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The most frightening aspect of a car accident is how suddenly it happens. The confusion of those mere seconds spent tumbling around as if your body has suddenly gone limp, no longer able to be controlled by anything other than the force of the fall. Next comes the sheer terror as you wait for the impact, dreading the pain that you know waits for you. The fear and panic swells savagely through your stomach, enough to leave you breathless until rubber meets water. In Hansol’s head, it happened in seconds, as the van rumbled along the small bridge. Below them, almost twenty feet if he had to guess, a thin yet raging river ran, small waves leaping upwards onto the rocks scattered throughout. As he stared through the front window at the calming scene below, all that ran through his mind was nervousness and doubt on their way to a new variety show. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the comedy of variety shows, but recently fans had been digging up some of his old videos from his youth, and to say that he wasn’t embarrassed when hosts would bring it up in front of his friends would be a lie. It was torture enough when fans would bring it up at fansigns, but being constantly teased about it, on live television, even, was just getting to be a bit too much.Caught up in his daydreams, he didn’t even hear the driver to his left swear as the van took an abrupt turn, swerving and scattering along the bridge. He was only drawn back to reality by the sensation of his body lurching violently into the side of his door. The impact jarred him and his head swam for a moment, but he was still very much aware and on full alert as he realized, with a sinking feeling, that they were still skidding jerkily along. The dread was soon replaced with sheer terror, however, as soon as they wrenched into the guardrail, the weak barrier proving useless in stopping them from slipping off of the edge. There was no time to scream; the only sound made came from a collective gasp from him and his bandmates. The sheer terror that coursed through him was enough to abruptly steal his ability to breathe, to move, until finally-Impact. His head was sent careening back into his seat and then- was that water? Blinking away the black spots that had gathered in his sight, a quick glance at the window beside him had him realizing two key details; the impact had shattered it into thousands of shards, and that the water that flowed rapidly into the car was icy cold as it soaked into his pants, freezing him along with the crippling pain and fear as he observed that the glove compartment and dashboard of the car had caved in, directly onto his legs, crushing him. Blood was beginning to seep into his pants, saturating them even further, and the sight of everything together made him nauseous. He should have been panicked. He knew for a fact that staying in the car would only result in a submerged and frosty death, but any attempts to move only resulted in clumsily fumbling around with his fingers. Vaguely, he registered the others groaning and talking around him, but it all sounded deeply muffled and for a moment he wondered if they were already underwater. His head throbbed with a vengeance and when he grazed his scalp with lazy fingertips, wincing, at the sudden spike in pain, they came back stained with an unmistakable dark red hue. Blood; red meant blood, and blood meant he was injured, and he just wanted to get out but he couldn’t because he was so tired and-His thoughts swam once more as the black spots began to take over his sight and the rest of his senses began to dim, drowning out the sounds of rushing water and panicked voices, until all that was left was a vast nothingness. ____________Pain. That’s all that ran through Minghao’s mind as he fumbled with his seatbelt, trying to obey Jeonghan’s panicked commands to get out, now, before the water rises too much! He knew he had broken his arm in multiple places, could tell as soon as he had seen it wedged between his seat and the door, could feel the excruciating pain as he had ripped it free of its captor with a high pitched wail. Seungcheol was in front of him now, his eldest hyung helping him to unbuckle, speaking soothing words to him even if his own panic and pain was painfully obvious. Minghao was grateful, however; his own hyung was littered with bruises and scrapes, and he noticed how his right eye was nearly covered in blood from a cut along his eyebrow, and yet here he was, putting his own life on the line to save his brother. His seat belt came loose and he was immediately helped up onto his feet, crouching on shaking feet as the water swirled quickly up to cover his knees. Seungcheol gripped his good hand firmly, yet gently, as he guided his dongsaeng out of the broken window to his right. It stung as new scratches were formed by the jagged edges and broken glass, but before he knew it, he was