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tidustargaryen · 5 years ago

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Blood of the Dragon

What if different decisions completely changed the course of history... The Song of Ice and Fire...

The last two Targaryens are in exile in Essos, their security is constantly threatened, Robert Baratheon wants them dead and the Dothraki want Daenerys.

They can count on the help of a great friend to prepare the forces necessary to reconquer Westeros.

But the journey will be long and they will have to travel all over Essos to find the help they need. The courage and passion of the young Daenerys will allow her to rediscover what her House lost a long time ago. A great destiny awaits her and Westeros doesn't know how much it needs her.

The notes have changed, but the song is still playing.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22291069/chapters/53236438 On Ao3 too.

Hello to all the brave who want to embark on this long story! This is the first fanfiction that I write so I don't guarantee the quality of writing but I hope you will like it.

The end of GoT, and particularly Daenerys' ending, pushed me strongly to write this, but also because I have not yet found on this site, or elsewhere, a story centered on Daenerys. Of course there are stories that focus on her, but especially on her relationship with Jon and often the story focuses more on him. But Dany has her own independent story, she is her own character, and I regret that there are no stories that focus on her only (I have never read stories where she is tagged with Jorah or Drogo maybe it is). And since, after season 8, I absolutely no longer want to consider a romance with her murderer, I no longer read fanfics.... So if you know non-Jonerys/non-Drogo stories, and especially which focuses on Dany, I am interested :D

I essentially want to focus on Daenerys, her history is very rich, Essos is a great continent is a gold mine for a writer, the universe of George R.R. Martin is huge but often only exploited on Westeros. I remain persuaded that Dany deserves her own books and I hope that my story will inspire other people to write a little more about Daenerys, of her story in Essos, not just in Westeros. I don't intend to rewrite George's story, I don't see the point of it, it's his story, he does it better than anyone, if some people had done different actions, the story could change completely, but I will try to stay consistent, because realism is very important so that we can believe it (Do you know that D&D ??)

English is not my mother tongue, there may be mistakes and I am sorry. Fortunately I have @iwillstandbydaenerysforever who helps me, advises me and above all, corrects all my mistakes! A big thank you to you my friend, this story probably wouldn't be posted without you :)

There is Dany/Jon tag but by prevention for anti-Jonerys people, the tag is there for a reason and completely justified and add for the sake of consistency when the two characters will meet, but I want to clarify that there will be no Dany/Jon. Same thing for Viserys/Daenerys. So if you're only interested in these couples, it won't happen, and if you don't like these couples, don't worry, you can keep reading, but the tags are there for a reason. You have been warned.

If you have questions about the story (No spoilers), if you didn't understand something, or if you have ideas to submit to me (I don't guarantee that I will add them) or if you find errors , don't hesitate, if you want to talk to me directly or ask me questions. Be aware, however, that I never respond to insults and anything I find disrespectful.

These notes have been quite long, I hope you like the story :) (I had planned another header but I didn't have time to finish it, for the moment I make a moodboard but I will change it as soon as possible.

Disclaimers: I don't own anything, A Song of Ice and Fire is the property of George R.R. Martin, as well as all the characters, places, etc... Game of Thrones is the property of HBO.

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Stormborn

The masterly wind that blew on the naval fleet, as well as on the fishing and trading boats capsized the latter and made every sailor, merchant or simple peasant busy on the ships or on the quays deaf. An icy rain fell on the island and its surroundings, waves sometimes higher than the ships crashed on the rocks and swallowed everything that had the misfortune of being at sea. A few boats had not managed to return in time and were now drifting not far from the island, for the luckiest ones, for the others they had already reached the depths of the sea. The men on these boats watched with sadness, desolation, but also fear as one ship after another disappeared, waiting for their turn, they watched helplessly as a whole naval fleet disappeared. However, they heard more than they could see, except when lightning struck a ship and set it ablaze like a torch, they had no visibility. Instead, they heard the thunder, the deafening sound of the wind, but also the rain and sometimes the terrifying cries of men and women burning alive or simply screaming in fear as they waited for their gods to come and claim them.

Between the sailors who were trying to save their ships, putting out fires or trying to empty the water flooding the deck, and those who had given up hope of survival, the soldiers did their best to save as many people as possible by allowing them to take shelter behind the fortress walls. But the raging elements had left little chance for the living, and of the hundreds of people in the harbor and on the ships, only twelve had survived, the sailors and soldiers on the boats had either perished with them or tried to swim to shore, but none had managed to survive in the face of the overwhelming force of the sea.

The few refugees behind the walls of the fortress were mostly in shock, some were in tears, or praying for all the people they had just lost while wondering why the gods had been so cruel. Soldiers and servants would come and lay blankets to dry and warm themselves, but also hot food to cheer them up. The room was filled with screaming and crying, but even so, you could still hear the storm raging outside, the ground was shaking, same for the walls, and some soldiers even claimed that wind, rain and lightning had caused a breach in one of the exterior walls.

A man hurried through the corridors of the dungeon, jumping with fear every time lightning struck somewhere. And although it was daylight outside, the darkness of the place, added to the one the storm had brought made the maze of corridors and stairs more difficult to navigate, only the torches and lightning brought some light into such gloomy places and the roar of the storm did not improve the young man’s mind, but what was most disturbing was the dragon sculptures that adorned the place and lazed around so real and alive. Although he was used to the dungeon and its sinister decoration, what he had just seen added to the weather conditions had made him very nervous and what he was about to announce was not going to be very easy for the masters of the place to hear.

He finally reached the bridge leading directly to the central dungeon called “The Stone Drum” then climbed the few steps that separated him from his destination. The place was even more frightening than the rest of the dungeon because of the strong resonance and the height of the place allowing the power of the wind to increase tenfold. But what worried the servant even more were the cries coming from the Queen’s chambers. The sweet and sad Queen Rhaella was about to give birth to her child, but it seemed that the birth was rather difficult and Her Majesty seemed to want to compete with the storm in its greatest intensity. Dragonstone wasn’t Storm’s End, but the rock from which the fortress was carved was exceptionally strong, there was no doubt in Trevas’s mind that the place would still be standing once the storm calmed down. But would it be the same for its inhabitants?

Ser Willem Darry guarded the door to the Queen’s chambers, he did not seem at all affected by the events outside, which was not the case for the few guards also present in the room, anxiety could be read on their faces and the Queen’s cries and screams did not help. “Do you have any news for us? What’s the situation outside?” Ser Willem stepped forward and showed the first signs of concern.

The servant nodded to greet the knight and replied, “I have bad news. The storm has sunk almost the entire naval fleet, as well as the merchant and fishing boats that were at the docks. At the time of my departure, three ships were still afloat, but badly damaged. I still have no report for the city, but the majority of the people on the docks and on the ships did not survive.” Ser Willem approached a window and looked out pensively. He couldn’t see the harbor from this vantage point, but he could see the power and anger of the gods coming down on Dragonstone.

At that moment, the Queen uttered a sharper, more heart-rending cry than before and a childish voice resounded. “Ser Willem… Mother …?” Young Prince Viserys had just entered the room with a servant and the knight knelt and tried to comfort him about his mother’s plight, which didn’t seem very encouraging. “My prince, the Queen is strong, she’s giving birth to a new dragon’s blood as we speak. Another Prince, or a Princess, a brother to play with and a training companion, or a little sister to protect. A newcomer to the Targaryen dynasty, it’s a great day, and the gods want this to be known, they’re making enough noise to alert the entire kingdom and let it be heard that the dragon blood is stronger than ever so that the Usurper understands he has unleashed his wrath.” The Queen’s cries had now ceased and a maid came out of the room to say a few words to Ser Willem, whose gaze fell at once. He invited young Viserys to follow him, and they both entered the room. No storm could have rivaled the horror they now had before their eyes, blood was abundant on the bed, the Queen’s face covered with tears looked as if it had taken many years in a few hours, she seemed to be having great difficulty breathing while a maid dabbed her forehead with a towel. The room smelled of death, and the Queen was apparently going to join the gods soon. But in the midst of all this chaos, the cries of a child came to brighten the hearts, the Maester brought the child close to the Prince who looked at his mother with sadness, a few tears running down his chubby child cheeks.

“It’s a girl, a Targaryen Princess.” The Maester offered the Prince to carry the child , but he quickly made his way to the Queen, without concern for the decorum. He hesitantly put his hand on his mother’s one, believing that any sudden gesture might hurt her further. The tenderness in Queen Rhaella’s eyes broke the boy’s weak resistance, and he burst into tears. Her voice resounded one last time, with difficulty, but with hope and pride.

“… Daenerys… Stormborn … of House Targaryen…”

Her gaze then turned to Ser Willem, placing all her hopes on the knight to protect and take care of the last two Targaryens, he nodded while holding back his tears, silently promising what he had already sworn to do a few hours earlier when the Queen was telling him her vows if something went wrong. The woman had endured unspeakable suffering during her life, she had lost so many children, had suffered so much abuse from her husband and yet, the most unbearable and heartbreaking thing for her was not being able to be there to care for and see her children grow up. The Targaryen dynasty was collapsing and she was not going to be able to be there to protect them. Aerys had taken everything from her, if his children were threatened when they were just innocent people, he was responsible. He was the one who had unleashed the wrath of the lords, he was the one who had not taken care to secure his family, he was the one who was responsible for the fall of their House. She could only hope for two things now, that the gods would be merciful and allow her last two children to live, they had already taken of all the others, and that Aerys II Targaryen would reach the seven hells so that she would never have to see him again even in death.

The Queen drew her last breath with a smile on her face after looking at each of her children. And the little Prince’s heart was shattered.

Thus, in the early morning, after the storm had calmed down and the necessary repairs had been made so that a boat could sail safely, the last two members of the House of Targaryen set sail for Essos, in order to ensure their safety until their maturity. The Prince, still affected by the death of his mother, had refused to approach his little sister, but had made a promise in his heart that one day they would return home, and take back what belonged to them with Fire and Blood.

Exile

The few maids of Mistress Ilissa Naeraar had hurried to the door of the Princess’s apartments to hear her sweet voice, which they said was similar to the songs of the colorful birds of the Summer Islands. They were always careful to be as discreet as possible, the Princess did not like to demonstrate her talents, but they always ended up being reprimanded by their Mistress or the Prince for their laziness and the noise of the admonitions always alerted the young girl. They had, until now, managed to remain discreet, but were dying to enter the room to be blessed by the sight of the young Valyrian beauty. The Princess was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen, despite her young age, and given their past as pleasure slaves, they had seen many women more beautiful than any other, but none surpassed the Princess. With her long hair of gold and silver, her eyes typical of her Valyrian roots, the color of the most beautiful jewels called amethysts, her natural and royal grace, they were never tired of admiring her and regretted not descending from the lineage of the Old Valyria.

The apartments of the Princess were worthy of the greatest nobles of Essos, a striking contrast when she thought back to her life before, here she had her own baths, a magnificent four-poster bed centered in the middle of the room, occupying half of the space, a table for her meals and another for her writing and reading practice. Another room where she stored the various dresses offered by her hostess, and random men seeking her favors, or her hand in marriage. The third and last room was the latrine. The main room was sumptuously decorated with statues representing the dragons of the lords who had conquered the Possessions of Valyria, as well as various animals inhabiting the continent, horses, monkeys, elephants, made of gold, bronze, and even obsidian. She had even been offered several fabrics embroidered with the three-headed dragon, emble of the Targaryen House that the Princess had hung on the walls, sometimes dreaming of being in the family dungeon, imagining her family always present, and the Targaryen dynasty stronger and larger than ever.

The young woman was standing by a window, her eyes lost in the waters of the Rhoyne, then on the many merchant ships, the sailors pouring into the port to unload their goods and dreamed of being among them, traveling through the seas and oceans, discovering the world and its various beauties and cultures. Sailing was exciting, but what she wanted above all was to cross the Narrow Sea and land in Westeros, to return home, to discover the legacy left by her family, which was stolen from her by the Usurper and his dogs and traitors who massacred her family. Life was pleasant here, it had been six moons since Mistress Ilissa had welcomed them in her big house, it was a very big place composed of several independent residences, including the large manse of Ilissa, their own private place, of her and her brother’s, as well as a big inn also containing a brothel. Life was pleasant, but the threat of a Dothraki attack was constant, and Mistress Ilissa had repeatedly paid the different Khals so that they would not attack her domain, with gold, slaves, precious objects or fabrics, anything the horse lords desired as long as they did not ransack the place.

Of all that she remembered, it was only in Braavos that she really experienced peace, happiness and carefree. Of course, she was still only a child, very young and did not have the same worries as her brother in mind. She could play with the son of one of the servants, study with her brother and listen to Ser Willem singing songs to her, including the one she was singing right now, which she particularly liked, as it described their lives in part and a possible return home. “I’ve been a wild rover for many’s the year… And I’ve spent all my money on wine and beer… And now I’m returning with gold in great store, I never will play the wild rover no more…” She could still hear the voice of her gentle knight, the affection he had for her, the tenderness he showed her, much more than her own brother. Her few sweet years forever etched in her memory, the red door and the smell of lemon that she loved and that dark-skinned little boy who always helped her up when she fell and kissed the place where she had hurt herself.

“And it’s no, nay, never No, nay, never no more Will I play the wild rover No, never no more

I went into an alehouse I used to…” “Daenerys!”

Her brother entered her apartments suddenly, revealing the three maids who were still glued to her door, hurrying back to their occupations before being reprimanded. Viserys approached his sister and put his hand on her forearm, his gaze falling to the ground as if he was looking for the perfect way to tell her something. Her brother was a very handsome man, he had been blessed by the beauty of the Valyrian people just as she had, according to Ser Willem, he looked a lot like their late brother, Rhaegar, the only consolation she had in knowing the appearance of the silbing she had never known. He took her hands in his and placed a tender kiss on one of them.

“Sweet sister… Dany, I’m afraid I have to tell you that we may have to flee this town. There’s a Khalasar headed straight for us.” Run away, again… When was the last time they had the peace of mind to stay in one place and keep what few friends they had? Although his brother was much more resistant to the idea, preferring to believe that his status, even in exile, forced him to demand friends of a higher rank. She did not have the same pride and could befriend and show great kindness to the lowest of men or women.

“Pack your things, I’ll arrange everything with our hostess.” Daenerys nodded and then stopped his brother before he left the room after kissing her forehead. “Brother, where will we go this time?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll find a place, haven’t I done it all these years? Why do I feel like this is a reproach, dear sister? Is it my fault that we are in exile? What they have done to us is unjust, and I will see that injustice punished. We are of royal blood, we are the blood of the Old Valyria, the blood of the dragon and they exterminated ours, they forced us to beg, to wander in rags, no forgiveness will be granted, we will take revenge dear sister.”

Daenerys took a few steps back, away from her brother who had come towards her in anger. She knew she was safe, she and her dear friend had made sure of that long ago, but her brother tended to be a little too self-centered, and he had to learn wisdom if he wanted to become a great king.

“Injustice… It’s true, it’s unfair, and the murderers of our niece and nephew, but also of Elia, they will pay for it, and for everything that happened afterwards, but look around us, brother… Just yesterday I saw a child … younger than I was when we were kicked out of our house in Braavos, feeding on insects on the ground, drinking from a puddle of mud half dried out by the sun and the heat, I’m not even sure it was water. We are always privileged, but these people outside, they are starving, they are working themselves to death so that they can buy a little food and the little clothes they have on them. We have beautiful fabrics, we eat our fill, we know what it is like to live on the streets, but we don’t live like that anymore. “The Princess stopped for a moment to get closer to her brother and put a hand on his cheek before she added tenderly:

“I could be one of those women, in a brothel to survive and you too … you could have been sold into slavery in a fighting arena, you could be dead by now … and so could I. We’re always luckier than other people don’t forget that, brother.”

After dropping a tender kiss on his cheek, Daenerys walked away to the room where she prepared to gather her clothes for their possible future departure. Servants, sent by her brother, were already there and had preceded her. Daenerys smiled at the girls and told them that she could take care of her possessions, freeing them from an extra burden. She sat down on a trunk and lost herself in her thoughts for a few moments, playing with the ring that her knight had given her long ago and which had belonged to her mother, the only possession she had of her, this ring and the crown that her brother had. Ser Willem often spoke to her about her mother, he also told her that she looked a lot like her, that she was as sweet and kind, smiling and welcoming, that she often sang during the time she carried Daenerys in her womb and that she liked to be alone with her future Princess and to caress her hump while telling her stories about dragons and their family. Of course, she was too young for her knight to tell her about the darker parts of her mother’s life, and the suffering and violence she had endured during her marriage, but she had finally found out from someone else, and that day was the first day she had promised herself that she would never let a man do that to her. Knowing her future husband, she knew that promise would be kept.

The town square was teeming with people as usual, the market stalls were very crowded, you could find objects, food and fabrics from all over Essos, the Summer Islands, Westeros and a whole host of other less well-known places. In the middle of the square stood, proudly, the white marble statue of the Triarch Horonno, which could have been magnificent if only it had not been decapitated a long time ago by a rival faction. Most people spoke a derivative of the High Valyrian, but not only that, a whole host of foreign peoples and customs were accepted and respected in Selhorys, formerly one of the Possessions of Valyria, and which had managed to remain standing while other nearby towns were now in ruins during the conflict between the Rhoynars and the Dragon Lords. Essos was like a canvas painted in every possible color, depicting all peoples, all religions and all pleasures of the flesh, and this pleased the young Princess who was thirsty for knowledge and had spent a lot of time immersed in books, especially those from Westeros, where she could learn more about her home, things she had not learned from her brother or other people. Of course there were the dark sides of such diversification, slavery to begin with, in front of “The Painted Turtle” inn where most of the women, but also men, were pleasure slaves and tried by all means to lure passers-by inside in order to extract a few coins from them in exchange of sexual favors. Daenerys was no stranger to the practice, from a very young age she had seen everything there was to see about carnal relations between two or more people, most of the time in the middle of the street where people had no discomfort or desire for intimacy. But slaves occupied many other professions, fishermen, litter bearers, servants in inns or manses with the nobles, workers in the fields, hunters, all the difficult jobs were, of course, given to slaves.

The darkest thing, however, were the sacrifices she had been unlucky enough to witness, always in the name of some god or other, whether they were animals, simple precious objects or one or more people, she had never been spared from the atrocities of which her species was capable and her powerlessness to stop such things weighed only more heavily on her conscience. So many things had remained a mystery to her, but not an impossibility, after all, her ancestors had tamed and mounted dragons, they had made a steel so powerful that it could split normal armor in half, but this knowledge was now lost, even though some claim that in Qohor the blacksmiths are among the best and secretly keep the recipe for this unique steel.

She was now in front of the forges, accompanied by her brother, both hooded in a discreet outfit to avoid attracting attention. Even though their hair was not unique here, many people were lucky enough to possess the gold and silver hair of the Valyrians thanks to the crossbreeding practiced during their empire, the color of their eyes was much rarer, and they also had to wear very modest clothes to avoid curious looks, the poor or slaves attracted little attention and were more often considered as “part of the decor.” As they had no tattoos on their faces, indicating what kind of slave they were, they could only pretend to be poor, foreign merchants or artists, as Daenerys could easily pretend to be a singer, Viserys could only boast of being a good story counter.

Her brother had wanted to go to the markets to buy resources in case they were forced to flee the city quickly, but it was to the inn that he now went, claiming to want to quench his thirst, but Daenerys knew better, his brother was a man, a man with needs and a young woman in that inn had caught his attention, he certainly wanted to say goodbye to her.

The sought-after hostel was a little set back from the center of the city, you had to take several narrow streets to get there, it was the cheapest and most discreet place and the markets had attracted the majority of the population, the place was almost deserted except for a few children playing chase after chase, at times trying to steal the purses of poor people too naive to still believe in the innocence of the youngest. His brother had stepped up the pace, but Daenerys felt they were being watched, on every street corner they could come across thieves or worse, murderers or slavers. Her hand grabbed his brother’s to warn him, but he collapsed to the ground as Daenerys tried to free herself from her attacker’s grasp. It was then the look in Viserys’s eyes that told her that they were in no danger, at the same time a soft, familiar and comforting voice echoed in her ear:

“I could have been anyone and you’d both be dead by now … you’re reckless.”

Once released, the Princess turned around and was warmly greeted by the sight of her closest friend.

“Oberyn!” She threw herself into his arms and held him tightly to make up for the years that had separated them.

Somewhere, at a certain time

The city of Myr was one of the richest trading cities founded by the Valyrians and one of the nine Free Cities of Essos. This town had built its wealth on trade and its excellent merchants, thousands of them came every day to do business in this city, textiles and glass were unique and very expensive resources in this town, but also very desired. The population was also large and it became difficult to move through the streets without being jostled or blocked by a group of people attracted by a stall. This served the young Targaryens well as they could move more easily among the people thanks to their small frame and relieve some of the passers of their burdens. It was always Viserys who took care of the thefts, but the young girl was so adorable that sometimes people would give her a few coins when they saw her frail nature.

It had been three years since they had been forced to flee from Braavos and were surviving as best as they could, hunger and cold being their greatest difficulties with the fear that one day they would be recognized and put to death on the orders of the Usurper. The Prince had lost any royal attitude he might have had one day and was easily confused with the other inhabitants of the streets who were also begging for survival, his sister had never known royalty, she only had the memories that her brother had told her. It was hard for her to understand him, what he had known and lost, when all she had known was fear, poverty, cold, and hunger… That was the worst of it all, being hungry, smelling the food all over the streets, the smoke from the meat, the smell of bread … seeing people constantly eating and having only leftovers lying on the ground, or any kind of crawling animals they could catch. Once her brother had tried to fish, but without equipment all he managed to do was that the fish ran away and several fishermen threatened to cook him with their stews if they came back without food because of him. Dany burst out laughing when she saw her brother’s face, of course, at her young age, she didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. In anger, Viserys had pulled her by the arm and carried her back to the place where they slept on the ground but out of sight. He had then spent the day looking out at the sea, repeating that he would return home one day and take revenge for the affronts he had suffered.

