The Only Way Out - Episode #12 (The End)
Group: Stray Kids
Pairing : Jisung x Reader
Genre: sci –fi thriller, apocalyptic
Summary: In a world in war with the unknown, your reflection suddenly disappears. Based on this guide here: If your reflection is missing
I’ve used the pronouns ‘they/them’ for shadows so it is easier to differentiate between the ‘real’ characters and their reflections. Also to make everything easier, the shadows/reflections will have a ‘s’ in front of their names so I don’t have to specify each time
Word Count: 2.4k
Previous
“This is really happening.” Hyunjin muttered as he too stepped outside. The walk until here was fast, but now, everyone stalled. s.Woojin turned towards the group and smiled. “This might seem like the end, but don’t worry about us. I’m hoping for the day we can meet again.”
“Well, there is no need to put this off. This is the only way out of this mess.” s.Chan said after s.Woojin and mentioned to everyone. “Let’s go.” The rest nodded and started to follow him. You started walking with them when Minho grabbed your arm.
“What are you doing?”
“I said I’ll see them off.”
“We are seeing them off. Why are you going to the edge with them?”
“After all this, you still don’t trust them?” Minho sighed and opened his mouth to speak when he was cut off by s.Jisung.
“He’s right Y/N. I… I don’t want you to come with us until the end. I have no idea what is going to happen, and I don’t want you to be there for it. It’s heart warming to see that you trust us, but even I can’t trust them.” Your eyes started to fill with tears.
“But Jisung you said-“
“Ssssh. It’s okay.” s.Jisung gave you a big smile. “You don’t have to worry anymore.” He leaned in and wiped off a stray tear that escaped your eye. You looked up towards him with glossy eyes and quivering lips, and he couldn’t stop himself. s.Jisung pulled you flush against him, stroking your hair when a sob ripped through you. “You have to be happy for me yeah? Much happier now that your troubles are going away.”
Changbin cleared his throat which made the two of you to separate. The boy look at his ‘real self’ and the only words that he managed to get out was “Take good care of her.”
“You, out of all the people know I will.” With a curt nod he turned back to you. When s.Jisung wiped the last tear away from your face, he sighed and turned around to join the others. They were already bickering with each other.
“Here goes nothing.”
“Can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”
“Just look at it as an adventure yeah?”
“Not a very happy one I suppose. Hey look Jisung finally decided to join us.”
“Yeah yeah just shut up and enter okay?”
A hush fell over the group as they stared at the pitch black veil in front of them.
“Soooo… Who’s going first?” s.Felix piped up, looking around at the others.
“I think it’s best if we all go at the same time.”
“Yeah, ending it together, like always.” s.Hyunjin nodded at the idea. “Not to be too sappy or anything but it is okay as long as I’m doing this with you guys.”
“That was sappy. But also true. No point in dragging this out let’s go.” s.Jeongin said as he grabbed the hands on both of his sides. This rippled through the line until everyone was holding hands. They all looked back at the group behind them that was watching their every move intently.
“On three.” Chan took a deep breath and started counting. “1, 2, 3.” They all took a step forward and got enveloped by the darkness.
Just before he was almost swallowed by the void, s.Jisung turned his head around and locked eyes with you, and said, in a clear but sad tone.
“I love you.”
You avoided Jisung all the way back to their real world. It wasn’t as hard as it seemed like he was avoiding you too, walking ahead of the group and leaving everyone in the dust. Just as they arrived the passing room, Jisung let out a surprised sound. “Why is there two mirrors here?”
“Oh yeah, we used a second one to pass through. It’s the one on the left. Don’t worry its fine.” Changbin said as he mentioned Felix and Hyunjin to follow him.
The atmosphere between the original trios was awkward as Minho stood between Jisung and you. It was clear that Jisung wanted you to pass first, but you wanted to stay a bit longer to say your goodbyes. Minho cleared his throat as he turned towards the two and walked backwards towards the mirror.
“I love you guys, but I don’t wanna wait around all day. Also, weirdly enough, I don’t actually want to be the last one here. So… I’m gonna pass.” Minho smiled and hopped on through.
Your eyes widened as you picked up Jisung’s legs on your peripheral vision. Sighing you moved forward, the tension in the room getting too high for you, repeating to yourself that you can say your goodbyes in the comfort of your own bed when you return. So without sparing another glance you passed through.
Just after your passage, Jisung tumbled behind you and you both were tackled by Jeongin immediately.
“I’ve missed you so much. So much happened while you were away.”
You patted Jeongin’s back and took a good look at the room. Your eyes flittered over to Chan and you gave him a questioning look which he replied with mouthing ‘I’ll explain in a bit.’
“How are you? How’s your leg?”
“It’s the same, the healing process is slow you know. Waiiiiitttt what happened to your shoulder? Y/N you weren’t careful!” Jisung whined while pulling you towards Seungmin.
“Seungmin, bandage up her shoulder please.” You chuckled and patted the younger boy’s head, turning to thank Seungmin once he started to clean up your wound. The room was bright and filled with warmth, immensely different from the world you just came from. Even it hadn’t been that long, you were filled with the feeling of nostalgia. But something felt different.
When Seungmin gave you thumbs up indicating that he finished dressing your wound, your eyes instinctly snapped towards Jisung’s just to find him already looking at you. You both cleared your throats. Hyunjin and Minho looked at you both with grins on their lips and giggling between themselves. It was evident that they were feeling more relaxed than ever and back to their teasing selves. They stopped once Chan mentioned to have a meeting to go through all that happened these past couple of days. Everyone followed him in an excited manner, ready and kind of anxious to explain their journey.
“So wait, that’s it? They just left?” Seungmin asked perplexed.
“We don’t have to worry about it anymore?”