free, treading awkwardly with one arm in the frigid water of the river. He was cold, tired, and in pain, all of which combined together left him hopelessly disoriented as he tried to figure out how to get himself to safety. Luckily, his beautiful, selfless, and all around amazing hyung was there, speaking to him slowly, over pronouncing the Korean incase the trauma was impairing his Chinese dongsaeng’s cognitive senses, and he was still holding his hand. It was the only anchor that Minghao had at the moment, his hyung’s body heat providing comfort as he was lead carefully through the chilled water. They finally reached the narrow river bed after a few painstaking moments, a new pair of hands helping him out of the water and laying him down on the warm ground. He gazed up at his hyungs, Jisoo being the one who had joined them. This hyung seemed to be nursing his ribs quite a bit, which was alarming, although he seemed more concerned about his injured dongsaeng. This concern sent a bout of panic through Minghao, enough for strangled sobs to escape his mouth as he wondered what was so wrong with him that made his hyungs so worried. He couldn’t quite form a diagnosis on his own, as every part of his body was aching in a way that far outweighed muscle soreness from long nights of practice and little rest, that outweighed sprained ankles and wrists sustained from dancing and even the back injury that had kept him out of promotions for almost a month last year. Of course, these thoughts were of little help to soothe Minghao’s worry, and only intensified it as he realized just how much worse this was than what had once seemed like major injuries to him, but now were dwarfed a thousand times over by what had happened today. He could only vaguely register conversations happening above him as his hyungs carefully maneuvered him around, words fading in and out through his semi-conscious mind. He knew nothing- no details on what was happening, nor the condition of Hansol and Jeonghan, the two nowhere to be seen; all he knew was the pain that wracked his body and robbed him of cohesive or independent thought. ____________ Jeonghan was at a loss. His head swam slightly in a mixture of disorientation and injury, and he just couldn’t seem to make sense of the situation at hand. How had things gone from perfectly fine to life or death in a matter of mere moments? He pushed his thoughts aside, nonetheless, and focused on the task at hand: roll call. He knew Jisoo was safe; he’d seen the American swimming towards the shore, and although he looked impressively injured, he had glided steadily until he reached safety. Seungcheol was doing okay, maybe a few stitch-worthy scratches but other than that he had faired remarkably well, and he had witnessed the tense scene that came from the leader helping a battered Minghao from his seat and out through the shattered window. Aish, Minghao just looked so tired, and he had to hold his breath as he watched their dissent to the shore just to be certain that the two would be able to keep their heads above water. Now that he had everyone else accounted for, he gathered himself, focusing on the one person still unaccounted for; Hansol sat slouched in his passenger seat, his head lolled to the side and oozing blood as the water swirled around his chest, becoming dangerously high. Every second counted now, and failure to get the both of them out would result in an excruciating death, and- No. He couldn’t think that way right now, and if he wanted to avoid his fears coming true, he had to come up with some form of a plan. Crawling forwards from his perch in the middle seat of the van, he had to look away from the mangled form of his manager in the front seat (dead on impact, due to the rain of shards from the windows directly into his neck and face). Instead, he chose to focus on his unconscious brother, carefully but briskly checking him over incase he had sustained anything other than his obvious head injury. Bruises and scratches marred his once flawless skin, sending a twisting pang of guilt through Jeonghan’s gut- if he had just volunteered to sit up front- and he felt a newfound sense of urgency to right the wrongs that had just occurred, reaching to unbuckle Hansol’s seatbelt- Only it wouldn’t budge. Fear, an iciness sharper than the water at his chest, settled deep inside of him as he realized, with decreasing hope, that his brother was going to die because of a seatbelt. Abandoning all sense of reason, he frantically tugged against the cursed material, searching for any sort of give, but between injury-based fatigue and the lack of traction on the soaking wet seatbelt, his attempts were fruitless. In one last effort, he yanked as hard as he could, only succeeding this time in catapulting himself backwards, submerging himself momentarily into the fully flooded backseats of the car. Panicked, he quickly swam back to resume his position in the front of the