The last Targaryens were both sitting on a rock not far from the water, they had been lucky that day, the purse that Viserys had stolen contained enough coins for them to make a decent meal and they had been able to buy for each of them a piece of bread, lamprey pie and some spiced wine which Daenerys had spit out as soon as she found the taste foul. Her grimace, however, had worked a miracle, her brother had smiled at her. He hadn’t laughed, just smiled, something he hadn’t done since Braavos, and even there he smiled very rarely. “Dany look over there, in that direction, it’s Dorne and its burning sands. And there, it’s the Stormlands, they belong to the Usurper and his House, their dungeon is called “Storm’s End“ and it is known to withstand any storm. But believe me dear sister, one day it won’t be the storm that comes down on them, but the dragons, and their dungeon won’t stand up to it, I told you what happened to Harrenhal, didn’t I?” The young Princess nodded and said “But the dragons are gone…”

“They have existed, they will exist again, we are dragons, the last, we are not simple mortals, our heritage is great, and our duty even greater, our House will rise from its ashes and our dynasty will be even greater than in the time of Aegon the Conqueror or Valyria. Of this I am sure, and on that day our enemies will regret their betrayal.”

Daenerys understood what “enemies” were, she knew what death was, she had discovered it in spite of herself when Ser Willem had left this world, when her brother told her that their father, the King, had been betrayed and killed like a dog, and that because of their enemies they had to leave quickly to Dragonstone and that their mother had not been given the care necessary for her birth. Even the soldiers protecting the dungeon had wanted to sell them to the Usurper to save their lives and it was only thanks to Ser Willem and a few faithful servants that they were able to escape. But many things were still very complicated for her, so she listened to her brother without saying anything, dreaming of being able to eat her fill, of having a bit of warmth at night and above all, secretly wishing that her mother was there to take her in her arms. She would never have told Viserys, he had already told her several times that it was her fault that their mother had died, but how could she be responsible? She was just a baby… She didn’t understand, but kept quiet so that her brother would stop being angry with her.

“Look over there, that’s our ancestral dungeon, Dragonstone, and over there,” he waved to her, moving his finger a few inches. “That’s King’s Landing, home, our stolen home, one day we will go home sister.”

Dany wanted her home, she wanted her mother, her family, food and a warm bed, Dany wanted many things that a child should always have, but at this moment she would have liked more than anything that her brother took her in his arms, she then hugged very tightly the piece of stuffed cloth with the effigy of a dog she had found in the street, it was all dirty and smelled of death, but it was also her only source of comfort in these difficult times.

Viserys had wanted to eat at an inn because of the meager coins he had stolen today, the place didn’t please his little sister too much, the men were rude and smelled like horse shit, the women always came to their table and sat on her brother’s lap while whispering things in his ear and looking at Dany with a vicious look. Daenerys was a bit jealous, she had been enjoying going on her brother’s lap while he told her stories about their house, but lately he was getting more and more angry with her and didn’t want to carry her anymore, he said that she wasn’t a child anymore and that the dragon wasn’t weak, but these women were much older and he seemed very happy that they were on him. Viserys got up and asked her to wait for him for a few moments without moving, he spoke for a few moments with another woman who looked at the girl. She kept looking while Viserys disappeared into another room.

Dany was a little scared to be alone, even though she suspected that her brother had asked this lady to keep an eye on her, anyone could force her outside and take her away from Viserys forever. Just when she wanted to get up to join her brother, or even to go to the woman who was always watching her, a man sat down in front of her. He had tanned skin, a mustache and smiled kindly at the girl. Dany looked down and wanted to run away when he spoke.

“You’re a pretty little girl, you almost look like a princess. There are princesses in my house too, wouldn’t you like to meet them? They could lend you their dresses and toys?” Daenerys smiled shyly and saw her frightened brother trying to hide something in a bag before approaching.

“Leave her alone.” Viserys approached and took his sister’s hand in his to leave, but the man stood up, his gaze threatening towards the Prince.

“Your brother is very rude, you know.” He stood behind Daenerys and put his hands on her shoulders. “How do you know he’s my brother?” The man then bent down and whispered in his ear, “I know many things, little dragon…” One look from him assured Viserys that he’d better follow him. The man took the Princess’s hand and gently led her upstairs into what seemed to be the room he had rented for his stay. The place was quite small, a simple space to sleep, or do other things, it was a brothel after all, the noises coming through the walls bear witness to this. There was a jug of wine on a small table in the corner of the room, and the man served a glass to the Prince, who hesitated before drinking, then seemed delighted, and the man spoke again.

“Dornish wine, the best…” Viserys took a sip and then replied with a smile, “Pale imitation of the Arbor Gold but it is good indeed… You are certainly Westerosi, Dornish? Anyway, I don't know who you're confusing us with, but you’re mistaken, we’re from Lys, she’s my little sister and I ran away with her so she wouldn’t become a pleasure slave.” When Viserys turned around, he saw his sister rummaging through his bag and pulling out their mother’s crown, which he had refused to sell until now, the only memory he had of her apart from the ring his sister had, but the difficulty of feeding herself was increasing day by day, people were becoming more and more suspicious of children for stealing their purses and yesterday he had seen a man catch one of them trying to steal him, he had not seen what happened to the child afterwards, but he was sure that the punishment had to be consequent. He had climbed up a large rock surrounded by water to hide the most precious object they had, which he was desperate to sell.

“Viserys, what is it doing in your bag?” His brother panicked for a moment in front of the stranger, but he didn’t seem surprised at all. He walked up to Daenerys and stroked the object with one finger.

“She was beautiful your mother, I still remember her royal posture, a real queen, not like your father.” The Prince pulled the crown away from the stranger and drew Daenerys behind him as the child began to ask about their mother. “Who are you?! If you want to do the Usurper’s dirty work, you’ll regret it, you talk to the true King!” Viserys always carried a dagger with him, he was never very good with a sword, and the weapon would have been too flashy, expensive and heavy to carry, a dagger was much more inconspicuous and the only weapon they had to defend themselves. He tried to stab the man with it, but he dodged and knocked the young Prince to the ground. Daenerys began to cry when she saw her brother on the floor, but the man calmed her down immediately.

“I won’t hurt you, little princess, or your brother, but I can’t let him kill me, can I? If you two will calm down, I can tell you why I’m here.” The man took some more wine and served it to the Prince and then sat down on his bed wanting the Princess to come next to him, but Viserys kept his sister close, the stranger’s face lost all smile.

“We do no harm to the children in Dorne … we are neither Lannister nor Baratheon… But we, too, are sure to pay our debts, and our fury is worth far more than that of the Stag… We are patient, we love justice and vengeance, but we can wait to strike better and harder. The time for two children to grow up. ” The man stood up and talk again, emphasizing each of the names he spoke in his beautiful Dornish voice. “Justice for Rhaenys Targaryen, justice for Aegon Targaryen and justice for Elia Martell…” Seriousness had replaced his light and friendly attitude, his words more furious than the snakes that inhabited his lands.

“My name is Oberyn Martell, and I want only two things from you. Fire and Blood.”

------------------------------

Thank you for reading. I prefer not to give a date for the publication of the second chapter, but I will do it as quickly as possible.

I wanted to write Dany's song myself but I like this one :) The song is called "The Wild Rover" interpreted by The Dubliners (Viva Ireland and its songs!) But I like the version of a french group : Wild Rover - Naheulband if you want to listen to it, the intro is long though. All the images used in this chapter were open access.

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today-we-will-survive · 6 years ago

Text

As The World Burns Around Us, Ch. 1

header made by me

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader ft. Taehyung

Genre: Apocalypse!AU, Angst, Thriller, Romance

Warning: dark themes, violence, some blood and gore

Word Count: 11.6K

Parts can be found in the masterlist under “As The World Burns Around Us”

Summary: You haven’t seen the sun in two years. The Virus wiped out a good three quarters of the world’s population and then the wars that followed wiped out half of that. After everything happened, it was only a matter of time before the different countries started blaming each other and emptied their nuclear arsenals. You’re still surprised Seoul survived – if you can call what it has become “surviving”.

A/N: This was initially an original work of mine meant to be a sequel to a book I self-published but of course, BTS has taken over my life so it would only make sense that they would take over this story too. New parts every Friday 💜

Steady.

It didn't take long for even the tamest of the animal species to revert back to their primal instincts. The weak were killed off by the strong and the strong were killed off by the stronger. Now only the most resilient are left and let me tell you, there aren't many. Even now watching this wild dog—that probably looked like a pit bull at one time but now resembles something out of a horror movie—as it picks through the garbage in the overgrown grass, you have a hard time remembering the last time you saw one. It's been even longer since you tasted one.

Steady.

A drip of water lands on your gloved hand making a sharp tick sound when it hits the leather, but you don't flinch. Even the tiniest movement will give you away and you'd be going another night without fresh meat. Another drip lands on your exposed cheek and you feel it slide slowly, burning down and soaking into the cloth covering the lower half of your face.

You haven't seen the sun in two years. The Virus wiped out a good three quarters of the world’s population and then the wars that followed wiped out half of that. After everything happened, it was only a matter of time before the different countries started blaming each other and emptied their nuclear arsenals. Crouching there you're still surprised Seoul survived – if you can call what it has become “surviving”.

After the wars completely screwed up the climate, a gray, toxic haze covered the sky and hasn't gone away ever since. When it isn't raining, it's snowing. Now the buildings that haven't completely deteriorated are overtaken with plant life. Ivy climbs up the walls, clinging to whatever it can. Weeds grow up through the cracks in the crumbling concrete and devour long abandoned cars and mailboxes and street signs. You're just glad it's raining now instead of snowing, though even the rain tends to burn a little bit when it hits the skin. Just acidic enough to sting but not enough to do any serious damage as long as you aren't in it for too long. You can see deep pink lines trailing down the wild dog’s back from living its life out in the poisonous elements. It shutters as the rain starts coming down harder. You need to move before it decides to run off and take shelter.

Steady.

Your fingers wrap tightly around the handle of one of your throwing knives and you breathe in the cold, bitter air until your chest hurts. Then with a quick flick of your wrist, you hurl the knife forward and the blade buries itself deep into the dog’s neck. It yelps once before falling to the ground dead. The air escapes your lungs and clouds in front of your face. Finally, you’re going to go to sleep tonight with a full belly instead of tossing and turning with hunger pains.

You get up and step over the crumbling concrete wall you were crouched behind. The dog is completely still and the rain pelts its pink, scarred skin now, each drop making a tiny sizzle as it hits. You need to get this thing out of the rain before it becomes inedible. Quickly, you shrug off one of your coats and wrap it around the dead dog, tying the sleeves together so you can use them to drag your catch back home.

You turn the corner, your eyes scanning the street for any danger. These days it’s everywhere. Wild dogs like the one tied up in your coat like to hide in dark alleys and under cars and wait for something, anything, to come along. If anyone were to come across a pack of them, they’d be screwed. You did once and only made it out alive because of Jungkook and Tae.

Halfway down the block, one of the sleeves slips and the whole coat comes unraveled sending the dead dog sprawling onto the road. Its black tongue flops out of its mouth making the thing look like it rolled over to have its belly rubbed. With a sigh, you crouch down to wrap your catch back up.

Just as you get balanced on the balls of your feet, a gust of wind makes the sleeves of your jacket flutter and the sound of rustling material comes from behind you. In a split second you reach back pulling a knife out of a band under your arm and whirl around sending it flying. The blade buries itself to the hilt in the chest of a masked man. He makes a choking noise before falling to the ground and you stay frozen where you are listening for any other sounds that might be riding on the wind.

Nothing but silence.

As quietly as possible, you get up and hurry over to the body. The man is tall and wearing layers of dark, mud caked clothes. An animal skull, most likely a cow's, is fixed over his head and his wide eyes stare at you through the holes. You’ve never seen a raider wear a mask like this. Usually they just keep cloth over their faces like everyone else. The skull is grotesque and bleached white from years in the wind and acid rain. Horns grow out of either side of the skull, long and menacing like the tips had been sharpened recently. Why can’t these people just keep to themselves like you do?

You sigh in disgust and reach down to pull your knife out of his chest. It comes out easily, tinted red with blood. With a quick swipe on the man's jacket, the blade is clean. Another gust of wind catches the edge of his coat and pulls it back revealing a black cord tied around his neck. Your eyes grow wide as you lose your grip on the knife and it clatters to the ground. You can’t tear your eyes away from the teeth that hang from the black string. Human teeth. This guy isn’t a raider. He’s a ravager. And according to Tae, ravagers don’t travel alone.

You need to get out of there. Quickly. You bend down and pick up your knife and when you turn back toward the dog, four more tall men in skull masks block your path. It takes all you have to hold their stares so they don’t sense your fear. You can’t see their eyes so you focus on the dark eye sockets of the cows’ skulls. Every other part of you is covered. They can’t tell your mouth is trembling. More importantly, they can’t tell you’re a girl. You need to keep it that way.

“Take the dog and leave me alone,” you say trying to make your voice as low and steady as possible.

“It’s not the dog we want,” one of them replies. You don’t see any mouth moving but judging by the way one of the men in the middle strokes the collection of human teeth around his neck, you guess he’s the one that spoke.

Out of the corner of your vision, you see the man on the far right step forward and you immediately hurl the knife you have in your hand. As soon as it hits the ravager in the shoulder, he goes down and the other three spring forward. You rip two more knives from the holster under your arm and flick them forward hard sending one of the ravagers crashing to the ground and the other stumbling while he tries to get the blade out of his bicep. The one in the middle comes at you pulling a big machete out of a sheath behind his back. As he approaches, you notice something brown and crusted on the blade. It’s either rust or blood but you’re guessing it’s the latter. The ravager comes fast slashing the machete sideways and you duck to the left hearing the blade slice through the air.

You start running, reaching under your arm to grab another knife. Empty. Crap. You should have one more. There’s one each in two of the ravagers; a third buried in one of the dead ones on the ground. Where is your fourth knife?

You curse under your breath as your eyes dart back to the dead dog now being pelted with poison rain. You totally forgot to take the knife out of its neck.

A hot pain slices your arm causing you to lose your footing, and tumble to the ground. As you try to get back up, the ravager with the machete towers over you holding his weapon above his head. It comes crashing down and you roll out of the way just before it hits the concrete, sending sparks in every direction. One quick glance at your arm tells you another ravager hurled one of your own knives at you. It sliced into your skin pretty deep and now blood soaks into your coat.

A foot connects with your side knocking the air out of you for a second but you manage to grit your teeth, get up quickly and ram into the ravager with all the strength you have. His mask and machete go flying and clatter to the pavement a few yards away. The man doubles over from the blow to his stomach and you use that moment to ram your knee up into his exposed face. It connects with his nose and you hear a loud crunch just before he goes crashing to the ground. Blood spatters your leg but you don’t have time to react before another ravager is on you. He grabs your arms from behind and you immediately throw your head back, connecting it with his throat and causing him to loosen his grip. When you turn around to face the man, you notice one of his arms is stained red.

Where’s the other ravager you got in the beginning? As if to answer your question, an arm wraps around your neck from behind and pulls. Your back hits a body and you begin clawing at the arm, trying to get your nails into the skin. No luck. The ravager in front of you is holding his own throat with one hand and grabs your face hard with the other. Your teeth dig into your cheeks and you taste blood.

“Well, you’re a little firecracker, aren’t you?” he spits, his sour breath permeating the mask and making you gag. The arm around your neck tightens quickly, causing a sound to escape your throat. The ravager cocks his cow skull head to the side and you can feel your stomach churn violently. With one quick motion, he pulls your hood off and rips the cloth off your face. “What do we have here?” he asks excitedly watching your long hair swirl around your head in the wind. He catches a strand and pulls his mask off so he can swipe the hair under his nose. The ravager’s face is disfigured, scarred from the rain. You wince in disgust as he brushes your hair against his face. “We haven’t seen a pigeon in a long time. Eh, Madd?”

“No we haven’t,” the one behind you breathes into your ear.

You try tilting your head away from him but his grip around your neck tightens. The one in front of you steps closer and runs a jagged fingernail down your cheek. “You’ll be very useful, little bird,” he whispers scraping his nail down your neck and along the zipper of your coat.

You nudge his hand off and spit hard, speckling his face with blood from your cut cheeks. The ravager behind you grabs one of your arms and wrenches it hard behind your back and you clench your teeth to keep from crying out. The man in front laughs as he wipes a speck of blood off his nose and licks his finger. “Let’s go,” he says and turns away from you.

The ravager holding you lifts you off the ground with the arm around your neck, giving you no leverage to resist. You try wiggling and kicking your legs but he only twists your arm further up your back. When you hear it pop, you begin thrashing harder. Everything around you starts to fade as your lungs fight for air. Your body goes limp and something explodes right in your ear. You don’t even notice when the ravager loosens his grip on your neck and you go crashing to the ground.

Slowly, your surroundings come back into focus. Your cheek rests on the wet pavement and the rain hitting your face feels like a million little pin pricks in your skin. A few gunshots crack the air and you quickly lift your hood, covering your face from the rain and your already sensitive ears from the noise. A loud laugh causes you to lift your head to see just what is going on.

Your vision is still blurry but you can just make out the horns of one of the ravagers’ masks and a flash of brown hair under a dark hood. The ravager goes down with one slam in the face from an elbow. You turn your head the other direction to find a darker blur, completely in black, ramming a booted foot into another ravager’s stomach causing him to double over. The butt of a shotgun comes down hard on his back sending him sprawling to the ground.

Clickclick. Bang.

A spray of blood erupts from the ravager’s head and he goes still. You wait until only the celebratory laughs of the best friends fill the air and then you slowly get to your feet.

“You fired your gun? Are you trying to get us all killed?” you ask, your voice rising with anger as you approach them.

Taehyung smiles, his teeth gleaming. “Judging by the way you were handling yourself, you wanted to get killed. I taught you to fight better than that,” he replies pointing a smug finger at you.

You bat it away. “If you hadn’t noticed,” you sneer. “There were four of them and one of me.”

“Well, there was one of me and I still got the job done.”

“You cheated,” you mutter watching as Taehyung twirls his hand gun around his finger.

Jungkook nudges his best friend hard causing him to almost drop the gun. “Who got the last shot in?” he asks glaring at Taehyung. Then the black haired boy turns to you before Taehyung can give him an answer. His gloved hands cup your face. “Are you alright?” Jungkook asks you as concern fills his dark eyes.

All you can do is nod before burying your face into his jacket.

Then

You met Jungkook the first day of your freshman year of college in Busan. The two of you hit it off so well, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make when he asked you to be his girlfriend. There was something about the shy art major that you fell in love with instantly. His warmth, his sense of humor. Not to mention his beautiful, dark eyes and bunny smile made your heart melt the moment you saw him. You’d never believed in love at first sight until you met him.

Becoming best friends with his goofy, lovable roommate/childhood best friend was just as easy. Taehyung’s happiness was infectious. He was like a puppy, always so excited and eager. The type of person you could trust easily. The kind that meant what he said and kept his promises. He was a science major. He’d wanted to become a pharmaceuticals scientist like his dad had been. Everything about the career excited him, but mostly, the idea of finding cures for incurable diseases.

He was a good student. A great student. Yet he always found time between studying and classes to hang out with you and Jungkook. Some would think it would suck being a third wheel, but the three of you were a unit. You were always together, until Taehyung went to do a summer internship at Bang Pharmaceuticals in Seoul.

The company was the largest supplier of pharmaceuticals in South Korea and the fact that Taehyung had managed to snag a spot in their summer internship program was a huge deal. One that the three of you celebrated for the entire week before he left. He promised to keep you guys updated, promised to call and text all the time, Skype on the weekends. And for a while, he did. You still missed him of course. You’d never seen Jungkook sulk before and it broke your heart.

A couple weeks into the internship, Taehyung called you and Jungkook one night, sounding uneasy. He explained there was something going on at the company. Something shady. Something that made him not want to be there anymore. He told you he was going to drop-out of the program and come home.

Though you were sad for him that he wouldn’t be finishing the program—therefore missing out on the credentials that go with it—you couldn’t help but be excited to get your best friend back. And Jungkook was even more ecstatic.

That was the last time you heard from him before The Virus was unleashed on the world. It started in Seoul and spread like a wildfire, latching onto people, making its way around the world, taking out the most vulnerable first. Somehow you and Jungkook managed to avoid it, though many people at school weren’t so lucky. Both of you watched your families, your friends die around you. You lost everyone except for each other. You didn’t know what you would have done if you lost Jungkook, especially after losing Taehyung.

With your best friend on your minds, the two of you made your way to Seoul in hopes of, if not him, at least finding out what happened to him. You wanted answers. The wars started not long after you got there.

As soon as the first bomb hit, Seoul and the surrounding cities erupted into chaos. All effort by the police to get everyone under control was futile and before long, they gave up and sat back as people grew more scared and violent.

You and Jungkook were left to fend for yourselves in the big, broken city. You learned to survive in the madness. Learned to cling to each other, to rely on each other, to protect each other.

Weeks went by with no sign of Taehyung. In a last ditch effort, the two of you broke into the Bang Pharmaceuticals building, sneaking past the people that had banded together to form gangs. You searched floor by floor, whispering his name as loudly as you thought was safe and of course never getting a reply. It didn’t surprise you, though. You knew deep down that he was gone. That you’d never see your best friend again. Both of you knew it. The truth clung heavily to the air between the two of you. You were so completely sure he was gone that turning the corner and crashing into the very person you were searching in vain for caused you to scream and Jungkook to turn ghostly white.

