car again and you rolled downwards through a plain, dark entrance. It reminded you of those multi-storey car parks formed with ugly blocks of concrete. It was considerably smaller than those, however, Jin pullingup into a space alongside about a dozen other vehicles, beyond which the place seemed entirely deserted.
Jin came around to open your door, but you were able to stand by yourself. It was still a bit of a struggle, your limbs sluggish and the world dull around you – although that may have just been the low underground light.
Namjoon led you, Jin staying close by your side. Blinking at the space as you moved through it, your eyes traced over the various car roofs, some cleaner than others. A larger four-by-four was particularly beaten up, with a large crease in one of the metal wheel arches.
Your eyes rested longest on what was probably the most pristine: a motorbike, at first hidden by the cars either side of it.
Soon enough, you were past them. Stopping as Namjoon did, you watched him expectantly. However, he did not turn around, instead standing face-to-face with a plain concrete wall. Except… now a low rumble announced the movement of a panel which slid away, revealing a wide doorway which had previously blended seamlessly with the flat wall.
Your eyebrows raised at the touch that was reminiscent of Kuyang’s lab. Without time for you to dwell on this, your small group moved up a dingy staircase that lay beyond the doorway.
At the top, you emerged into a new space, notably lighter than before. You assumed you were back on ground level, perhaps above. It was hard to be sure, disoriented as you still were in the whirlwind that had overtaken your day.
Bizarrely, the space appeared to be someone’s home. There was a large and coffee-stained table surrounded by mismatching chairs, a kitchen behind it littered with mugs and pot plants. Still, beyond the lived-in array of things lying around, it was big. You imagined it must be miles more expensive than the shoddy apartment you stayed in.
It was open plan, and you followed Namjoon past the dining table towards an area filled with two enormous sofas.
The back of a blond head was visible over the sofa, and now the person turned towards you.
“Guys!” a loud exclamation rang out as he leapt up. A dazzling smile spread across his mouth.
When his eyes fell on you, wincing at his sudden volume, the smile dimmed a little.
“Not so loud, Hope-ah,” Jin spoke gently from behind you.
“Sorry,” he dipped his head, smile remaining on his lips.
Jin’s hands came lightly to your back, steering you over to a sofa. As you sunk into it with relief, the blond man sat across from you, tilting his head to catch your eye.
“I’m Hope,” he smiled, “I’m glad we found you. You’ll be right in no time!”
Frowning, you couldn’t help but notice his eyes flicking over the damage on your face. Averting your gaze, you chewed your lip absently.
What did he mean? I’m glad we found you…
Had they been looking for you? You still weren’t sure if it was a lucky coincidence they found you, but perhaps it was something more.
The lingering ache in your head forced you to push the issue away. You missed Namjoon’s stern look at Hoseok as he hovered behind your seat.
Jin pulled a pack from a cupboard and set it beside you. You let him lift your arm and unwrap the burn, your unfocussed eyes dragging across the room while he applied something cold over it. Next came stinging, scattered over your face as he wiped at the small cuts and grazes with an apologetic grimace you barely saw.
You only forced the world back into focus when someone else entered your sight. Emerging from behind you, a gentle, friendly smile was directed your way from a man with pale pink hair. Swallowing, you never managed to smile back before he was turning away.
The pink-haired man reached a hand out to someone you couldn’t see. Another man appeared, walking towards him, but he never looked at you. Or if he did, it was obscured behind the black hair that fell to his eyes.
The two new people left towards the kitchen, though not without another smile from the pink one.
Who were all these people?
Frowning after them, you were interrupted by a clap on the shoulder from Jin.
“We’ll talk more in the morning. You need to rest.”
Looking around, you had half a mind to protest, but were overruled by the shakiness taking over your frame. Body too fatigued to allow you much say, you meekly followed Jin.
Beyond the living space, a thinner corridor led away, several closed doors along its walls.
Further you went, until a door just ahead opened. Another person walked out.
When he stopped to face you, his posture remained stiff. Tall and muscular, he was clad all in black except for a towel slung over his shoulder. Damp hair fell messily around his head. But you had little time to take this in, as his eyes fixed themselves fiercely on yours, rendering you unable to look away.
Mouth remaining in a hard line, his expression only twitched further into a frown.
Then his gaze flicked abruptly away, travelling to Jin just beyond you.
“Kook-“
Jin never got further than that before the man strode forwards, marching sharply past you and away with a scowl. Turning after him in surprise, you watched his tense shoulders disappear behind Namjoon, who you hadn’t noticed hovering.
Namjoon stared sternly after him, but the man seemed to avoid his gaze.
