Chapter Text
Suddenly he saw a familiar figure in the shadows of the night. Lucas. There he was.
Johnny ran faster and faster until the figure was no longer a figure but a person, with a face, with tears and with...with a knife pressed on his neck.
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Johnny felt as if his heart had stopped for a second. He went from Yukhei's face to his neck, from his face to his neck checking for any signal, any injury, any..... Anything.
His mind was running 1000 miles per hour but he couldn't think straight.
His heart was beating way too fast for him to think properly but he had to help Lucas some way or another.
Think fast, think fast, think fast.
Suddenly...
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Lucas was, panicked, to say the least. He could feel his dad's heartbeat behind him, he could feel his breath on his neck, his voice on his ears and he just couldn't shake the feeling of dread and terror that overcame him.
Everything was overwhelming and scary and all he could see was his hyungs panicked face across the road.
At some point, he accepted the idea that he was going to die that night, there would be no more Lucas, or Yukhei or Xuxi, there would be no more panic attacks and memories wouldn't torture him anymore because he wasn't going to feel anything.
The idea of dying in his father's hands was somehow, calming, he accepted the reality of what was going to happen, but even like that, he was still shaking and crying uncontrollably.
The knife pressed against his skin felt cold and firm and it sent chills down his spine. He could feel the small cut that was being formed. He felt blood running down his neck and for a second, only a second, he was scared of dying, but then, then he thought of the pain that he felt would be leaving behind and the fear disappeared, at least some of it.
He would die seeing his hyung's face, he would die thinking of the beautiful memories he made with the members, but he would also die at the hands of the man who had tortured him for his whole entire life, he would die scared, terrified, shaking, bloody, with tears on his face, he would die knowing that he would be leaving 17 boys behind, he would die, knowing that Jisung and Chenle, at their young age, would have to suffer the pain of losing someone, and most importantly, Johnny would see it all, Johnny would see how his eyes went lifeless, how his muscles relaxed, he would see the blood running down his neck, staining his clothes, he would hear his pained screams and even if the idea of dying was sort of appealing for Yukhei, he was not about to give this man the pleasure of seeing his loved ones suffering.
Through shaky hands, he tried to push his dad's hands away, to no avail. The man was not only stronger but he wasn't afraid, he wasn't afraid of killing his own child, and that made him ten million times stronger than Yukhei, for the wrong reasons of course.
Lucas tried talking to him, he spoke slowly and quietly just how his father liked, he tried to tell him that he could let him go, he wouldn't run, but his father was having none of it. He pressed the knife even harder and a pained yelp left Yukhei's mouth.
He saw how Johnny jumped slightly from his position when he heard the noise, and could sense that his father had noticed it too.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw red, red and blue lights and hope-filled his entire being. The coloured lights seemed to be their saviour, his saviour.
He was thankful that they hadn't turned on the sirens, Ten must've explained the situation really well for them to be this cautious...or really stupid, whatever way you wanted to see it, he was going to be saved.
Apparently, his father hadn't noticed the lights but Johnny had. Yukhei had seen how the older boy's eyes sparkled with hope, he looked at him and both of them knew, that everything was not lost anymore.
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Suddenly, in the darkness, some lights appeared, red and blue, soundless but as bright as the sun. He suddenly remembered that he had asked Ten to call the police, he thanked every deity out there for making that decision.
He looked at Lucas and saw that he too, had noticed the lights of hope. They looked at each other and relief washed over Johnny because Lucas would finally be safe, finally breathe properly, he would stop crying and shaking and that man, no, that monster would, soon, be gone forever.
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Lucas watched, through his tears, how the cars came to a stop and turned off their lights. He heard quiet steps that for a second, only a second, broke the silence of the night. What Yukhei didn't notice was that that mere second had alerted the man holding him that someone was there and maybe, they had chanted victory too soon.
It was only when the man's grip grew stronger that Yukhei knew something was wrong. Once again, panic-filled his veins, he didn't quite know what was happening but he knew it wasn't good.
He looked at Johnny for help but noticed that the boy was oblivious to what was happening. The grip on him became stronger and tighter by the second and Lucas felt as if he couldn't breathe. He had to think fast, if he didn't, he might get killed.
The knife that, up until that point had had a constant and firm but in some way, soft pressure, was now starting to claw in his skin like a wolf would do his prey. Pain exploded through his entire body and he screamed, a bloody, pained screamed filled the silence and Johnny turned to look at him, panicked expression adorning his features.