Taehyung looked completely different, almost unrecognizable. The boy was pale, his dark eyes empty like two bottomless pits. He was skinny, too, and so completely out of it that at first he lunged on top of you, wrapping his bony fingers around your throat and squeezing until you saw stars. Jungkook was able to get him off of you before any damage was done but still your heart broke at the fact that your best friend still looked at you like you were another danger.

His memory of the two of you returned slowly over the following weeks, but the rest of him never did. Taehyung was a shell of his former self. His boxy grin, his deep laugh, the spark in his eyes, it was all gone. But you had him again. You had your best friend back, and even if he wasn’t completely the same, he was alive and he was warm. He was there.

Taehyung refused to talk about what went on during his internship but judging by the drastic difference between the Taehyung before and the Taehyung now, it couldn’t have been anything good. You knew this now. That they’d been developing chemical weapons, using innocent people as their lab rats.

It took many more weeks for him to open up to you and Jungkook. To tell you what happened. He told you of some of the horrors he witnessed. The sounds he heard every time he passed certain wings. The screams.

About a month into his internship, he’d begun to feel strange. He’d sometimes suddenly be so exhausted, he’d just collapse in the break room and wake up feeling even weirder than before. He became paranoid after being there for a while. Said it felt like someone was always watching him, or studying him, rather. Something happened to him while he was at Bang Pharmaceuticals. Something bad enough that his own mind didn’t want to remember.

One night the three of you had been sleeping in a heap on the dusty floor of the abandoned fire station you called home when you were awoken by the sounds of glass shattering. Both Taehyung and Jungkook went out to see what was going on and you laid there in terrified silence when the shouting started. You couldn’t tell how many people were in that front room with them but by the time you made it to your feet and hurried out to the front, at least five bodies lay motionless on the ground and both Taehyung and Jungkook were struggling with a few more intruders. You stood there frozen in panic just watching as one of the dark figures grabbed ahold of Jungkook’s shirt and threw a fist, cracking their knuckles against his cheek.

Your eyes darted to the body closest to you and something shiny caught a glint of moonlight. Finally, you were able to move. Without another thought, you reached down and snatched up the shiny object from the dead intruder’s hand. A knife, short and sharp edged on both sides.

Jungkook let out a pained grunt as his attacker landed a punch in his stomach and your fist tightened around the handle of the knife. You didn’t think. You didn’t hesitate. You only reacted.

You reared back and threw your arm forward in an arc, letting go of the knife. It left your hand in what seemed like slow motion and sliced through the air. The blade barely grazed the raider’s face but he let out a shriek and stumbled back. That gave Jungkook enough time to regain his footing, swing his shotgun around his shoulder and bring the butt of it down on the back of the man’s head. With a grunt, the man went down and didn’t get back up.

With a quick glance your way, Jungkook hurried over to help Taehyung and the two of them took the others down quickly. After it was all over, the three of you just stood there gazing around at the five bodies—some dead, some unconscious—at your feet. The window facing the road was completely gone except for a few shards clinging to the frame, and the sounds of chaos and war filled the place. People ran past your building on the street, crying and shouting out names while others plowed into them, grabbing whatever they could before running off the opposite way. When had it all turned to this?

“We need to go,” Taehyung said wiping blood from his face as it dripped from his mouth and down his chin.

Jungkook held his shotgun at the ready and looked at you again. “Thanks for helping me,” he said with a half smile.

You nodded back then looked down again at the body you’d gotten the knife from. A black holster was wrapped around her leg just above her knee and you took it quickly, wrapping it around your own and securing the Velcro. The handles of four throwing knives rested against your thigh and you spotted another holster with a strap that you had to lift off the woman raider’s shoulder. Another three handles poked out of their slots. You lifted the strap up over your head and let it fall so the knives rested at your side under your arm.

“Here,” Jungkook said handing you the knife you’d thrown. There was a place for it in the holster below your armpit and you slipped it in as the three of you made your way out onto the busy street.

You ended up fighting your way toward the business district. Or rather what used to be the business district. Though the tall buildings still towered over the streets looking down like amused spectators at a gladiator fight, all the lower level windows were busted out and people had set fire to some of the lobbies.

Taehyung led you through the chaos in a familiar direction that made your stomach churn worse as you got even closer.

“Well, isn’t this ironic?” you uttered as you worked to get the heavy chain off the front entrance to Bang Pharmaceuticals.

Taehyung turned to look at you, but then his eyes focused on something over your shoulder. “Move!” he yelled and swung the chain toward you. You lunged to the side just as the heavy links made contact with the man behind you. They hit his temple and he stumbled back, giving the three of you enough time to slip inside the heavy double doors. Once in, Taehyung threaded the chain through the handles several times and locked it in place with a piece of metal he’d found on the floor. No one was getting in.

It was weird revisiting the place you had found Taehyung over a year earlier, not to mention taking refuge in the building of the company responsible for all this. He gave you a quick tour, you all brandishing your weapons and taking out the stragglers. There were only a few. The building had been pretty tightly secured.

The three of you spent most of your time on the basement level. What once was a place where they kept their experiments locked away became a marginally comfortable place to sleep. At least the crinkly mattresses you dragged down there were better than sleeping on the hard, concrete floor.

You’d found the biggest lab on the fourth floor and made it your common room. It was just down the hall from where you kept your food and supplies and this high up, the windows were still intact so it didn’t feel as hopeless. Though at the same time, it gave you a perfect view of the dilapidated city below.

The three of you spent the first couple of days clearing the room of the random equipment that was left behind when everyone had evacuated, and dragged in any furniture you could find from the waiting rooms and break rooms. It was slowly but surely beginning to feel like home. You even managed to find a desk calendar in one of the offices and used it to track the days for that first year. Once it was all used up, you took a permanent marker and drew a big calendar of sorts on one of the blank walls in your common room and made a tick mark for the appropriate day.

Slowly the wall filled with tick marks and the world outside grew emptier and darker.

Now

Every fifth tick mark under Friday, you grab a pair of scissors and cut both boys’ hair. One at a time, they sit on a stool in front of the mirror in one of the bathrooms and watch silently as you snip away at their scruffy locks. Taehyung likes his long enough to almost be in his eyes while Jungkook keeps his a bit shorter.

Even though it makes him look more rugged and older, you miss the way it used to fall in his eyes whenever Jungkook looked at you. You know he’s still the same person but he looks different. Not worse, just different. You all look pretty different. Though, devastation will do that to a person. Tragedy changes you inside and out.

“I can’t wait to get a taste of that dog,” Jungkook says as the smell of the cooking meat wafts into the bathroom from where it cooks in the common room. It’s tinged with a faint sour smell from the acid that managed to soak into the dog’s skin while you were fighting off those ravagers.

A cold shudder makes its way down your spine. You can’t stop thinking about the way the ravager’s breath smelled as he talked so close to your face; like death and starvation. Or the way his nails scraped down your cheek. Or the feeling of the other man’s body pressed against your back, his necklace of teeth biting into your spine. If Jungkook and Taehyung hadn’t come when they did, your teeth could have ended up on a necklace…

“Hey!” Jungkook barks and jerks forward, slapping a hand over his ear.

Your scissors clatter to the floor. “Crap. I’m so sorry,” you gasp, pulling him around to face you.

“You trying to cut my ear off?”

You yank the scarf from around your neck and pull his hand away from the side of his head. Blood wells up from a slice in the upper part of his ear and starts making its way down his neck.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper again, clenching the scarf in your shaking hand and dabbing at the blood. “That’s never happened before. I’m so sorry,” you repeat. Even when you first started cutting their hair and made them look ridiculous, you never hurt them.

You’re completely focused on getting Jungkook’s ear to stop bleeding so you don’t even notice him watching you until his fingers wrap around your wrist. Your eyes lock on his.

“Hey,” he says softly. “Are you alright?”

With a nod, you open your mouth to say you’re fine but a sob escapes before you can stop it. Then Jungkook is up, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you to his chest.

“I thought I was going to die,” you crack as tears fall from your eyes and soak into his shirt.

“But you didn’t,” he assures you and tightens his arms around you, almost like you might disappear if he lets you go. “You’re safe now.”

Pulling back away from him, you look up into his eyes. “We’re never safe,” you whisper. “We’ll never be safe, just less in danger.”

Jungkook opens his mouth like he wants to say something but no words come out. After several silent moments pass, he shuts it again, the muscles in his jaw becoming prominent as he grinds his teeth together. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he says. “And neither will Tae.”

Finally, a small smile pulls at the corners of your mouth. “I know you wouldn’t.”

Taehyung on the other hand is still so different after you found him and he’s just gotten worse. You’ve been friends with the boy for four years but you find yourself trusting him less and less. At first, you had to convince Jungkook that things would be okay, that Taehyung would be okay, but after a while, it was Jungkook who had to start assuring you.

You try to keep your thoughts to yourself. Besides you, Taehyung is the only piece of his old life he still has, and you’re not about to ruin that for him.

“Dinner’s ready.”

The two of you step apart to find Taehyung leaning against the doorframe. “What happened to your ear?”

Jungkook’s hand goes up to touch the fresh cut. “Oh, it’s nothing. Y/N just tried to hack it off.”

You nudge him hard in the ribs but can’t hold back the smile as he laughs. An amused smirk flashes across Taehyung’s face just before he pushes off the doorframe and disappears down the hall.

“I promise I didn’t mean to hurt you,” you whisper wincing at the blood still oozing from the cut. Jungkook takes ahold of your hand again to keep it from touching the wound.

“I know you didn’t,” he says with a crooked smile and brushes his lips against your knuckles. “Though, maybe I should cut my own hair next time.”

With a chuckle, you pull your hand out of his. “I don’t think you could handle these babies,” you say and pick the scissors back up off the floor

There’s a small fleck of blood on them and you wipe it off on your pants before dropping them back in the cup on the counter. They hit the bottom of the glass with a loud tink.

There’s nothing on this earth that tastes as good as that first bite of dog does. Even the slightly sour, metallic tang resonating on your taste buds from the acid that seeped in couldn’t ruin your ravenous appetite. All three of you are quiet, completely engrossed in getting this rare meal into your bellies as quickly as possible. Even though you know you shouldn’t be eating this fast and will definitely regret it later, you just can’t help inhaling it. After all, who knows how long it will be before your next meal?

You eat in silence like you always do. Concentrating more on satisfying the beast of hunger roaring in your stomachs that’s threatening to tear you apart if you don’t give it what it wants.

Once the bones are picked clean, Jungkook cleans up and you go back into the bathroom, this time with Taehyung. He runs his fingers through his tangled brown hair as he takes a seat.

The blades scrape the underside of your fingers as you hold the hairs taut and cut. Your stomach bulges out a bit, rubbing against the loose material of your shirt. It’s not a feeling you’re used to. At least not standing up. That dog was the first one in way too long. Usually you’re lucky to come across a bird or a rat but even those are few and far between these days. How much longer can you stay here?

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyung asks and you meet his eyes in the mirror.

They used to hold so much warmth, used to crinkle in the corners from his perpetual smile. But you haven’t seen the warmth since before he left for his internship, and his smiles never reach his eyes anymore.

You squeeze the handles of the scissors and another feathery cluster of brown hair drifts to the floor. “Nothing,” you finally say. You’d much rather talk to Jungkook about it anyway.

That night, your body complains about eating the dog too fast but you just can’t bring yourself to regret it. At least not as far as staying fed goes. Sleeping, on the other hand, is a different story. You’ve gotten used to the shallow, hunger pain-filled sleep that kept the nightmares at bay. But with the full belly, the not quite comfortable crinkly mattress in you cell has become a little less uncomfortable and you drift out before you can stop yourself.

You can barely keep your head off the desk as you listen to the professor drone on and on about what seems like nothing. Literally nothing. You can’t even make out any words as he lectures. You glance down at the notebook in front of you that you are supposed to be taking studious notes in but only illegible scribbles and doodles cover the page. You sigh and put your pencil down. The seat next to you is empty. Where’s Taehyung? He never misses your one shared class together.

As if on cue, the door at the back of the room creaks open and you turn to find your best friend prancing down the stairs, his backpack swaying from side to side as he lopes toward you, trying and barely succeeding at balancing two Starbucks cups on top of his books in his hands. No one else seems to notice him but you and you can’t help but laugh at the spectacle. His tongue pokes out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrates on slipping into your row and making his way clumsily toward you, climbing almost literally over the people in his way.

At last, he sinks into the seat beside you with a huff, his backpack plopping onto the floor at his feet.

“You alright there?” you ask, an amused grin still stretching your mouth wide.

With another sigh, Taehyung finally turns to look at you. “I overslept a bit,” he says.

His words are made obvious by the way his hair sticks out in every direction and the striped pajamas bottoms he’s paired with his oversized hoodie. Your eyes fall on the cups on the table.

“And yet you still found the time to get me caffeine. You’re a life-saver,” you say as you wrap your cold hands around the hot cup.

“Anything for you, bestie,” he says then lifts his own cup. “Cheers.”

You tap your cup against his and go to take a swig. As the liquid passes through the little hole in the top of the lid and into your mouth, your gaze fall on Taehyung again. He stares at you out of the tops of his eyes, his mouth slightly open, the corners turned up in what you can only describe as a malicious smile. You quickly swallow and set the cup down.

“Tae?”

“Yeah,” he utters, his voice so much lower than it was just seconds before.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

His head tilts to the side and he smiles wider. “Whatever do you mean?” he asks mockingly.

“Why are you—”

Suddenly, you feel a sharp stab in your throat and you bring your hand up to cover your mouth as a violent cough escapes. The pain. The pain is like nothing you’ve felt before. It feels like an animal has sunk its claws into your esophagus and are just ripping and tearing it to shreds. You cough again, keeling forward from the pain.

“Tae—” you croak. “What did you—”

No one else in the class even seems to notice what’s going on and Tae just sits there calmly beside you, watching with an amused grin as you continue to choke and cough. You feel something wet on your fingers and you look down through the darkening haze at the bright red blood that coats your skin. Another excruciating cough and something hard and sharp drops into your hand. Tears stream down your face and your vision is fading fast and the last thing you see before it all goes black is the rusted razor blade in your palm glinting back at you.

You wake with a gasp and jump to your feet. Your hands fly to your throat and you shiver from the cold sweat soaking your body. Your vision is blurry so you can’t quite make out the shadow that stirs next to you but you know it’s Jungkook and you crumple into him when he steps up to you.

“It’s okay,” he whispers holding you up so you don’t crash to the floor. “It’s alright. You’re alright.”

You shudder and try to breathe in deep as images from your nightmare burns into your brain.

“I had one of those dreams again,” you say after you’ve composed yourself a bit. You meet Jungkook’s shining eyes in the dim light. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“Come sleep with me. I’ll keep the bad dreams away.”

You feel a smile pull at the corners of your mouth. The only problem is, once you’re asleep, you’ll be alone and the only person that can save you from the night terrors is yourself.

You’re still awake, keeping the monsters at bay by counting the ceiling tiles over and over again when Jungkook stirs next to you. He lets out a heavy sigh.

“Still awake?” he murmurs.

“I’m so tired but I can’t sleep,” you say, your voice husky from having been silent for so long.

Jungkook releases another sigh and his hand finds your waist in the darkness. “Me neither,” he says with a squeeze. Then the mattress crunches beneath you as he rolls over and sits up on the edge of the bed. “Let’s take a walk.” Then he slings his shotgun over his shoulder.

The two of you make your way out of the cellblock—which was very unnerving to find when you first explored the place—as quietly as you can so Taehyung doesn’t wake up.

“I don’t know how much longer we can stay here,” you say when the two of you are standing in the doorway to the supply room. Your pile of food and bottled water has dwindled considerably over the past few months. “That dog I caught today was the first animal I’ve seen in a long time and we can’t live off canned peaches and baked beans forever.”

“Not without rotting our teeth out,” Jungkook mutters scratching the back of his neck. “What do you think we should do?”

His question catches you off guard. With Taehyung being the oldest of the three of you, you were used to him making the decisions. “I think we should get out of Seoul,” you say with unfamiliar confidence tinting your words. “Away from the city. South maybe.”

“Toward Chongju?”

“Past Chongju. Just as far away from here as we can get.”

Jungkook lets out another heavy sigh. “I don’t know if Tae is going to want to leave,” he says.

You step farther into the room and pick up a can that fell and rolled away from the pile. “Why does it matter what Tae wants?” you ask, turning the can so you can read the label. Sweet peas and hot dogs. It tastes about as good as it sounds. “Why can’t you and I just go?”

“I’d rather not leave our best friend behind.” You can understand that. “But I’ll bring it up with him tomorrow. We should probably try to get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep,” you say, your voice coming out flat. You carefully set the can on top of another in the pile.

A crooked smile, reminiscent of your days before The Virus appears on his face and he holds out his hand to you. “Well then, let’s can’t sleep together.”

You smile back half-heartedly and take ahold of his hand. He pulls you over to one of the couches and the two of you lay down. Maybe it’s the way he holds you. Maybe it’s the way he absentmindedly brushes your hair from your face. But whatever it is, you soon feel your eyelids growing too heavy to hold open and you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep to the sound of Jungkook’s steady breathing.

You feel like you just fell asleep when you’re being shaken awake again. Your eyes snap open to find a brown-haired head in your face. “A little help!”

You and Jungkook are a mess of tangled limbs and it takes you a couple seconds to get straightened out. You blink hard to take in your surroundings and duck just in time for a blurry brown object to bite into the couch behind you. You’re awake now.

Diving out of the way, you reach for one of the knives in your leg holster—you never sleep without your knives—and spin, slashing at your assailant. The blade catches him in the leg and he goes down with a spray of blood.

Jungkook rolled the other way and now dodges left and right as another man swings at him with a rusty machete. His shotgun is nowhere in sight.

“Jungkook!” you yell and toss one of your knives to him.

He catches it by the handle and quickly jabs, sticking the blade into the man’s chest and yanking hard, carving a jagged trail down his stomach. The man lets out a sickening cry and Jungkook shoves him away. You turn around in time to see your own assailant wielding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Not the most unique weapon you’ve seen, but definitely a lethal one. Before he can bring the bat down on your head, you kick out hard, connecting your boot with his shin. An unearthly sound escapes his throat, muffled by the cloth covering his face and he stumbles back, dropping the bat.

No sooner has he hit the ground than another raider is on top of you, reaching for your throat. You struggle beneath him, twisting to get an arm free so you can grab another knife. Almost there. When you feel the familiar smooth handle, you pull hard, dragging the blade across the man’s face. He rolls off of you with a scream and you scurry back out of the way of his thrashing arms.

This is your chance. You stumble to your feet, grab the barbed bat tightly and swing just as another raider opens his arms to grab you. The bat connects with his side, barbs sticking into his clothes and ripping his skin as he falls away.

You spin around and set your sights on Taehyung just as he cocks his gun, pointing it down at his attacker on the ground and pulls the trigger. Blood splatters the tiled floor around the raider’s head. Two more come at Taehyung and he lets off two more shots.

They just keep coming.

Another masked man comes at you and you swing the bat, knocking him out of the way. A path to the door has cleared. This could be your only window. You lunge toward the doorway and grab ahold of Jungkook’s coat, wrenching him out of a tug of war over his shotgun.

“Tae!” you yell.

The two of you lock eyes from across the room and, after putting a bullet in one more raider’s head, he follows quickly after you. You don’t need to look behind you as you run. You already know you’re being followed by a horde of intruders and turning around would only slow you down. Taehyung passes you on your left and takes the lead, blindly shooting as raiders come at you left and right. His shots never miss their mark—though that’s no surprise since the three of you have been using your weapons now almost every day for the past two years. He takes a sharp right and you and Jungkook whip around the corner after him.

Just then, the door to the stairwell next to you bursts open and two more raiders lunge at you. A loud blast erupts behind you and the men are blown back. Jungkook pumps his shotgun and it clicks as he chambers another round.

“This way!” he yells to Taehyung over the commotion and the three of you rush into the stairwell.

That probably wasn’t the smartest idea but you don’t really have time to think about it as you race down, clearing entire flights in two leaps. You make it to the second floor when the door to the first flies open. Three more raiders start up the stairs after you.

“There’s just no end to these guys,” Jungkook growls beside you.

Your heart is hammering, your breathing ragged, your hair is all over in your eyes but somehow you still manage to follow Jungkook and Taehyung through the door to the second floor. You don’t stop to catch your breath or find something to stick against the door. Instead you take off down the hall, your boots squeaking on the linoleum and the sound of your heavy breaths echoing ahead of you through the hallway. You make it to the other end without a raider in sight—odd—and crash through the door to the stairwell on the other end. Empty—very odd. If there’s ever a time to stop and take a few deep breaths, this isn’t it. You need to get out of there. So, silently, the three of you make your way to the ground floor. When you reach the door, Taehyung stops, holding a hand up to signal you to wait.

Then you listen.

Angry, arguing voices cut through the quiet, muffled by the thick metal door separating you from them. How many have you already come across?

“Where did all these raiders come from?” you whisper, trying to keep your heaving breaths under control.

“And why are there so freaking many?” Jungkook utters next to you.

Taehyung doesn’t respond as he continues to listen through the door.

It probably has something to do with the food shortage. They must have banded together in hopes of sharing resources. Your resources.

You don’t know how long you stand there or what Taehyung is waiting for but you start to get impatient. Any second now, the stairwell is going to be flooded with raiders and you’d be done for. Someone needs to make a decision. As if reading your thoughts, Jungkook pushes past Taehyung.

“This is taking too long,” he utters then his boot connects with the door and it flies open.

You tighten your grip on the two knives you have clutched in your fists and rush after him, Taehyung right on your heels, his gun up and finger on the trigger.

