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Chapter Text

“Do you know the number one mistake that villains usually make when designing their minions’ uniforms?” Namjoon asked as his gaze swept over the five villain-hopefuls (Hoseok, Seokjin, Jimin, Jeongguk and Yoongi, according to the nametags that he still had no idea why they were wearing) that sat in front of him.

His eyes fell on Hoseok - a man with a heart-shaped smile that Namjoon had seen earlier - and he pointed his finger at him.

“You. What do you think the answer is?”

“Um,” the man looked up, clearly panicked. “Capes?”

“Capes.” Namjoon deadpanned. “Why capes?”

“Well, Edna Mode says-”

“That has nothing to do with this,” he sighed, “Next.”

The next man in the row, Seokjin, seemed almost too pretty to be on the side of evil. With his model-like proportions and kind eyes, he was the kind of person that Namjoon would have immediately pegged as a hero but as he had learned years ago, appearances can be deceiving.

“They try to make them…. Um…” the man paused, forehead scrunched up in thought. “In season?”

“For the weather?” Namjoon asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at the man.

“No, I mean season as in fashion? I know that I wouldn't want to have my minions wearing some abomination from three years ago.”  He seemed almost offended in a way that Namjoon would never have expected from someone who was planning to be a villain.

“While aesthetic is appreciated on occasion," he drawled, "no. Next!”

“Oh, I know!” the shortest and most cheerful of the hopefuls exclaimed, waving his hand around in the air like a child in an elementary school class, causing the pouch at his waist to move around and make strange noises.

“Alright,” Namjoon said hesitantly. “What is it…”

“Jimin. My name is Jimin.”

“... Jimin. Minus one point for giving away your name.” Namjoon muttered under his breath while making a note on his clipboard.

“But we have nametags-”

“Doesn’t matter. What is your idea?”

“Not making their uniforms bulletproof!” Jimin said confidently after a moment of staring at Namjoon critically. “Minions aren't completely expendable and replacing them will eventually get difficult.”

"That is true," Namjoon replied, slightly surprised. Jimin beamed and he grudgingly had to admit that the boy was closer than the others had been.

"But unfortunately, that's too expensive and isn't practical for movement, so that's also wrong."

Jimin's face fell and he pouted, trying to shoot a glare up at Namjoon, but he was ignored. Namjoon moved on to the next one, the youngest, who was fiddling with a Rubik's cube and only looked up once Namjoon coughed expectantly at him.

The boy - because really, that's all he was - smiled sheepishly.

"To be honest, I haven't been paying attention so I have no idea what your question is."

Not for the first time, Namjoon wondered why the heck he was doing this. There weren't very many job openings in the evil overlord industry, after all, and he had only just managed to secure his career by terrorizing some nameless town in the middle of nowhere until they submitted to him. He was still only a novice overlord, compared to others in the business, and it honestly made no sense to him why he was asked to teach these wannabes how to be a good overlord.

At first, it didn't seem like it would be that bad, but god, they were hopeless.

"Never mind," he groaned, waving a hand in his direction. He turned to the last of his so-called 'pupils', hoping that maybe this one would have a clue.

What he found instead, was a man so bored that he was almost falling asleep. Now, Namjoon didn't consider himself a great teacher or anything, not by any stretch of the imagination, but this was just insulting.

"Answer," he snapped, "Now."

The man yawned and blinked up at him before sighing.

"It's the visors."

Namjoon was sure that if he was any less composed than he was, his mouth might have dropped open.

"It really isn't practical if your minions can't even see, and heroes are kinda dumb and will have more empathy if they can see their opponents expressions instead of simply cutting down a faceless horde." The man grimaced and scratched the back of his head before yawning once more and not saying anything further on the subject.

"Well, yes, um..." Namjoon sputtered, trying to find the words. "That's... that's correct."

Maybe some of them weren't quite as hopeless as he thought.

He chanced a glance over at the others. Jimin was chatting away with model boy Seokjin, Rubik’s cube kid had just gotten further away from his goal and heart-smile dude - Hoseok? - was attempting to beatbox (or something, Namjoon couldn’t really tell what he was doing).

Nevermind. They were still hopeless.

Chapter Text

"Help me!"

Namjoon looked up from his paperwork (because being an evil overlord is more than just destruction and devastation, you know) and frowned. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but he wasn't quite sure where it was coming from.

When he didn't hear it again, he shrugged and went back to working on some official documents about his demands that had to be sent to the townspeople soon. It was probably just his imagination or something.

Of course, that's when the screaming started up again.

"Help me! I'm stuck!"

It wasn't his imagination.

With a sigh, Namjoon rose from his desk and walked out of his office, listening carefully and frowning as the screams got louder. The voice was definitely familiar now, and he didn't like it one bit.

He found himself at the end of the hall and for some reason, the screams seemed to be coming from inside the wall itself. Raising one hand, Namjoon knocked on the wall and the screaming promptly stopped.

"Who's there?" Namjoon demanded.

"It's me!" The voice replied. "Jeongguk!"

Jeongguk. That name sounded familiar.

Where did he hear it again... Namjoon's eyes narrowed as he tried to think back to where he had heard this name until finally, it had hit him.

Jeon Jeongguk. The Rubik's cube kid who hadn't been paying attention while he was trying to teach and yet was still somehow really good at all the practical exercises he had run for those villain wannabes.

"Jeon Jeongguk," Namjoon began, eerily calm considering the situation. "Please tell me how you ended up in my wall."

He already knew the stupidity was going to give him a headache.

"Well," Jeongguk began, voice slightly echoey for some reason, "I decided I was going to come to show you something that I've been working on, but your guard wouldn't let me in-"

"That's his job, yes."

"-so I decided that if I couldn't come through the front doors, I'd just go through the back door, but you don't have a back door, so I ended up wandering around your rose garden maze for about an hour or so, I'm not really sure, but your roses are really pretty and I may have stopped to smell them for a bit because you know what they say. Anyway-"

"Jeongguk please just get to the point" Namjoon groaned, rubbing his temples in irritation.

"I was getting there!" Jeongguk protested with a huff. " Anyway , I saw a grate and I knew that it's for the airflow in your castle... mansion... lair... thing, so I decided I was going to climb through it so that I could end up somewhere inside and I was sure I'd find my way to you eventually."

He paused for a moment.

"But... uh... I kinda got stuck."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Namjoon stated flatly. "How did you even- actually, no. I don't want to know."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Jeongguk muttered and if he wasn't currently, you know, stuck in the air duct in Namjoon's wall, he probably would have shrugged.

"Can you move at all?" he asked, not wanting to leave the kid stuck in there for much longer. He might be an evil overlord, but he wasn't outright cruel without a reason. The kid was a bit smarter than everyone gave him credit for, but he was not wise whatsoever.

Also, it might be worth it someday to have Jeon Jeongguk indebted to him. Maybe.

"Not really," Jeongguk replied, voice muffled. "My shoulders are stuck."

"Great. Just great," Namjoon whispered to himself. He sighed and straightened up to his full height from his perpetual slouch caused by slaving over the paperwork (he would burn it all if he could) and spoke loudly, his voice booming and echoing through the empty halls.

"Jeongguk, I need you to stay completely still and hold your breath, alright?"

"What, why-"

"Don't ask any questions, just do it. You asked for help, so I'm helping you." He was beyond exasperated, really. You just didn't try and break into a villain's stronghold without at least expecting that it wouldn't go so well. Especially not if you're a fellow villain. (Or in this case, a villain in training).

"In three," Namjoon said clearly as he began the countdown. "Oh, and close your eyes too. Just in case. Two. One."

He pressed a button on a remote that he carried with him at all times and immediately, the entire ventilation system began the clean-out process, pushing all debris out of the ducts with an incredibly powerful stream of air.

Namjoon heard a weird squealing noise as Jeongguk came dislodged from the shaft and was hurtled back toward the outside of the building. When he heard a very undignified shriek and a faint thump, he knew the kid was going to be alright.

"So," Namjoon began, standing in front of Jeongguk with his arms crossed. "What have we learned today?"

"Never try to climb through your air ducts because you will get stuck," Jeongguk mumbled, obviously embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I just really wanted to show you this thing that I figured out and-"

Namjoon cut him off with a sigh and the wave of a hand.

"You can show me now if you really want to."

"I can?" Jeongguk's eyes were sparkling like a child who'd just been told that they could have any toy they wanted. "Really?"

"I'm already out here anyway," he shrugged and Jeongguk's smile seemed to grow even more.

He might be evil sometimes, but he wasn't about to ruin this kid's day.

And besides, the town could suffer a little longer.

Chapter Text

"I didn't know you have a brother," Hoseok said out of the blue one day as they were practicing some of the finer points of villainy.

You know, extortion, blackmail, the like.

"Half-brother," Namjoon corrected without thinking. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the best methods of extracting information from prisoners and unsuspecting civilians-"

"You have a half-brother?" Seokjin asked curiously, interrupting his lesson again.

"Had. Now can we please pay attention to the lesson?"

Namjoon stood there, hands on his hips and a large frown on his face in an attempt to seem more threatening than he knew he actually was.

"Not until you explain what you meant by had," Jimin protested, though his expression was one of excitement more than anything else. "Were you disowned or something? Orphaned and left all alone until some kind person found you and adopted you? Oh, what about-"

"Can you stop trying to give me some kind of sob story?" Namjoon sighed. "Besides, you aren't even close to being right."

Jimin hummed in thought for a moment before brightening. "What if-"

"No," Namjoon said sternly.

"But I haven't even said anything yet," Jimin groaned and pouted.

"Doesn't matter. It was wrong anyway."

Jimin looked over at him suspiciously. "And how would you know? You can't read minds."

He paused before scrutinizing Namjoon even more. "You can't, right?"

"I can't," Namjoon confirmed, "But I still know your guess is wrong."

"Not fair," Jimin pouted and Seokjin rubbed his back comfortingly.

(Namjoon still didn't understand why someone so inherently nice would choose to become a villain. All he knew is that anyone who gives candy to children, volunteers at the local shelter or babysits for free isn't to be trusted, and Seokjin was all of those.)

"How about this," Namjoon offered, keeping a watchful eye on Seokjin. "I'll tell you once you manage to successfully get this man who has oh-so-kindly volunteered his time to tell you where the town's wealth is hidden. And this goes for all of you."

"I didn't volunteer for anythi-" the man protested but was quickly cut off when Namjoon placed a hand over his mouth.

“Shut up and cooperate, will you?” Namjoon glanced down at him, meeting his glare before sighing and looking over at Jimin.

"... Fine," Jimin grumbled. He took a deep breath and started walking over to the captive townsperson, Seokjin offering words of encouragement from behind him.

"Where is it?" Jimin hissed, grabbing at the townsperson's clothes and pulling him up by the collar. "Tell me if you want to live."

"I'll never tell you!" he spat (figuratively and literally) in Jimin's face, causing him to let go and shriek indignantly.

"Jimin, failed. Next," Namjoon called without even looking up from the notebook he was writing in.

"Oh, I'll go!" Hoseok raised his hand excitedly as he approached the man and did his best to look vaguely threatening.

Namjoon made a note to go over that with him later.

"Yo," He began, trying to be nonchalant. "Tell me where all the money is."

Namjoon added subtlety to the list.

"Why would I ever tell you?" The man grimaced and Hoseok sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, you heard the man, he won't tell."

"Are you being serious here or are you just messing with me?" Namjoon asked blankly as he glanced between Hoseok and the townsperson. "Please tell me you're messing with me."

"Messing with you?" Hoseok gasped and placed his hand on his chest dramatically. "Never."

Namjoon sighed and once again regretted being given this job.

"Jeongguk, you're up next."

Namjoon had high hopes for the kid. Well, higher. They weren't that high.

The boy was threatening though, he at least had to give him that much. Somehow the kid was a fitness nut despite being a magic-user and it was safe to say that his arms alone could terrify a lesser man into soiling his briefs and handing over all his worldly possessions.

However, it appeared that this man was not of the lesser variety and stood his ground (Sat? He was kind of tied to a chair). Jeongguk's expression was stony as he stood somewhat aggressively in front of him.

“I'll cut you a deal,” Jeongguk said nonchalantly as he began to walk around the chair, making the man look nervously over his shoulder. “We'll play a game and if I win, you tell me what I want to know. If you win, I'll leave you alone.”

“Mind games,” Namjoon remarked, surprised, as he jotted it down. “Good. At least someone here is learning.”

“... Do I have much of a choice?” The man asked skeptically and Jeongguk shrugged in return.

“Not really, no.” He loosened the ropes slightly around the man's wrist and held out his fist. “Are you ready?”

Namjoon watched carefully as Jeongguk stared at the man, who slowly nodded. Jeongguk lifted his fist and everyone braced themselves for the activation of a spell. (Jeongguk was only good at high-level, high-power spells and any simple ones usually blew up in his face. It was a lose-lose situation for his enemies and bystanders alike.) He brought his fist down sharply and screamed.

“ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS!”

Namjoon could feel his eye twitch in irritation. Jeongguk held out scissors. The man held out rock.

“No!” Jeongguk wailed, staring at his hand in horror. “I believed in you! Scissors, why did you betray me like this?”

“I don't know why I bothered having any hope,” Namjoon muttered as he aggressively erased his notes. “He's a dumbass.”

Jeongguk sat down facing the wall and moped, mourning over the outcome of the match. Namjoon just sighed.

“Please tell me Yoongi isn't sleeping,” he groaned as he pressed a finger against his forehead.

“Um,” Hoseok began with a glance at Yoongi who was most definitely asleep. “Too late.”

“Of course he is. Right. Fine. Whatever. Seokjin. Go.”

It was safe to say he still didn't have much hope.

“Hello there,” Seokjin waved and smiled. The man looked at him skeptically. “I'm Seokjin.”

“I won't tell you anything, you're all evil!” The man glared and pulled at his restraints but Seokjin only shook his head and sighed.

“You're being quite rude, you know that? If you could just kindly tell me what I need to know, everything will be fine and you'll be on your way.”

“And why should I listen to you?” He huffed and Seokjin let out a laugh that sounded like a strange mix of the tinkling of bells and the sound that happens when one cleans a window.

“I would highly recommend listening,” he said with a smile so innocent that most would immediately forgive him of anything. “After all, it wouldn't be a good thing if anything happened to your home. And what was your sister's name again? Annelise? Such a sweet girl.”

