Empathetic

[honou_no_izumi]

Title: Empathetic

Series: 태양의 후예 / Descendants of the Sun 

Characters: Yoo Sijin, Seo Daeyoung, mentions of David Argus and Ahn Jeongjun

Summary:  When it comes down to everything... was that, really a bad thing?

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"This is your last warning. Mind your own business."  

"Even back then and now, you're far too empathetic."

When it comes down to everything... was that, really a bad thing?

Perhaps it was. Was it?

He thought about Senior Lieutenant Ahn. And how... he couldn't stop worrying about his safety. Even if Lieutenant Ahn was from the enemy's side.

Then again... he never really considered Ahn his enemy. A soldier, needs to do what his country ordered him to do. It's their duty. And Lieutenant Ahn was a good man. It might seem odd for him to consider Ahn a friend, but after so many encounters with each other at the border... he couldn't help harbouring respect for the man. The man... like him, was also doing his job for his country. In a way, they shared a certain sense of camaraderie.

Perhaps, Argus was right. He shouldn't have cared so much about the people he met along the way. But he couldn't help himself. Even if it was just a short time, he tend to get attached to the people he'd grown to trust and respect. Even if they were his enemies. 

As if things couldn't get even worse.

"I'm going to retire from the army."

Daeyoung's going to leave his side. He never thought he could feel even worse than when he had to kill Argus with his own hand. Or when he thought that he'd broke that promise to Moyeon about keeping himself alive at all cost.

Of everyone he'd worked with in his 15 years of serving the army, he was mostly close with Daeyoung. The two of them had spent too much time with each other, watching each other's back... to think that he would no longer have Daeyoung by his side; that was a scary thought. 

Abandoned.

Was he now being abandoned?

All these times, as long as Daeyoung was watching his back... he could do anything. Even when he thought his life would—might—reach an abrupt end; as long as he knows that Daeyoung was out there worrying about him, he knew that everything would be well. It had been like that when he was captured by the enemy. It was like that as well, when he was trapped with Kang Minjae under the collapsed power plant in Uruk. It was also the same thing... as he was lying on the cold floor; blood slowly drained from his body, trying to fight of the fear that started gripping his heart at the thought of never seeing Moyeon... Daeyoung, everyone else he cared about... ever again. He remembered how he desperately wanted to cry out towards him for help... yet lacking the strength to even let out a squeak. He recalled the darkness, that consumed him right after. The darkness that seemed to spanned eternity...

What should he do?

If Daeyoung was no longer by his side... what should he do? Sijin tried to take a long breath of air... to calm the panic that started to swell inside his chest.

This feeling... he did not like it.