The room erupts into chaos, bullets flying, bodies falling—apparently barbed bats and machetes aren’t a raider’s only weapons of choice. You can’t see very will in the terribly dim light but the smell of blood and gun powder has become all too familiar to you. You look around at the torrent of masked raiders, blending into the hazy darkness.

A shadow shoots out of the smoke in front of you and you barely have enough time to slash your knife across his throat before he crashes into you. Your back hits the tiled floor, knocking the air from your lungs and the raider lands on top of your chest. You gasp for breath as he goes limp, his dead weight suffocating you. This guy is heavy.

You’re completely helpless as the sounds of battle continue above and around you. You can’t pull your arms out from under the dead guy. You can’t suck in enough air to call for help. All you can do is lie there and hope Jungkook or Taehyung get to you before you pass out from the lack of oxygen.

“Y/N?” Jungkook calls from across the room.

You let out a wheeze but it’s no use. The darkness is just getting darker. Your nose starts to tingle like it does when you stand up too fast. You’re starting to fade and you can’t do anything about it. And it isn’t so much that you’re afraid to die. You’re more afraid you might dream. The same type of dreams you fight so hard to keep away.

Suddenly the man is gone and your chest inflates quickly and painfully, your brain ordering your body to breathe. Your ribs creak as you gasp for air, unable to do anything else. The place is still too dark so you don’t know whether the hands that are on you are friendly or threatening. It doesn’t matter. You aren’t really able to protect yourself anyway.

The hand grabs the front of your jacket and twists the fabric in its fingers. With a yank, you’re pulled to your feet. Your vision is still too blurred so you stumble along as they drag you through the room. You trip over a fallen raider and would have gone down if not for the arm holding you up. All you can do is clutch your knives limply, let the arm pull you and hope it’s Jungkook or Taehyung on the other end.

They make a sharp left and then you’re pushed back against a wall, the arm now wrapped around you. Hot bursts of air tickle your ear and you immediately recognize the sound. “Jungkook,” you whisper, feeling the grip on your throwing knives loosen.

“I lost Tae,” he says between breaths. “It’s too crazy in there. But then they ran and I was alone. And I couldn’t find Tae and…God, Y/N, I couldn’t find you…”

You step into him, resting your forehead against his shoulder. “This day has been a nightmare,” you say with a heavy sigh. “Correction, a nightmare inside a nightmare.”

“Nightmare-ception,” he chuckles pathetically. You lift your head and press your lips to his jawbone. “Let’s go find Tae.”

A crash comes from around the corner and then two shots fire, echoing down the corridor past you. “I think we found him,” you say.

Seconds later, a Taehyung-shaped shadow comes around the corner, pausing just long enough to fire off another round. “Let’s get out of here!” he yells and takes off past you.

You follow after him, the three of you racing down the dark hallway. There hasn’t been any electricity for years but you know this place like the backs of your hands. There hasn’t been much else to do in a giant laboratory like this besides explore…and fight off the occasional intruder.

Even blind in the darkness, the three of you make your way straight for the nearest exit. As soon as Taehyung reaches it, he throws himself into the door and it opens with a loud clang. You and Jungkook rush out after him and you hit a wall of frigid air. Acidic snow falls from the dark sky like ash, covering everything with a soggy blanket of toxic gray cotton. The slight, acrid smell of metal and pollution hits your nostrils and you pull your scarf up to cover your face. It’s crazy what two years of war can do to the world. What people can do to their home. You’ve sabotaged yourselves with your greed and anger. Even without The Virus causing this catastrophe, it was really only a matter of time.

“We need to get moving,” Taehyung says, tugging on a hat and mask he had in his pocket. With the mask covering the bottom half of his face, only his black eyes are visible.

Jungkook pulls his hood up, throwing his own face into shadows and hitches his shotgun up on his shoulder.

“Where do we go now?” he asks, his words muffled by the scarf covering his mouth.

“South,” you blurt and the boys look at you. “Maybe we’ll have a better chance of finding food. And maybe it’ll be warmer.”

“If we stay out of the big cities, we’ll be less likely to run into more raiders,” Jungkook adds.

You shudder. “Or ravagers…”

Taehyung lets out a cold, foggy sigh. “South it is, then.”

The three of you travel in silence toward the freeway as the light snow turns into a vicious flurry of hail. Your cheeks are chapped and raw and you keep pulling your scarf up to cover more of your face until finally, only your eyes are exposed to the cold. Every breath of toxic air, even through the cloth, causes your lungs to ache and your throat to burn but you try to tell yourself that it’s better than rain. At least in this situation.

The acid somehow becomes more intense by the formation of ice crystals, driving raiders and any other threat to take shelter so now the streets are completely deserted. Except for the three of you, of course. Anyone watching from their cover probably thinks you’re absolute idiots. And maybe you are.

In no time, you make it to the tunnel connecting to the freeway. It is common knowledge that most tunnels and bridges have been taken over by roamers. Raiders usually stay away from these camps since they’d be so easily outnumbered. This one in particular is packed tightly with tents and makeshift shelters. The tunnel is already cramped but the amount of roamers here make the place all the more claustrophobic.

As soon as you step inside, the smell of unwashed bodies hits you like a brick wall and you press your scarf tighter against your nose. The three of you were lucky that the lab was always well stocked with chemicals and supplies. Hygienic products were one of the first things to run out so you’d come to learn the many uses of hydrogen peroxide. It’s really the only reason none of your teeth have rotted out of your skulls.

One look at the people inhabiting this place tells you they haven’t heard about this little tidbit of information. Or else they just haven’t thought about something as arbitrary as brushing their teeth when the world has been descending into chaos.

You wish you would have thought to grab something, anything really, from the lab before running out. Though between fighting off raiders and getting out of there as fast as you could, there wasn’t really time to do much else.

A grubby looking man in a putrid, green, army coat limps over to you and sticks a finger in your face. “Yer gonna hafta find another camp,” he says. “This one’s full.”

Taehyung steps forward. “We aren’t looking to stay. Just passing through.”

“Where ya headed?”

“South,” Jungkook blurts as he steps in between you and the foul smelling roamer. He probably noticed the way the man was looking at you. Surely, you look too clean to him. Suspiciously clean, unlike his fellow campers.

“South, eh?” he asks. “Well, good luck to ya. Wouldn’t wanna be stuck in this weather. Wouldn’t want my face meltin’ off.”

“I think we’ll be alright,” Taehyung says with a hint of disgust in his voice. His words always seem to have a touch of ice to them. Like his personality has developed freezer burn over the years.

“Would you be willing to share some food with us?” Jungkook asks in a warmer tone than his best friend’s. “Or maybe some clean water and supplies?”

The roamer narrows his eyes. “What? A fine lookin’ group like you aren’t prepared for your travelin’? What kinda nonsense is that?”

“Our place was raided,” you say stepping out from behind Jungkook. The man immediately focuses his attention back on you. “We didn’t have time to grab anything. Please, could you spare us something?” You bat your eyelashes a bit for good measure.

Apparently your charms work because the man lets out a sigh then points his chin toward Taehyung’s head. “Maybe for a little somethin’ in return?”

Taehyung reaches up and grabs the hat off his head before putting it in the man’s grimy, gloved hand. Immediately, the roamer pulls it on over his own head and turns on his heel. “Come with me,” he grumbles then trudges farther into the camp.

You bring up the rear of the line and try your hardest not to step on anything or anyone. It’s pretty difficult though with how many people there are. You pass right through the middle of a bundled up couple, huddling together in front of a wimpy fire. A rat turns on a terribly made spit. That thing is barely going to feed one of them let alone both. You feel kind of bad asking for supplies when everyone else here is obviously suffering too.

You pass by another person that’s boiling water over a little camper stove. These days, the only way to get fresh water is to boil the acid out of it. It’s not the most effective method but it at least makes the water a bit more drinkable.

The roamer at the front of the line finally stops toward the end of the tunnel and you just about run into Jungkook when he halts too.

“You say you’re headin’ south, eh? Gettin’ there’s gonna be a bit rough.”

“I think we’ll manage,” Taehyung says through his teeth. He seems to be running out of what little patience he has, if he even had any to begin with.

The man shifts from one foot to the other. “Do ya have a plan?”

What’s he waiting for?

“Yes,” Taehyung says coldly. You don’t know if he’s lying or if he actually has a plan. “But we need to get moving soon, so if you would be so kind…”

You and Jungkook watch awkwardly as Taehyung stands taller over the roamer. Like he’s a lion about to pounce on a puny little mouse. It seems like the man is trying to waste time. Maybe he’s lonely, though it doesn’t seem possible in a place packed wall to wall with people.

“So, I’ll just get your supplies then and you can be on your way,” he says and crouches down so he can enter the opening of his tent.

While you wait for the man to return, Jungkook shoves his best friend in the shoulder. “I think you’re being a little too nice there, Tae,” he says. “Why don’t you find a puppy to kick?”

Taehyung turns to glare at him. “This is a waste of time,” he grumbles. “We should just catch our own food.”

“We need more than just food, Tae,” you mutter and Taehyung’s glare shifts to you.

Before he can say anything else, the man emerges from his tent with a pack. “Some water and dried dog for ya,” he says holding out a pack to Taehyung. When he tries to take it, the man doesn’t let go. “I put in a little somethin’ extra for the lady as well.”

You figure the “somethin’” is related to the thing that should be happening for you every month but hasn’t in almost two years thanks to the drastic change your body has gone through since the world has become toxic.

“I believe that deserves me a little somethin’ extra as well, yeah?” The man’s eyes fall to the scarf around your neck, his glove creaking as his grip on the pack tightens. Your stomach twists at the thought of the snow landing on your unprotected neck.

“You can have mine,” Jungkook says, pulling his from around his own neck.

“It’s been a lonely, long time,” the man says, his eyes still fixed on you. “Lonelier without the company of a woman.” You take a tentative step back and Jungkook stiffens in front of you. “I’d die happy if only to have the scent of a lovely lady for comfort.”

Before either Jungkook or Taehyung can protest, you yank the scarf from around your throat and throw it at the roamer. He lets go of the bag to clutch the thick material up to his face and takes a deep breath. A sour taste fills your mouth but before you or Jungkook can say anything, Taehyung is pushing past the man without so much as a thanks. Jungkook takes your hand and pulls you after them.

The wind is a lot stronger now that you’re no longer surrounded by the tall buildings in the city. The hail comes down harder, bouncing off the pavement of the freeway that spreads out before you in a continuous ribbon before disappearing into the fog. Jungkook has given you his scarf and you pull it up to just below your eye and squint. There are a few cars still on the road, gutted and completely undrive-able.

“We need to get out of this,” Jungkook yells over the wind.

Taehyung hefts the pack up onto his shoulder and spins in a slow circle, taking in your surroundings while he tries to think of any viable option. Trees line one side of the freeway up a hill and a barren field spreads out on the other side.

You turn toward the woods, searching for a way up the steep, snow-covered hill. A truck sits on the side of the road a few hundred yards away. Without saying anything, you jog toward the truck, hearing footsteps as the boys follow after you. When you get to the truck, you see just how badly rusted it is.

There are huge, jagged holes in the bed and the roof of the cab doesn’t look much better. Through the broken windows, you can see mold and moss growing on the damp, destroyed seats. As long as the roof doesn’t completely cave in, this could be your way into the woods.

You put a boot up onto the crumbling tire and hoist yourself up carefully. The wall of the bed crunches beneath your feet and you take a tentative step onto the window ledge. The whole truck shifts as you make your way up onto the roof. You almost lose your balance when the roof bows dangerously.

“Careful,” Jungkook says and you feel his hands grip your waist from below.

Sweat beads on your forehead. “I’m okay.”

You hoist yourself up the rest of the way and straighten up slowly, listening for any creaks—which is hard with the hail beating down on the metal. Slipping out of Jungkook’s grasp, you edge your way around the hole in the middle of the roof, keeping to the spots that look the most stable until you reach the side closest to the hill. There’s a root sticking out of the snow and if you could just stretch your arm out far enough, you could grab it and pull yourself up. Of course, it will be painful since you left your gloves back at the lab.

The truck groans again loudly as you reach toward the root. Your fingers just barely graze it so you lean forward a bit further.

“Y/N.”

“Almost got it.”

The hail beats down on your hands making them burn, making your fingers shake so you can’t quite get a good grip. The roof of the cab complains beneath you and you move your foot. The hail covering the roof is slick and your boot slips on the wet metal. You stumble forward and fall into the hill, your bare hands sinking into the acidic snow.

As you start to slip downward, you grab a knife from your thigh and stab it into the frozen dirt. It holds as the snow burns your hands and soaks into the outer layer of clothes. You grit your teeth and against the pain and pull yourself up until you can reach the root sticking out. Wrapping your numb fingers around it, you dig into the earth with the toes of your boots. Slowly, painfully, you make your way up the side of the hill until you finally reach the top and roll over the edge. You lay there breathing heavily. Surely, your hands are bright red. You wouldn’t be surprised if there are already blisters forming. If only you hadn’t left your gloves back at the lab. Then again, it’s not like you planned on leaving so suddenly.

“You okay, Y/N?” Jungkook calls from below you.

“Yeah,” you croak and sit up so you can peer over the ledge. “Your turn.”

Of course Jungkook and Taehyung wouldn’t have as difficult of a time getting up the hill. Both of them are tall enough to reach the root from on top of the truck and in no time, the three of you are trekking through the woods along the freeway.

Before long, you come to a chain link fence, or rather, what’s left of one. It’s almost completely flattened against the ground and the top is spiky and broken. It looks like there was razor wire lining the edge at some point but someone cut it off. Immediately, you think back to the bat wrapped in barbed wire and shutter. If you hand’t rolled out of the way in time, your face would look like raw hamburger right now.

None of you say much as you trudge through the woods. What’s there to talk about anyway? With almost four years with these two, you feel like you know as much about them as you possibly can. Well, other than what happened to Taehyung at the lab during his internship.

You’ve gotten used to his strange personality over the past couple of years but your nightmares do more than leave you shaking in a cold sweat. They cause you to remember the old Taehyung. The happy one. The hyper one. You miss that Taehyung. You miss your best friend. You feel like you haven’t seen him since before his internship. You just wish you could have him back.

You pass a lot of abandoned houses. Due to raiders and the damaging weather, they look like they’ve been decaying for decades. Wherever there is still wood intact, it clings weakly to the frame, swollen in places from soaking up the toxic water, blackened in others and covered in mold. None of these houses have been inhabited for a long time. There’s no way you’d find anything useful.

You pass garages with crumbling concrete walls and sagging sheds that have given up, succumbing to nature. Your heart clenches at the memories that float to the surface of your own home.

You’ve spent too many sleepless nights sifting through the “should haves” and the “what ifs”. You’ve thought of all the possibilities. All the things that could have happened. You’ve let them eat away at you until you were just a shell. Just a crust. An empty wrapper. And you do feel empty. Only the hollowness of “too lates” and “never agains” fill you, leaving you to feel black inside. But Jungkook is your candle. He’s the one that lights the darkest corners of your soul and keeps you hanging on.

#bts #bts fanfic #networkbangtan #kwritersworldnet #bts fanfiction #bts series #bts au #bts x reader #bangtan #bts jeon jungkook #bts kim taehyung #bts jungkook #bts v #bts taehyung #apocalypse au #jungkook fanfic #taehyung fanfic #jungkook x reader #as the world burns around us

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choiceslife · 6 years ago

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When Worlds Collide: Part Nine (Limited Series)

Disclaimer: Based upon characters in Choices - Endless Summer, It Lives in the Woods, The Royal Romance, #LoveHacks, Home for the Holidays, and The Elementalists series. All characters presented are the property of Pixelberry Studios. I claim no ownership. This story is purely the work of the poster as fanfiction.

Overall Series Rating: 18+

Warnings: Adult Language, Adult Content, Sexual Discussions. Future chapters may contain SMUT and Gratuitous Sexual Descriptions

Overall Series Summary: The sisters are together again and Ava Cunningham believes only they can help her.

Author’s Note: This Limited Series is a companion/sequel to Divided By Circumstance. I suggest you at least read that series in order to understand this one. As with most of my stories, this is a crossover and is part of my interconnected Chromatic AU. My MC’s are as follows: Carrissa Monroe (TRR), Abby Bennett (#LH), Scarlett Joy (HFTH), and Taylor Reed (ES). Previous Chapters can be found in my Master List located in my header.

Tag List: @cinnamonroll-duffy @darley1101 @debramcg1106 @brightpinkpeppercorn @regrettingnathan @katurrade @teamtomsato @luxurylives @akrenich @riseandshinelittleblossom @ladynonsense @jlouise88 @thehonorarybeaumont @ritachacha @eileendannie @marshmallow-ortega @littlecrookedheart @i-choose-liam @tmarie82 @bobasheebaby @boneandfur @europeanguy @walkerismychoice @pixieferry @sstee1 @endlessly-searching-for-you

***

La Huerta

The next morning, while everyone gathered in the restaurant for breakfast, Ava shared the good news. The room buzzed with excitement that the ritual would be performed this afternoon. “That’s not all though,” Ava continued, quelling the chatter. “Whether we pull this off or not, none of us can be allowed to remember exactly what happened here. In particular, we can’t be allowed to remember Carissa, Scarlett, and Abby’s true lineage.”

“So we’re all gonna forget about each other?” Craig asked, his words laced with sadness. He wasn’t an emotional guy to most people, but his friends knew better. These new people he got to spend time with this past week were his new friends and he didn’t want to let them go.

“I could never forget you and your ‘ch-yeah boi’ Craig,” Cade shouted from across the room. The large football player cracked a tiny grin at smaller guy.

Murmurs and speculations began to ripple amongst the group. Ava knew she had to reign everyone in and ease their fears. “None of us will forget anyone, Craig. All that will change for us is the reason why we came to La Huerta and that the sister’s are just normal women. That’s it.”

“Right,” Carissa concurred. “For those of us that met at the club in New York, it’ll be that we were a group that won a free trip to the pre-launch of the new Celestial Resort.”

“And for those of us that are friends with Malfoy, it’ll be that he wanted us to beta test the resort,” Jake added.

The fears amongst the group seemed to subside and all agreed to take the potion that would protect the sister’s secret. Ava smiled, happy that the plan was finally coming together. “So in a few hours, we will all meet on the beach for the ceremony. Aleister and Lucas will monitor everything from the lab.”

___

Carissa watched the beautiful blue waves crash against the white sands of the beach. La Huerta was truly a beautiful island and she thought it would be nice to bring Liam here sometime in the near future. For now though, she had to memorize the enchantment Ava had provided her, Abby, and Scarlett. The words were short and simple, but Carissa’s nerves kept messing her up.

“You look stressed,” Ava said as she stepped beside the queen. “Don’t be.”

“How can I not? How are you not stressed about all this?”

“Because no matter what happens, you both tried,” the familiar voice of the pilot said from behind Ava and Carissa.

The Queen turned to see Jake flash that killer smile of his and she immediately felt at ease. She took a hold of his hand once he was beside her and grabbed Ava’s hand as well. “You’re both strong and have faith. That helps a lot,” Carissa said as Ava gave her hand a reassuring squeeze providing the queen that extra confidence boost. “Let’s do this!”

___

The sun continued to shine brightly in the sky, but on the beach, bolts of electricity struck as Ava channeled her powers to finding Taylor so Carissa, Abby, and Scarlett could perform the spell. The remaining friends formed a semi-circle on the sands behind them, their hands interlocked and their minds focused on positive thoughts and prayers for the ceremony to be successful.

“Taylor hear my voice. Your friends are here. They love you and want you to come back home.” Ava repeated the summons over and over until a translucent blue figure appeared on the shore. “Hello Vaanu. We’re here for Taylor. We know he’s still a part of you.”

The skies above began to darken, as did Vaanu’s corporeal form. Flashes of Taylor flickered from within the alien’s body. For everyone on the beach, it appeared as if Taylor was struggling to make his presence known.

“Is that him?” Abby asked. “Is that Taylor?”

Ava nodded. “Yes. As soon as you three see him for more than a split second, begin reciting the spell.”

The sister’s acknowledge Ava’s instructions, paying close attention for Taylor to appear while Ava kept calling for him to come through. The power surges from the sky became more frequent, several bursts hitting near the group, yet the sister’s stayed firm in their determination.

Several more flickers occurred, each time Taylor appeared for just a little longer. Ava summoned more forcefully until finally Taylor appeared in the spot where Vaanu previously stood.

“Now!” Carissa shouted to Abby and Scarlett. The sister’s grabbed each other’s hands and immediately felt power course through their veins. The rush and intensity was much stronger than the first time they touched, way back when they first met in New York.

Through time and space, Taylor has roamed;

But friendship and love, beckon him home.

Come back to Jake, a love meant to be;

Vaanu we ask you, set Taylor free.

As the sister’s repeated the words, the skies continued to darken. And Taylor began to take on a form independent from Vaanu. The two beings weren’t necessarily struggling for dominance, but the process of them dividing from a single entity didn’t appear to be pain free.

“Boy Scout!” Jake cried out seeing the apparent hurt on his husband’s face. He wanted to run and hold him, but Sean gripped his hand tightly. Jake turned towards his taller, stronger friend with tears in his eyes. “He’s hurting Sean. He needs me.”

“He’s not fully with us yet Jake. We can’t break the bond.” Sean nodded back towards the shoreline. “Keep the focus on getting him here.”

Sean was right and Jake knew it, but that didn’t make it any easier. Taylor was only a few hundred feet away, closer than he had ever been for the past year. Jake just wanted to reach out, touch him, and help ground him to this plane of existence. He could see Taylor just beyond the sisters and from where he stood, his husband was struggling. “C’mon Taylor. You can fight through this. Come home to me.” Jake squeezed his eyes shut tightly and repeated the words under his breath. By no stretch of the imagination was Jake McKenzie a religious man, but today he prayed to any deity willing to listen.