Johnny tried moving towards the pair but as he took a step closer, another pained scream left Yukhei's mouth and Johnny understood that he was not going to get any closer.
Blood rolled down Lucas's neck, staining his white t-shirt, wetting his chest and the feeling was gross, he was going to be assassinated, right then and there, his body would fall on the pavement and there would be nothing more to save and his body would remain unmoved even if Johnny tried to shake him awake, even if he screamed his name over and over again, Yukhei wouldn't wake up and even if Johnny shed tears on his body, he would not respond.
The knife kept cutting deeper, not in the same place, it had moved lower, almost reaching his chest, it was obvious his father didn't want to kill him right away, he wanted to see Lucas suffer, he wanted to hear him scream, he wanted to see his body go limp little by little, in short, he wanted to torture him for just a few more minutes.
Johnny couldn't bear listening to another scream and he was sure that maybe an hour had passed since they had seen the police cars arrive, deep down he knew that it had only been a few minutes but with every scream, with every droplet of blood that fell to the floor Johnny felt that time kept going faster, and they were running out of it.
Sobs could be heard coming from Lucas's mouth and tears left Johnny's eyes. He was afraid that this, the tear-stained Lucas, the sobbing Lucas, the pained Lucas, would be the last expression he would see on the beautiful boy. He was afraid that the last thing he would hear wouldn't be Yukhei's voice talking to him, but pained and agonizing screams. He was afraid, afraid of losing him, afraid of suddenly being 17 and not 18 because he knew he wouldn't be able to bear it, because he knew his whole world would fall apart in front of him and he couldn't handle that.
He moved, he tried to approach, but yet another scream was heard.
Suddenly,
BOOM!
And both, Yukehi's body and his dad's, were falling to the floor, blood spilling all over the pavement. Johnny went pale, or at least, paler. Could that be Yukhei's blood? Could he be really dead?
His train of thoughts was stopped by multiple policemen running towards the bodies. They pulled Lucas out and Johnny ran towards him, leaving the man that was talking to him alone, he approached them and everything he saw was red, red blood covering every single part of the boy's body, but then, movement, his eyes fluttered open and his fingers moved, looking for something, someone. Johnny didn't know what Lucas was looking for but he placed his hand on Lucas's. A feeling of relief washed over him when he felt the boy's hand pressed against his, he was ok, he was going to be ok.
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Yukhei felt it before he heard it. Something hitting...him? No, it wasn't him, something hit his dad and the grip of the knife disappeared and blood appeared, the pavement did too but he didn't fall alone, weight was being pressed against him and his pained, cloudy mind didn't understand what was happening.
He was on the floor and the pressure against him was just too much for him to breathe, the injuries on his neck were too painful, he decided to close his eyes for a minute, just for a second so that he could get rid of the pain.
Next time he opened his eyes he was under the blue and red lights, he was under those lights that at some point he had called hope but something was missing, Yukhei didn't exactly know what but he had to look for it. He moved his fingers slowly trying to reach for that something missing and suddenly that something was no longer missing.
A warm hand was placed against his and when he looked up, he saw a familiar face, a face that was no longer filled with panic and pain but rather, relief and some sort of weird peace.
Johnny was what he was looking for, he concluded, it was all he needed at that moment...and a couple of stitches, and probably a psychologist, yes, but that would be dealt with later.
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*3 months later*
It had been 3 months since the terrible incident and life was pretty decent. Yukhei and Johnny were seeing a psychologist, the latter per request of his family and the other members. Yukhei's neck had a couple of scars here and there but they weren't too noticeable.
Nightmares and panic attacks were still there because well, trauma isn't healed from one day to another but the difference was that now, he had 17 boys to support him, every step, if he ran or walked, or even if he crawled, they would be next to him, running with him, walking with him, standing next to him.
Thankfully, Taeyong and Ten hadn't suffered big injuries. When the ambulance arrived they had gone up to check out the two boys only to find them both awake and almost running downstairs, towards Yukhei.
Johnny was ok, he had had a couple of nightmares about the incident but they had quickly disappeared after some time of going to the psychologist. There was still, a lingering fear of losing Lucas, of never seeing him again, or worse, of finding him dead but, he was working on it, one step at a time, and he too was not alone, 17 boys had his back.
So yeah, life was pretty decent, no, erase that, life was great. Through panic attacks and night terrors, life was great and Lucas couldn't ask for anything better than his members.