Seokjin leaned in close and whispered something that Namjoon couldn't hear into the man's ear and with every word his face grew paler.

“That's impossible! There's no way you could have-”

“Is there any way of proving that I haven't?” Seokjin asked slyly and the man shut up.

“Fine… just… just don't touch my home. You can do whatever you want to my neighbours, they're annoying, just don't do anything to my house.” He hung his head and sighed. “All the riches of the town are hidden in the cave beyond the waterfall.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Seokjin said with a grin, blowing the grimacing man a kiss.

Namjoon exhaled shakily. Seokjin was definitely not to be trusted.

“Now,” Seokjin said, spinning to face him. “Spill.”

Namjoon had to restrain a shudder but sighed as he stared at their expectant faces.

“He was going to take the family riches, so I killed him.”

“That's it?” Jimin asked in disbelief. “All that work and all you did was kill him?”

“I never said the answer would be satisfying, did I?” Namjoon responded and Jimin screamed in frustration.

“I can't believe you had the audacity-”

“I can't believe that my scissors betrayed me!” Jeongguk sobbed from over by the wall.

Namjoon just wanted to bash his head against something very solid and maybe get a concussion. It would probably be less painful than dealing with his so-called students.

Chapter Text

Hoseok stared at the adventuring party. The adventuring party stared back. All was silent for about three minutes before one of the adventurers - a man standing tall and proud, sword at his side and wearing plate armour - stepped forward.

“It is said that there's an evil being of great power that lives in these woods,” he warned. “What is one such as you doing in a place such as this?”

Hoseok squinted at them in confusion.

“What?”

The adventurer looked slightly taken aback, but coughed once and began speaking again, albeit slower than before.

“I said, what is-”

“I heard what you said the first time,” Hoseok answered, “but what the hell are you talking about? And besides, why are you talking like that? It's weird.”

“Oh, I… well… um,” the adventurer sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. “I thought it would make me sound cooler.”

Hoseok nodded in understanding. He too once tried the same thing once upon a time (really it was only two weeks ago) but Namjoon had swiftly put a stop to it by throwing a book at him.

“And this is just a forest,” Hoseok shrugged. “Nothing here is stopping me from walking along the path.”

“But there's-” the adventurer tried to exclaim.

“A town up ahead,” Hoseok stated blankly. “This is the only road in.”

“I told you to check the map first,” one of the others hissed, “but no, you said you already did all the research you needed.”

“Shut up, I'm trying okay?” The adventurer retorted. “Anyway, this area isn't safe.”

“Isn't safe?” Hoseok asked. The man had said something about an 'evil being of great power’, but Namjoon had never warned any of them about something like that and that very much seemed like the sort of thing that you should generally warn people about.

“Not safe at all,” a second adventurer confirmed. “They say that this being rules over the region with an iron fist - even routinely demanding sacrifices and murdering people in cold blood - and can even level a mountain with its cursed magic.”

Hoseok wasn't sure how much he should trust this guy. He kind of had that sketchy hasn't-slept-or-showered-in-ten-years kind of vibe and that usually didn't scream that a person was trustworthy.

“Some say it is a man, but others say it is a monster.” The man glanced back and forth between his nodding comrades. “It is our duty to find this creature and slay it.”

“Oh, well, I wish you luck,” Hoseok said with a smile before turning to walk back down the path toward Namjoon's stronghold.

“Oh right, before I leave,” Hoseok paused and said, voice loud and clear. “What is the name of this creature, by any chance?”

“The creature? It's known only as RM,” one of them said. “Why do you ask?”

Hoseok turned to them again with a large smile on his face as he carefully grasped the knife hanging off his belt.

“Maybe there are things in this forest that shouldn't be messed with, even before you try to face RM.”

“What-”

“Me, for example,” Hoseok grinned as he sliced into his finger and let several drops of blood fly through the air like bullets, piercing through even the toughest of armour.

He walked up to the surprised and horrified adventurers before crouching down next to them.

“Also, he's a scientist, not some kind of sorcerer. If you're going to try to assassinate my mentor, at least do your research first.”

With that, Hoseok turned and walked away, leaving the drops of blood to finish distributing his toxin into their bloodstream.

Namjoon would be proud of him, of that he was sure.

Chapter Text

Jimin knew that everyone was probably curious about his pouch and what it contained. Of course they were. Everyone always was.

Even once they had seen it, many would still wonder why he would carry around a pouch full of rocks that had no real value. Others would just pass him off as a crazy person and never bother him again. That would be the best case scenario and basically how it had always been.

But…

“No, Jeongguk, you can't use my rocks for some random game,” Jimin sighed, pulling his pouch closer to his body.

"Why not?” Jeongguk pouted. “I'm not going to blow them up.”

“That's what you said about Namjoon's book about topiaries last week,” Seokjin reminded from his seat in the comfiest chair in the lounge. “Do I have to remind you how that one turned out?”

“This and that are different things,” Jeongguk huffed, crossing his arms and refusing to look away. “Yoongi would probably approve. That's why he's the cool one and not you.”

“Yoongi is also probably taking a nap,” Jimin snapped. “These are mine and I don't want you taking them.”

Jeongguk sighed and flopped down into one of the chairs, fiddling with a loose thread on his shirt. Jimin relaxed slightly but still didn't take his eyes off the younger boy.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Jeongguk, he did (sometimes), but it was just that he wouldn't trust these with anyone. He needed the rocks the same way that everyone needs oxygen and the others wouldn't understand it.

As far as he could see, he was the only one who needed reagents so of course it wouldn't make sense to people like Jeongguk who were simply born with an explosive amount of power.

Jimin had tried leaving them behind, once. Just in his bedroom while he left to eat and bathe but ended up constantly panicking until they were back on his person. They were the heart and soul of his abilities and to go without them could basically mean suicide.

Namjoon had glossed over the do's and don'ts of powerful objects since he didn't know about Jimin, which was kind of the intention of laying low, but the most he ended up getting out of it was 'Don't leave important stuff far away because heroes are pains in the ass and will always find a way to get it’.

Jimin didn't want to imagine the horror that would surely unfold if some run off the mill hero got their grubby hands (because heroes rarely practiced good hygiene on their so-called 'noble’ quests. Disgusting.) on his rocks. If that wasn't bad enough, if they somehow got the other object in the pouch, Jimin would be virtually helpless.

He had already risked his life once to get the damn thing. There was no way he'd let it out of his sight, no-siree.

Even imagining it was painful and Jimin was beginning to doubt the previous generations of villains for not realizing just how screwed they were. No protection is completely infallible, after all, and it was better to know the whereabouts of something that important than leaving it to chance.

He trusted the others to an extent, but it wouldn't do for them to get too curious. That would be a decidedly Bad Thing™ and Jimin really didn't want to deal with the fallout from that. It would be more troublesome than taking the other route and Jimin was never really one for troubling himself when he didn't have to.

He sighed and looked at the two in the room carefully. He could do it if he moved fast enough and he knew that he'd managed to do it when there were higher stakes. He'd be fine.

"Well, I'm just going to see if I can find Namjoon," Jimin said, stretching and standing up, subtly grabbing two rocks from the pouch on the way. "I have a question about that last lesson."

"Ah okay," Seokjin replied without even looking up from the book he was reading. "Have fun."

Jeongguk only pouted and curled up in the chair even more.

"I hope you lose your rocks. Rocks deserve to be destroyed."

"Why?" Jimin teased, internally cheering as he walked closer to Jeongguk. "Because they beat your scissors?"

"Everyone knows that scissors are the best!" He protested loudly. "That's why I always choose them."

"And that's also why you always lose. Anyway, I'll be off then."

Jimin smiled and carefully ruffled Jeongguk's hair, rock in hand before walking over and gently brushing the rock against Seokjin's arm.

He paused at the door and looked back at them, eyes sharp and calculating as he waited. Seokjin blinked and frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side and glancing at Jeongguk before noticing Jimin.

"Jimin, where are you going?"

"Oh, just to the washroom. Don't worry, I'll be right back." Jimin smiled sweetly and Seokjin nodded before returning to his book. Jimin continued walking out of the room with a sly grin. It had worked just as he had hoped.

"Don't drown in the toilet!"

His smile fell. Jeongguk was so going to get it as soon as he got back.

Chapter Text

"You're all going to die a most painful death!" Jeongguk cackled from where he stood above his fallen adversaries. "You must see clearly now that there was no way you could stand up to me and you have accepted your defeat!"

He threw his head back and let out a spine-chilling laugh as the wind around them began to pick up. It was concentrated around his hands to the point where small whirlwinds had formed and any loose leaves or objects had surely been blown away. When he looked down on them, he must have looked like a demon, his eyes glowing with magic, his head tilted maniacally, his lopsided toothy grin and the sheer pressure of his magical energy that pressed down on everyone but him like the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"What other choice does a pitiful insect like you have than to cower by my feet, begging for your lives like the scum you are?"

He stopped laughing but his eyes still carried traces of glee as he held out his hand in front of him, the wind shaping itself into the cutting edge of a blade and the air pressure increasing to the point where the grass itself was beginning to be torn from the earth. The only spot left untouched was the ring where he, himself, was standing.

Jeongguk's hair blew around more haphazardly with every passing second as the spell got closer to activating. It was only held back by his tight control over his magic at this point and everyone around knew that if - no, when - he chose to activate it, there wouldn't even be a second of warning before the surrounding area was completely devastated.

"Now," he grinned, "tell me exactly what I want to hear and I'll spare your lives. If not, well, I'm sure you understand what the outcome will be. So, what'll it be? Answer or death?"

For a moment, time stood still. Nothing moved. No one spoke. Nothing breathed.

The pressure was so overwhelming that even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to speak or even open their eyes had they been closed.

Jeongguk's smile grew and he raised his arm up, ready to bring destruction raining down like the hammer of judgement striking wherever he so chose.

.

.

.

And just like that, everything was gone. All the pressure, all the wind, all the danger. Gone.

Jeongguk slumped to the ground limply and his hand twitched uselessly by his side.

"And that," Namjoon said with an unimpressed tone, "is precisely why you leave gloating until after you've killed your enemies. Never know when their ally is going to sneak up behind you and take you by surprise."

"Damn... You... Namjoon..." Jeongguk rasped as he tried to glare up at the man.

"Also I have to ask, how did a simple team game turn out like this the second I turned my back to make some tea?" Namjoon asked suspiciously and Jeongguk pouted as the small piece of complex machinery was removed from his back. Hesitantly taking Namjoon's hand, he was pulled up to a seated position and sighed before beginning the tale of just how he'd ended up almost killing everyone in the front yard.

"Hoseok got Jin out-"

"He let you call him Jin?"

"- Yes he did, now stop asking, then Jimin got Yoongi which wasn't a surprise, we were just shocked that he wasn't the first one out. So then you see, I was the only one left on my team and Jin said to avenge him, so you know, I kind of had to."

"And somehow you almost ended up blowing up the yard," Namjoon deadpanned as he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't forget almost killing us." Seokjin frowned and shot an accusing glare at the youngest of the bunch. "Because it was more than just your lawn that was at risk here."

"Yes but I know you are all capable and you have my full confidence," Namjoon said as he surveyed the damage. "Besides, if you had been killed by this kid then I'd know my confidence was unfounded and that you wouldn't have survived as a villain anyway. This job is a lot more dangerous than anyone thinks and- MY ROSES!"

Everyone's eyes darted over to the destroyed rose bushes and they exchanged panicked glances.

"I think this is our cue to get the heck out of here," Jimin whispered and without missing a beat, they all got up and ran away, leaving Jeongguk alone to face the wrath of a true villain.

Chapter Text

“Alright so since your first team exercise was a complete disaster,” Namjoon said with a glare at Jeongguk who cowered under the look, “let's try again with a different game.”

“As long as Jeongguk doesn't try to kill us again we should be fine,” Jimin mused with an accusing glance. Jeongguk gaped in offence and Yoongi (who was awake for once) simply scoffed as the younger boy began to protest loudly

“I'm just a competitive person okay?”

“I don't care that you're competitive, kiddo,” Namjoon sighed, trying to prevent the inevitable argument. “Just don't touch my roses again.”

“I didn't mean to!” Jeongguk exclaimed, not realizing that he was actually just making things worse. “They were just in the way.”

Namjoon turned to him with a grin that to others would seem disarming but they all knew meant trouble.

“Just for that, Jeongguk, the teams will be you and Yoongi against Seokjin, Hoseok and Jimin.”

“But that isn't fair!” Jeongguk whined.

“Yeah,” Yoongi muttered under his breath. “To me.”

“Yoongi doesn't do anything but sleep! It's basically me against everyone else!” The boy kept ranting and Yoongi wanted to sigh. He slept all the time for a reason, it's just that none of them had ever bothered asking why and had instead just slapped him with the label of lazy and left it at that.

Maybe today he'd give them a little taste.

“Aish, just stop complaining,” Yoongi groaned. “I'm stuck with you and that isn't much better either.

“Now, are you ready for the explanation?” Namjoon asked as he looked from person to person. When they had all shown even the slightest sign of agreement, he began.

“Now, I'm about to let you use some training equipment that I created specifically for you and if they get damaged in any way you'll be stuck on kitchen duty for the next month.

“But Namjoon!” Jimin protested loudly. Namjoon paused and gestured for him to continue.

“Hoseok only knows how to make chicken and I don't like chicken!”

“Simple, don't let him damage anything,” Namjoon said with a shrug. “Anyway, these are harmless enough that you won't die from being hit, but it might bruise.”

Namjoon pulled out some long and strange looking machines.

“I call them paint guns, and as the name says, they shoot paint. If you get hit in the head or center of your chest, you're out. Anywhere else is fair game, but please try to not shoot each other's eyes out.”

Namjoon continued explaining how to use them as he handed the guns out.

“And that's about it. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Seokjin replied as he adjusted the gun in his hand.

“Good,” Namjoon said as he smiled proudly. “Let's get started then.”

Yoongi sighed as he got settled into the starting spot with Jeongguk. The boy was already raring to go and was trying way too eagerly to discuss strategy.