___

Warning buzzers wailed and lights flashed in the laboratory causing Aleister and his younger assistant to dash back and forth between monitors to ensure the safety of the power core. Aleister had expected there to be some surges in the system, but not to the level the system was currently experiencing. “What’s the data on your screen Lucas?”

“The readings are off the charts. They need to wrap up the ritual quickly or the amulet and power core will explode.”

“By my calculations that should have happened already,” Aleister replied as he jammed a few commands into the computer keyboard in front of him. “I don’t know what this amulet is made of, but it seems to be strengthening with the sister’s powers.”

Lucas was surprised by Aleister’s assessment, but when he double checked the information on his own computer, the amulet’s density was indeed increasing. “You’re right,” Lucas said pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “What does that mean?”

Aleister shook his head. “I wish I knew, but we’re definitely going to have to let Ava know when all this is said and done.”

Suddenly, the power surge ceased. The alarms stopped sounding and the monitors resumed their normal state. Lucas and Aleister looked at each other without a word, both men shocked at the sudden development.

___

The group stood on the beach in stunned silence, all still holding hands. The grey skies dissipated and returned to the bright blue hue from before the start of the ritual.

“This...this can’t be real...” Jake let go of Sean’s and Grace’s hand, stumbling forward towards the sisters. He fell to his knees beside Carissa, but she wrapped her arms around him and helped bring him back to his feet. Tears welled in his eyes as he hugged Carissa and motioned for Ava, Abby, and Scarlett to join the embrace.

The gesture was quick with Carissa breaking first. She nodded towards the beach, “Someone else deserves you more.”

“Jake?” A familiar voice called faintly.

The pilot turned from the sisters and slowly made his way towards the shoreline - where Taylor was standing. Not a translucent version or a hallucination, but the full embodiment of an actual human being. “Oh Boy Scout. I’ve missed you!” Jake wrapped his arms around Taylor tightly. He missed this feeling so much and now that he had it back, he never wanted it to end.

Taylor slowly wrapped his own arms around Jake’s body and eventually melted into the embrace. He rested his head upon the pilot’s shoulder for a few moments before turning his head to where Vaanu had been, but the translucent form was gone. Taylor took in the sights all around him as he and Jake eventually untangled from one another. He saw the familiar faces of his friends a short distance away and many faces he didn’t recognize.

There was a lot to take in and as Taylor walked up the beach hand-in-hand with his long lost husband, he continued to look around. The familiar sight of The Celestial came into view. Back on La Huerta after all this time. Taylor stopped walking and turned back to look at the beach momentarily.

“Boy Scout?”

Taylor turned his gaze back towards the pilot with a soft smile. “Jake...” he began to say before collapsing onto the sand.

___

Somewhere

The magenta crystals flickered within the cave as the the blond-haired man frantically searched for his friend. “Taylor? Keep calling to me. I can’t find you.” He circled back to the same areas four and five times over to no avail. Just as he was about to slouch down against the wall and breakdown, a flash of light caught his eye. He looked up to see Vaanu standing before him. “Where is he? Where is Taylor?”

The translucent figure before him extended its hand and gave the man a quick vision.

“He can’t be gone Vaanu. I just heard him calling my name. He was right here saying ‘Jake.’”

***

(To be continued)

#choices fanfic #endless summer #the royal romance #it lives in the woods #choices fandom

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jinterlude · 7 years ago

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Fight for Me (Ch.1)

↳Story Header © @softjeon (do not steal this header!)

➵ Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Female OC

➵ Genre(s): Historic!AU, Medieval!AU , Royalty!AU, Knight!AU, Romance, SMUT, Humor, & Angst

➵ Words: 5.6K

➵ Summary: Once upon a time, there was a not-so-traditional kingdom. In that kingdom, the royal family had the freedom of marrying whoever his or her royal highness deems worthy. Now, of course, having that special privilege came with some interesting challenges, but that doesn’t stop a certain head-strong princess from doing whatever her heart’s desire, especially when she has her heart set on marrying her personal bodyguard. Unfortunately, her beliefs might face some hardships when a certain king sets his eye on her. Will her bodyguard continue to fight for her or is it finally her turn?

※ Next Time: ch.2 | ch.3 | ch.4 | ch.5 | ch.6 | final chapter

Chapter 1: There Lived a Princess

Once upon a time, in a kingdom nestled on the highest cliffs, overlooking the vast, deep-blue sea, lived a well-loved royal family. The royal family ruled their people with a warm yet firm hand. They were polite and kind to their subjects. At the same time, they had enough authoritative presence that no one dared to step on their toes. They had enough common knowledge of the different countries and only sent out trading vessels when absolutely necessary. Their military personnel were one of the best but rarely used. You can say that the royal family valued peace above everything else. However, they would do whatever it took to keep the peace, especially when their beloved and only daughter scurried around the castle.

After many years of failed attempts of conceiving a child, the king and queen were on the verge of giving up. Until, one night, a miracle happened. No one knew how it happened or why it happened, but the queen prayed to her God and thanked him for blessing her with the ability to carry a child for a full-term. Thanks to that special miracle, her precious daughter, Park Sumin, was born.

Oh, the kingdom celebrated for many days and many nights as it was such a joyous occasion for the royal family to give birth to a daughter. Previous generations, it was always a son that was born, but now? The king can happily pass his crown to his daughter once his time was up, but right now, he was going to cherish the moments he has with her. He was going to teach her his favorite sport, archery, when she was in her adolescent years. He was going to teach her the art of the sword, riding horseback, and of course, diplomacy. He wanted to make sure that he need not to worry about her near the final hours of his life. He wanted to move on to the heavens knowing that his precious jewel was going to be alright.

“Mother, when are you going to get to my favorite part?” The queen heard a tiny voice ask, looking up at her with eyes full of hope.

The queen chuckled softly, “And what part may that be, my darling Sumin?”

Sumin hummed, flipping through the pages like a madwoman until she reached her favorite part.

“This part, mother! Where both you and father write about me!”

The queen faked a surprise gasp, “Oh! Of course, how can I forget?” She then cleared her throat and quickly skimmed where to begin. She held her index finger underneath the starting word and grabbed the crystal goblet filled with water. She pressed her plump lips on the rim of the glass before tilting it slightly, allowing the healthy liquid to enter her mouth. She swallowed the beverage and placed the goblet on the marble nightstand.

“Okay, shall we?”

In a blink of an eye, princess Sumin has started to develop facial features that was a mixture of her mother and father. Her eyes, brows, and smile screamed her mother while her nose and soft cheekbones came from her father. She was the perfect mix of the two. Some noble men and women had their doubts since her father was the first in the family to marry outside royalty—to marry a lowly commoner, however, an old family tradition lingered in the air. Eventually, that family tradition became a law within the royal family. The law being that the prince or princess could marry whoever he or she deemed worthy, regardless of social status. Princess Sumin’s mother was a commoner. Her parents owned a local bakery, and they would bring freshly baked goods to the castle every morning. So— it was natural they had fallen in love.

Now, Sumin’s parents hope that one day she too would find love one day.

“Do you think I’m capable of finding love, mother?” A young Sumin asked as her mother closed the “story” book.

The queen placed the book on the beautifully carved wooden desk and then peeked behind her shoulder.

“Of course, my daughter. You are capable of anything your heart desires.” Her mother said; her voice filled with encouragement.

Sumin beamed with happiness as she positioned herself in her bed. Her mother glided her way over and grabbed the covers. She tightened the soft sheet around her daughter and placed a warm kiss on her forehead.

“Now, sleep my beautiful daughter. I believe your father has set up a play date with a certain stable boy.” Her mother announced, sending a wave of excitement throughout Sumin.

Sumin practically squealed as she forced shut her eyes, unable to contain her happiness. All because she got to play with Kim Seokjin—her best friend in the castle.

With soft snores and small waves crashing onto the shore, the stars slowly disappeared as the main star, the Sun, came into view. The dark shades gradually changed into light shades. Black changed into dark blue. Dark blue changed into a light shade of reds and oranges until finally, the soft light blue painted over the skies. Big fluffy clouds simply hung out in their spots.

A loud and repeated knock echoed through the dark room, where a certain princess was still in deep slumber.

“Princess Sumin! Princess Sumin, wake up this instance! Your mother and father says it is time for breakfast!” a nagging voice shouted from the other side of the door, causing the young princess to stir in her slumber.

“Your father told me to tell you that if you are not awake and dressed soon, you will not be allowed to see your young friend, Seokjin and instead, will be spending the day in library!” the nagging voice shouted yet again.

As soon as the part of her not being able to see Seokjin entered her ears, Sumin’s eyes shot open. The young princess threw off the covers and climbed down from her enormous bed. She quickly brushed the knots out her luscious locks and grabbed her satin purple robe. She tightened the thick ribbon around her waist and practically tore off the door. She smiled brightly at her nurse and ran past her. The elderly nurse let out an exaggerated sigh before chasing after the young princess.

“Your highness! It’s not lady like to run through the halls wearing nothing but your nightgown!” Sumin heard her nurse holler after her, causing the child to giggle with amusement.

Her tiny feet skipped down the long staircase, hearing many polite greetings from the castle workers. The excited princess smiled and nodded her head as she scurried her way to the dining area, where her mother and father awaited.

“Dear, the royal Jeon family has sent us yet another later, inquiring if we had made up our mind on setting up an arrange marriage with their youngest son, Jungkook, I believe was the boy’s name.” The queen said, not looking away from the rough piece of parchment as the king peacefully ate his meal.

The king eyed his wife as he sighed while chewing up the delicious morning ham.

“The Jeon family? Aren’t they the ones notorious for their knights and what’s the word?” He paused, snapping his fingers, hoping the word would come to him. Luckily, his wife read his mind and assisted him.

“I think the word you are looking for, your majesty, is stoic.” The queen hid her amusing smile behind her gold chalice, filled with a sweet-tasting wine.

The king gave her look but had a grateful smile, “That’s the word! Stoic! King Jeon is so serious and yet the queen is completely the opposite.”

The queen simply rolled her eyes, “It’s not polite to gossip, my love.”

“Says the woman who likes to gossip with the Lady Kim about the Lady Jung.” The king playfully argued.

However, before the queen could tease back, their energetic daughter came running in, giggling as she sped away from her nurse.

“Princess Sumin!!” The nurse hollered as her heart pounded against her chest.

The king raised his brow as he opened his arms nice and wide, waiting for his hyper daughter to run into them.

“Papa!!” Sumin greeted happily as she ran into his arms.

The king chuckled deeply as he easily hoisted her up and rested her on his knee.

“Sumin, my darling girl. How did you sleep? I am assuming well since you set your nurse on a wild goose chase.” The king eyed the elderly nurse with pure amusement.

Sumin nodded happily, “I did father! I’m just filled with excitement because I get to play with Seokjin.”

The king tapped her nose lightly, “That you are, my princess. Speaking of Seokjin…” The king turned to the queen, “Can you write to the Jeon family saying that our daughter has her eye on a certain stable boy and will not be needing an arrange marriage?”

A look of disgust slowly appeared on Sumin’s face. Marrying Seokjin; her best friend/worst enemy? Gross! Sumin stuck out her tongue and vigorously shook her head.

“There is no way, I’m going to marry that gross boy. I rather kiss a frog!” Sumin rejected the idea with her entire body.

Both the king and queen fought off the smile that threatened to form. Their daughter was indeed precious.

“You do not want to marry Seokjin? Well, I guess we have to arrange a marriage for you then, since you are the first, in this family, to be extremely picky.” The king looked at her “sternly”, hoping that his harden gaze will push her to choose who she wanted to marry and not be forcibly be betrothed.

Sumin cocked her head to the side with her brows furrowed, signifying that she was deep in thought about something.

“So…if I say I want to marry Seokjin, then I do not have to marry a complete stranger?” She paused, humming to herself the more she thought about marrying her mortal “enemy”. She then peered up at her father and with a look of determination, she said, “Okay, papa! I’ll marry Seokjin one day!”

The king laughed loudly, picking her up and twirling her around.

“Good! Now, go and convince him.” He happily instructed, setting her down.

A determined smile graced her innocent lips as Sumin politely curtsied before running off with her newly charged nurse rushing after her.

Practically bouncing in her seat, Sumin eagerly waited for her helpers to be done with fixing up her hair. She puffed up her cheeks as she continuously ignored the many hands tugging her strands in multiple directions. Being a princess was hard work. When she is queen, she was going to create a law that allowed the females in the royal family to wear their hair down.

With the last jeweled flower hair pin nestled in her hair, the helpers bowed politely before leaving her presence. Sumin waved goodbye to them before hopping off her chair. She rushed over to the changing area, where her nurse laid out her dress for the day.

Sumin frowned at the sight of the horrendous death trap. There was no way that she would be able to play with Seokjin if she was busy tripping over the hem of the skirt over and over.

“Nurse! Do I have to wear this tent? Can I not wear my horseback riding outfit to run around with Seokjin?” Sumin whined as she held up her arms, waiting for the fabric to swallow her petite body.

The nurse clicked her tongue and ignored Sumin’s whines, pulling the skirt down and smoothing out the wrinkles before lacing and tying up the back of the dress.

“Princess Sumin, you have to remember that you are a future lady of the castle. You have to carry yourself with such dignity and— WILL YOU STOP MAKING SILLY FACES AT THE STABLE BOY!?” The nurse shouted, stopping mid-rant when she realized that Sumin was looking out her window and taunting the poor boy.

The nurse hung her head low and stalked up behind the mean princess. She grabbed Sumin’s upper arm and dragged her away from the window.

“Come now. You must put on your slippers and your crown. Then, you can go run amuck with the boy.” The nurse said, picking out a matching pair of shoes and placing in front of her. The nurse gently grabbed one ankle and slipped one of the slippers. She then repeated the action with the other foot. Then, the nurse quickly picked up Sumin’s crown for the day and gently placed it on her head, careful not mess up the masterpiece that is her hair.

Once the heavy accessory rested firmly on the top of her head, Sumin bit her bottom her lip; the adrenaline pumped through her veins, as she gathered her skirt and ran out the room.

The nurse watched the eager princess bolt out the room and away from her sight fast as lightening. She let out a long sigh as she shook her head before tidying up Sumin’s bedroom.

“Ah, I pity the poor man who has the honor of claiming her as his wife.” The nurse playfully thought as she picked up the discarded nightgown from the floor.

Feeling the cool sea breeze fan her face, Sumin ran through the gardens, laughing as she ran away from a now covered in mud Seokjin. She swiftly turned each corner as she heard his rushing footsteps gradually grow closer and closer.

“Get back here and fight me!” Sumin heard Seokjin threaten, causing her to laugh even harder.

Sumin glanced behind her shoulder,” I just did, you halfwit and look what happened. I whooped your butt!”

A young and easily tempered Seokjin glared at the princess’s backside.

“Yeah, but that’s because you are a cheat! Fight me like a real man!” He shouted as he closed the gap between them. His fingers could almost grab on the scruff of her dress.

Sumin immediately halted in her tracks. Oh, so he wanted her to fight him? Fine. She was going to fight. She swiftly scrunched up the hem of her skirt and turned around. An evil smirk was painted on her lips as she charged at the young boy. She tackled him onto the ground, and the two children began to wrestle, dirtying up their attires even more.

Sumin successfully had Seokjin pinned to the ground as she grabbed a fist full of mud and smeared it all over his face.

Seokjin groaned as he continued to struggle. For an eight-year-old girl, she sure fought like a grown man.

The two children continued their roughhouse until a loud, booming voice put a halt in their fun activity.

“What is going on here?!” Sumin heard her father yell and boy, he was not happy— or so she thought.

The dirty children scrambled up on their faces and hid their faces in shame, until they heard the sound laughter. Multiple of laughter.

“I told you to go and convince Seokjin to marry you, not beat him up.” The king said, eyeing her “seriously”.

Sumin fixed her lopsided crown and ran up to her father.

“I tried papa, but he said he would rather marry his horse than me, so I had to teach him a lesson for talking back to his princess.” She argued, sticking out her bottom lip cutely, hoping to earn sympathy points.

Seokjin gawked as he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, however, he wasn’t surprised. Sumin always did like to make up lies about him.

“What?! No, I did not! You are—” Before he could tattle on Sumin, revealing the truth to the king, Seokjin felt a sharp pain on the back his head. He angrily turned around and saw his father staring down on him, giving him “the look”.

“Seokjin, how many times do I have to tell you to be nice to Princess Sumin?” His father asked, looking at him seriously. Though, he was fighting off the smile that threatened to appear after seeing his son covered from head to toe in mud.

Seokjin grumbled, “None papa….”

“Good. Now, go tell the princess that you will marry her once she is of marrying age.” Seokjin heard his father say, causing the poor boy to groan and complain. Unfortunately, for him, his father was not having any of his whines. He pointed at Sumin’s direction and narrowed his eyes onto Seokjin.

Seokjin kicked the grass before stomping up to Sumin. He frowned deeply and looked away from her face.

“I guess I will do you the honor of being your husband.” Seokjin managed to choke out.

Sumin smiled proudly and looked up to her father, “See father, I managed to convince him to be my future husband.”

Both the fathers stared at their children, questioning whether a marriage will work out between them or not. It was going to be an interesting union, that’s for sure.

Since that fateful day, many years has passed. The kingdom was still prosperous and had no major conflict. There was only one war, but that was quickly squashed just before Sumin’s fifteenth birthday.

Now, it was dawn of her eighteenth birthday and Sumin could hardly contain her excitement. Yes, it was her birthday, but something much more important was going to happen. Tonight, was the night her and Seokjin were going to officially announce their betrothal. Tonight, was the night Seokjin was going to take her to the garden and ask her to be his wife.

She happily flailed on her bed as she allowed the warm Sun to fill up her body. She kicked off the covers and quickly rushed to her vanity mirror. She picked up her emerald encrusted hairbrush and brushed out the knots and smoothed down any stragglers. She wanted to look her best for when she sees Seokjin.

Just thinking about him caused butterflies in her stomach. You can say that they were childhood sweethearts. They went from being closest of friends to being blossoming lovers. He had been her first of everything. Her first friend. Her first fight. Her first hug. Her first kiss. Her first romantic companion. Now, she had prayed every single night that he would be her first husband and be each other’s first when they lose their virginities.

A soft knock emitted from her bedroom door and a familiar voice followed close behind. Sumin’s eyes beamed with joy as a bright smile graced her face. She quickly shouted, “enter”, as she pretended to look disinterested.

The door slowly swung open and then heavy footsteps followed close behind.

“Your highness, your father is requesting your presence—” However, before the familiar person could finish his message, his lips were immediately covered by Sumin’s.

Sumin pulled away, smiling, “You do know that my father wants to talk to me about tonight. He wants to make sure our engagement announcement runs smoothly, Seokjin.”

Seokjin chuckled before kissing her nose sweetly, “Easy there, my love. I have not proposed to you, yet. Now, I am second guessing it since you already have the idea planted in your pretty little mind.”

Sumin gawked and then smacked his arm, “How dare you talk to your princess like that?!”

“You do know that we are not children anymore, so that line does not quite work on me.” Seokjin playfully argued, wrapping his arounds around her waist and placing a sweet kiss on her temple.

Sumin pouted cutely, “It does not? Maybe this might work then.” She then leaned up, pressing her enticing lips next to his ear as she whispered unspeakable things, riling up Seokjin’s hormones as a result.

His crotch area started to feel tight as alluring thoughts filled his mind. Fuck…Sumin knew how to have him like putty in her hands. Though, in their heated kisses, she was always the one begging for him.

An animalistic growl left his lips as Seokjin shut his eyes, trying to think innocent thoughts but failing. All he wanted to do was throw her on the bed and tear off her nightgown. He wanted to take her virginity and give her his in return.

Before the thoughts became too troubling, Seokjin cleared his throat and gave her a firm look.

“You are an evil princess, you know that, right?” He asked, tearing his gaze away from hers.

Sumin giggled, “Only for my knight. Now, wait outside while I dress for breakfast and meeting with your future father-in-law.”

Seokjin shook his before bowing his head. He announced he was leaving before turning around and walking out of the chambers.

Sumin smiled softly before calling for her chamber maids to help dress her. She took a seat in front of her mirror and folded her hands in her lap as the maids went to town on her hair and face while her loving nurse picked out her attire for the day and planed her birthday gown for the evening.

“I remember it was only yesterday where you only this high and bouncing with excitement.” Sumin heard her nurse say followed by a couple of sniffles.

Sumin subtly glanced to the side and saw her nurse crying.

“My dear nurse, please do not shed a tear. It is only my birthday. Please. Save your tears for my wedding day.” She politely said, holding out her handkerchief for the nurse to take.

The nurse gently grabbed the soft fabric and wiped her tears.

“Oh, dear lord, I do not even want to picture your wedding day. I still cannot believe that you and Seokjin are on the right path to that. You two used fight like cats and dogs and now, you are guys are absolutely in love with each other.” The nurse stated, reminiscing the days where the two of them used play in the mud and wrestle.

Sumin giggled as the maids neatly tucked her braided hair in a bun.

“We still fight like cats and dogs, and I still win those fights. Thank you very much.” She smiled proudly at herself, earning a few giggles from the helpers.

The nurse rolled her eyes, “Your union shall definitely be interesting. Now, let’s get you dressed before your father sends his entire militia after you.”

Sumin chuckled yet again as she playfully rolled her eyes. She politely dismissed her maids with a sincere smile before standing up. She eyed her dress, silently whining underneath breath as the nurse dressed her. Her dislike of dresses would never change.

Now, walking gracefully down the long corridor, Sumin politely waved and acknowledged the many birthday greetings she received from the castle workers. Of course, Seokjin was close behind, watching his woman like a hawk. The job of being her personal knight.

“Princess, your father is going to be impatient and end up having both of us for breakfast. Can you please hurry up?” Seokjin asked, picking up the pace of his strides.