car, only to be struck by an unfathomable pain in his heart as he was reduced to just hugging his baby brother for dear life as the water surrounded them, sobbing into the younger’s bloodied hair in the hopes that in whatever realm of consciousness he was in, he could hear him and forgive him. It was at that moment, as he began grieving for his dongsaeng while desperately tugging against the safety mechanism that was ultimately going to kill him, that he noticed another figure climbing into the submerged car. The battered form of his only hyung flooded into his vision and he immediately lurched toward him incase he could provide any sense of comfort in the situation. Seungcheol looked him over, brow creasing in worry at the younger’s distress but finding nothing seriously wrong with Jeonghan. It was only when the trembling form let out what sounded like a mixture of a gasp and a name that his attention flipped toward the youngest, hair matted with blood, eyes shut as if sleeping- if only- with water up to his neck in his seated position. Immediately he shook himself back into reality, recognizing the life threatening situation his band member was in. In a brief moment of adrenaline-fueled genius he grabbed the keys from where they were still twisted in the ignition, ripping them out of the partially crushed drivers seat. Bribing them over to Hansol’s seatbelt, he began to frantically cut away at the restraint and to his delight, the material slowly began ripping apart. His victory was short lived however, as he felt the water just begin to chill his face, seemingly rising much faster than it had been before. His time to act was dwindling; he had to get Hansol out as fast as possible, or there would be multiple lives at risk. Seungcheol yelled for Jeonghan to help him rip the seatbelt apart, and between his key and Jeonghan’s frantic tugging, the belt gave way with a final tear. Immediately Hansol’s limp form lolled forward and Jeonghan sprang up quickly to prevent anymore injuries. He caught Hansol under the arms and helped Seungcheol maneuver him through the broken window and into the full depths of the river, at the mercy of the current with their slowly diminishing strength. They fought the current with nothing but passion as they felt themselves losing stamina, but the still form held between them was enough to keep their numb bodies moving steadily. After what seemed like years, they were finally able to stand in the shallow water that would lead them to the shore, already catching sight of the rest of their small group resting not too far from where they were. Jeonghan gazed worriedly over at the boys sitting on the dirty ground, covered head to toe with gruesome cuts and bruises, especially taking notice of Minghao’s still form as he lay with his bloodied head on Jisoo’s lap. However, Jisoo gazed back just as worriedly at the unconscious bundle held between Seungcheol and himself, seemingly more anxious now at the sight of Hansol’s unresponsiveness. “What happened to him?” the American’s voice rang out in panic. “He was stuck, Shua. I couldn’t get him out of there and- and he wasn’t moving and then Cheolie came and we got him out but oh my god what if we were too late?! He was in there for a while and he’s bleeding and -“ Jeonghan’s panic was abruptly cut off by a pained moan coming from the (seemingly) unresponsive boy whose head now rested on his lap. “Solie?” he prompted, gently cupping the boy’s face in his hands, “Can you hear me baby?” After waiting for a moment but receiving no answer, Jeonghan and the others began to lose hope, wondering if they had simply imagined a sound. The only noise heard as they waited for their friend to make a sound - just one little sound, please - was the rattling of hearts against chests, frantically beating and trying to recover from the trauma around them. However, the one heartbeat they truly cared about was the slow, yet strong beat that came from Hansol. With that indication that their friend was still there, still fighting, still alive, they were able to relax slightly and turn back to the other problem at hand. “What do we do now, hyung?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
To say Soonyoung was concerned would be an understatement. He had seen the van with the others pull out in front of them while they waited on Jihoon to get his things. With their head start, it was assumed that they would beat his van to the dorms. At the time, the members in the van with Soonyoung had been annoyed, grumbling about “the injustice of it all”. However, they had all been surprised upon arriving at an empty dorm, no trace of their other members in sight. Everyone was confused to see all of the lights off in the dorm, everything untouched as if no one had been there yet. But how was that possible when they had been on the road when the first van had left nearly fifteen minutes before the other one? Some members were more concerned