"So how about this," Jeongguk began in what was probably supposed to be a whisper. "I'll run out there and distract them and then you push the thingie - what did Namjoon say again? Pull the trigger? It's more like a push though so I don't really understand why he called it that, but yeah, you do that and pick them off like flies."

Yoongi stared at him without blinking.

"I don't think that'll work-"

"Nonsense!" Jeongguk exclaimed with a huge grin. "We have to win this so that Namjoon won't be mad at me for the roses anymore and then you maybe won't be useless."

"This isn't making me any more inclined to work with you," he muttered but resigned himself to suffering through this game just long enough to make it to bed.

Namjoon sounded a foghorn and they were off. Or rather, Jeongguk was. He catapulted himself over the rock they were hiding behind and took off running.

Did this kid not understand the point of conserving energy? Apparently not.

Yoongi watched Jeongguk run around haphazardly for a while before closing his eyes and focusing, letting his mind open and reach out as he drifted off to sleep.

Finding Hoseok was easy, his thoughts were always blasting loudly and acted like a beacon. Seokjin was a bit harder, but his mind glistened like silver. Jimin was always the hardest to find. It was like his mind was almost blank and Yoongi found himself struggling the first few times he tried.

He might be able to take out Hoseok on his own, he decided after figuring out their positions from their tangled thoughts. He was the closest and had fallen for Jeongguk's taunts so Yoongi was confident in being able to ambush him.

He slowly roused himself and then crept carefully along the treeline until he was almost behind Hoseok. Jeongguk was up ahead and Yoongi could already tell that Hoseok had his sights on the younger boy.

Too bad for him, it wouldn't turn out well.

"Don't move," Yoongi hissed and Hoseok inhaled sharply.

"Yoongi? What-" he stuttered, hands shaking nervously.

"Turn around slowly and drop the weapon."

He did as he was told and came face to face with the business end of Yoongi's paint gun.

“Hey, look, come on man, we can negotiate right?” He chuckled nervously as he was backed into a tree. “You wouldn't just kill me, right?”

“Let me think,” Yoongi said as he stared down at Hoseok with unforgiving eyes and pointing the barrel at his head. He smiled and pulled the trigger.

“No.”

Chapter Text

Jeongguk hesitated to pick up the strange device Namjoon had given them all before leaving them to their own devices in the middle of nowhere for a week in case of emergencies (He called it a phone. Everyone else called it a magical talking box.) and contact the man because he already knew that he would probably be in trouble.

Scratch that - not even probably. He would definitely be in trouble.

After sneaking a glance behind him and trying not to seem like he's grimacing too much, Jeongguk took a deep breath and prepared himself for excessive amounts of explaining and disappointment on Namjoon's end.

He clicked on the only option available, a little icon that said Joonie with a cute drawing of a crab (It was honestly really adorable and seemed so out of character for Namjoon but hey, whatever), and waited. Suddenly, the box made a loud noise and Jeongguk shrieked and dropped it to the ground, watching it with suspicion.

It was silent for a moment and he crept a little closer, but then the noise happened again and he shrunk back. It continued that way until a crackly and muffled version of Namjoon's voice started speaking.

"Jeongguk? Are you alright?" His voice seemed a bit panicked. "What happened!?"

"Namjoon?" Jeongguk asked while frantically looking around. "Where are you? Why can I hear you?"

"I'm not actually there, I explained this already," he sighed. "Just tell me what's wrong."

"Um, well," Jeongguk began nervously. "So I know we already talked about what to do when you kidnap a princess."

"Okay?" Namjoon asked suspiciously. "Why are you asking because I have a bad feeling  about this."

Jeongguk kicked at the dust on the floor and bit his lip as he tried to figure out how to word this properly.

“Do those same rules apply to princes? Or are they for princesses only? I kind of somehow kidnapped a prince. Accidentally.”

Namjoon let out a deep sigh.

“I probably don't want to know, but sure. Why not. Gender equality, right? Do it for the lesbians.”

“Do it for the what?” Jeongguk asked, confused. “I don't understand-.”

“Nevermind. Just….” He paused, letting the silence hang in the air for a moment.

“Just don't get yourself killed, okay?”

While Jeongguk did appreciate the concern, he didn't appreciate Namjoon insinuating that he would actually get killed for this. It's not like they would really want him back that much, right?

“What do you take me for?” Jeongguk scoffed a little as he tried to hide his nervousness.

There was some kind of shuffling noise from Namjoon's side and Jeongguk wasn't quite sure if it was the box.

“It'll be okay. I think. You'll see when you come to pick me up at the end of the week.” Jeongguk paused. “You… you are coming to get me, right?”

“Yes, Jeongguk. I'll pick you up. Just don't get into any more trouble before I get there.”

“Thanks, Namjoon. I'll try. Goodbye.” He said quickly and stared at the box. The box did nothing. Jeongguk shook the box. It still did nothing.

“Why isn't it turning off?” Jeongguk muttered as he peered at it quizzically.

“I haven't managed to get it to hang up from my end yet,” Namjoon's disembodied muffled voice said. “You'll have to do it.”

“Hang… up?” Jeongguk tilted his head to the side as he thought about it before his eyes lit up with understanding.

He walked over to a rock that was sticking out of the wall of the cave he was hiding in and placed the box on top.

“There.”

He admired his work and grinned proudly.

“All hung up.”

He turned and walked away, not hearing Namjoon groan and the thunk as the phone was tossed out the window.

Jeongguk walked over to the other side of the cave where a beautiful man sat, an amused smile on his face.

“Well, you heard the man,” Jeongguk said as he puffed out his chest in an attempt to seem more intimidating. “I have to follow princess protocol.”

“Princess protocol?” The man said with a giggle. “That sounds ridiculous.”

“Princess protocol,” Jeongguk confirmed. “I have to marry you now.”

“You have to… What?” The prince asked as the smile fell off his face.

“I have to marry you.” He repeated, slower this time.

“Why?”

“We're doing it for the lesbians,” Jeongguk said proudly, imitating Namjoon as best as he could.

“What the heck?” The prince laughed loudly. “Shouldn't it be for the gays?”

Jeongguk paused and pursed his lips a little bit, mulling it over.

“Oh yeah, you're right. We'll have to tell him that he was wrong when we see him at the end of the week.”

The prince laughed again and wiped some small tears from his eyes.

“I honestly didn't expect this when I was kidnapped,” he admitted, “but at least this is better than being held ransom. That's never any fun.”

“I'm going to marry you, how is that better than a ransom?” Jeongguk asked in confusion.

“Simple,” the prince replied with a shrug. “At least I know that you aren't bribing my parents to marry me for political gain, not that I'm worth all that much anyway as the third son, and also you've been surprisingly nice to me.”

“I'm an evil villain,” he argued. “You should be scared.”

The prince raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“Look, you literally offered me the comfiest rock to sit on and those bunny teeth are too cute to be scary.”

“That means nothing!” Jeongguk protested vehemently. He was terrifying if he wanted to be, dammit.

“Whatever you say, scary villain. Can I at least have something to call you by?” The prince asked and Jeongguk internally cursed his weakness for pretty eyes.

“I'm Jeongguk. You?”

“His royal highness, Prince Kim Taehyung of Seoul.”

Jeongguk stared at him blankly for a moment as his royal highness, Prince Kim Taehyung of Seoul waited for a reaction.

“Well that's a mouthful,” Jeongguk muttered. “I'm just gonna call you Tae.”

Taehyung shrugged. “Works for me, titles are pretty stuffy anyway and we're going to be married soon, right?”

“Yes. Right. Marriage.” Jeongguk coughed awkwardly. “How do we even do that?”

Taehyung hummed for a moment.

“I don't really know either, but the first step should probably be running away before the royal guard finds us, otherwise we won't survive until our wedding day and wouldn't that just be a tragedy?”

Jeongguk paled as he processed the prince's words and Taehyung only laughed as they scrambled to leave.

At least he remembered Namjoon's magical talking box.

Chapter Text

“Namjoon!” Jeongguk shrieked as the man came into view. “We have to hurry!”

“Wait, what? Why?” Namjoon asked, taken aback by the urgency in his voice. Jeongguk gestured behind himself frantically and he could see the moment that realization dawned on the other man.

And why was that? Jeongguk knew full well why. Taehyung.

It wasn't directly his fault, perse, but the royal guard had been hot on their heels for days. Everything would have been fine if Namjoon had shown up a few hours ago, but he hadn't and instead, a royal scout had come across Taehyung and Jeongguk taking a rest in the forest and had reported it back to the commander.

They'd clued in pretty quickly when they started hearing the barking of dogs and voices and had been running since. It was kind of odd, though. Jeongguk had expected Taehyung to take any opportunity presented to him to escape and go back to a life of splendour.

Contrary to expectations, Taehyung had been the first one on his feet and running away. He supposed it wasn't worth questioning because they still hadn't had time to find someone to marry them and Jeongguk knew Namjoon would be incredibly disappointed in him if he couldn't carry out something as simple as princess protocol.

But that wasn't the current issue. Right now they had to escape from the guard and they had to do it quickly.

“We don't have time!” Jeongguk shouted back. Luckily, Namjoon trusted his judgement (for once) and directed them toward a small forest path full of branches and bushes that would make maneuvering difficult.

In a small clearing sat a strange looking boatlike contraption and to be completely honest, Jeongguk had no idea how that was supposed to help them. Even Taehyung seemed confused and he was a prince with more education than Jeongguk could even imagine.

“Get in,” Namjoon told him. “And don't touch anything.”

“But-” Jeongguk tried to protest. Namjoon looked at him skeptically.

“Do you want to die?”

Jeongguk and Taehyung vehemently shook their heads. They were trying to avoid death, thank you very much.

“Then don't touch anything.”

They carefully clambered in and sat in the seats in the back, keeping their arms close to their bodies so that they wouldn't accidentally hit something and die. The sounds of their pursuers got louder as Namjoon closed the door behind them and sat himself down.

They began hearing some strange noises and Taehyung grabbed onto Jeongguk's hand tightly. When Jeongguk turned to him to ask why, Taehyung leaned in close and began whispering in his ear.

“If we die today, we die for the lesbians.”

Jeongguk honestly didn't see any fault in that so he agreed with a nod before turning to face the front. What he saw amazed him.

The treetops were beneath them and it was like they were sailing through the air. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen or imagined before and Jeongguk was sure that Taehyung was just as stunned as he was. Even at the palace they didn't have anything like this, as far as he knew.

He looked around the inside with awe but was confused when he saw a large button labelled 'Do Not Touch'. The thing about people and things labelled 'Do Not Touch’ is simple. They touch them.

Jeongguk reached his hand out, prepared to press it just to see what it would do (this was Namjoon, after all - he's a pretty nice guy - how bad could it be?) when Taehyung grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“He said to not touch anything, remember?”

“Your friend is right,” Namjoon said all of a sudden. “I wouldn't touch that if I were you.”

“What does it do?” Jeongguk asked, more out of curiosity than out of concern for his own safety.

“You press it, you die.” Namjoon turned to them with a grim smile. “That's why I said to not touch it.”

He pointed to an empty area of the front and it took Jeongguk a moment to realize there was a small button there that completely blended in with the rest.

“That's just in case I need to quickly get rid of this, like if my enemies tried to use it for themselves, I'd just blow it up.”

“But if you can't press it,” Taehyung asked with a frown, “how does it work?”

“I can control it remotely from my phone,” Namjoon explained.

“Phone?” Taehyung wondered and it took Jeongguk a few moments to remember what he was talking about as well.

“Oh!” He exclaimed, turning to Taehyung. “The magical talking box thing!”

Taehyung's eyes widened as he nodded in understanding and Namjoon groaned.

“How many times do I have to tell you, it's called a phone!”

Chapter Text

"Everyone, this is His royal highness, Prince Kim Taehyung of Seoul," Namjoon said while gesturing to the new person in the room and subtly checking to make sure he got the title correct. Taehyung smiled politely and inclined his head in as much of a bow as they were going to get. Namjoon continued speaking after they'd all exchanged hushed greetings.

"Jeongguk somehow kidnapped him during the one week I left you unsupervised and though I'd love to return him to the palace so that we can get the reward for rescuing him, he's already said that he'll sell us out if we try."

Taehyung's smile grew as everyone except Jeongguk and Namjoon looked over at him in fear.

"Don't worry. In exchange for me not turning you all in for illegal activity and for kidnapping me-" he glanced at Jeongguk who had paled considerably "-you have to let me join you."

"I don't understand why you would want to bother with us, to be honest," Yoongi said offhandedly. "We're a bunch of criminals."

"Now, don't be harsh," Seokjin muttered. "We're villains, they're completely different."

"How is it that different?" Hoseok wondered and Namjoon really just wanted to finally get to the point already because they were already behind as it was.

"It really isn't that different." Namjoon cut in before the conversation could progress too far. They really didn't have the time for this.

"I mean, what better way to disappoint my father than becoming a villain, right?" Taehyung mused. "This is way more fun than etiquette and dinners with stuffy officials."

"Well, that's one way to put it, I guess," Namjoon sighed. "Anyway, if you're really serious about this, we'll have to get you all caught up."

Jeongguk looked at him with wide eyes and his smile slowly got larger as he realized what it meant.

"That's awesome!" he cheered, causing everyone else to send him strange glances. He noticed and pursed his lips into a pout.

"What? Why is everyone looking at me like that? Guys, we'll finally have equal teams for those games!"

That... wasn't quite what Namjoon had been hoping for, but he wasn't really expecting much else.

"You're right!" Jimin exclaimed after counting on his fingers. "There's six of us now, not counting Namjoon!"

"Yes, you can do basic math, congratulations." Namjoon looked around at his students that he was teaching (or was it really just babysitting and the higher-ups just foisting these hopeless kids on him so they could avoid dealing with the fallout themselves?). "Unfortunately, we won't be starting with the games. Sorry."

"You're no fun," Jimin huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the wall.

"Instead, you kiddos are going to teach him the basics and I'll be here to fix any mistakes."

Yoongi screwed his face into a grimace. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Sucks to be you because I'm not," Namjoon said while staring pointedly at Yoongi. "However, I will go easy on you just this once and run the lesson today. I think you all need a little refresher anyway."

"What are we doing?" Taehyung asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Are we making weapons powerful enough to destroy a whole kingdom? How about the world?"

"No, and no," Namjoon replied without hesitation. "We're doing interrogation practice."