Sumin scoffed, “You just want the marriage talk to be over with.”

“Well, according to your parents, we are already wedded so…” Seokjin argued, shooting her backside a knowing look.

“Do you really detest the idea of us being wedded?” Sumin stopped in her tracks and looked up to Seokjin, sadness glazing over them.

Seokjin stopped as well; his demeanor changing into a loving companion. He gently grabbed her hands and lightly pressed his lips to her knuckles.

“Of course not, my love. I just wanted us to be wedded at our own pace. You just turned eighteen, and I am about to turn nineteen. We are still children in my eyes.” Seokjin tried to reason with Sumin; his worries finally seeing the light. Sumin hung her head low and sighed sadly. She always hated when he was the voice of reason between them.

“You know that I am right, my beloved. I do plan on wedding you and making you the mother of my children one day, that is no secret. For now, I just want us to enjoy our young adulthood while we can before we both turn into a pair of old folks and need assistance with everything.” Seokjin added, lowering his head to look at Sumin’s eyes.

Sumin chuckled softly and nodded, “I hate it when you are right, but I am thankful that you are. Now, we need to convince my father that we want to wait until we are in our twenties to wed.”

Seokjin pecked her nose and then pulled her close, enjoying her radiating warmth.

“Watch, your father will have us wed right this second if he found out that we wanted to wait.” He teased as the two proceeded to walk to the dining area.

Sumin snorted and then told him that it would be rather amusing if he was right— and he was.

Now sitting right next to her father, with their many personal knights, kitchen and dining workers, and other castle workers stationed all over the dining area, Sumin slowly blew out the hot air from her mouth as continued to avoid her father’s questioning gaze. Did his ears hear his daughter, right? She wanted to wait a couple of more years before she wedded. He was certainly not getting any younger. He would love to see his daughter wed before he died.

The king cleared his throat, earning the undivided attention of everyone in the tensed room.

“May I ask why the sudden change of heart, my darling Sumin? Was it not last week you and Seokjin were happily talking about being husband and wife?” He asked; his deep baritone voice echoing throughout the halls of the busy castle.

Both Sumin and Seokjin flinched, unsure how or better yet, what to say next. The last thing they both wanted was to upset the king.

Building enough courage to meet his hardened gaze, Sumin sighed and then turned her head towards him. With a sweet smile, Sumin politely explained that she just became the marrying age and that she and Seokjin became serious lovers not too long ago. They were both new at being intimately close to one another and want to take their time, getting to know each other. All they knew of each other was what they learned from when they were merely friends. If they were to rush into a royal union, then who knows what would happen.

As Sumin continued to peacefully explain why she and Seokjin should not wed right now, Seokjin felt his heart pound against his chest. His palms were clammy as the nerves were getting the best of him. Yes, his heart was settled on marrying his princess, but he wanted to wait until they were a little bit more mature. However, his worst fear resulted from the wanting to wait. His worst fear of someone who was in higher social standing, who was better suited, who was simply not him to wed his precious Sumin.

Then, in the middle of his thoughts, an awful thought appeared to him. What if the king decided to arrange a marriage for his daughter while she was explaining? He wouldn’t do that, right?

Finally, after what it seemed like hours of talking, Sumin caught her breath. She wanted to make sure that she covered every point that she knew her father would bring up in a counterargument. She had a knack for the whole political talk; a trait she developed from her father. Funny, huh?

The king rubbed his chin lightly, taking in what his daughter told him. Maybe he was too harsh with the whole, “You must marry as soon as you turn eighteen!” If he thought about it with a clear mind, he would’ve remembered that when he married Sumin’s mother, they were both in their early to mid-twenties. Eighteen was the age he officially declared his romantic feelings for her. Sumin was right, she and Seokjin were still only children in that aspect.

He cleared his throat before taking a sip of his sweet wine.

“You may have a point, Sumin…” He paused, sighing deeply. “Okay, I will grant your request to marry in a couple years’ time.” He announced.

Sumin’s eyes lit up like the annual firework show. She squealed in delight as she practically flung herself out of her seat and wrapped her arms around her father. She tightly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed her father’s cheek sweetly. She happily yelled a quick thank you before curtsying and taking her leave. She grabbed Seokjin’s hand, and the young lovers rushed out to their secret spot— the rose covered gazebo.

The king and queen watched the happy couple leave their sight with amusing smiles painted on their lips.

“You did the right thing, my king.” The queen warmly complimented before patting the corner of her lips with her napkin.

The king raised his brow, “Oh? Do I get a little reward for being such an amazing father?”

The queen choked on her drink as her cheeks grew bright and warm. She knew how playful he can be, so two can play at that game.

“Of course. You get to feel happy knowing that your daughter is happy.” She teased.

The king scoffed lightly, “Well played, my wife. Well played.”

Meanwhile, back with the joyful lovers, the two were caught up in a heated kiss. They only had a few more hours before they had to disappear to prepare for the birthday ball, so they wanted to make the most what of little time they had left.

Hands were roaming the other person’s body as the fiery touch ignited the desire to do more than just kissing. The two wanted to be tangled between the sheets, filling the room with nothing but sweet whispers and sounds of passionate love making.

With her head tilted the side, Sumin bit her bottom lip as she felt her skirt hiked up, revealing her smooth thigh as his hands left a trail of electricity. She felt her core grow wetter and wetter as she became aroused.

Her neck was being attacked by his precious lips. His teeth nipping and sucking on patches of unmarked skin as if he was marking his territory. Eventually, the pleasure became too much as the one sound, that Seokjin always hoped to hear while making love to her, left Sumin’s lips.

Hearing that one moan sent his hormones into a wild frenzy. He roughly grabbed her face and captured her lips once more, pressing his crotch area against her center, hoping that she would see what her actions are doing to him.

“Princess! Enough assaulting each other’s lips and come here! It is time to prepare for the party!” The two heard Sumin’s nurse shout from the distance.

The two reluctantly pulled apart, both displaying bright red and swollen lips. Their hairs were disheveled, and their outfits a wrinkled mess.

A sheepish grin appeared on their faces as they kissed each other sweetly, pouring their loves into it before separating for now. Luckily, they were going to see each other at the ball. The joys of being in love with an assigned guard.

Amidst the preparation for the birthday ball, the bright lights and colors soon changed into dark colors and dimmed lights. The full moon illuminated the castle like its own personal spotlight. Fireworks shot up into the sky as carriages arrived one by one to the kingdom. Every noblemen and lady arrived with their eligible son in hopes that he would capture the princess’s eye. Unfortunately, for them, her heart was already under lock and key by a certain knight.

The grand ballroom was filled with lively music and happy chatter as every subject, royal family, and everyone in between came from faraway lands to wish Princess Sumin a wonderful birthday.

Each suitor took turns dancing with the princess, hoping to win her over with their witty charm, however, that only annoyed her even more.

After dancing with Prince Namjoon, Sumin happily excused herself to go talk to her mother and father. Namjoon politely kissed her knuckle before bowing and taking his leave. As soon as he was out of line of sight, Sumin dropped her polite smile and searched ballroom for Seokjin. Once she found him, glaring daggers at Prince Namjoon, Sumin’s smile became bright and genuine as she glided through the crowds of people. The perks of being a princess. Everyone parted right through the middle.

Her gracious steps hurried over to Seokjin as she wanted nothing more to be next to the man who truly loved her.

“Having fun dancing with stuck up princes?” Seokjin asked; his hand positioned right above the handle of his sword.

Sumin rolled her eyes, finding his jealousy rather amusing yet unnecessary.

“Oh, you know it. Now, I have to make a difficult decision on who I should wed and bear many children with.” She sarcastically said, earning herself a light shove from the knight.

Seokjin mocked her tone, “Fine, if you marry one of them, then I will marry one of your mother’s ladies in waiting.”

Sumin gasped and glared coldly at him, “Which one and I will see to it that she is fired.”

Seokjin chuckled deeply, still finding it fun to push her buttons. The playful knight and the cheerful princess continued to tease one another, both not showing signs of ceasing.

While the playful couple was enjoying their own little world, the king and queen eyed them with curiosity in their gaze. They were too absorbed with watching their daughter and her knight joke around with each other that they failed to realize that there was a royal presence lingering in the air.

Soon, the mysterious person cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the king and queen.

“Ah, King Ji Yong, to what do the queen and I owe the pleasure of your presence on the eve of my daughter’s birthday celebration?” The king spoke in a diplomatic voice.

“I have come to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

A/N: Officially back on the scene with my writing! For my new beginning, I am only going to upload Fight for Me on this site while the rest of my work, you can find on my AO3! However, if there is a story you want back up, then just shoot me a message, and I will add it up! Now, the reason for uploading this series, FINISHED I might add, is because I am going to be writing a sequel! Yup, a sequel! This story is my baby, and .... well I don’t want to give away a spoiler for the new readers out there! Anyway, I will begin writing the first chapter once this one is published!

Don’t forget to leave a like/reblog/comment/send in an ask on your thoughts! I love hearing them! :)

- Kim

340 notes · View notes

yoongspd · 7 years ago

Photo

Pillowtalk; knj

Genre: friends with benefits au, angst

Word Count:3k words

Warnings: implied sex

Pairing: Namjoon x Reader

Author’s Note: Hi, Tabitha @ga1axydefender! Thank you for helping me improve my work. I’d realized the dull spots of this fic through your comments. Also, credits to @pjmnnie for the raw image of this header.

If you think it’s good or bad, I’d appreciate if you tell me as I’m quite new to writing Creative Fiction. Enjoy!

___________

“Uhh, Joon?”

“Hmm?” he mumbles, slightly-built arms still wrapped around you.

You bite your lower lip out of habit. It was either you piecing your thoughts together or you trying to find the courage to utter your words. “Can I crash on your sofa? I don’t want to walk home alone tonight.”

“Goodness, ____!” He chuckles as he turns and leans on his side to face you. “News flash, ____, we just had sex. What’s wrong with you staying over? Especially on my bed where, well, we’ve fucked? Quit your couch bullshit. You’re always welcome here, sex or none.” His eyes are fixed on you. His mind flashes him a supercut of yours and his casual trysts together over the past weeks, but his lust-strained thoughts are overpowered by a curious amusement of your mind’s workings.

You cover your face with your left hand, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. You hated what this all implied. “God, this will sound pathetic and paranoid,” you mumble with a certain hint of annoyance.

Namjoon snickers. “I’ve known you for some time, I wouldn’t be surprised anymore. Well, because you kind of are paranoid.” This earns him your infamous death glare.

“Ugh, nevermind. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Shut up. I’m sure you do. Go hand me a serving of your daily introspection.” He says all this with genuine encouragement. He shifts on the bed once again to make himself more comfortable.

Despite your annoyance, you fight off the small smile trying to tug at your lips. He noticed. And he was right. You liked talking. Not to everyone, that is, but Namjoon became one of the few exceptions. He listened, and he always made it seem like he wanted to hear everything you had to say.

You exhale a shaky breath. “This. Our arrangement, I mean,” You pause to lower your gaze from his pale ceiling to his eyes. You are quick to hide the sudden halt in your chest as you see him engrossed. Cliché enough, you felt as if your lungs were gripped on a chokehold. The atmosphere was in a tight pause for a few seconds. He was paying attention.

You remind yourself that this was Namjoon, he was a good person – scratch that, he was better than majority of the human species – he is always like this. “I know this trope from movies and fiction. We’re obviously friends with benefits, fuck buddies, whatever you call it. And we both know this is platonic,” you ease into the context of what you plan to say.

He interjects, “So? What’s your point?”

You take a deep breath and say in one go, “I hope I don’t scare you away, but like there’s this thing where somehow this sort of thing would lead us towards feelings because of like couple-y gestures. Sorry, I mean, like acts beyond the fucking. For example, sleeping over and… your arms around me.” However, Namjoon seems to have his mind elsewhere now.

“I fucking doubt we’d become that, but I’d like to avoid all possible hazards,” you wrap up, but your words weaken their resolve with every uttered word.

“I get what you mean. I can stay on the couch if you’re uncomfortable.”

“No, no. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want to put you in much trouble. So sorry. Uhh, is it fine if I sleep here beside you then?” You fidget with your hands, avoiding looking at Namjoon directly. “Of course.” Remembering what you’d said earlier, Namjoon releases his arms draped around you much to his regret. But as he sees you loosen up, he kicks at his previous thoughts and longing of having you in his arms. Platonically, of course.

He lies on his back again, staring at the ceiling like you were. It seems the temptation of sleep has abandoned the both of you.

Namjoon gathers the courage to ask, “Why do you say sorry too much?”

The sudden invitation to converse doesn’t surprise you. Namjoon liked to speak of the stars, philosophy, and whatever an aesthetic angsty romance blog dreamt of.

Yours and Namjoon’s eyes solely wander the ceiling, but you talk, “Good question. But do you really want me to start a sob story right now?”

“I’m all ears.”

“Well, I’ve actually had some introspection regarding this.”

“Of course you have.”

You snicker at his comment. “You know me so well.” And you send him a huge grin, because well, you love talking about yourself, and he seems to love listening to you. “Uhm, okay. So I think I say sorry a lot because I know I only have myself to blame every time.”

“That’s ridiculous,” despite the interjection, you hear the smile in his voice.

“Maybe for you, but… I guess, this is negatively Nihilistic, all things happening to me are consequences of what I have done,” you defend.

Your words trouble him. To him, it seems you are carrying the weight of the world if you think like this. Now, he sees where your apparent self-hatred sourced its fuel. “Not always. You didn’t choose to be here.”

“Well, not at the start. But there’s always something I can do about things. Had I really not wanted to exist, I’d have killed myself. However, as much as this life is a tragedy, things aren’t always bad.”

“You know what?” You prompt.

You don’t get an answer from him. Nonetheless, you continue, “Whenever I failed something, you know –not do what my mom wants me to have done, she’d find the fault in me. And maybe that was a bit too harsh, but it was logical. I guess there’s always something I could’ve done whenever things went wrong.”

He quotes, “When you’re the leader, everything’s your fault.’ That’s from A Bug’s Life. If everyone thought like that, there wouldn’t be wars.”

“Thanks.”

“But ____, not everything is your fault,” He repeats.

“I know, but I think bad things don’t happen to people if they are cautious enough.”

A brief pause hangs in the air. But you surprisingly don’t feel uncomfortable.

“So when I stood you up at that ball when we were fourteen, did you blame yourself?” He tries to argue. But he also wanted to indulge in your thoughts about him.

“Partly. Had I been prettier or more interesting, maybe—“ “No! No! You’ve got it all wrong. Nobody deserves to be treated the way I did you!”

“You were also fourteen, Namjoon. And you were an immature dimwit. Really, if you’d liked me, you would’ve gone with me rather than pick up another girl when we already had plans.”

“I. was. the. asshole. Okay?”

“I didn’t say you weren’t. But face it, these things do not happen to pretty people.”

He punches himself mentally for he was already void of a response. “I’m sorry.”

“Too late. It haunted my self-esteem for the entirety of my adolescence.” You laugh, and he only cringes. It was a total dick move.

“Would you have said yes if I asked you to be my girlfriend back then?” He wonders.

“You never would have. But you know the answer to that if you had asked that girl I killed. Now, good night, Namjoon. Thanks for letting me stay in your bed. Shut up already.”

“Good night, ____.” There was a slight ache in his chest. He knew you liked him so much when you were younger and immature. Would you have been childhood sweethearts if he had kept his promise that night? Maybe, if he weren’t an asshole. You weren’t on the boys’ stupid date list. You kept to your circle of friends and didn’t initiate conversation outside of it. Nevertheless, you caught Namjoon’s eye. Quite a looker, if you look closely. He noted in his head before. Namjoon frowned.

But had you two been together back then, he doubted it would last. Then you wouldn’t speak to him ever again and wouldn’t have what you two had today. He falls asleep contented with his reasoning. He liked this, what you two have now.

–

“Why doesn’t she like me back?” He voices faintly. His words mimic a whisper, but you hear them as they are one of the few things that maintain a presence of life in his room. You are both staring at his ceiling again.

You know he is talking about Carmen from one of his Engineering classes. The kind of girl that never gets caught in trouble. Partly because she would hardly risk herself in those, and partly because she was still careful when she got into them. She was kind, smart and pretty. Average. But the only interaction you’ve ever had with her were your eyes meeting at the corridors, so you couldn’t tell.

“Tell me what she’s like,” You ask instead.

“She never fails to make me laugh. She’s really witty. And— And she has dreams. Like, real dreams and goals for her future.” You can tell he was carefully choosing his words, but despite that, it was clear for you that Namjoon was whipped.

“Wait. How would you know she doesn’t like you?”

He hesitates. “I told her two days ago.”

You laugh at that, “Goodness, Joon, you’re such a sap!”

“And she told me she could never feel the same.” The embarrassment creeps up on him. He felt so mushy sharing a heartache with you. Now, you’re the one embarrassed.

“Okay. That’s it. Goodnight, _____.”

“You can’t escape from me, Joon,” You tease. “What are you, twelve? Confessing feelings and shit like that?”

“This is why I should’ve never told you,” He groans.

“Sorry, Namnam. But, honestly, I can’t see why she doesn’t. Anyone would be lucky to have you.” You turn to face him, offering a kind smile.

He shifts too, the both of you now facing each other. The close proximity charges you with a static you choose to ignore. This was Namjoon.

“So, you’re saying you’re lucky to have me?” He grins.

“It’s an honor,” you jokingly correct, “But I’m only saying that because baby Joon had his heart broken.”

“Nah, you can’t take that back anymore. It’s an honor for me too.” His smile never leaves him. Then, without much thinking, he kisses your cheek for extra assurance.

The move surprises you, and you want to punch yourself in the gut for feeling something you can’t quite identify.

–

“You keep on hating society and its structures, but we make up society, Joon.” You say after you’ve tucked yourself beneath his sheets. Sleeping over after cleaning yourself off had become a shared habit for you and Namjoon. And the pillowtalk was a necessary bonus.

“Yet you still follow the structures as if you don’t have a choice.” He debates.

You glare at him. He was right, but it took him so much ease to judge– as if he already knows all of you. You sigh. “I don’t have the luxury to deviate, you know that.”

“And I do?” He points, quite dumbly in your opinion.

“Haha. I’m not going to stroke your ego.”

“Really, tell me.” He says with a grin stretching across his face, eyes encouragingly squinting from his smile.

“You got that merit scholarship without reviewing for the CETs, right?”

He nods cautiously. He knew this was going to be thrown against him.

“Well, I studied so so hard for that same scholarship. But I received one for financial need rather than intellectual prowess.”

“Hey, hey, that doesn’t invalidate your intelligence.”

“Maybe. But my point here is you don’t have to make much of an effort anymore. You’re literally a genius. So please don’t hate on me when I say you have it easier. Me? I have everything at stake.”

Another pang of ache in his chest. His ego, maybe. “Only in the case of academics. Life is difficult for me too.”

“Maybe.” You respond, though unconvinced.

He nudges your shoulder after absorbing what you replied. “Now you’re invalidating my pain.”

“Yes. I’m aware I’m an insensitive bitch.”

“Why did you want that scholarship so bad? Most of who we know stayed.”

You take a while to respond. This… was personal.

“I wanted to get away. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. But often I couldn’t bear living with them. It’s difficult to explain.”

“Once again, do tell me. If you feel like it of course.”

You exhale a bit.

“Well, my mother always made me pretend I was bubbly and an overachiever and that this family was picture perfect when we all knew it was fucking dysfunctional. It was fucking exhausting. She even lies about my achievements. No, she didn’t exaggerate. She lied. She’d say I’d competed in a Math Olympiad in High School. You know I didn’t. And I had to live up to that lie and when I reflected on that, I guessed who I am and was is someone my mother isn’t proud of. Imagine feeling not enough as a child. Then she asks me why I “act” all depressed.”

“I thought she loved you.”

“She does. I think she does. On some days, she supports me. But most of the time, she asks, why didn’t you get that? Like the Merit Scholarship, for example. All my achievements are nothing because they aren’t the best.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Nobody does.”

“You never shared.” He quickly interjects.

“Nobody asked.”

“We were always willing to listen.”

“Namjoon, If I don’t have my family, who do I have?”

You are surprised to feel his hand over yours. You are both connected once again in his bed, but this time it was different. As the warmth of his hand seeps through your skin, you tense up in alarm. This was against the rules.

“The answer is nobody, Namjoon.” You lightly chew on your bottom lip. Regardless of your words, you don’t exert effort to remove your hand under his. His grip only tightens on yours.

“I’m here for you, alright.”

“You don’t know that.” You finally remove your hand from his, and proceed to lift yourself off of his bed to dress up. “I can’t stay the night,” you explain.

“It’s late, I’ll walk you home.”

You don’t refuse, there was no way to change his mind.

–

The both of you pause to look at the river. Calm and serene, wrapped under the subtle radiance of the dawn’s moon. Unknowingly, you and Namjoon share the exact same comfort the river offers.

Staring straight ahead, he says, “____, I need to tell you something.”

Not looking at each other has become a habit. You don’t give him an answer, and only continue to stare at the river. However, you feel him take a long look at you, and you remind yourself that this was Namjoon.

“_____, I think I like you. Beyond friends. I like you beyond what we have right now.”

His words register and you feel as if something has lodged itself in your throat. “Are you messing with me?” You finally croak out, you have decided all of it was bullshit.

“Why would you think that? Of course I’m not.”

“Okay. You’re just saying this because you’re trying to move on from Carmen,” the panic evident in your voice.

He groans at your reply. “I’m not, okay. Seriously.”

All of it still sounds surreal to you. This was Namjoon, and he never before liked you back when you did, back when you still felt. This was Namjoon and if he did have feelings, they should be reserved for people who were still whole.

“I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” you frantically piece together, “If you need a casual fuck, you know I can offer you that.”