“It seems so… You know how I said I was able to sense the other dimension? We’ll I’ve been trying but I haven’t been able to.” Changbin explain from his seat.
“That’s not all that happened.” Minho snickered from next to you and you elbowed him before shuffling in your seat, hyper aware of Jisung next to you as somehow you got pushed to sit in between him and Minho. You get the feeling – actually you know that it was Minho and Hyunjin plotting against you. Hyunjin must’ve felt bad for you as he cleared his throat to speak.
“I’m sure that it’s settled. We watched them enter the void, and I’ve checked, none of our reflections returned. That must mean that it worked right?”
“That must’ve been hard. I mean even if it’s not our real selves, seeing all of us basically sacrificing ourselves-their selves? That must have messed with your heads.” Woojin spoke softly, in a calming tone that made you appreciate his presence. Your eyes casted downwards, replaying the scene just before they stepped into the void, just before he stepped into the void. A warm hand came to caress your back and you immediately knew who it was. The immediate warmth you felt made you feel stupid for your actions up until now. You couldn’t ignore him even if you tried.
“So what happened while we were gone?” Jisung’s voice came much closer than you anticipated, but it was a welcomed surprise.
“You’re not gonna believe it.” Seungmin let out a dry laugh which made you lift your head.
“Yeah you just missed San and his crew dropping off a couple of kids before they moved.”
“That fucker was here?” Your eyes hardened at the mention of his name and you looked towards Jeongin to see his reaction, but your eyebrows knitted in confusion once you saw the teasing smile on his lips. Jisung’s hand left your back and went to your hand. You hadn’t noticed, but your fingers left little crescents inside your palm from squeezing your fist too hard.
“Why are you smiling Jeongin, this ain’t funny? If I was here-” Minho started when he noticed Jeongin’s smile too but he was cut off when the mentioned boy laughed.
“I think this is the least shocking thing that happened to us this week.” His laughter died down and a solemn look fell on his face. “I don’t fully forgive him, or can forget what happened, but I’m getting there. After listening to his side of the story, I’ve changed my mind. Anyways, they were moving their base because of some crazy shit happening at their side of the town, and wanted us to take care of the couple of kids that they found.”
“Either way, I would have loved to give him a good sucker punch.” Jisung grumbled next to you, earning a chuckle from everyone.
“Don’t worry, I think Jeongin beat him up enough for all of us.” Hyunjin laughed when Jeongin sheepishly scratched his neck.
“There is no such thing as ‘enough beating´ that guy can get. Wait- You knew this? And you haven’t told us?” Minho turned towards Hyunjin with an expression of betrayal on his face.
“Well, it wasn’t as if we had time to chat! This all happened right before we passed! I didn’t knew that they already dropped the kids. Last I knew we were still considering it.” Hyunjin defended himself when Felix chimed in from next to him.
“Yeah what happened with that?”
“Well, long story short, we couldn’t just let those children to fend for themselves, so we agreed on a truce. I know we can’t ever trust them fully again, but it’s better to have them as allies than anything else.” Chan explained and got up to stretch before cocking his head towards the door. “Wanna meet the newbies?” Everyone nodded and you noticed that your hand was still trapped inside Jisung’s. Just as you were getting up Minho pushed you back down and gave a wink.
“You two have somethings to talk about, you can meet us once you cleared everything.” And with that he ushered everyone out before closing the door to give you two some privacy. You played with Jisung’s finger for a second or two before Jisung decided to break the silence.
“We do have to talk I think. It’s for the best.”
“I don’t know where to start though.” You said nodding.
“You can start by looking at me.” He said with a teasing voice. When you lifted your head you saw a soft smile on his lips. “I’ve seen how you looked at him, I mean at shadow Jisung.” Your tilted your head in a questioning manner, let him know that he should continue.
“I- I can’t be like him. I can’t be him. You looked at him with such love and longing that… I’m sorry for not being that. But I’ll look after you, even if you don’t want me to. I’ll do it from the shadows. Kinda ironic right?” His head fell and he took the role of playing with your fingers.
“Jisung…” When he didn’t responded you brought your other hand to hold his in between yours. “I-I was looking at him like that because I saw you in him. I mean it is kinda hard not to, but it was like you were amplified. I think your reflection showed the parts that you wanted to hide, and I love those parts you try to hide as much as the parts you proudly show.” This made him look at you, a sad look crossing his eyes.
“I hated seeing you hurt. I mean not only physically, but also how your reflection hurted. I don’t want you to feel like that. I want you to feel how much you are loved.”
Your eyes filled with tears when you remembered your last moments with Jisung’s reflection, and how similar this was to that. Your mind drifted to the last sentence he muttered and you locked your eyes with Jisung’s once again before clearing your throat.
“This is a bit embarrassing…. But… did he meant it? You know right before the…” Your voice wavered towards the end and Jisung slipped his hands out of yours to cup your face and bring it closer to his, pressing his forehead to yours.
“It wasn’t only him that meant it Y/N. I mean it too. I love you.” A soft smile pulled on your lips, making it so hard for Jisung to restrain himself from kissing you.
“I love you too.” This pushed him over the edge and he let one of his hands slide off to your waist and bring you closer, kissing you with all the love he had for you over the years. You kissed him back just as passionately. With heavy breaths you parted, albeit not too much. Jisung tucked a strand of hair behind your ear before speaking in a hushed voice.
“What do you say to ditching meeting the new kids and taking a stroll in the garden?”
“I’d love that.”
Previous
A/N : Well this is the end! It’s been a wild ride folks, but I loved every second of it. (It’s been long overdue, I know) Also, I am also thinking of doing an epilogue for this, but I’m not in a such a hurry about it, as I like how this ended. I just have a nice idea forming for a lighthearted epilogue that’s all. Thank you so much for reading!!!