Jin sighed, sending an apologetic glance at you.
“That’s just Jungkook,” Namjoon spoke, ushering you all further along the hallway, “don’t pay him any attention.”
“Why was…”
You trailed off, unsure of what exactly to ask. Neither of them made an attempt to answer.
You had no idea a wordless encounter could leech so much hostility into the atmosphere. Picturing Jungkook’s glowering face, you blindly followed the others through a different door.
“You can sleep in here.”
“Hm?”
Shaking yourself, you looked around the new room. There wasn’t much to see. Beside a low bed, there was a mirror, a wooden closet and nothing more. Looking up, you didn’t even find a light in the ceiling. The only light leaked through from the hallway.
Clearly reading your gaping mouth and furrowing brow, Namjoon moved in front of you.
“Don’t worry, this is just a place to sleep, nothing more. But since you’re going to have to take those gloves off, we can’t have you in a space with any electricals.”
Stepping back defensively, your fingers pressed tightly together. Having the gloves on had let you almost imagine that nothing life-changing had happened. Like gaining unpredictable powers, for instance.
Namjoon watched patiently, holding out a hand.
“You don’t need them…”
He realised he had never asked your name, and let his sentence trail expectantly. Telling him your name, he relaxed into a smile.
“You don’t need them, Y/N,” he repeated, not that you believed him for a second, “you’ll be perfectly safe. And so will we.”
Only the yearning to collapse onto the bed persuaded you to hand over the gloves. The instant they were in his hand, you swore you could feel a shock go up your arm. Immediately tense again, your breathing became shallower, with no idea how to try and stop power shooting from your hands any moment.
But Namjoon and Jin seemed content. Before you could gather your thoughts, they had left, closing the door and drenching your room in near total darkness.
Stumbling to the bed and virtually falling into it, you wiped sweating palms against the fabric. Your mouth was dry with fear.
This couldn’t have happened.
Alone for the first time since your initial panic, it didn’t take long for your mind to wrap itself in circles again. Only hours ago, you had been sitting happily in your bright office, going through the motions…
One split-second decision from a powerful man had changed that.
You knew full well he had intended for you to die. But he was Bolt...
He had probably forgotten about it already. The guard he sent lifeless to the floor, the secretary he threw from the building.
Itching feeling returning, you swallowed desperately and raised your hands. Sure enough, against the darkness, blue pierced your vision, darting its way up-
Turning your face away, you flinched as the outburst came. Your eyes screwed shut, you pressed your cheek into fabric, not wanting to see the deathly lightning that shot through the room. Shuddering breaths broke into your lungs when at last it subsided.
Letting them fall, limp, to your sides, your hands fisted the covers tightly.
You were almost afraid to open your eyes, knowing it would only show you the empty room, confirmation that this was real. You were dangerous, shut in a safe room where you could hurt no one. Would you ever get out? Succeed in controlling this, like Namjoon had said?
With no idea where you were, barely any idea who the people here were, you wanted to block it out. But even with your eyes closed, you couldn’t escape.
The memory of Jungkook’s suspicious face made your heart sink. Perhaps people should be afraid of you, now. As much as you may want to, there was no getting away from this.
Pushing yourself to sit, you surveyed the room. Eyes accustomed to the blackness a little more, you could make out vague shapes. Your breath fell alone in the silence. This really was the safest place you could be right now, even if it was a nightmare.
As your head turned, you suddenly came level with your eyes in the mirror, and a shock of light.
For an extended moment, you could only stare.
Then all at once you were rushing forwards, tripping from the end of the bed. Bracing your arms against the wall either side of the mirror, you gaped at your reflection.
As you watched, an angular bolt of blue shot across your irises, which were already dimly glowing.
You gulped against the thick feeling crawling up your throat. Faced with this, you could no longer have any hope of denying it.
This was really happening.
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Thank you for reading!! Please please let me know your thoughts on this chapter, comments make it all worthwhile!💜💜
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sheikah · 7 years
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Jon, Looking Back, and “The Wars to Come”
So I have gotten close to ten asks since the episode about how either the Jon/Dany goodbye was “cold” or asking my opinion on why Jon “doesn’t look back” at Dany. So I’d like to address this and just give my two cents on their relationship development in 7.05 and the meaning/significance of their last words to each other on the beach. This is huge so I put it under a cut!
Jon and Dany both come to understand one another a lot better in this episode. I see it as important character development for both of them in terms of learning to trust the other. And while I’ve seen antis arguing that there is nothing in this episode to indicate Jon’s feelings for Dany, I couldn’t disagree more. 