“Listen,” He grips your arm. You freeze in response, completely taken aback. “I’ve been starting to long for our conversations more than whatever happens before those. And Carmen was almost a month ago, _____. I like you. It’s that simple.”

His grip on you finally loosens and the silence that remains decides to engulf the both of you. Your mind files all his recent words under the same folder labelled bullshit. Namjoon would never lie, but sometimes he could have errors in judgment. You walk ahead, and he only looks at your frame trying to understand what was going on in your head before he finally matches up with your strides.

–

Before you close the door between the two of you, you extend your “good night” and “thank you”s through, “If what you were saying was not made up fiction, you had easily moved on from Carmen after a month. I can’t be any different.”

Before he can retort, you tersely cut him off, “It’s not simple. And you don’t know that.” You shut your door.

After minutes of the guilt and self-hatred gnawing at you, dreamless sleep finally overcomes you.

Namjoon only picks up on what you meant as he meets the river on his way back. Momentary anger looms over him and he kicks a stray rock into the waters.

–

Kim Namjoon: I’ll stop disturbing you now. Please, let’s talk.

You: 4pm. cafe near east wing.

When he receives your reply, he doesn’t feel the relief he was hoping for. He was muddled again. You had ghosted him for a week after that night he walked you home. And he thought you two were friends already. You’d already known him so well. Even on things he never said out loud.

Frustration is evident on his face when you take the seat across his.

“You know what I think?” He didn’t even bother with a greeting.

You look at him sullenly, you don’t have to put yourself in pain by giving him answers.

“You stick to this notion that if someone actually loves you, they should be sure of it the instant they say it. That they should be absolutely fucking sure that you are all they want. No baggages left. And unless that’s what’s happening, they don’t love you at all. Well, truth is, you are so fucking difficult to love, __!”

Tears spill angrily from your eyes. You weren’t one to cry in front of others, you were always the tough one, always resolute on what you believed in. But this time, he was right. Bull’s Eye. He had laid it in front of you. One of the nightmares which had always haunted you: nobody will ever love you.

“Yeah, well fuck the idea that there actually is somebody out there who is meant to love you. That we were all born in pairs. That’s just another bedtime story mommy told you to rid your mind off the monsters under your bed. Fact is, love isn’t for everyone. I thought you –of all people, what with your screw society’s expectations maxim—would fucking know that! I don’t need a goddamned pep talk on: oh, Susan you are not worthy of love. Because. I. Of all people. Fucking. Know.”

He closes his eyes in frustration. Inhales a deep breath to calm his thoughts. And he meets your eyes again, yours always seemingly unfazed from criticism—always stoic. “You’re wrong,” he finally says.

“And I’m staying to have this forsaken conversation with you. That’s the only wrong thing I said because I am leaving,” you say as you wipe off your tears and put down the money to pitch in for what you ordered earlier.

He sighs again. Repeating the same short ritual of getting his aggravated thoughts in place. And before you push back your seat to cue another unsaid good bye, he once again speaks up. All this, he’s said with eyes downcast.

“You’re wrong because, yes you are such a pain in the ass, but that doesn’t fucking stop me from feeling this way. No, not just feel. I’d fucking choose you today over any perfectly binded fairytale, over and over again, ____.”

You were already halfway towards the café’s exit. But with what he’s said, your feet remain frozen on the floor. You look at his slumped figure, and everything inside you is drowning into a riot. You’ve been through this before. For most parts of you, this was bullshit. Wordlessly, you head quickly to make the leave you promised.

When your room’s door behind you shuts, hot tears silently rage down your face. You’ve never forgotten how it felt when that clenching heaviness tore away on the edges of the void, the center of your chest. But now that you feel it again, the sobs escape louder this time.

You hold a hand over your mouth, struggling to breathe properly. This and the void were all that you knew. You hunch over yourself, and bask in self-hatred. Why were you crafted this way? Why can’t you just love and be loved like others do?

–

Four days after, and your scent still lightly clutched on Namjoon’s unwashed sheets. Its lingering presence serving as a vague reminder of one of his favorite things in the world—his face between your legs. Unintentionally, every breath he takes under his blankets as he lulls himself to sleep only reminds him of what wasn’t there anymore. And as he recognizes you at the seams of his consciousness, he couldn’t help but loathe the world even more.

You didn’t have a clue on what he was going through. Well, maybe you did, but you had invalidated all he felt –all he feels—right in front of his face without even uttering a single word.

That was Namjoon’s truth: maybe he loves you. Because he liked how your mind works. He wanted to hear about your everydays. He wanted to learn the bits of you he couldn’t reach. The sides of you you had closed off. But it wasn’t just about you, for you had listened to him and had understood. You also made him question where he stood, and affirmed him when he’d been too confused. You’d made him feel comfortable around you. He was most of himself. And he’d felt that you liked him most as he was himself, too. Wasn’t this what it felt like to be loved? Now, it was only the end of what could have begun.

Three knocks on his door bolts him up from his thoughts.

It looked like a storm had hit him. Heck, he seemed to be brewing the storm itself for the past eleven days. And so far, he had no plans of rehabilitating. It wasn’t too obvious, but behind his eyeglasses and face mask were bloodshot eyes and a neglected skin routine.

“You look… great,” were his first words.

You were there, and you looked just the same. The same probably unbrushed hair, your mild milky soap scent, usual sneakers, a sweater he already knows, jeans he had preferred off you and actually slid them off of you several times. You were the same, as if it were just another of those casual visits you always made. You were the same, and he had slowly deteriorated as he had spent his time staring at the jagged pieces of himself.

You finally muster the courage to speak. “I don’t want you to stop disturbing me.”

He is now the one without the words. What you said hardly made sense in his head. This was not part of the pattern.

You continue, “I’m still the same, and I don’t want any fixing. But if you want to, maybe we can talk properly this time.”

“Then, come in,” were his second.

#btsneabl #kwordsmiths #bangtanarmynet #bts fanfiction #namjoon fic #namjoon #knj #one-shot #this is the longest fictional piece ive ever written #bts fic #as i do not actually write creative fiction 🙃 but this was just in my head for such a long time #pls tell me what you think !!

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writerspink · 8 years ago

Text

Basic Topics

Food

cook bread cake pie noodles pasta eggs meat milk cheese oil chocolate chips cookies crackers treats snacks muffin rolls biscuit cupcake brownies bagel biscotti French fries sandwich hamburger salad meatloaf breakfast lunch super dinner snack fruit juice soda pop tea coffee wine beer

Outdoors

snow rain wind sunny cloudy tornado hurricane hail ice freeze thaw hot cold earthquake sand mud dirt dust mountain river lake sea ocean valley plain field park sidewalk fresh air camping campfire barbecue picnick

Animals

cow donkey horse rabbit dragonfly deer squid kangaroo bear wolf chipmunk squirrel dog fox cat pheasant brontosaurus mouse eagle clam parrot crow duck cricket swan housefly pterodactyl goose chicken oyster turkey sheep goat hummingbird raptor owl eel hornet zebra bird mosquito whale cougar shrimp elephant lion bee pigeon gazelle cheetah hippopotamus fish tiger gecko grasshopper rhinoceros walrus octopus otter spider jellyfish penguin falcon snake rat crab leopard T-Rex dolphin orca lizard shark hawk giraffe dinosaur starfish snail

Clothes

hat gloves scarf coat trench coat rain coat umbrella shirt pants shorts underwear vest sweater sweat shirt sweat pants sweat suit jogging suit boots shoes sandles slippers swimming suit suit dress skirt blouse hood hoodie fedora flat cap fedora polo shirt dress shirt T-shirt tank top muscle shirt blazer tuxedo cufflinks necklace bracelet earring

Home

house garage workshop window door screen wall floor ceiling kitchen bathroom living room bedroom window door garbage trash can clean wash rinse mob broom washcloth sink shower bath soap toilet toothbrush towel curtain bed blanket pillow bed sheets table chair bench knife fork spoon plate cup bowl water glass bottle cutting board rolling pin toaster blender stove oven fry pan wok pot kettle baking sheet crock pot coffee maker dish washer refrigerator freezer cellar pantry cupboard counter top cabinet closet toybox chest wardrobe vanity coat rack stand sofa couch love seat coffee table footstool ottoman recliner

Office & School

desk computer phone tablet printer clock watch memo note pencil pen ink eraser glue paper clip stapler rubber band sharpen dull shavings shred ruler protractor compass classroom pencil holder calendar pin board thumb tack desk lamp board room whiteboard blackboard conference table manager supervisor teacher principal team & teammates classmates employee student project assignment study work learn correct edit fix repair update upgrade install enroll graduate finish late on time communicate network energy electricity announcement speakers PA system (public announcement) public private corporation company school district industrial park factory building commerce money market

Roads

car truck motorcycle semi truck pickup truck sport car sedan coup scooter dirt bike bicycle BMX bike skates skateboard helmet seat belt air bag crash collision fender bender ticket parking lot speed limit lane highway onramp expressway freeway toll road bridge overpass underpass train tracks railroad train station bus stop yield distance limousine chauffeur driver taxi tour guide travel

Farm & Garden

barn tractor trailer crops harvest irrigation pesticide herbicide weed-killer fertilizer lawn mower bumper crop hay loft straw alfalfa pasture horse fence gate work gloves planting watering weeding trimming trowel plow hoe rake shovel pruning shears hedge trimmer watering can hose hose butler hose reel hose trolley spigot nozzle sprinkler turret sprinkler spray gun rain barrel rain gauge wood chips seeds blossom pollen silo grainery grain elevator cheesecloth cheese curd dairy butcher cellar canned vegetables frost dew perennial annual tulip bulb rose garden walled garden shrubbery

Sports

baseball basketball football soccer lacrosse golf tennis badminton swimming hockey bat glove mitt hoop basket net goal cleats shin guards pads jersey baseball cap court racket pool referee coach team manager stadium arena referee guard forward pitcher catcher offense defense goalie umpire puck penalty disc frisbee quarterback fowl pitch tee-off green rough course field flag boundary out of bounds clock period inning half quarter round match set play (a football play) line sponsor spectator stands bleachers nose-bleed section admission season playoffs tickets finals halftime

Music

piano clarinet oboe bassoon saxophone French horn trumpet trombone tuba flute percussion drum snare tympani bell chimes harp synthesizer instrument sampling director symphony orchestra band marching band parade color guard cadence harmony melody counter melody solo duet quartet march concerto composer tempo beat dynamics volume drum major field commander captain genre jazz blues pop rock n’ roll big band dixieland waltz tango alternative boogie woogie ragtime classical baroque romance medieval pentatonic scale Major minor harmonic

Cyberspace

computer monitor tablet stylus writing tablet touchscreen smartphone mouse keyboard battery power cord cable display desktop wallpaper firmware software application (app) app store runtime environment operating system kernel motherboard integrated circuit transistor processor processor core central processing unit (CPU) graphics processing unit (GPU) random access memory (RAM) read only memory (ROM) user account website profile page Internet web page homepage dependency software stack markup language scripting language cascading style sheet (CSS) hypertext markup language (HTML) database structured query language (SQL) universal resource identifier (URI) (https://write.pink/vocab) universal resource locator (URL) (https://write.pink) web address texting global positioning system (GPS) geolocation temp file directory structure file system email web application blog (weblog) content management system (CMS) human resource management (HRM) customer relations management (CRM) enterprise resource planning (ERP) personal information management (PIM) words per minute (WPM) social media multimedia terminal command line console client server client side language server side language legacy version version history product road map scope creep bug report feature request install update upgrade beta security malware virus spyware cookie meta data content menu navigation heading header footer article post tag search engine web crawler contacts share embed log error message runlevel priority foreground background radio select checkbox dropdown select text field encrypt certificate session web browser desktop application email client

Hospitality

reservation checkin checkout key deposit hotel motel hostel resort bead & breakfast cruise ship country club waiter waitress server maître d’hôtel concierge host butler bus boy bell hop kitchen crew dish crew chef assistant menu chef’s surprise soup of the day cup of joe appetizer soup & salad main course side dish dessert bread basket pitcher order make ticket make line make table make time delivery time serving tray goblet water glass pilsner glass martini glass shot glass wine glass soda fountain on tap deli deli cut tip / gratuity buffet all you can eat take out doggy bag delivery refill silverware napkin place setting cost per plate guest linens dining room floor bedding double bed queen size bed king size bed twin beds room service wake up call bar bar stool high boy bartender barista clerk open shop close shop “we’re all out” first in first out first in last out last in first out cost of sales five star three star

Travel

navigation driving directions baggage luggage carry-on hand-baggage check in checked baggage baggage claim ticket pass boarding pass departure arrival departure time travel time arrival time estimated time of departure (ETD) estimated time of arrival (ETA) delay on time commute journey embark boarding disembark boarding gate departure gate time table service counter first class business class economy class premium economy frequent flier membership card priority boarding priority seating lounge pass call button flotation device evacuation instructions bulkhead cabin wings air pressure altitude tunnel crash landing splash landing touchdown splashdown turbulence in-flight meal in-flight entertainment airplane mode stow dinner tray reading lamp climate control overhead compartment seat number isle seat window seat dining car sleeper car truck stop weigh station fuel station gas station petrol station passengers crew captain pilot copilot navigator conductor flight attendant helm deck terminal dock ferry plane ship airline cruise ship train bus subway space shuttle transporter beam flying saucer teleportation warp drive hyperdrive hyperspace supersonic lightspeed nautical mile time zone

Dinning Out

Dress

“dressy” festive casual jeans and tie dress pants and tie suit and tie three piece suit dress shirt nice shirt nice T shirt old shirt old T shirt jeans nice jeans rockstar jeans stone washed jeans blazer vest dress short nice shorts jean shorts skirt blouse dress high heels dress shoes slippers loafers sandals sneakers casual shoes [sport] shoes wingtip shoes

orange soda grape soda red soda cola Dr. Pepper lemon lime root beer ginger ale cream soda bread basket sub sandwich fruit platter cole slaw burrito taco nachos melon lemonade snacks popcorn hot dog chips

Camping

camper trailer mobile home campfire fire pit firewood kindling starter fluid charcoal coals ashes marshmallow s’mores graham crackers hot dog roast hot dog bun condiments relish ketchup mustard paper plate disposable silverware tin foil dinner wrap foil wrapped dinner grill barbecue cookout roasting stick campground toiletries bath house dump station park service park ranger national park state park county park city park recreation off road vehicle recreational vehicle speed boat water skiing wake boarding beach sand dune mountain climbing hiking walking stick mosquito net insect repellent tent tarp AstroTurf picnic table lawn chairs lantern kerosene sing-along

Construction

scaffold nails hammer sledgehammer jackhammer allen wrench screws screwdriver torques head Phillips head straight edge concrete flexcrete cement mortar bricks foundation chimbney threshold partition fire escape story loft lean-to foundation basement construction crew construction site building code building permit detour road construction earth moving equipment shovel rake bulldozer backhoe dumptruck studds drywall log cabin blueprints I-beam welding molding trim work framing carpeting tiling tile floor grout trowel hardhat work gloves safety glasses safety goggles face mask plaster paintbrush pain roller paint can paint can opener paint thinner wallpaper window frame door frame hinge deadbolt lock electric outlet breaker switch breaker box fuse box pluming faucet pipe drain septic tank septic system drain field landscaping survey crew land surveying acre shelf awning tarp fence rebar power grid power lines power transformer electrical pole wiring linoleum formica veneer lumber particle board plywood sandpaper palm sander belt sander saw horse table saw band saw jig saw radial arm saw drill press lathe C-clamp wood glue wood putty wood stain varnish lacquer

Basic Topics was originally published on PinkWrite

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jinterlude · 7 years ago

Text

Fight for Me (Final Chapter)

➵ Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Female OC (feat. Kwon Ji Yong)

➵ Genre(s): Historic!AU, Medieval!AU ,Royalty!AU, Knight!AU, Romance, SMUT, Humor, & Angst

➵ Words: 5.8K

※ Previously: ch.1 | ch.2 | ch.3 | ch.4 | ch.5 | ch.6

※ Next Time: The Sequel: Our Second Chance

Final Chapter: So, the Princess & Her Knight…

Previously

Seokjin heard Sumin’s sporadic breathing and pulled her into a loving embrace. He rested his chin on top of her head and uttered words of love and comfort.

“I do not want to marry that horrid King Ji Yong. I will not!” Sumin declared, alerting Seokjin.

Upon hearing his name, Seokjin’s body immediately tensed, and a sudden wave of fury engulfed his body. That evil king would not leave his princess alone, and Seokjin had grown tired of him.

“Sumin, what are you talking about?” Seokjin inquired, glancing down at her.

Sumin remained silent, unsure if she should finally tell him the truth.

After quickly debating, Sumin opened her mouth and said,

“It is King Ji Yong… he…”

Seokjin eyed Sumin eagerly, wanting to know what that devilish king had done to her. He rested a loving hand on her shoulder, while the other hand rubbed her arm gently.

Encouraging words left his lips in whispers as he patiently waited for her to start talking.

Sumin inhaled, then exhaled. She repeated the process until the horrible anxiety left her tummy.

With one last breath, she mustered enough courage and looked in her knight’s eyes.

“As I said earlier, it is King Ji Yong. He had been sending me rather concerning letters, and they were always accompanied with red rose…” Sumin trailed on, trying to find the right words to say next. The last thing she wanted was to trigger her lover.

Seokjin sighed deeply as his eyes slowly closed. He calmed his sporadic breathing while the anger slowly took control. No. Sumin did not deserve to be on the receiving end of his wrath. If anyone deserved the consequences of his fury, it was that stupid king that had yet to realize that Sumin was his.

“Do you have any of those letters? May I see them?” requested Seokjin, wanting to know the severity of these “love” letters.

Sumin nearly choked. A nervous smile graced her lips followed by a few forced chuckles. Boy…how was she going to tell him that she had her dear nurse burn them? Would he think she was hiding something from him? Wait…scratch that… she technically did hide something from him.

Damn it…

“Um… about that, my love… you see… I…um…” Sumin paused, fiddling with her engagement ring that hung nicely from the silver chain around her neck, “I may have had my…um… nurse burn them because I did not want to worry you, my beloved.” She finished, feeling a tiny weight lift off her shoulders. She no longer had to hide this terrible secret from him.

Seokjin nodded slowly; his facial expression was practically unreadable. Uh-oh. That was never a good sign with him.

Sumin’s lips trembled as if she was on the verge of tears. Correction, she was already crying. Her chest tightened as the thought of losing Seokjin frightened her to know end.

“I am so sorry for lying to you, Seokjin. I was honestly terrified of the thought of me marrying someone who is not you, and the more I dwell on that horrid idea, the more I fear that it will come true,” A choked like sob escaped her lips, “I will not marry that cold, calculating King Ji Yong. I do not love him, nor will I ever love him.” Sumin firmly declared as tears continued to cascade down her cheeks.

Seokjin’s eyes flickered from concern to this sense of pride. He instantly captured her lips, not caring if his cheeks became stained with her tears. His heart soared from hearing your declaration.

Slowly, he pulled away from his princess; a warm smile graced his lips as he did.

With nothing but pure love in his eyes, Seokjin stared at Sumin as his thumb gently caressed her cheek.

“It will be okay princess,” He began, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, “As long as you wear that ring around your neck, I am not going anywhere. You and I will wed, and that is final. Nothing and no one will get in the way of that. I promise you.” Seokjin declared as he gently lifted both of her hands and kissed her knuckles softly.

Sumin looked at up with shaky eyes. Her heart warmed after his hearing his promise, however, in the back of her mind, she knew that it was worthless.

“Do not make promises you cannot keep…” She whispered as she eyed the stone walkway with nothing but utter sadness.

A depressed sigh escaped his lips as Seokjin felt his heart break just a bit. Sumin lacked faith in them right now, and it deeply hurt him. At the same time, he understood why she felt that way. With a pending battle happening a lot sooner than they had hoped, anything could happen to him. Hell, he might not even come back alive. Just the mere thought of him lying on the cold ground—lifeless—terrified them both, especially Sumin. She could not bear the thought of living on a world where her one true love was no longer present.

She was already losing her father, and she would be damned if she lost her childhood sweetheart as well.

If she could, she would ride into battle herself and end the war. No need to send her beloved to the bloody warzone…

Out of the corner of his eye, Seokjin noticed a familiar, scheming gleam in his princess’s eyes. He knew that she’s toying with the idea of fighting in place of her father, but with his good conscious, Seokjin could not allow that.

Placing both his index and middle fingers under her chin, Seokjin titled her head slightly. Their eyes met. Love glazed over them as they remained still. Their hearts beat as one as the sounds of waves crashing entered their ears. The soft ocean breeze brushed past their bodies. Little by little the gap between their lips closed. Then, in just one kiss, they poured their entire love…admiration…longing that had been building since they were mere children.

Seokjin pulled Sumin closer, wanting nothing more to keep her close, as they continued to kiss. Sumin cupped Seokjin’s face as she feared that he would disappear if she didn’t keep a firm hold on him.

After what seemed like forever, the lovers pulled apart yet remained holding each other.

With a loving smile, Sumin asked,

“Could you accompany me back to my chambers, especially since we must part ways tomorrow at dawn.” A short yet soft scoff left his lips as Seokjin smiled warmly at his woman.

“You never have to ask me to stay the night since I will always say yes.” He replied, placing a sweet kiss on her cheek.

Sumin smiled brightly and intertwined their hands.

“Well, shall we go to sleep, my love?”

In a blink of an eye, the moon had faded behind the mountains, and the sun took its place high in the sky. Sounds of birds singing their mating tune entered Sumin’s room. Tiny streaks of sunlight penetrated her ivory laced curtains, creating beautiful shadow patterns on the cold floors, walls, and even her blankets.

