* black and blue
jimin can’t say he’s that distressed about being separated from hoseok. for once, since meeting him, he was glad; he couldn’t deal with the tension, the overbearing weight of the truth standing between them. maybe hoseok hadn’t caught on yet, but jimin knew. jimin knew.
so when he woke up from the explosion several walls away from hoseok, he couldn’t bring himself to be that upset about it. that man-- jimin felt like he was a stranger, a violent one, a bigoted one, waving knives at any and everyone who might even potentially be anything but human. he was not the man jimin fell in love with.
(that’s what he keeps telling himself, anyway.)
he isn’t alone when he wakes, startling at the sound of groaning and murmurs around him. there’s two merfolk-- distinguishably different, clearly from both factions-- both hurt. jimin can feel the ground shaking again, and his stomach lurches, knowing both of them wouldn’t wake up until it was far beyond too late to save themselves the next time an explosion happens. he jumps to grab the closest one-- a rebel, he thinks-- and drags them away, turning back to grab the second person before the ground shakes again.
“fuck,” he breathes, panicked, trying to get close enough to tug the person out of the way, but another explosion rocks the massive structure and rocks crash down between them, blocking his path. he doesn’t know if that person is still alive-- maybe they are, or maybe the rocks crushed them too. he’ll never know.
jimin looks back down at the rebel he’d saved, exhaling sharply and trying not to let the reality of death make him sink right there. he lifts the mer up, shoulder them with only a bit of difficulty, trying to drag them along as he continues down the corridor slowly, blood trailing behind them.
at least he tried to save people instead of threaten their lives.