"I thought we already agreed that we all suck at it," Hoseok muttered dejectedly.

"And that's why we're going to practice." Namjoon had half a mind to just send in a resignation letter, change his name and move to some other kingdom where he could live out the rest of his days just relaxing on a beach and getting massages. Maybe in another lifetime though. He was too busy to bother with that right now and he had somehow gotten kind of fond of these brats and actually didn't want them to end up in situations that would surely make them end up on the Villain Association's annual DWTD list.

(He always did enjoy reading the Dumb Ways To Die list, but seeing names he recognized might just ruin the experience for him. Maybe.)

"We agreed that it's hopeless so why bother?" Yoongi scoffed and Namjoon had to sigh.

"It's a necessary skill for villainy and I'm not letting you guys out into the world without it. Can any of you tell Taehyung what the number one rule of interrogations is?"

"Oh that's simple," Seokjin said with a smile. "Never lose your cool."

He looked over at Namjoon for approval and if he wasn't trying to teach, he probably would have found it a little endearing. Unfortunately for Seokjin, he was incorrect.

"That's the second rule, not the first one. The first one is to never hold an interrogation in your home."

"But last time-" Jimin began until he was shushed by Namjoon.

"If you don't stop you'll end up being the one sitting in the chair."

Jimin shut up without any further comment. It was a smart choice, and one Namjoon himself would have made.

After all, Seokjin would be the one leading the demonstration.

Chapter Text

Namjoon hid behind a tree in the forest, looking down at his phone where it displayed an image of what was happening all around him. Maybe he should have held off on this game until everyone was a bit more comfortable, but it was more amusing to see them try to learn on the job.

Their task today was stealth and tracking, though at the moment none of them had even come close to finding him. At the moment, he checked the feed, Jeongguk and Taehyung seemed to be trying to set up some kind of trap that they probably believed to be infallible but could easily be dismantled, Jimin was creeping around and searching under every rock and tree, Hoseok was walking down the path and Namjoon supposed Hoseok thought he would use reverse psychology and hide in plain sight - a good guess, but it was wrong - and it seemed like he'd run into Seokjin soon who also apparently had the same idea.

Yoongi was… Namjoon peered down at the feed in confusion. Yoongi was sleeping. He sighed, deciding to have a talk with the other man later. Maybe he was simply nocturnal for some strange reason or had difficulty sleeping at night.

He checked the time and sighed. He really didn't hide in the most difficult of places to find. From where they had been stationed at the perimeter of the forest, if any single one of them had walked straight, they would have found him.

It had been over twenty minutes since the game started and he hadn't had to move once.

Namjoon didn't need to leave any clues or riddles for them. They all assumed he would and would naturally start looking even though there weren't any to be found. They brought about their own downfalls, really.

Namjoon checked the feed again and frowned. Yoongi wasn't where he had been sleeping just a few moments ago. He clicked through the different surveillance feeds until he saw Yoongi on the screen, walking straight ahead with a determined look on his face.

Oh?

Namjoon tried to fight the grin that was slowly making its way onto his face, but it seemed like Yoongi had actually figured out the trick. Unfortunately for him, Namjoon still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Pressing a button on the phone and feeling somewhat grateful for thinking of setting it up in advance, Namjoon waited to hear the unmistakable crackle of the speaker system.

“Attention everyone,” Namjoon's prerecorded voice boomed. “I have two messages for you. One, I'm hiding near the river.”

He actually wasn't, even though that had been his original plan. There had recently been a poison ivy infestation down there and Namjoon was actually quite allergic to the stuff. He had forgotten to change the recording, but oh well. Either they would figure out it was a trick or they would end up braving that nasty plant.

“And two,” Namjoon's voice said with a weighted pause. “We're now playing tag, and I'm it. The rules are simple. You tag me successfully, you win. I tag you and you're out. Good luck.”

He watched the screen carefully as all his students immediately headed in the direction of the river. Wait. No.

Almost all of them.

Yoongi hadn't changed his course whatsoever despite the announcement. Curious.

Well, it wouldn't matter as long as he tagged all the others out and maybe find a way to throw Yoongi off his trail. Namjoon took a deep breath, glanced down at the video feed to reconfirm their locations and then set off.

Originally, the announcement was supposed to give them a fighting chance. Now though? It was more a trap than anything.

As he approached the area near the river, Namjoon crouched down and waited for his students to realize he wasn't actually there and leave that blasted poison ivy infested zone. Getting Jimin first would be the easier route since he was travelling alone.

Sure enough, he saw the boy come storming out, itching at his legs and muttering expletives under his breath. He was so caught up in his misfortune that he didn't notice Namjoon reach out and tap his arm and grab it.

Jimin paused. Stared at his arm. Stared at the hand that was wrapped around his wrist. Stared at the arm that was attached and the body attached to that. Jimin stared at Namjoon before gasping and yelling in exasperation.

“Oh come on!” Jimin stomped his foot. “Are you serious?”

“Yep,” Namjoon replied nonchalantly. “You're out.”

Jimin scowled and huffed angrily.

“I hope Jin catches you.” Jimin left after saying those words and made his way back to the building. One down, five to go.

Taehyung and Jeongguk were the next to get caught. Though they hadn't ventured deep into that accursed foliage, they were still scratching their legs while loudly plotting the best way to find Namjoon. Namjoon ended that conversation by walking quietly up behind them and slapping them on the back.

“Seems like I've found you first,” he said, actually enjoying their shocked faces.

“I refuse to accept this,” Jeongguk protested. “Beat me at rock paper scissors and I'll go.”

Namjoon stared at him for a moment before shrugging.

“Sure, why not.”

Sure enough, that ended with Jeongguk bawling once more over his precious scissors and Taehyung consoling him as Namjoon walked away, victorious. Now all he had to do was catch Hoseok and Seokjin without having to confront Yoongi.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. While he could usually predict either Hoseok or Seokjin, the two of them together were so chaotic that it was extremely difficult to know what they would do next.

Also, Yoongi was closing in and that may have been bothering him more than he'd like to admit.

Namjoon moved quickly and almost let out a loud cheer when he saw the two had split up. It didn't take long before he caught Seokjin (and maybe scared the living daylights out of the man as he reached out from where he was hiding inside a bush and grabbed his ankle) and laid low for a moment to find Hoseok.

Luckily for him, Hoseok had somehow managed to get himself caught in the trap that Jeongguk and Taehyung had set up earlier and, instead of trying to escape, was laying in it like a hammock.

Namjoon didn't even hesitate to walk up to him with an amused smile.

“A little tied up, are we?”

“Nah.” Hoseok grinned back. “Just hanging out, you know? It's comfier than it looks.”

“Oh really? I find that hard to believe.” Namjoon chuckled, though he kept a keen eye on Yoongi's position. He was getting closer.

Hoseok laughed loudly. “Don't knock it until you try it.”

“I think I'll pass,” Namjoon replied as he tapped Hoseok's arm and freed him. “Go back and make sure Jeongguk hasn't ruined even more of my roses, won't you?”

Hoseok saluted him and pranced off. Namjoon sighed before focusing on Yoongi again. Somehow he had an uncanny sense of direction and knack for finding people and it was honestly unnerving.

It was like he had a tracker despite Namjoon knowing full well that he didn't. Seeing no point in tiring himself out more, he hid and waited. Sure enough, Yoongi appeared less than a minute later and his eyes swept across the area.

When he didn't see anything, Yoongi closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Namjoon knew at that moment that if Yoongi opened his eyes, he would be the one losing. He couldn't let that happen.

He moved quickly and just barely managed to dodge a hand coming up to try and grab his. It was a close call and Namjoon was actually impressed for once.

“You're good,” Namjoon whispered from behind Yoongi as he placed a hand on the other's shoulder. “Just not quite good enough.”

Yoongi sighed and shrugged before walking off without another word.

Namjoon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He'd have to keep a closer eye on that one.

Chapter Text

For the first time ever - or at least, the first time yet - Namjoon gave his students a paper test. Of course, it wasn't some simple math test or grammar quiz or anything. No.

It was an essay. Each and every one of them had been given a scenario and an end goal, and what they had to do was create a plan that could guarantee (or get as close to guarantee as possible) their success.

To be completely honest, Namjoon wasn't expecting too much. It was their first time doing an exercise such as this one and they didn't yet know the five year rule. Ah yes. The five-year rule.

The most crucial rule to successful villainous plotting.

Their faces were screwed up in thought as they stared at the papers, occasionally writing something down. Namjoon checked a clock.

“Fifteen minutes left,” he said nonchalantly as he broke the silence in the room. Hoseok's head whipped up and he had a horrified expression.

“What do you mean fifteen minutes left?” He exclaimed, probably sounding way more scandalized than he actually was. Namjoon shrugged. It's not like fifteen minutes was a short amount of time either, as long as it was used wisely.

“Sometimes you won't have three hours to sit and plan. Situations can change in a heartbeat and all your carefully laid plans could all of a sudden become useless.”

Hoseok scowled but still continued writing on the page. When the time was up, Namjoon collected the sheets and looked them over carefully. At first glance, they didn’t seem to be that bad, but there was one more thing that needed to be checked.

“Alright, I’ll check these over lunch, so go ahead and get some food. You know where it is by now so I won’t bother showing you.” Namjoon smiled and watched them leave. When he was sure they were gone, he quickly made his way over to his communications room.

Inside, he flipped several switches and made sure everything was powering up. He supposed that he should count himself lucky that he was able to do this at all, to be honest. For most people who didn’t have access to the resources for a five-year rule check, they would have to travel a great distance to the nearest center for villainy. Due to his equipment, however, Namjoon could get the check done without having to leave the comfort of his own home.

It would take a few minutes to even be prepared to establish a connection and several more after to actually do it. He had just enough time to make some basic corrections.

(Why Jeongguk thought that a box of raisins would help in the case of invasion was anybody’s guess)

He had to admit, for the time they had and for it being their first attempt at anything that resembled an actual plan, they had done relatively well. Though some points had obviously been added in during the panic of the final fifteen minutes and made basically zero sense - exploding everything, playing dead and a literal crab army were among those (though Namjoon was actually somewhat fond of the crab concept) - some were actually half-decent.

"Kim Namjoon?" A booming voice came out of nowhere all of a sudden and Namjoon totally didn't shriek and fall off his chair in surprise. Totally not.

"Yes. Hello. Hi," he stammered as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Thank you for, uh, for answering."

"It's no problem at all," the man on the other end laughed. "So why have you contacted us today?"

"Well, I had my students write out some plans and I wanted to put them through a real five-year check so they can understand how it works."

"Oh yes, your students." Namjoon could hear the man snickering. "How are they doing, by the way? And you can send them over whenever you're ready."

Namjoon inserted the pages into a scanner which would send them off and hummed in thought.

"They're alright. Some of them pick up certain things faster than others-" Namjoon shuddered as he remembered just how good Yoongi had been at finding him "- and some of them just need to work a little bit harder."

"Ah, got them. I'll get the check started but you might as well stay since it won't take very long."

"I see," Namjoon replied. He was about to rush down and grab some food, but the man started talking again and even though Namjoon was a villain, his mother didn't raise him to be rude.

"You know what else we thought wouldn't take long?" A tinge of amusement coloured the man's voice and Namjoon found himself getting curious.

"... What?"

"You," he answered promptly. "We had a bet going on how long it would be before those kids drove you nuts."

"I'll admit, they've gotten close," Namjoon said with a chuckle, thinking of all the times he had wanted to pull his hair out, "but the six of them really aren't that bad."

"Wait, six? We only sent five-"

"Picked up a stray," he said in order to cut the other man off. Taehyung would probably be a little bit offended that he was called a stray, but it was preferable to saying the truth.

"Well, whatever. Your judgement on that," the man answered. "By the way, the check is done and judging by the pages, I'm pretty sure everyone failed. I'll send it all back now."

"That's basically what I expected anyway," Namjoon said. "Thanks."

Once the pages were back, Namjoon brought them with him to lunch.

"Alright everyone, I have an announcement."

Suddenly, all eyes were on him.

"Are we getting that day off?" Seokjin asked politely.

"No, I think it's about the next game we're going to play," Hoseok muttered and Yoongi simply sighed while Jimin seemed caught between the two options.

"Wait, what if the guards found us?" Jeongguk exclaimed, panic seeping into his voice. Taehyung's eyes grew wide and he clutched on to Jeongguk's sleeve, staring horrified at Namjoon.

"Calm down!" Namjoon shouted over the speculation. "You're all wrong."

"Oh. That's lame," Hoseok scoffed. "What is it then?"

"You all failed the five-year check," Namjoon said with a shrug as he handed back their papers.

"Five-year check?" Yoongi asked skeptically. "What's that?"

"Basically," Namjoon began with a grin probably way more enthusiastic than it needed to be, "your plan could easily be foiled by an average five-year-old kid. Don't even try to say that isn't true because I had an actual five-year-old check these over."

"What are we supposed to do about that?" Jimin muttered as he scowled at the paper. Namjoon couldn't hold back the laugh that burst from his chest, finally having something to tease them all about.

"Just work at it until you won't be outsmarted by a little brat. Good luck."

Chapter Text

“I think I got him,” Jimin whispered into the little device Namjoon had attached to his coat to enable him to communicate with his teammates. He was tracking Yoongi, though he was pretty sure that he had already been spotted.

At least Yoongi would probably just let him win so he could go nap or something. Hopefully Taehyung was having luck dealing with Hoseok and he was pretty sure that Seokjin could (maybe) handle Jeongguk. They probably should have sent Taehyung after him since Jeongguk was less likely to go hard on him (something about unfulfilled protocol, but they had never elaborated and Jimin had never cared enough to ask) but knowing those two, they would just go rogue and form their own team.

It didn't matter. Yoongi was sitting ahead of him on the edge of a ravine and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. If he did this right, he could seize the first victory for their team.

“Go ahead Jimin, just be careful. Yoongi is capable of a lot more than we give him credit for,” Seokjin whispered through the connection. Not for the first time, Jimin nodded. Paused. Oh right. No one could actually see him.

“Yeah. I'll do my best.”

He moved carefully, slowly, just until the point where he could almost reach out and touch Yoongi's arm. While on a normal day that would be enough to guarantee victory, today's game was a bit more complex.