On her return from the loot train, Dany finds Jon standing on a cliff, presumably waiting for her. 
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(all gifs in this post were made by me unless otherwise stated :] )
And even then, he seems almost surprised she has returned from battle already. He says, “You weren’t gone long.” He didn’t really expect Dany to return yet but he was still out there gazing in the direction she would be coming from. Just in case . . .
Then he touches Drogon in what might be my favorite scene in the series yet. It’s such a huge moment for them both as I briefly talked about here. To me it signifies Jon’s trust in Dany. Say what you will, antis. If he thinks she’s crazy and mad, if he thinks that she sees him as a threat, I doubt he would walk up to her enormous, fire-breathing dragon when she’s sitting on top of it. Jon trusts Dany.
At the same time, Dany is absolutely amazed that Jon has the courage to not only stand his ground in front of a roaring Drogon, but to approach and then pet him. And as one of my anons pointed out, Drogon chose to accept Jon, too, in this moment. Jon is the first person we know of since Doreah to touch Drogon at all, and back then Drogon was smaller than my mom’s Pomeranian. So this is no small feat on Jon’s part.
It’s like Drogon can feel Dany’s attraction to Jon and Jon’s attraction to Dany, as well as sense Jon’s Valyrian blood. He accepts him into their little family in a way. 
And we can see from their faces that Jon and Dany are both profoundly affected by this moment. ESPECIALLY Jon. 
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Jon teared up from the enormity of what it meant to touch a living dragon. I love the detail of him pulling his gloves off so he could actually feel Drogon’s skin for himself. 
This was a bonding moment. It was incredibly intimate. He and Dany make eye contact while she is riding her DRAGON and he is the first man to touch that dragon. EVER.
Then when they talk after, even the conversation is important. Jon seems dubious of Dany’s methods in war but when she says that they BOTH want to help people, which they can only do from a position of strength, that really resounds with Jon who we know feels exactly the same way, and has accepted his power as KitN so that he can save his people. Dany reminding him that he and his army have also killed thousands of people seems to have an impact. The reasons Jon has to doubt Dany are falling away one by one, and it started in with the cave scene and Jon’s talk with Missandei last week. 
Then Dany asks about him taking a knife in the heart for his people. Jon does dodge the question AT FIRST. But when she presses him and asks him to confirm that it really is just Davos’s embellishment and not a true story, Jon hesitates. I fully believe that he was about to be honest with her in that moment and reveal this CRUCIAL and incredibly painful part of his past to her. That’s a big step forward for them. 
But then they are interrupted by Jorah. And THIS is why I think Jon starts to pull away from Dany toward the episode’s end. 
He feels like they have just had a meaningful moment. And not the first one if we count the caves (I do). But then in walks this man who Jon has never seen before, and suddenly the usually very stoic Dany (who hides her feelings better than I hide my smut fanfic from people in my real life) nearly sobs with emotion at this reunion. She sees Jorah and instantly tears up, embracing him for a long moment and making it pretty clear that he is someone important to her. 
Jon is so weirded out by this moment that he literally turns to watch Dany hugging Jorah.
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Then he continues to stand there and watch the duration of the hug.
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And he was so obvious about it that even Jorah is like, “Wtf?????” 
Jorah, president of the Khaleesi Fan Club, stops looking at Dany to look at Jon because he can feel the death stare.
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Then Jon turns to look at Dany until she is safely back next to him again . . .
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Before going right back to eye-murdering Jorah.
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I also think it’s worth mentioning that while I have seen people saying Jon only stares Jorah down like this because of Jorah’s history as a slaver, I really have to disagree. Jon was warm and welcoming to Jorah and complimented his father when they first met. His demeanor only changed after Jorah hugged Dany. And Jon isn’t the focused part of Dany’s reunion with Jorah by accident. The camera looked at him for a reason. We are SUPPOSED to notice Jon’s expression here.
Then we get the scene in the map room in which Jorah immediately offers himself for the mission North for the wight hunt, and I think this just further solidifies the notion in Jon’s mind that Jorah and Dany have something between them. 
To make matters worse, Dany is clearly worried and DOES NOT want Jon to go. But Dany is very reserved with her emotions and I am positive that she is not comfortable revealing any sort of feelings about or tenderness toward Jon. So instead of begging Jon to stay or expressing her worry for him in front of her council, she makes a desperate bid to have him stay behind by trying to command him. 
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I don’t really think she was serious or that she would ever actually try to detain Jon if he wanted that badly to leave. And I don’t think Jon truly took it seriously either or his reaction would have been much worse. But he is still angry. Because I think that until Jorah’s return Jon thought that things had changed between he and Dany, that they had some sort of understanding, and that they had feelings for each other. 