than others, and Wonwoo sent the maknae line to go clean up while the older members stayed to wait. They assumed it was something simple like a flat tire, but as thirty minutes went by with no word about the situation with the other van it began to sink in that something worse was happening here. It wasn’t until their manager got a phone call that everyone truly believed there was a problem. The look of concern that passed over his face sent anvils into the pits of the member’s stomachs, everyone on edge until the call ended and he turned to face the group. “There’s been an accident.” And with that sentence, their world stopped. _______________ The ambulance ride was nothing short of hectic for Jeonghan. The constant string of medical jargon that flowed from the paramedics as they bustled about did nothing to calm his already shaken nerves. There was a nice lady next to him who spoke softly as she tended to the various injuries he had almost forgotten about. Every now and then a cut would suddenly flare up, bringing him out of his thoughts and startling him into the present. In some sick, twisted way, the pain was almost grounding for him. It cleared his head and forced him to focus on Hansol instead. The medic working on Hansol was large in stature and had an air of confidence to him, but even Jeonghan could see the stressed tension in his shoulders. For what felt like hours, he sat rigidly next to the stretcher and prayed to whoever was there for his brother. Jeonghan had never been one to let his emotions show, but in this moment all of his walls had been chipped away, watching someone he loved so deeply lie so still and vulnerable. The tears found a path down his cheeks, one he didn’t even realize as he was reduced to doing nothing but leave Hansol’s life in the hands of the medics. Finally, they arrived at the hospital with few complications. A wheelchair was brought to the ambulance for Jeonghan, but he was already on his feet, wobbling after Hansol’s stretcher. A medic shouted for him to stay put, but the words never processed through the shock clouding his brain. His only thoughts were focused on Hansol’s wellbeing at this point, his own wounds long forgotten. However, it seemed that his body was still aware of his poor condition, and Jeonghan found himself pitching forward after only a few steps, an attentive nurse thankfully catching him before he could hit the ground. “I’m fine,” He kept mumbling as they loaded him onto a stretcher and started checking his vitals. He repeated the two words like a mantra, as if trying to convince himself as well as the medics buzzing around him. However, ‘I’m fine’ was not the truth, nor would it be for a while until he knew for certain that his brothers were all okay. For now, he just kept chanting. _______________ Hansol awoke to hushed whispers and a distinctly loud beeping that seemed to drone through his head. He groaned in annoyance, wondering what the point of whispering was when the beeping was there anyway. His noise of annoyance must have gained the attention of whoever was whispering, as all talking immediately ceased. ‘If only that beeping would just shut up,’ Hansol thought tiredly, ready to return to the peace of unconsciousness. However, his rest was abruptly interrupted by a voice saying something, seemingly directed towards him. “Solie, you can wake up any time now,” a voice singsonged with a tone that sounded suspiciously like his Seokmin hyung. He thought about ignoring the elder as he assumed he was just being rudely awoken for another schedule, his mind feeling confused and slightly muddled. A poke registered on his cheek, causing him to let out a huff of exasperation and scrunch up his face in an attempt to avoid any further invasive prodding. “Chan-ah, quit it!” Seungcheol’s voice snapped, “Hansolie needs to rest and recover, don’t be annoying.” Well, that was confusing. Wasn’t he supposed to be getting ready for practice? Actually, now that he was thinking about it, he distinctly remembered Seungcheol reminding everyone to be up bright and early today on their way home from the interview, so why- Oh, yeah. The memories came racing back; the van tumbling through the guard rail, that cold, cold water that felt like icicles stabbing into him from every angle, and the terrible sensation of drowning, feeling his body giving up and being completely useless to stop it- His eyes sprung open, gasps of air leaving his chest as he realized that he couldn’t breather. Even as his eyes took in the white-walled room packed with concerned members, his mind was suddenly back in that van, trying to move but being frozen, just trying to breathe yet getting nothing but lungfuls of water. “ -Sol-ah, Hansol-ah listen to me,” Seungcheol’s voice was back and now he could see his hyung’s bruised, scratched up face. That’s right, there were others in the van, how were they? He had blacked out fairly early so he didn’t know how the others had faired, but he had seen his manager in terrible shape, face almost unrecognizable as it appeared that the airbag had only succeeded in propelling broken shards of glass into his face. If his manager had been in such horrible shape, did he even want to know how the others were?