A faint groan was heard as the tired princess turned over, hoping to cuddle with her dear knight some more. Her arm landed on a soft padding rather semi-hard flesh. Sumin pried one eye open and then the other immediately shot open. She quickly sat up and frantically searched for her Seokjin. Though, deep down, she knew that he had already left in the early hours of the morning.

Her eyes sadly trailed down as tiny tears formed. She wanted to bid a fond farewell and send him off with a sweet kiss. Maybe even had given him a token to remind him what and who he was fighting for.

Maybe it was for the best that he had left while she slumbered…

Out of the corner of her eye, she had noticed a faint blob of yellow. Sumin instantly turned towards the right, the side where Seokjin had slept peacefully since the day they had become lovers and saw a yellow rose on top of a letter.

A gentle smile slowly appeared on her face as she picked up the rose. She held the flower up to her nostrils and inhaled its sweet scent. It was just like her knight to remember that she had grown fond of yellow roses. A special fact that Ji Yong would never understand.

After taking in the flowers scent for a few more minutes, Sumin finally lowered the flower. She then picked up the note and unfolded it.

Her eyes widened. Her brows furrowed. She scanned the graciously written content and with each word, tears formed.

“My darling. My love. The keeper of my heart. The one and only princess for me. By the time you are reading this letter, I have already left for the battlefield with the support of our kingdom. I could not bear the thought of waking you up from your precious slumber and bidding you a fond farewell in person. It honestly took all of my strength to remove my arm from your precious waist. If I had the opportunity, I would gladly stay by your side and enjoy your smiles. Your laughter. How your eyes light up whenever you are around me… Unfortunately, the Holy Father had other plans for me… I have but one request of you, my darling Sumin… Please do not shed any tears for me. I will return from the battlefield victorious, and you and I will be wedded. Until then, every time you feel the wind fan your face, think of its as my love. I had asked the Gods of nature to receive my love and carry it to you. I love you so much.

Forever yours,

Seokjin.”

Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks the second she read the last line of Seokjin’s letter. He loved her so much that he didn’t want to wake her up. He wanted to remember her with no tear stains, so that’s how she was going to honor his wish.

No more tears shall be shed. Only her endless amount of love would remain to be shown.

She would put on a brave face and hold down the castle. That way, there would be a castle for her beloved to return to.

With a determined smile, Sumin practically jumped out of bed and called for a servant. She sat down in front of her mirror and picked up her sapphire encrusted hairbrush. She smoothed away her atrocious bed hair.

As she was brushing her hair, the servant rushed inside her chambers. He quickly bowed and asked what he was needed for.

“I am in dire need to send Seokjin a letter. Pray tell me, where would he be stationed at?” Sumin told the servant, asking where her knight is stationed on.

The servant’s eyes widened, but he soon composed himself.

“Sir Seokjin is currently at the mountain pass. Shall I fetch you a messenger?” He asked, ready to anything and everything to make the princess pleased with him.

Sumin shook her head as she stood up from her vanity mirror.

“I will go to my father’s study and write him a letter instead. I am sure my love would rather have a written reply rather than some man relaying it,” She bowed her head, “Thank you, though. You may go now.” She said, politely dismissing the castle worker.

The servant quickly muttered, “Yes, your highness.”, before exiting her chambers.

Sumin waited to hear the door shut before dashing towards her wardrobe. She swiftly picked a pastel blue dress with a diamond accent detail. The diamonds were shaped as snowflakes that decorated the outer white laced skirt.

She paired the dress with navy blue heels and went for the simpler sapphire and diamond crown. She placed the crown gently on top of her head as she walked out of her bedroom, ready to write the first of many letters for one true love…

Minutes had turned into hours, hours had turned into days and just like that, days had turned into weeks.

Those long weeks without seeing her knight had been the most excruciating for Princess Sumin. However, each time she received a letter from Seokjin, it made those lonely nights bearable—especially since they were always accompanied with a yellow rose.

Each time she smelled the sweet perfume of the rose, a warm smile graced her lips. Her heart warmed at the thought of feeling his love with each word he wrote in the letters.

God, how she missed him…

Currently reading yet another of Seokjin’s letter as she inhaled the hypnotic scent that the flower had to offer, Sumin’s thoughts had been interrupted when a castle worker stormed inside her room; his breath heavy and sporadic.

“Yes?” Sumin politely questioned the young man.

The worker quickly bowed his head in respect before speaking,

“Your highness. My deepest apologies for the intrusion, but I have come here to announce that King Ji Yong shall be arriving soon.”

With just one little announcement, Sumin’s world came crashing down. What…no…why was that horrid king coming to visit? He had no reason to come…unless…he had found out about her father’s worsening condition. No. There was no way because each castle worker had been sworn to secrecy. No one would dare to defy the royal family’s orders, so why had he come then?

Unless…

He had come for her hand in marriage—again. Could he not leave an engaged woman alone?

Few seconds went by and nothing, but the ocean breeze was heard. Then, with a dignified smile, Sumin turned around and thanked the worker for his message. She then dismissed him, telling him to carry on with his duties. The worker smiled politely, bowed his head, and exited the room.

“Alright, you annoying pest. Why are you in my kingdom?” Sumin muttered to herself as she walked to the one place she had been lingering around for the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, with King Ji Yong, his carriage had just pulled up at the entrance. He peeked through the curtains with a scheming smirk. His plan would officially commence. His plan of having the dear Princess Sumin standing with him at the altar.

“How dare that lowly, pathetic knight propose to my wife…” King Ji Yong thought bitterly as he roughly closed the curtains. He leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin as he thought about the idea of marriage with Sumin. He would have her one way or another. At this rate, he could care less if she married him while sobbing. She would be his wife—the mother of his children…

Stepping out of the carriage, King Ji Yong quickly ordered his driver to go wait for him somewhere else. The driver nodded and took off with the carriage. King Ji Yong then began to walk towards the courtyard as he scanned the area for someone—anyone. Luckily, he managed to find someone and with an intimidating stare, he asked the poor worker where the princess was at. Out of fear, the worker quickly said that the princess was in her father’s study and pointed in the direction of the room.

King Ji Yong smirked in response and thanked the servant for his assistant.

“I am coming for you, my lovely princess…”

Now holed in her father’s study, Sumin dipped her quill in the ink jar and continued to write out intimate details to her love. She wrote how she longed for his touch. How she longed for his sweet kisses. In short, how she longed for him to be her side.

A smile of content formed on her lips as Sumin signed her name on the bottom of the parchment. She blew lightly on the ink, making sure it was dry before folding it up. As a little gift for her knight, she pressed her lips onto the parchment. She pulled away satisfied with the lip stain that displayed near her name. Seokjin would love that.

Just as she poured a bit of hot wax onto the letter, a light knock entered her ears. Her brows raised. Her chest heaved. Something in the pit of her stomach told her that it was the one person she absolutely did not want to see that stood on the other side of the door.

Sumin rolled her eyes before mustering a diplomatic smile and said, “Enter.”

Not even seconds later, King Ji Yong strolled in and closed the door behind him. Sumin raised her brow, finding his actions rather odd.

“King Ji Yong, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence in my kingdom?” asked Sumin as she bowed her head in respect.

King Ji Yong smirked, drinking in her splendid appearance. Sumin would forever be his most prized possession.

“Oh, I thought I should pay you visit since I have desperately missed you.” He replied as he walked over to her and lifted her chin. He wanted their eyes to meet.

Sumin fought the urge to vomit right and there. She despised his touch on her precious skin. Her sacred body would forever be reserved for Seokjin only.

“Your majesty, I appreciate your sweet words but do refrain yourself from using them as I am now an engaged woman.” Sumin confessed; her eyes flickered with triumph.

However, that sudden announcement did not waiver the scheming king. If anything, it made him more determined to make sure that his plan succeeded.

King Ji Yong nodded his head slowly. He took one step, then another until the gap closed between them.

Sumin felt vulnerable. She felt like a prey being backed into a corner by its predator. Every time he took a step, she took a step back until she felt her back hit the edge of the desk. Her hands gripped the corners, ready to pick up anything that she could stab this man with. She could care less of the consequences right now. She was willing to kill this king if it meant not only her safety, but the entire kingdom’s as well—especially Seokjin’s. She would go to war for that man, and it seemed like she was about to.

“Oh yes… I have heard that your fiancé is fighting in your father’s place. You know…” He began clicking his tongue in a condescending manner, “It is quite a pity that he is battling enemies that I have paid quite a sum to rage war against your people…” He confessed, smirking evilly.

In that moment, Sumin felt as if someone knocked the air right out of here. Had she heard him, right? Had he truly stooped so low to have paid a hefty sum just to rage war on her kingdom?

“Y-you what…?” Sumin questioned, stumbling over her words.

King Ji Yong merely smirked in response, “You see, my dear princess,” He stood in front her, trapping her between him and the desk, “I am quite a jealous man, and the moment I have set my eyes on you, I knew you were the wife for me.” He declared with an evil smirk.

Sumin practically snarled at the man. Her eyes narrowed, almost becoming slits. She was officially done with this rude king.

“I will never be your wife, so as long as Seokjin continues to fight for his life and for my people.” She said, practically spitting in his face.

A soft scoff escaped his lips as King Ji Yong created a bit of space between them.

“Well, it would be quite hard to fight for your people if he is captured by the enemy and is currently waiting for his execution.” He confessed, taunting the fiery spirted princess.

Now, it felt like someone stabbed her in the heart.

“His what?” She said softly; her voice practically a whisper.

“You heard me…” King Jiyong remained smirking.

No.

He was safe. He had to be safe.

As if someone pulled the rug underneath her feet, Sumin collapsed onto the fall; her sobs became uncontrollable. Her heart pounded against her chase as it broke little by little.

King Ji Yong had to be lying. He was cruel, deceitful, and dishonorable. No. She refused to believe anything that came out his mouth.

“You’re lying. He had been sending me letter practically every single day. There is no possible way that he could have been captured by my father’s enemies. No. I refuse to believe your petty lies.” Sumin said as she tried her hardest to calm herself.

King Ji Yong clicked his tongue yet again and looked at the princess with “sympathetic” eyes.

“If only they were indeed lies,” He then gestured towards the desk, “Look at the date at your knight’s latest letter. I am almost certain that it had been weeks since he had sent that, correct?” He finished, hiding the calculating grin that threatened to form.

Sumin stared at him before scrambling up and fetching his letter. Her hands hurriedly grabbed the piece of parchment paper. Her eyes homed in on the date written in the top left corner.

Shit.

That stupid kind had been right. The day he wrote it and the day she had received it, it was indeed a few weeks later.

Nope.

This was not going to happen. She had meant what she said about going to war for Seokjin. It seemed like the time had come. Time to draw her father’s sword and fight for her man.

“Guards!!” She shouted.

“What are you doing, princess?” King Ji Yong inquired, raising his brow.

Sumin glared coldly at the man and ignored his question.

“Guards!” She yelled once more. Seconds later, two guards rushed inside the office and bowed their heads and respect.

“Yes, Princess Sumin.” They answered.

“Ready my horse and tell the nurse to prepare my riding outfit.” She ordered as the anger surged through her veins.

“Yes, Princess Sumin.” They replied before hurrying out of the office.

“Again, what are you doing, Princess Sumin?” King Ji Yong asked with a bored expression.

Sumin sighed loudly, completely fed up with the annoying man.

“If you must know, I plan to draw my father’s sword, ride into enemy lines, and fight for my knight. Now, if you kindly do not mind, I will take my leave.” She stated, announcing her plans.

King Ji Yong stared at her with an amused expression. He mentally counted down from ten, allowing her to finish her little dramatic act. Then, just as she reached the iron door handle, he spoke.

“I actually do not mind since anyone with ears can tell you that your idea is terrible.”

Sumin scoffed and turned around; her body now faced him. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him an impatient look, wanting him to continue with whatever he has to say.

“Your idea is rather horrid since there is no way those ruthless generals would ever listen to a mere princess…” He trailed on, pausing for effect, “But…”

“But?”

“But they would listen to a queen.” King Ji Yong finished with a devilish smirk.

Sumin’s eyes widened. Confusion painted on her face.

“Marry me, Princess Sumin and with a snap of my finger, the war will be over. Say yes to being my queen, and your precious Seokjin will return home unharmed.” King Ji Yong said, staring her down.

Sumin panted; she felt this unspeakable heavy burden crush her shoulders. Her heart raced as her palms became clammy. Tears began to fill the brim of her eyes. Too many thoughts flooded her mind. She questioned her morals but soon dismissed every single one of them. At the end of the day, she would do everything and anything to ensure the safety of her kingdom and the people that inhabited the land. Yes. She knew what must be done.

She met the cold King’s gaze and walked towards him. Taking one final deep breath, Sumin said,

“Okay…”

King Ji Yong’s brow perked up as an intrigued smirk appeared on his face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer; the possessiveness in his stare was ever so visible.

“You made a wise decision,” He pressed his lips against her temple, “I promise that I will call of the war first thing tomorrow morning.” He whispered “sweetly” in her ear.

Sumin’s breath hitched as she forced a smile at her new fiancé.

“Please forgive me my love…” She thought sadly as Seokjin’s handsome face flashed once in her mind.

Few days later, in a camp zone filled with many tents, horses, and men practicing their swordsmanship, Seokjin studied the battle map once more. His body had little to no wounds, and he was safe. Unknown to Sumin, King Ji Yong had lied about Seokjin’s wellbeing. He was never captured by the enemy and awaited his execution. No. He spun the truth. In fact, it was actually the enemy general that was captured by Seokjin’s men and brought for trial. The enemy had been tried for treason against Sumin’s kingdom and was sentenced to death.

Too absorbed in the map’s details, Seokjin muttered different plans of attack to himself, wondering which route he should take. Suddenly, a loud wave of cheers was heard. His curiosity had gotten the best of him, and Seokjin walked out of his tent.

The moment he stepped outside, Seokjin instantly saw bright smiles and tears of joy spilled out of his men.

Now, he became even more confused.

Seokjin quickly grabbed one of his soldiers and demanded that he tell him what was going on.

“The war, sir. It is finished.” The solider announced with a bright smile.

Seokjin raised his brow, “What do you mean that the war is over?” He asked.

“One of the other enemy generals has offered his unconditional surrender. Then, eventually, the rest of them followed suit. The war is over, my lord.” The soldier happily explained before running over to his friends to celebrate some more.

Seokjin scoffed softly yet a smile of relief graced his face. The battle was over, and that meant that he was allowed to go home—to go back to Sumin.

Yet, something in the back of his mind would not leave him alone. While he was overjoyed with the battle being over, something told him that this war should not have ended easily. This bloody battle should not have ended in less than a month…

Then, realization struck him. This had the work of that evil King Ji Yong written all over it.

Seokjin dashed towards his horse and swiftly rushed back to the kingdom, silently praying that he was not too late. From where he had been stationed at, it would take him a little over two days to get back to Sumin’s kingdom, however, instead of allowing that to fill his heart with anxiety, he instead used it fuel his adrenaline—his determination—and increased the speed of his horse. He had to get back to his princess—his one true love…

Meanwhile, with Sumin, she stared blankly at her reflection; this emotionless wave washed over her eyes. She looked dead. She felt dead to be honest. Both on the inside and on the outside. She was about to marry someone she did not love nor; would she ever love.

She felt her hair being pulled in different directions. She watched her maids pin every curl into different spots until they were satisfied with how their princess looked. Her hair had been decorated with diamonds, that were shaped as flowers. Her crown rested nicely on top of her hand while her lacey veil shielded her face.

“P-princess… it is time to put on your dress.” Sumin heard one of her maids announce.

Sumin turned away from the mirror and forced a smile. While they were busy preparing her hair and makeup, Sumin had heard them sniffling and taking deeps breaths. Her maids, especially her nurse, hated seeing their beloved princess looking so dead. Their hearts ached for Sumin as they desperately wished that they could do something to stop this wedding. They always dreamt of helping their princess get ready for her wedding, but in their minds, the wedding was for her and Seokjin. Not her and King Ji Yong.

“Princess permit me to speak.” The nurse asked as she guided Sumin towards her dress.

Sumin hummed in response, allowing the nurse to speak her mind.

“It breaks my heart to see you this way. I pray to the Holy Father that he will put a stop to this ceremony. You do not deserve to marry such a despicable man.” The nurse said; her eyes dripped with concern.

Sumin’s lips trembled before she bit her bottom lip. She was doing a great job at not breaking down and sobbing. She was not going to start now. She had to remain strong for everyone dear in her life.

She smiles softly and places a warm hand on the nurse’s cheek.

“Everything will be okay…” She said softly, maintaining her smile.

The nurse sniffled. Tears filled the brims of her eyes.

Naturally, Sumin too began to tear up. However, she wiped them away before it could ruin her makeup. She then reminded herself that she was doing this for Seokjin’s safety. Once this was all over, Seokjin would be safe and back in the kingdom.

“He will forgive you, Sumin. He will…” She thought while she felt a few of the maids lace up the corset.

One of the maids then instructed that she stepped inside her wedding skirt. Sumin obediently followed their directions until her body had been completely covered by the ceremonial gown.

Sumin slowly turned around and faced the mirror. Her eyes observed her reflection. All this time, she had pictured herself in this dress for her marriage to Seokjin. A part of her wished that she had picked out a different dress for her marriage to King Ji Yong, but it was too late.

Time was something that was never on her side. What would make her wedding day any different?

The nurse and maids bowed their head in respect, not wanting Sumin to see them crying.

“Is the carriage ready? I am ready to embark on this journey to wifehood.” Sumin muttered, staring at the floor sadly.

The nurse nodded and escorted her out of the room.

Outside was King Ji Yong’s knights, ready to escort the princess to the church. King Ji Yong had ordered them to make sure that Sumin would not try any funny business or run, leaving him at the altar. He was only minutes away from having Sumin as his bride. Nothing and no one would stop him now…

After what seemed like forever, Seokjin had finally arrived back to the kingdom. He practically hopped off his horse and dashed inside the castle grounds. His eyes hurriedly scanned, hoping to find anyone who would know the whereabouts of the princess. He began to lose hope as nobody was seen in the courtyard.

Luckily, his eye homed in on a familiar face. Princess Sumin’s dear and beloved nurse.

“Nurse!” Seokjin hollered as he ran up to her.

The nurse’s eyes widened. A look of shocked washed over her face as she slowly became confused. What was Sumin’s knight doing here?

“Sir Seokjin?!” The nurse shouted back as she looked over the knight’s body, hoping to find any signs of being tortured. “You are alive and well? But? How is that possible?” She questioned.

Seokjin’s brows furrowed, “Of course, I am alive. Whatever that horrid King Ji Yong has said, it is nothing but lies. Now, tell me, where is Sumin? I must show her that I am alive and safe.” He demanded, panting.

The nurse stared at him with sympathetic eyes.

“I am sorry, Seokjin, but the princess is on her way to the church. She might be even already there.” She explained, fearing that all hope was lost.

However, Seokjin refused to admit defeat. He was ready to fight King Ji Yong if he had to.

He quickly uttered a “thanks” before rushing back to his horse and riding towards the church.

“Do not marry him, Sumin. Just hold on…” He anxiously thought.

With the church in his sight, Seokjin increased the speed of his horse. His heart raced with both anxiety and adrenaline as the church steps appeared in front of him. He then pulled on the reins and halted his horse’s steps.

Seokjin jumped off his horse and ran up the stairs. He pushed open the church doors and unfortunately, his heart shattered into a million of pieces. He froze in his place as his eyes widened. His fingers trembled as his breathing became sporadic.

There he stood, watching the love of his life kiss someone else. King Ji Yong had won. He had won his princess’s hand in marriage. That son of a bitch…

“I present you their royal majesties, King Ji Yong and his Queen Sumin.” The priest announced; though, he tried his best to sound happy. He saw Sumin’s body language, and it screamed at him to put a stop to the ceremony. Now, the priest would live with this guilt for the rest of his life.

Seokjin’s mind screamed at him to leave the church, but for some reason his feet refused to listen to him.

Suddenly, his eyes caught Sumin’s gaze. Due to being far away, Seokjin could not see the brokenness and despair in her eyes. To him, she was filled with joy. To her, she was depressed, defeated, and above all…she was surprised to see Seokjin alive and unharmed. Confusion filled her mind as her eyes switched from her knight to her now husband.

At that moment, she felt like an idiot. She angrily turned towards her husband but before she could demand him to tell her the truth, King Ji Yong roughly pulled her closer and whispered a bone chilling threat.

“If you do anything rash, I will have my men kill your knight where he stands. Now, do you really want bloodshed on our wedding day?”

Sumin fought back her tears, even though a few of them had already cascaded down her rosy cheeks. She shook her head, closing her eyes briefly.

King Ji Yong smiled and kissed her head sweetly.

“Good.” He said softly with a creepy grin.

Sumin opened her eyes and met Seokjin’s gaze one last time. With a sad smile, she mouthed,

“I love you.”

Seokjin forced a smile and mouthed, “I love you too…”

He flickered his gaze onto King Ji Yong, who was now smirking proudly, before turning his back towards the “happy” couple.

He opened the doors and walked away, leaving behind the cheers and lively applause…

And the princess and her knight lived unhappily ever after…

The End…

A/N: Yeah... now can you see why I couldn’t just leave Seokjin heartbroken like that? I kind of left it open regarding, Seokjin’s fate since I didn’t want to quite kill him off (especially, if I had a sequel in mind lol then his modern self wouldn’t even be alive lol). I always found it fun to leave certain character’s unknown fate up to the readers since it gives you an even closer bond to the story! If the sequel wasn’t happening, I want you to tell me your thoughts on what happened to Sir Kim Seokjin!

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this beloved story just as much as I did writing it! See you guys in the sequel!

Don’t forget to leave a like/reblog/comment/send in an ask on your thoughts! I love hearing them! :)

- Kim

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