To prepare them for actual combat, they were allowed to use non-lethal force and had to press a specific button on their opponent's communication device. When the connection was shut down, you were 'dead’ and had to return back to where Namjoon was waiting in the rose garden.

Closer. Just a little closer.

He could see Yoongi's communication device, it was right there and if he could manage to get it and shut it down, they'd be that much closer to winning. He still seemed to be completely unaware of Jimin's presence, which was kind of the goal.

He reached out, his hand getting closer and closer. Jimin held his breath, he was so close.

When Yoongi grabbed his wrist and twisted, Jimin wanted to curse as he was forced to the ground.

“I knew you were coming,” Yoongi told him and Jimin scoffed. It's not like Yoongi was able to know what would happen, he was probably just a little less stealthy than he thought he was. Yeah. That's totally what it was.

“Oh yeah?” Jimin smirked as he prepared to lash out and kick Yoongi's legs out from underneath him. “What about this?”

Yoongi easily avoided it. Jimin stared.

“Yeah, saw that coming too.”

Jimin glared at him over his shoulder and Yoongi passively met his gaze.

“How about this,” Yoongi sighed, yawning at the end and scratching his neck. “I dump you down this ravine and you don't come after me again. Deal?”

Jimin blew some loose hair from his bangs out of his face and scowled. “And what says I won't come back for revenge? Sounds like a pretty bad idea to me.”

Yoongi shrugged. “I want to check something.”

Jimin really had no clue what he was talking about, but he didn't really have the time to worry about it when Yoongi was dragging him toward the edge. The ravine wasn't very deep and falling into it was really all that dangerous. Hoseok had proven that the other week when he tripped over a tree root and had gone tumbling into the ravine, screaming and shrieking profanities the entire time.

Still, as Jimin realized after Yoongi tossed him over the edge, the landing could easily knock your breath out of your lungs. Curiously enough, Yoongi didn't seem to be moving from that spot, and even more curious, he hadn't knocked Jimin out of the game first.

Well, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Reaching into his pouch, Jimin pulled out a small rock and tossed it from hand to hand as he looked around. He didn't have the element of surprise anymore, but it's not like he would need it.

Backing up, Jimin braced himself and ran toward the wall of the ravine, jumping and pulling himself up the ledges and roots.

Sure enough, Yoongi was waiting for him with a smile.

“I knew you'd come back,” he said as Jimin rolled the rock around in his palm. “And I know that pebble of yours is important.”

Okay, that was just offensive. It was a rock, sure, but calling it a regular old pebble? These rocks were carefully selected with crystals on the inside, meant to contain and channel specific energies.

“Not a pebble,” Jimin growled, launching himself toward Yoongi. His first punch was deflected and Yoongi easily dodged the next.

“You're probably wondering why I didn't just get you out,” Yoongi said as they danced around each other. “I just want to see what you'll do with my own eyes.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jimin breathed as he tried aiming a kick at Yoongi’s abdomen which was ultimately dodged.

“You see, I can see everything up until this moment, this fight of ours. But then it stops and I can't see any more. I want to see why.”

Yoongi stopped fighting and stared at Jimin like a puzzle to be solved.

“Well then,” Jimin said with a grin as he reached out with the rock in his hand. “By all means, let me show you.”

Jimin grabbed his hand and watched as Yoongi's expression went blank and his eyes closed. Without missing his chance, Jimin shut down Yoongi's communication device and slipped the rock back into his pouch.

Yoongi blinked and opened his eyes, holding his head before focusing on Jimin with a fierce glare.

“What did you do to me?” He hissed and Jimin started internally panicking. Had it not worked?

“What's wrong, Yoongi?” He asked, trying to seem normal.

“My head. What did you do?”

“I think I accidentally punched you too hard, I'm sorry,” Jimin lied, still feeling jittery. “Maybe get Namjoon to check it out since I caught you.”

“Yeah, fine.” Yoongi turned and walked away, but not without looking suspiciously over his shoulder. Jimin watched him leave and released a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

That was close.

Chapter Text

“Please?” Seokjin pleaded with his captor. “Can't I get just one last thing?”

Jeongguk seemed to hesitate in shutting down the communication device in order to listen.

“Why should I let you?” He asked and really, Seokjin knew there was no reason he should. That's what Namjoon had told them the other day, after all, but Seokjin also knew that Jeongguk had been sleeping through that lesson after an entire night of pillow fighting with Taehyung. He was counting on the fact (hope) that nobody had told him.

Jeongguk seemed conflicted, but Seokjin knew that if he catered to Jeongguk's love for being first he had a better chance.

“What would you ask for?” Jeongguk asked suspiciously. Good. He fell for it. Seokjin had to hold back the urge to smile and instead tried to appear the most pitiful possible.

“Let me go?”

“No.”

“I'll give you my dessert for a month.”

“Still no.”

“I'll… do your chores?”

“Nope.”

“You suck.”

“I know.”

Okay so plan A wasn't working too well. The kid was more stubborn than Seokjin had expected. Time for plan B.

“Jeongguk, come on. If you won't set me free, at least let me contact my teammates one last time.” Seokjin made his eyes seem bigger and honestly didn't care how embarrassing this was. He was the oldest of the students dammit and here he was, begging the youngest for freedom. It was pitiful.

He would probably feel ashamed later, once the game was over. Right now though? Seokjin was prepared to use every trick in the book to get set free.

“Why should I do that?” Jeongguk asked. “You'll probably just call them and tell them to come and get you.”

“And if I promise that I won't?” Seokjin knew he was grasping at straws at this point, but what other choice did he have? Jeongguk seemed to hesitate and actually appeared to be considering the idea.

“I'll promise you that right now if you want.” Seokjin hoped he didn't sound anywhere near as desperate as he felt. Sure, it was all just a game, but Seokjin still wanted to win.

“Well, you haven't broken any promises yet that I've seen,” Jeongguk mumbled to himself and Seokjin could practically see the beginnings of a plan taking shape in front of him. In his defence, it wasn't a particularly great plan, but it was the best he could do in this situation. A bad plan was better than no plan, as Namjoon had probably said at some point. Or was that just his imagination? It didn't matter.

Not when everything hinged on Jeongguk letting him tell his team one last thing. Although, if he was being honest, Seokjin was confused as to why Jeongguk hadn't just tagged him out when he had first gotten caught. Maybe he was just messing around? Stalling?

Jeongguk narrowed his eyes as he looked at Seokjin carefully. “Fine. You can call them once. Just don't say where we are.”

“Yeah no problem, I won't say a thing about that.” Not that Jeongguk had to worry about that in the first place. As they had all learned, saying your location could easily lead to a trap. No, Seokjin's plan was on a much different scale.

It was difficult hiding the smirk that found its place on his lips as he got ready to speak. Who could blame him? He was confident that his plan would work and if it did, Jeongguk would be regretting letting him contact them the second he finished.

“Hey Prince charming!” Seokjin called, knowing Taehyung would hear him. “Jeongguk is being mean to me again and threatening to blow me up.”

“What!?” Jeongguk shrieked in disbelief, eyes widening to an almost comical degree and mouth dropping open.

“He's what!?” Taehyung yelled from the other end. “I'll deal with him later, thanks for letting me know.”

Seokjin glanced over at a rapidly paling Jeongguk who seemed to be beginning to panic. When his communication device was abruptly shut off and Jeongguk exploded a small spell in his face (nothing too serious, just strong enough to singe his eyebrows), he knew that was it for him.

It didn't matter though.

He lost the battle but, as he thought of the lecture Jeongguk would be getting later, he knew he won the war.

Chapter Text

“He's what!?” Taehyung yelled after Seokjin told him that Jeongguk was being a pain in the butt. Again. Apparently, he still hadn't learned tact.

“I'll deal with him later, thanks for letting me know,” Taehyung sighed as he heard the communication from Seokjin get shut off abruptly. “That kid, I swear.”

He turned to look at Hoseok, knowing that the other man was basically at his mercy.

“Anyway, where were we?” Hoseok grinned nervously at Taehyung's question and seemed like he was trying to seem much less stressed than he actually was. Even though his efforts were fruitless, Taehyung had to appreciate them.

To most others, Hoseok would seem calm and composed, completely prepared for whatever could be thrown at him. Unfortunately for him, Taehyung was raised in the royal court of Seoul and was very experienced with the fine arts of deceit and diplomacy. The slightest hesitation or twitch of the eye could give away a ruse and after being under the scrutiny of the public eye all his life, Taehyung considered himself a master of reading between the lines and hiding his true feelings.

“I won't tell you anything,” Hoseok tried to protest. “I'm not about to betray my team like that.”

Taehyung shrugged. “I don't care about that.”

Hoseok seemed completely shocked and his mouth dropped open.

“What do you mean you don't care?” Hoseok argued. “You've got me all tied up in this trap or whatever and you don't want information?”

“Nope,” Taehyung confirmed without betraying any emotions. He had already won, Hoseok just didn't know that yet. The moment composure is lost is when the chance of victory is also lost.

“Namjoon told us-”

“Ah, but Namjoon doesn't know everything, does he?” Taehyung said with a sweet smile on his face. “I'm also not interested in interrogating you whatsoever.”

Hoseok seemed lost, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Taehyung only settled himself down, knowing that Hoseok's communication device was a bit more difficult to get to and not wanting to put himself in any unnecessary danger. Jimin had gotten Yoongi out and Seokjin had been knocked out of the game, so it was two on two.

At the moment, he was keeping Hoseok out of the fight and that was enough. Even if Jimin couldn't handle Jeongguk, the young sorcerer was probably too afraid of getting a lecture to actually look for Taehyung.

“Why are you just sitting there?” Hoseok demanded and Taehyung looked up at him calmly.

“This rock has a nice little divot to sit in. It's comfy,” he replied without hesitation. “Would you expect me to stand?”

“I'd expect you to treat this seriously,” Hoseok argued as he struggled a bit more with the ropes.

“This is a game,” Taehyung said with a nonchalant shrug, “why should I treat it as anything else?”

“Because it's not?”

Taehyung smiled at him a little bit. “A training game is still a game.”

“It won't matter soon enough. Jeongguk is going to come and blast you off your feet,” Hoseok argued confidently and Taehyung simply hummed and checked his fingernails.

“Mhm, I'm sure he will.”

“You'll see,” Hoseok insisted. Taehyung kept his face blank of expression, just enough to be unsettling.

“You have an awful lot of faith in him,” Taehyung remarked calmly. Hoseok puffed up his chest and frowned.

“Of course I do. He's my teammate.”

That's when Taehyung decided to laugh loudly and without restraint.

“I'm sorry but-” he wiped the tears out of his eyes “-that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.”

He managed to calm himself down and give Hoseok the most pitying stare he could.

“As a villain isn't your base principle to never trust anyone? What makes you so sure he'll come?”

“He will, I know he will.” Hoseok was trying so hard to seem confident but the tells didn't lie. Taehyung could tell he was losing hope.

As the minutes passed and Jeongguk still didn't show up, he grew more and more dejected.

“Why aren't you just getting me out already? It's not like I can do anything with the way you've got me here,” Hoseok said, attempting to move his hands as proof.

“Because this is more interesting,” Taehyung replied. It was all about biding his time to complete the plan he had discussed with Jimin in advance, and with some precious stones on the line (though Taehyung couldn't imagine what use Jimin could have for unrefined gemstones other than collecting them) he was sure to follow through with it.

Sure enough, he heard rustling in the forest and Hoseok smirked in the belief he'd won.

“See? He did come,” Hoseok said with a grin that slowly died when Taehyung didn't seem afraid whatsoever. And why should he? Jimin came out of the forest and shut down Hoseok's communication device before unclipping it from his shirt.

“And that's where you're wrong,” Jimin said, causing Hoseok to pale considerably and stare at Taehyung in shock.

“Why did you trust that he'd come for you?” Hoseok asked as Jimin tossed his communication device into the air. “You said that villains couldn't trust each other.”

Taehyung chuckled a little bit before tilting Hoseok's chin up with his index finger.

“Ah, but I'm not a villain, am I?”

The shocked and dumbfounded expression on Hoseok's face made everything worth it.

Chapter Text

Taehyung looked around at the other five as they sat in a circle in the woods, trying to decide what to do. The game today didn't seem to have many rules or things they needed to worry about, other than they all had to work together for once. It's not like that would be particularly hard or anything, right?

Right?

At least, that's what they had thought when Namjoon had dumped them all there half an hour ago with a pretend bomb saying that they had to catch him before the time ran out otherwise they were all "dead". Luckily for them, the timer didn't seem to be anywhere close to running out, but that still didn't mean they had the luxury of being able to relax.

No, they were still completely clueless about where Namjoon could be hiding and none of them were willing to take charge. Usually in these kinds of situations, Taehyung was used to everyone wanting to take control and lead, however, for some reason, not a single one of the villains in training apparently had any sense of leadership or initiative. It was weird.

As the third prince, Taehyung was quite used to being told exactly what to do and how to do it, but he was still no stranger to taking charge if it was required of him. Looking at everyone else, it looked like this would be one of those situations.

"Alright, we need to come up with some sort of plan, otherwise we're just going to waste all our time here and fail," Taehyung sighed after seeing that no one else was even trying to get started. Jeongguk looked nervously over at Jimin for confirmation, who proceeded to look at Hoseok, who paled and glanced at Seokjin, who then sheepishly stared at Yoongi who didn't look at anyone because he was asleep.

"Well if no one else is going to take charge, I guess I'll have to do it," Taehyung muttered. "You have to admit that without Namjoon you guys are all lost."

"Can you blame us?" Jeongguk asked quietly. "I mean, look at what happened when he left us alone for a week. I accidentally kidnapped you!"

"Yes, and?" Taehyung demanded, one eyebrow raised. "Honestly if I didn't want to be here then I wouldn't be."

"But, um, what about the others? They all did dumb stuff too, I think," Jeongguk tried to reason.

"I wrote restaurant reviews while you were out kidnapping people," Seokjin said with a shake of his head. "Jimin?"

"What?" Jimin asked as he glanced up from where he was weaving blades of grass together into a crown. "Oh, um, I went swimming in some lake I found and stayed in some random person's house because they weren't there."