“Hey, eyes on me, pup,” Seungcheol repeated calmly, squeezing Hansol’s shoulders gently in a comforting rhythm that helped ground him and make him feel secure, “Everyone is fine, alright? Don’t worry about us right now, if anything we should all be fussing over you!” The statement, although presented in a seemingly joking manner, sent brief chills through Hansol’s body as he wondered just what exactly was so concerning about his condition? He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, still slightly worked up from his initial panic. Nothing was hurting him, in fact he actually felt rather light and airy, which either meant he was hurt worse than he thought or they gave him the good stuff. Either way, Hansol wasn’t a fan of the feeling, feeling oddly disconnected from the world but still able to feel with such clarity. It felt like he was having a panic attack in his brain but his body hadn’t caught on yet. However, his panic was slowly being soothed away by Seungcheol’s gentle caresses and the sight of Chan, Wonwoo, and Seungkwan scattered throughout his room. Knowing that his members were there and would protect him from any more harm brought a warm feeling of safety to his chest. “Are you okay if I tell you about the others now?” Seungcheol asked lightly, fingers now combing gently through Hansol’s hair, carefully avoiding the stark white bandaging covering half of the second maknae’s scalp. Hansol gave a brief nod and braced himself for the worst. “Everyone is okay, first of all, and you were actually the worst out of all of us, so if you’re up and talking then there’s nothing to worry about, okay? Just remember that,” The eldest reassured, “Jisoo and I got off the easiest, I mainly have cuts and bruises but he also has some bruised ribs, nothing some rest and cuddles can’t heal. Jeonghan has a mild concussion, but the doctor said that it isn’t a huge concern and that he can come home tonight so don’t worry about him. And finally, Minghao messed up his arm pretty badly, but he actually just got out of surgery for it about 20 minutes ago so he should be in here shortly. Other than that, we’re all fine and mainly worried about you, if I’m being honest!”
Everything felt like it was said in one breath, but Hansol was incredibly thankful for the update on his other members. He hated that they were all so worried about him when they were hurt as well, but he supposed that he should be used to his hyungs’ constant coddling. It was endearing, really, a bit much at some points but overall endearing. “What about me?” He asked tentatively, voice hoarse from a lack of use. Seungkwan immediately moved to help him drink from the cup of water he hadn’t even noticed was on his bedside table. He gulped it down almost greedily, savoring the way it rolled coolly down his parched throat. When he was finally finished and settled back down, Wonwoo began to respond. “Well, you were the worst out of all of us, buddy. Your side of the car hit the guard rail first, so you cracked a few ribs on impact. You also knocked your head pretty badly and you were unconcious for a while, so they were concerned about a concussion, but it looks relatively mild. Other than that and a bunch of scrapes and bruises, you’re not in any serious danger and the doctor said you should be clear to leave tomorrow as long as you don’t develop any new symptoms from your concussion,” All of this was said with a gentle smile, and Wonwoo immediately softened even more at Hansol’s surprised face. “Did you get all of that, sweetheart? You’re gonna be okay, and so is everyone else.”Hansol just nodded weakly, the strain of conversation pulling him back to sleep as his leader’s warm hands patted his head in a calming pattern. Seungcheol chuckled softly at his cute dongsaeng. “Go to sleep, baby. We’re not going anywhere.” _________________ The following afternoon, as he curled up with all of the members on the giant “bed” they had made on the living room floor, with Jisoo and Jeonghan carefully cuddling him from either side, he couldn’t help but let a few tears slip down his cheeks. He had cried a lot in the past 24 hours, but these were the first to come from happiness. Him and his friends had been through a terrible, life-threatening accident and had made it out alive and with no major injuries, something he was incredibly thankful for. This experience had made him truly realize just how much he loved his brothers, and his brothers loved him back. A hand rubbing his back interrupted his moment of reflection as a soft voice broke the silence of the room. “Go back to sleep, Hansol-ah, The worst is over.” And in that moment, he knew that it was.