And then this rival man shows up and Dany flexes her queen status and her power again, all in the space of an afternoon. And while as viewers we can clearly see that Dany is very upset about Jon’s departure, and I think Tyrion can see it, too, Jon obviously doesn’t see it. 
This leads us to the goodbye scene. We have Jorah telling Dany goodbye, which one would think would be a touching Dany/Jorah moment if it’s actually true there is nothing going on with Jon and Dany in this scene (as I see others trying to argue). 
Buuuuut there is no Jorah/Dany romance in this scene. When Jorah is seemingly about to proclaim something romantic or poetic to Dany, at 3:02 in the video below, Jon walks into the frame and the Jonerys theme music begins playing while Jorah is still holding Dany’s hands. Jorah turns, sees Jon, thinks the better of whatever he was about to say, and kisses her hand and leaves instead. 
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Even Jorah, who is obviously very much in love with Dany, can see what is going on with Jon and Dany and is restraining himself because of it. Significantly, the last person to say to farewell to Dany is Jon. Not Jorah. 
When Jon tells Dany goodbye, he tries to keep it light because at this point he probably feels like he had the wrong idea about their relationship. So he makes a joke about her being glad to be rid of him. But clearly, clearly, Dany feels the opposite. But again, Jon is oblivious, so when she says, “I’ve grown used to him,” Jon is surprised and taken aback and doesn’t know what to say next. 
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I don’t think he was expecting her to flirt with him because to his knowledge, there’s something going on between Jorah/Dany and the last thing he saw between those two was this:
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So it doesn’t surprise me at all that Jon doesn’t give Dany some kind of tender goodbye. After all, even the script outline described it as what had to be a private goodbye but in a public setting. Jon is trying to appear aloof not only because he believes Dany already has a romantic attachment to someone else, but because there are other people watching their every move, AND because he is heading off on a suicide mission. 
What good would it do for him to say something touching and declare his feelings before he leaves??? Duty has always been important to Jon and he is putting it ahead of his feelings in this instance--feelings he probably now believes to be misplaced. 
I saw a gifset today that irked me. The theme or caption was something about people looking back at the one they love when they leave. It was Jorah looking at Dany, Brienne turning in the canoe to look at Jaime when she left Riverrun, and Jon waving to Sansa as he left Winterfell. The intent of this set was pretty clear, it coming out right after this episode. 
This bothered me, and then an anon sent me a link to some anti writing meta about how that wave from Jon to Sansa shows that he cares for her and not Dany since he didn’t look back at Dany on the beach. I don’t think this is the case at all. Jon didn’t even have a goodbye scene with Sansa. He just waved to her on his way out. (Yes, I know Jon loves Sansa. She’s his family. I’m just trying to establish that that doesn’t invalidate what’s happening with Jonerys at all).
But he shared a personal and clearly emotional goodbye with Dany. And I imagine he didn’t turn to look at her because 1. He was the person leading the men pushing the boat into the ocean . . . he was in the front and busy???
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And 2. He is trying to keep Dany from his thoughts. He has an important mission to think about. He doesn’t believe he has a shot with Dany. This seems perfectly normal to me. 
Finally, in the same anti meta I mentioned above the person argued that Jon’s last line, “I wish you good fortune in the wars to come,” was a signal that T@rg Bowl is going to happen and that he and Dany are going to fight one another in season 8. 
The person made this argument because Ser Arthur Dayne said the same line to Ned before they fought to the death outside the Tower of Joy, which we saw in Bran’s vision in season 6. 
However, that isn’t the only time we’ve heard this! Mance Rayder also said these words to those gathered at his execution in 5.01, and the name of the episode was “The Wars to Come.” So both Mance and Ser Arthur Dayne said this line when they were both facing their deaths. 
I don’t think Jon says this to Dany to foreshadow a conflict or rift between the two of them. I see this as foreshadowing Jon’s death, since this is something that two men have now said right before they died. This line foreshadows death. (I decided to Google it and both Heavy.com and Uproxx had the exact same interpretation. No one thinks this means Jon wants to kill Dany . . . except certain antis.)
This makes sense considering the leaks. We know that in the next episode, Jon will very nearly die, and the audience and Dany will (for at least a short time) believe that Jon did die. So to me, this line is just adding to that tension and the idea that Jon really is running into a very dangerous situation. 
But none of this diminishes Jonerys and the epic tension, angst, and relationship-building we got from them in 7.05 in my opinion. 
Thanks for reading :D
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