"I decided to go feed animals in the wild!" Hoseok exclaimed cheerfully and Taehyung honestly had to stare. These people wanted to be villains? And the only one who did anything remotely villainous did it unintentionally? Heck, looking at it from this perspective, the royal family was much more evil than any of the so-called villains that he had surrounded himself with.

"I don't know what Yoongi did that whole time, but that isn't really my problem," Taehyung muttered to himself as he looked around. "Right now, our problem is finding Namjoon before this thing goes off."

"Oh, yes, right, Namjoon," Jeongguk hummed as he looked around. "I'd cast a locator spell if I could, but it would just blow up in my face. Sorry."

Right. Jeongguk was apparently magically challenged when it came to minor spells, according to everyone else. Taehyung glanced down at the timer and inhaled sharply when it was at a far lower number than he had wanted it to be. Just over 200.

"Can someone wake Yoongi up? He might have some clue about what we should be doing." He looked over at Hoseok who nervously reached over and shook the other man awake. He groaned and scowled at Hoseok.

"Did you really have to do that? I was in the middle of a dream."

"We kind of have more important things to worry about than waking you up from a dream," Taehyung told him with a frown. Yoongi looked down at the numbers on the timer and sighed, bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

"It really won't matter in a moment anyway," he sighed and Taehyung wanted to protest when all of a sudden the timer hit 117 and started making a loud beeping noise before exploding and covering them all in a fine layer of glitter.

"Are you kidding me!?" Jimin shrieked as he closed his eyes tightly. "Glitter!?"

"I will defeat you, wretched sparkles of doom!" Jeongguk yelled, raising his fists and punching the air senselessly. Seokjin only shook his head and let the glitter fall out of his hair and Hoseok was doing his best to expel the glitter from his nose that he had accidentally inhaled.

Yoongi looked completely unfazed with the events and Taehyung really wanted to hang his head in shame. Of course Namjoon would pull something like this to keep them on their toes.

Of course he would.

Meanwhile, Namjoon sat alone in the rose garden, sipping some tea and wondering if he had remembered to give them the dud so that they would panic for no reason. They were taking an awfully long time to find him.

Chapter Text

"Since apparently no one here is exactly proficient in the art of listening," Namjoon said sternly as he paced back in forth at the front of the room, "We'll be working on that."

"Are you serious?" Jimin groaned as he leaned back in his chair. "Who even needs listening skills anyway? We aren't kids."

"That's exactly why you need them," Namjoon retorted as he pointedly raised an eyebrow at the six who sat in front of him. They were still young and naive (with the exception of probably Taehyung because who knew what kind of horrors he'd had to face throughout his childhood in the royal court) and didn't have anywhere near as much experience as Namjoon himself had. This was a lesson they all needed to learn sooner rather than later since it had saved his skin more times than he could count.

"You may not think that something as simple as listening is important, but it's actually one of the most valuable skills you may ever gain. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and listening-" Namjoon turned to them, eyes flashing dangerously "- is what gives you that knowledge."

"I'm not sure I quite understand," Jeongguk said shyly, raising his hand awkwardly above his head. "Isn't it better to just get rid of anything that stands in your way?"

"Typically, yes," Namjoon agreed, making Jeongguk perk up a bit before he continued. "However, when the thing standing in your way is yourself, you might want to think twice. Of course, you're probably wondering how you would get in your own way, but it happens more often than you'd expect. The downfall of many great villains was because of one reason, and one reason alone. They didn't know how to listen."

He walked past every single one of his students silently, looking each of them in the eyes until they broke the eye contact from just how intense it was.

"If you finally held the hero within your clutches and you were certain you would win," Namjoon said suddenly as he stood in front of Hoseok, "what would you do?"

"Me?" Hoseok practically squeaked. "I... I would kill him, probably."

"Good. Show no mercy." Namjoon nodded at him. "Now you're in the same situation, but Yoongi tells you to run. What would you do then?"

Hoseok frowned and looked at Yoongi suspiciously.

"I don't know why he'd do that," Hoseok admitted nervously. "He could have been tricked so I'd stay."

"Wrong choice, the hero prepared a trap for you and now you're dead. If you had listened, you would be fine. Understand now?" Namjoon explained and was relieved when it appeared that some of his students got the point.

"So you want us to listen, great, now what?" Yoongi asked, still appearing somewhat miffed at being used as an example.

"Excellent question, Yoongi." Namjoon made sure to smile as widely as he could, wide enough that his dimples came out in full force. It was probably the look that made people underestimate him the most, which had come in handy many times in the past.

Like every time he had to order in new rose bushes because some people kept destroying his.

"To practice, you will all be assigned one person as your 'advisor' for the day and you need to listen to their advice if it seems reasonable. I will not be answering any further questions and you will be forced to rely on your advisor, are we clear?"

One by one, all the terrified students nodded.

Alright. Good. Now came the part Namjoon hadn't practiced in front of a mirror fifteen times.

"Jeongguk, your advisor is Seokjin."

Jeongguk walked down the hallway, grumbling to himself and kicking at dust bunnies. He didn't need an advisor, dammit. Especially not Seokjin who would just ruin all his fun with adult logic and make him actually be responsible for once. There was only one thing that would make today better, and he was determined to get it. Checking over his shoulder, Jeongguk rushed down to the kitchens and started rummaging around in the cupboards. It was always in the back so no one else would steal it, but that made it difficult to get to.

Just a little bit further... he could reach it if he stretched his arm out a bit more...

"And what do you think you're doing?"

He froze and grimaced as Seokjin came up behind him. Of course.

"I'm trying to get some banana milk," Jeongguk answered, deciding to tell the truth instead of digging himself into a deeper hole.

Seokjin laughed a little, more to himself than anyone else, and shook his head.

"Let me give you some advice," he chuckled, "no one else in this entire building drinks that stuff, so you really don't have to hide it like that. Believe me."

He stared at Seokjin suspiciously but eventually relented.

"Now, give me one as payment and we're even," Seokjin grinned and Jeongguk let out a scandalized noise that in all honesty probably didn't even sound like something that should have been created by a human.

"Seokjin, your advisor is Jimin."

Of all the things that Seokjin had expected Jimin to pester him about that day, his fashion choices were not one of them.

"Okay, no. Those shoes have to go." Jimin grimaced and pointed, completely offended, “They don’t suit you at all and wow I never thought I’d say this but, wow, that shade of red does not work for you at all.”

Seokjin stared at Jimin for a moment before dropping his gaze to the red shoes in his hands and then raising it back up to the other person in the room.

“W-what?”

“I said what I said,” Jimin scoffed as he stared at the shoes in disdain. “Either you get rid of those atrocities or I do.”

Seokjin inhaled nervously. He loved those shoes, he really did, but maybe Jimin was right.

The shoes had to go.

“Jimin, your advisor is Hoseok.”

Jimin sighed as he sat across the table from Hoseok, who was staring at him with an incredibly serious expression. It was unusual.

“So,” Hoseok began, his gaze as harsh and cutting as his tone. “It’s about time we had a little chat.”
Jimin shifted nervously in his seat. “A chat about what?”

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t notice? After everything?”

Jimin couldn’t help stiffening at those words. Had he found out the truth?

“Notice what Hobi? You’re confusing me.”

Hoseok inhaled sharply.

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t notice that you ate my chocolate? The ones in the blue wrappers on the counter?”

Oh. So it was the chocolate. Jimin wasn’t sure why he was even concerned, to be honest. It’s not like Hoseok or anyone else would have noticed anything of actual importance. Besides, it was Taehyung who ate the chocolate, not him, but this was amusing so he decided to just play along and hold it over the prince’s head later.

“Hoseok, your advisor is Yoongi.”

After he had sufficiently lectured Jimin about the chocolate, Hoseok found himself chatting with Yoongi in one of the many hallways. While this wasn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence, it wasn’t one that happened particularly often either.

“You know,” Yoongi began gruffly but softly. “If you have nightmares all the time, you should really look into some lavender. It helps with calming people down.”

Hoseok inhaled sharply. How did Yoongi know about his nightmares?

“What do you mean?” He laughed, though he knew it sounded incredibly fake.

“Hoseok, don’t lie,” Yoongi told him. “I can hear you screaming every night.”

“I’m sorry.”

Yoongi shook his head. “Don’t be. Just… let me help, okay?”

He wasn’t sure what Yoongi meant by that, but it was better than doing nothing, he supposed.

“Alright.”

“Yoongi, your advisor is Taehyung.”

Taehyung had come and found him partway through the afternoon, which wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure if there’s anything I actually have to advise you on,” Taehyung told him out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” It wasn’t simple curiosity or anything, he actually didn’t understand what the prince was talking about.

“You see, you’re the kind of person where leaving you to your own devices won’t be your downfall. You learn from your mistakes and you seem to be doing pretty well already.”

“Thank you? I guess?” Yoongi admitted, actually completely surprised for once in his life. Taehyung smiled at him and he felt compelled to smile back.

“The only thing I can think of is that you need to stop underestimating people.”

“Underestimating people?”

Taehyung laughed then. “I’m not sure what it is yet, but you seem to have this aura of knowing things before you should. Don’t let that get to your head.”

Maybe he had been relying on his power a bit too much. It was a flaw all of them carried, but maybe it was time to break the mold.

“Taehyung, your advisor is-”

“Yeah. I know.”

When Taehyung found himself cornered by the young sorcerer in the rose garden, he had expected some kind of long rant about his hair or taste in food or something along those lines. He wasn’t expecting this.

“So, I think white roses are better than red ones. What about you?”

Jeongguk looked oddly serious as he held up two flowers that he had clearly clipped off of Namjoon’s bushes only a few minutes ago. All Taehyung could do was reply in the most dignified way ever.

“What?”

“Roses. For the wedding. Get with the program,” Jeongguk said offhandedly. “White roses go better with your hair.”

“Thank you, but-”

“Wait,” Jeongguk said suddenly, “or would lilies look better?”

“Jeongguk, I really don’t think this is what Namjoon intended-” Taehyung tried to protest but he was shushed.

“We might as well take advantage of it, right? Anyway, I think Smeraldo flowers would really bring out your eyes…”

Taehyung sighed and resigned himself to listening to Jeongguk go on about flowers for the next hour or so. Oh well, at least he was cute.

"So," Namjoon asked as he gathered them all up again at the end of the day. "What have we learned?"

"I, for one, learned that red doesn't suit me as much as I thought it did," Seokjin said proudly as he gave Jimin a fist bump.

“I learned that maybe it isn’t so bad to rely on other people after all,” Hoseok said shyly with a thankful glance over at Yoongi who simply acknowledged him with a nod.

“I just have to make sure to take everything into account,” Yoongi admitted. “I can’t get too confident.”

Jeongguk perked up and smiled widely. “I learned that not everyone is going to steal my banana milk after all.”

“Why would we ever do that?” Jimin wondered aloud. “I just learned that I have to be more subtle with my chocolate thievery.” He made sure to send an accusing look over at Taehyung for that one.

“You’d better work on that Jimin,” Taehyung replied with a snicker. “I, on the other hand, just learned which flowers bring out the best in me.”

Namjoon stared at his students and was tied between laughing and crying.

“That’s not exactly what I wanted, but did I honestly expect anything else?”

No, he really didn’t, and he wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing.

Chapter Text

"Tae, I think we need to sit down and have an important talk."

When Taehyung heard Jeongguk utter those words, he immediately started thinking of the worst-case scenarios. Like his father finding them, or someone dying. Or Namjoon going on a rampage to see who dared to harm his roses again because the last few times had been absolutely pee-your-pants terrifying.

So naturally, Taehyung found himself following the young sorcerer through the many winding hallways of Namjoon's stronghold. (Lair? Fortress? They had never really asked what the correct term for it was, but he supposed it wasn't really the time to worry about something like that.) It was only when they had sufficiently hidden away from any prying eyes and ears that Taehyung asked the important question.

"What is it that's so important that you had to drag me all the way here for?"

Jeongguk looked serious, something that Taehyung wasn't exactly used to seeing from him, and that made him automatically worry a bit more. He wasn't sure what to expect - the boy was virtually unpredictable - and seeing him actually taking something completely seriously felt like whiplash.

"Tae, I had a horrible realization the other day," Jeongguk began slowly and quietly. His hands were clenched into fists and his posture was unnervingly straight and proper.

"A realization?" Taehyung asked as he took a step closer. He might not know the younger boy all that well past what he had learned in the brief period since the accidental kidnapping, but he had grown somewhat of a soft spot for him. If there was something that he was worried about, Taehyung already knew that if there was a way to get rid of those worries, he would do it in a heartbeat. "Is everything alright? Is this something that we'll have to let Namjoon know about?"

Jeongguk shook his head no and pursed his lips. He seemed to hesitate to say anything and that only made Taehyung worry more.

"Jeongguk, please," He whispered, moving even closer and placing a gentle and comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. Thankfully, Jeongguk seemed to relax a bit as Taehyung rubbed his thumb in small circles. "Tell me what's wrong."

"It's really nothing that serious," Jeongguk admitted quietly, making Taehyung frown. The sad look on his face didn't suit him at all and Taehyung didn't want to have to see it any longer.

"It's obviously something if it's making you worry like this." Taehyung honestly wasn't sure if Jeongguk would tell him, but he wanted to help and if he wasn't told the reason why, then he wouldn't be able to.

Jeongguk looked him in the eyes, his gaze intense but worried, almost as if he were searching for something within Taehyung's eyes. When he spoke again, it was barely a whisper.

"You won't just abandon me, right? Not even if I screw up badly?"

Taehyung felt as if he had just been doused with freezing water. His mouth dropped open as he gasped and stared at the younger boy in his arms, almost afraid to know why he was even asking something like that.

"What?" Taehyung said suddenly. "No, Jeongguk, oh god, no. I wouldn't do something like that to you. Why would you even think that?"

Jeongguk shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Hey, Gukkie," Taehyung whispered in as much of a calming tone as he could manage, "You're stuck with me, okay?"

"You're only saying that because we still have to get married," he muttered and Taehyung began to feel frustrated by just how much the other boy wasn't understanding. "You don't actually mean it."

"Jeongguk," Taehyung said after taking a deep breath, "Listen to me."

He reached over and carefully grabbed Jeongguk's cheeks, tilting his head up so that they looked each other in the eyes.

"What would it take to convince you that I mean it and won't just abandon you?"

Jeongguk glanced down at the floor as he thought and Taehyung tried to play with the wisps of hair at the back of his neck to ease some of the tension. It seemed to work - to an extent - as Jeongguk took a deep breath.

"You wouldn't leave me if I blew up all of Namjoon's roses again?"

"I wouldn't," Taehyung confirmed, though internally he was desperately hoping that he hadn't actually done that.

"Not even if I ate all your favourite food and then burnt the stuff I was cooking for you?" Jeongguk continued and Taehyung had to sigh.

"No, I still wouldn't."

Jeongguk hesitated before he continued, but what he said took Taehyung by surprise.

"Not even if we have a son and then he tries to kill us or something? Not even then?"

"Not even then," Taehyung confirmed, though he wasn't quite sure what brought that on. Jeongguk seemed to relax and perk up a bit as a small smile grew on his face.

"Oh. Good."

Taehyung paused and looked at him suspiciously.

"Why are you asking?"

Jeongguk froze and glanced up nervously to meet his gaze. "Well, um..."

"Just spit it out, I'm not going to be mad or anything," Taehyung sighed as Jeongguk fidgeted nervously with his fingers.

"I guess I, um, I'm just kind of happy because I always wanted to have a kid, and well, I know we're both still young and we can wait until later but it means so much to me, you know?"

"Jeon Jeongguk," Taehyung began quietly.

"Yes?"

"Were you afraid that I'd be upset and abandon you for wanting a kid? Are you serious?" Taehyung exclaimed in disbelief. Jeongguk slowly nodded his head and all Taehyung could do was stand there in shock.

"I think we'd be good parents. I think," Jeongguk mumbled and Taehyung still had no idea how to respond to that. He was a prince, expected to marry royalty or nobility and carry on the line. This was just madness. He had to shut it down. He couldn't do this.

Taehyung opened his mouth to do exactly that when Jeongguk shot him the most adorable, shy smile he had ever seen and he immediately knew he wouldn't be able to destroy the kid's dreams.

"I... I'll think about it."

Chapter Text

The next question came at a time that Taehyung wasn’t exactly expecting, to say the least. Every time they had been in some back hall or somewhere deep in the forest, he had anticipated Jeongguk coming out with some strange inquiry about future progeny or whatnot. Taehyung had not expected that question to come in the middle of the first ‘Team Dinner’ (something Seokjin had suggested as a bonding exercise several months ago because of course he had) since his arrival.

“So,” Jeongguk began after swallowing a mouthful of mashed potato, “what do you think about a daughter?”

“Excuse me?” Jimin protested with the most flabbergasted expression that Taehyung had ever seen in his life. Jeongguk frowned and shook his head at the man sitting across from him at the table.

“What? No, I was talking to Tae.”

“Maybe you should have made that clear before blabbing that mess out while staring straight at my face!” Jimin said with a raised voice, almost a snarl.

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” Jeongguk shrugged as he shoved another forkful of potato in his mouth. “I’ve been doin’ tha’ sinsh I wash a kid.”

“Manners,” Seokjin pointed out without even looking up from his book. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Like reading a book at the table is any politer.”

Taehyung sighed and just wanted to bury his face in his hands. Of course this is what had to happen. Nothing could ever be simple in this household. Was it even a household or was it simply a gathering of crazies. He wasn't even sure anymore.

Oh well, he might as well address the original issue.

"Jeongguk, why are you bringing this up now of all the times?" Taehyung said with a sigh as he glanced down the table at the young sorcerer. He simply shrugged his shoulders and shrunk in a little bit on himself, obviously feeling a bit shy.

"I just thought it would be good to plan ahead, you know? The future is gonna come a lot faster than we think."

"While I appreciate the thought," Taehyung said slowly as he considered his words, "this really isn't the time."

"I'll say," Yoongi muttered under his breath, which earned a slight shove from Hoseok. Namjoon, on the other hand, seemed to be incredibly amused by the entire situation. He actually seemed to be chuckling to himself, and god if that wasn't annoying, but honestly Taehyung didn't blame him for it.

"But Tae, we really do need to talk about this. You said you'd think about it and I mean I've thought about this a lot, but you don't have to be ready right this second if you don't want to be and-"

"Okay, I'm going to cut you off there or else we'll be sitting here for hours." Namjoon interrupted and Taehyung made sure to send him the most grateful look he could muster.

"Jeongguk, you know Namjoon is right," He agreed instantly and watched as the boy seemed to deflate a bit. That wasn't good. Taehyung hurried maybe a bit too much to try and fix things and ended up blurting out the first response that came to him. "But we can talk about this after dinner?"

That somehow managed to make Jeongguk brighten up instantly and he shoved so much food into his mouth that Taehyung thought he was going to choke. When Hoseok asked what he was doing, he only replied with a muffled "Finishing dinner" (if Seokjin looked utterly disgusted as Jeongguk talked, well, Taehyung couldn't say that he blamed him). The second he was finished, he grabbed his plate and practically ran to the kitchen to drop it off on the counter next to the washbins.

"Okay! I'm done!" He yelled from the other room and seemed to almost vibrate from excitement as he rushed back over to stand next to Taehyung. Honestly, if the kid wasn't so unpredictable and dead-set on discussing their future, he would have probably most definitely found it adorable.

"Just give me one second," Taehyung said with a slight laugh as he gestured to his own plate. "I still have food on my plate."

Jeongguk seemed to contemplate something for a moment, eyeing the plate suspiciously.

"I could solve that issue for you, if you like."

Taehyung chuckled. "Oh, will you?"

"Sure, why not? May I?" Jeongguk said with a slight gleam in his eye. Taehyung just shrugged a wordless 'go-ahead' and watched as the boy gathered up the remaining food on a single fork and gracelessly shoved it into his mouth before making a thumbs up sign and (thankfully wordlessly) walked out of the room.

"That was-" Jimin murmured with a grimace as he watched the boy leave. Hoseok nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess that's that," Taehyung shrugged and got up from the table to follow. When he arrived in the hallway, Jeongguk had thankfully somehow managed to swallow the food.

"So, a daughter," He said, raising an eyebrow. Jeongguk nodded with a large smile.

"Yeah! I mean, we'd have to make sure we raise her so that she won't betray us, but I think we could do it."

"Jeongguk," Taehyung said as he shook his head in exasperation. "This whole kids discussion can wait. We have so much more to figure out before we even get there, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess, I just... I don't know, I really love kids and I've always wanted to know how it feels to have one of my own." Jeongguk shrugged sadly, voice sounding dejected.

"Hey, at least you got to have that luxury," Taehyung answered. When Jeongguk looked up at him inquisitively, he continued. "I've lived my whole life knowing what was expected of me. Things don't exactly work the same in royal families and it shows. I'm the third prince, heck I wasn't even supposed to exist."

He chuckled a little bit at that.

"I don't understand-" Jeongguk began but Taehyung shook his head and kept going.

"I've always been told that you want an heir, a spare - my two elder brothers - and a daughter for political unions. Obviously, I'm not a daughter. I guess you could say I'm the failure of the family."

Jeongguk hesitantly approached him and hugged him tightly. Taehyung couldn't help but allow it and even for some strange reason allowed himself to press himself even tighter against the sorcerer's body. It felt... nice. Comforting.

"If it helps any," Jeongguk whispered, voice barely audible, "I don't think you're a failure."

Taehyung didn't answer and just let Jeongguk hold him until he was ready to let go.

"I"m sorry," he said, hoping Jeongguk wouldn't pick up on it but of course he did.

"Don't be," Jeongguk grinned. "You aren't your parents, they don't control you anymore. You're free."

"I... I guess I am," He replied, not really thinking of it that way until now.

"And when there are mini versions of us someday, I'm sure that they'll get the childhood that you, no, we never got to have."

"That's great and all," Taehyung answered, taking Jeongguk's hand when it was offered. "But you forgot one small detail."

"I have?" Jeongguk asked curiously, tilting his head and staring at Taehyung with those large brown eyes of his.

"We're both men, doofus. Biology doesn't work that way."

Chapter Text

“I want you all to repeat after me,” Namjoon told his students sternly. “I will not - under any circumstances - laugh maniacally.”

There were definitely some raised eyebrows and concealed coughs from the five villains-in-training (Namjoon had grudgingly felt the need to promote them from villain wannabes just so they would stop pestering him about it) and one prince (Namjoon still had no clue why the guy was sticking around at this point, to be completely and utterly honest). He disregarded them all and simply locked his piercing gaze with theirs until they gave in.

“Alright, alright,” Jimin said with an audible groan. “I won't laugh maniacally, yadda yadda, blah blah blah, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Can we please get to the good stuff now?”

“This is the good stuff,” Namjoon replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't even joking, really. It was an incredibly important lesson that they would all have to learn sooner or later (some sooner than others) and he would rather these morons not screw themselves over.

He was getting kind of attached to them and he wasn't sure what to make of that.

It wasn't that he had never gotten attached to anything before - he had gotten quite attached to his pet rock that he had when he was around five years old, after all - but it was that, well, he had never gotten attached to anything that seemed to have a deathwish.

As much as he hated to admit it, these imbeciles had less regard for their own safety than the suicidal goldfish he had when he was seven - and that one had flopped itself out of its tank and died.

Besides, it would be better for his personal state of mind if they stayed alive because then at least he didn't have the death of several people that he knew more intimately than he would like on his hands.

“Sorry to question you,” Seokjin said cautiously, “but what do you mean this is the quote-unquote good stuff?”

“Did you seriously just say 'quote-unquote’?” Hoseok muttered in disbelief.

"So what if I did?" Seokjin asked with a challenging tone. "What are you going to do about it?"

Namjoon sighed and held up his hand in hopes of preventing the argument, but even he could hear Hoseok mutter a few insults under his breath. It was a little bit out of character for him, but maybe Seokjin had stolen the last bit of his favourite juice or something, or maybe he just didn't sleep well. Whatever the case, he made a mental note to talk to him at some point and make sure that there wouldn't be any unfortunate issues in the long run.

"Let's save the argument for later, okay?" He asked as he ran his fingers through his bangs, pushing them out of his face. "Do you all understand why this 'no maniacal laughing' rule exists?"
Taehyung seemed to be contemplating that question, looking down at the floor as he thought. Likewise, Yoongi was tapping his fingers rhythmically against his thigh as he always did when he was trying to find the answer to a question but it was just barely out of reach.

"Anyone?" Namjoon asked again, eyebrow raised and actually somewhat surprised. He had expected some sort of answer, even if it wasn't the right one. He turned to look at Jeongguk expectantly. The young sorcerer had been oddly quiet for someone who usually loved talking and would often make a guess at the answer (though they tended to be way out in left field, but hey, it was an attempt).

"Jeongguk? I believe you have had firsthand experience with this rule," Namjoon asked, thinking back to one of their earlier training sessions. Jeongguk flushed a deep red in embarrassment and tried to hide his face in his hands.

"Please don't remind me," Jeongguk whined as he slowly slumped to the floor and curled up into a little ball. Namjoon knew it was probably a bit cruel to remind the kid of the day when his precious roses were horrifically destroyed, but he completely deserved that.

His roses were actual honest-to-god award-winning roses, patiently cared for with plenty of love and attention.

It was those roses that had won him the local garden awards for the past five years, after all. Of course, there was always the factor that the judges were from the town he had been terrorizing and it's completely possible that they just let him win in order to keep him pacified, but Namjoon was of the opinion that it was his beautiful roses that snatched their breath from their lungs.

"Basically," he began after pushing the thought from his mind, "if you make a habit of laughing in that manner, it is incredibly simple to miss obvious issues - as Jeongguk here did. If he hadn't been doing the whole maniacal laughing shtick, he would have likely noticed me sneaking up on him."

He paused for a moment.

"Also, I don't care if it makes you seem cool or if it's a good way of relieving stress, don't stand in front of the mirror and do this because it's a bad habit and also most of the time you just seem really lame if anyone walks in on you."

His eyes darkened as he remembered his own dark past and how he learned that lesson the hard way. It was completely humiliating and definitely not something he wanted a repeat of.

He didn't want his students making the same mistakes.

Chapter Text

"I honestly have no idea why we have to do this," Hoseok grumbled under his breath as he stared down at the blank paper in front of him, tapping the pencil in an irritated manner. A quick glance around told him that pretty much everyone had basically the same reaction, save for Seokjin who had been way too enthusiastic when they were told their task for the day.

Yes, Namjoon had the audacity to tell them that not only were they villains in training, but they were also apparently moonlighting as fashion designers.

Hoseok, for one, had never exactly thought of himself as a particularly creative person, let alone one with an eye for fashion. That was Seokjin, Jimin and Taehyung's thing, not his. While those three had somehow bonded over their love for fabric that people use to cover their important bits, he was much more the type who would grab whatever wasn't dirty or didn't smell too bad.

He didn't like clothes or fashion on a good day and Seokjin had actually been offended the day he showed up to breakfast wearing two different patterns, so actually having to design clothes was like a nightmare.

To say that he was certain Seokjin (or even worse: Jimin) would have a conniption was an understatement.

It was almost guaranteed that the fashion-savvy man wouldn't exactly approve of anything he made and Hoseok really wasn't looking forward to all that. He grimaced as he tried to sketch something vaguely resembling clothing (though he wasn't quite sure, that shirt looked awfully lopsided and to be honest, he was pretty sure a toddler could do a better job). They had two tasks and he had decided to try and get the least worrisome one out of the way first; designing a uniform for potential future minion troops.

After what felt like hours - though, in reality, it was probably more like fifteen minutes - he finally had the basics of an outfit down. It was more practical than fashionable, just like him, and in all honesty was just basic clothes that would easily blend in to the general public and ensured that if he ever sent any of them for covert missions, that their uniform wouldn't make them stand out just like that one red rosebush Jeongguk had planted in an attempt to apologize to Namjoon. It was a nice act, really, except for the fact that he planted it right in the middle of all the white roses.

Namjoon had thankfully forgiven the kid for it - which Hoseok did appreciate because, hey, at least Jeongguk tried - but had promptly relocated the bush so that it was in its proper spot in the garden.

Once that outfit was finished as much as he was willing to care, he got started on designing his own outfit. He wanted it to look cool, but still work with his fighting style.

Luckily, his ability was extremely versatile and could manifest differently based on the situation, so he wasn't overly concerned about certain aspects. He did, however, want to have some kind of cloak kind of thing because when battles lasted for a longer time, he tended to have to mess himself up a bit more than he'd like and he wanted some way of hiding it that wasn't skintight leather or something else equally clichéd.

He sketched for a while, humming to himself despite the frown on his face as he got closer to completing it. He was only just finishing when Namjoon walked up to the front of the room and rapped a hand on the desk loudly, startling Yoongi who appeared to be sleeping.

"Alright everyone, I'd like you to come up to the front one at a time and explain your minion design choices. You'll get more time for your own later, that was just meant to keep you busy in case you finished the minion one early. If no one volunteers, I'll just pick someone to go first," he said firmly, knowing that none of them really wanted to explain themselves. Taehyung got up with a resigned sigh and walked up to the front of the room, holding out his paper.

"My so-called 'minions'," he said with a roll of his eyes, "would be dressed in a fairly simplistic combination of a shirt and trousers, complete with adequate protective equipment..."

Hoseok would be lying if he said he didn't completely zone out halfway through. The others went up and presented theirs and yeah, he had to admit that they had some pretty good ideas. While Taehyung had chosen something like his own, simplistic and practical, Jeongguk and Seokjin had gone all out (Jeongguk made his fun and somewhat ridiculous, with large hats and bright, eye-catching colours. Seokjin's, on the other hand, was a whole other type of ridiculousness as he specified exact fabrics and patterns on his tunic-style outfit). Jimin's was a mix of different cultural influences that Hoseok suspected reminded him of home and actually seemed pretty cool, to say the least. Yoongi had chosen some basic body armour type pieces that would surely protect his minions as well as one final detail that made Hoseok want to smack himself from how obvious it was.

There, on the head of his drawn minion, was a helmet with a clear visor.

Chapter Text

Jimin sat in the library chair that Seokjin usually preferred, thankful that for once it was empty. He flipped a page of his map book, wondering silently if someday he'd get to explore the world and see the sights that would surely await him. A strange noise cut through the silence and he glanced over at the hallway.

He carefully set his book down on the table, a bookmark slipped between the pages as he got up and walked down the hall, silently opening the doors and checking the rooms as he went. It was late, late enough that most had already gone to sleep, and indeed they were sleeping peacefully. However, it was when he reached Yoongi's door that something was different. The man's face was screwed up in pain as he writhed and thrashed in his sheets.

A nightmare.

He approached and watched, though it didn't seem to go away. He considered his options before reaching down and picking out a stone and holding it carefully. He paused in thought. He had been running low and the stones he had gotten off of Taehyung hadn't been smuggled in yet. Had he already used this one?

He hoped not.

Jimin reached out gingerly and touched the stone to Yoongi's forehead, hoping to relieve him of some of his pain. For a moment, time seemed to stop and Jimin's breath hitched in his throat as he drew back, already feeling his vision start to tunnel.

Oh god, the stones were full. He tried to reach for his pouch and wrench it open, but the world went black around him before he could.

His head pounded and colours danced across his mind and there was a field and the flowers moved along with the breeze but oh god it hurt it hurt it hurt when the colours came and the sky was a beautiful blue just like the shade of a robin's egg and he screamed and he could feel himself choke as the children laughed and played, their voices like the tinkling of bells and he heard footsteps growing louder as they approached but the horses were grazing and the children playing but the door was flung open and someone came in and oh god was that his mother but it didn't matter because the person held him tightly and told him it would be okay but then but then but then but then- but then the grass bent beneath his feet as he walked through a river of starlight and the person was talking to him but he couldn't hear it was all a buzz as the sky parted for the lightning and thunder but Seokjin shook him and came into focus, Jimin clinging to him like a lifeline as he looked down at his hands - oddly large - and watched as they faded away into nothing and his throat burned as he screamed oh god it burned when the tinkling bells turned into wails and cries and all he could see was silver tongue hair and eyes as it called to him, asking “how can I help?” but the scene changed again a castle, a town as he struggled to choke out his answer “the pouch” no no no no he shouldn't have told he shouldn't have told oh god as the screaming continued and the world caught fire but then the hands came and reached and grabbed and all he wanted to cry was “go away” but the words wouldn't come because his throat was burning like the meadow that caught fire as people ran and mine mine mine mine you shouldn't be touching that it's mine as the fire grew when he felt the press of an object to his head and all he could see was death death death DEATH-

And then silence.

It felt like all his strength had been sapped from him and he crumpled to the floor. Seokjin kneeled worriedly next to him, and it seemed like Yoongi had also been woken by his screaming. His eyes were wide and Jimin honestly couldn't blame him. After a nightmare like that, having to hear actual screaming must have been awful. He shouldn't have done anything, he should have waited until he had enough stones instead of taking a chance.

He had paid for it, after all.

"What the hell was that?" Seokjin asked, breathless. Jimin sluggishly turned his head to look at the older man and squinted when he saw a fleeting tint of silver in his eyes. It was probably just his mind messing with him, especially after something like that.

"I-" Jimin began, wincing at how his head pounded. His mouth felt dry and he thought for a moment he would choke on the air. "It's nothing that can't be discussed later."

Seokjin didn't seem to believe him, but helped him to his feet nonetheless and half-carried him out the door. He knew they would have questions, but he didn't feel like he was in the state to actually answer them.

That would have to wait.

Chapter Text

Seokjin shot Jimin nervous glances out of the corner of his eye whenever he felt the younger man wasn't looking. He didn't want to seem like a worrywart or anything, but after whatever it was that had happened the night before, he didn't want to take any chances.

He had come running into Yoongi's room after the first hint of a scream and had seen Jimin practically convulsing on the floor and scratching at his head, though luckily Yoongi had woken up and managed to keep him from drawing any blood.

They had both been incredibly shaken up afterward and once Jimin was safely in bed, Seokjin made sure to return and check on Yoongi's wellbeing. He wasn't sure why Yoongi had been muttering that everything was his fault, but he didn't want to push, though he knew he was perfectly capable of getting an answer out of his quieter friend.

(Were they even friends?)

He took and deep breath and pushed the thought from his mind. That wasn't what he should be focusing on.

Namjoon was stressing the importance of knowing how to fight with regular weapons in the case of their abilities or more powerful weapons being neutralized or when hand-to-hand would be basically suicide. It made perfect sense to him, though Jeongguk looked extremely offended at the notion that his magic could be rendered completely useless.

“Would you really want to be killed by some random person stabbing you with a spear or smashing your skull in with a rock?” Namjoon chuckled as he asked what was clearly a rhetorical question. Jeongguk paled considerably and even Seokjin had to admit that yeah, that actually was somewhat scary.

“Exactly my point. Now, pick one,” Namjoon said as he gestured to a table with different weapons laid out across it. There were swords of every shape and size, maces, staves, anything that anyone could ever think of.

Now, Seokjin didn't really think of himself as good with weapons - he had never been trained to use them - but he at least had a vague idea of what he'd like to try. He watched as Jeongguk immediately leapt toward a beautiful staff before easily maneuvering it around his body. Yoongi grabbed a pair of daggers after inspecting them with the barest hint of a grin. Hoseok and Taehyung locked eyes and seemed to have an intense battle of wills over a two-handed broadsword before Hoseok scoffed and reached for a smaller, simpler one-handed sword instead.

Namjoon was simply watching with an amused smile on his face and Seokjin was finally beginning to understand why their antics were so funny. It was because they were all dumbasses, to say the least.

It was when he caught Jimin reaching out toward a mace that he decided to move quickly.

“Um, no, sorry,” Seokjin said sternly, guiding Jimin to a chair by his shoulders. “Not after last night.”

“But-” Jimin protested, moving to get up again until Seokjin fixed him with a glare.

“No buts, okay? I don't want you to collapse or anything. So just… I don't know… sit here and play with your rocks or something.”

Jimin's mouth fell open. “They aren't rocks!”

“Well then,” he shrugged, “you can sit here and play with your not-rocks until I'm sure you're not going to start seizing the second I look away.”

He knew Jimin was probably pissed off at him, in fact, he was almost completely certain of it, but his point still stood. It was too dangerous to have him around pointy objects until they figured out exactly what had happened.

Seokjin walked up to the table and grabbed a falchion, swinging it experimentally. The weight and balance weren't bad at all, and it actually seemed to be quite versatile and potentially deadly if used correctly.

Of course, he didn't actually know how to use it correctly. He was not a swordsman by any stretch of the imagination. None of his people were.

Swords, as he had learned, were both beautiful and deadly. They could be used with grace or without, they could dance through the air or they could mercilessly hack through whatever their welders wanted.

They were something to be respected, a weapon that can be art, a simple piece of metal that can hold so much meaning. It almost made him hesitant to use it.

His people were pacifists in nature, choosing instead to use their words instead of weapons and he wasn't any different. The very idea of fighting made him uncomfortable but that wasn't something the others would be finding out unless he had no other choice.

The falchion's weight was unfamiliar in his hand as he left Jimin alone to sit and observe. He rejoined the others and willed himself to calm down as he prepared himself to go against that which he stood for.

Chapter Text

Namjoon carefully looked over the papers spread across his desk before restraining the urge to bury his face in his hands and cry. All he had asked for was a short piece explaining what they believed their own strengths and weaknesses to be and that was all. It was an incredibly simple thing to ask for as far as he was concerned, but he expected more from them than what was delivered though he knew logically that he should have kept the bar low.

The only silver lining was that they were improving. Slowly. Very, very slowly.

Slow enough that a story could go on for a hundred chapters before they even reached a semblance of competence.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that none of them actually had a clue about their own abilities and what they needed to improve in. With a sigh and a deep inhale, Namjoon got up from his seat and brought the offending pieces of paper with him.

He found his students easily enough - they were loud on a good day but on the bad ones they were deafening. They were sat in a circle and appeared to be playing some sort of card game as far as he could tell.

Namjoon approached and finally started being able to distinguish words from their shrieking.

“And then I play the ten of hearts, combined with the two of clubs!” Hoseok grinned widely as he slammed the cards down in front of Jimin. “Pass it over.”

Jimin grimaced in return but pulled three cards from his hand and grudgingly slid them toward Hoseok. Yoongi was snickering behind his hand as Jeongguk began mercilessly teasing him.

“Taehyung, it's your turn,” Jimin reminded him and Taehyung hummed slightly before pulling out a single card from his hand.

His smile was wide as he spoke. “Joker.”

“Oh come on,” Jeongguk whined. “I hate the Joker.”

The circle quieted as everyone held their hands in front of them and Namjoon watched in horror as all the cards were carelessly tossed into the air and the resulting mad dash to pick them up. Complete and utter chaos was the only valid way to describe it.

Seokjin blocked Jeongguk with his shoulders, Jimin began literally climbing over Yoongi to get cards, Hoseok was screaming and shrieking as he contorted in ways that shouldn't be humanly possible. Taehyung only sat back, laughed and waited for them all to be picked up before reaching over and stealing one, two or three cards from every other player. He seemed satisfied as he looked down at his cards (they were all low from what Namjoon could see, but he also couldn't even begin to decipher what the heck the rules of the game were).

Yoongi glanced cautiously before placing down the ace of diamonds. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Most of the others seemed incredibly concerned by the bold move, though Seokjin was completely unaffected. Instead, he smiled serenely from across the circle as he placed down six cards in the centre. “Royal family.”

Jeongguk yelled expletives as he threw his cards in the air. “Insta-death isn't a fair play!”

“But it was when you played that last game?” Yoongi teased, actually going as far as actually poking him in the arm. Jeongguk grumbled and pouted, though Taehyung reached over and ruffled his hair, bringing a small smile to his face.

It was then that Namjoon decided to interrupt with a loud and purposeful cough.

“I'm sorry to bother you while you're in the middle of… Whatever this is,” he trailed off, still completely unsure of what the card game was actually supposed to be. “But. We need to discuss some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Hoseok asked as he reshuffled the cards. Jimin simply chuckled and shifted so he was sitting more comfortably.

“Probably the boring kind.”

“No, I mean like actual important stuff,” Namjoon drawled. His lessons weren't that boring, right? Right? It was probably just Jimin teasing and poking fun at him again, but he couldn't help being a little insecure about teaching. It wasn't anything like how he had learned or what he had always done, but he still did his best to teach them well.

"Is that really necessary right now?" Seokjin asked, grabbing one of the piles that Hoseok had laid out. "Why don't you join us?"

"Do you really think Namjoon will want to play Anarchy?" Yoongi muttered as he looked through the cards he had picked up, grimacing slightly and scrunching his nose at what must have been a bad hand.

"Anarchy?" Namjoon wondered aloud, hesitating to sit and join them.

"Yeah!" Jeongguk exclaimed while enthusiastically handing Namjoon some cards. "We made it up like... an hour ago?"

"You all made this up," Namjoon said blankly as he stared at the cards he was given.

"Correction," Taehyung interjected as he glanced at his cards before setting them down in front of him, “Jeongguk made it up with Hoseok and Jimin giving him bad suggestions."

Jeongguk pouted but his eyes lit up with glee as he checked his cards. It was kind of strange to see them all like this, in Namjoon's opinion. They were all usually good at letting go of stress and simply having fun, but this was the first time he had seen them like this.

As he sat down and settled in for a game, he thought to himself that maybe it wasn't too bad to just relax and have fun for a little bit. Maybe they would see him as someone other than the person teaching them 'boring' lessons and maybe he'd get to know them a little bit better.

The important stuff could wait, just this once.

Chapter Text

Yoongi woke up knowing something would go wrong. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, one could almost say it was daily, but that morning he knew it would be worse than usual.

He knew exactly how, when, what, where and why things would go wrong. Was he going to tell anyone though?

Not a chance.

That would take all the fun out of it.

Instead, he rolled out of bed, got dressed and made his way down to the kitchen to prepare himself some breakfast. Nothing fancy, of course, just some toast and jam with whatever juice was left. He knew someone would walk down the hall, their footsteps only barely making noise as they succeeded in being more stealthy than usual.

Sure enough, mere moments later Jeongguk walked through the door with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, guess what?" he grinned as he slid Yoongi's plate away to get his attention. Yoongi just grabbed his plate and slid it back, sending Jeongguk a glare that didn't really have any potency whatsoever. He was too tired to bother putting in any actual effort this early in the morning.

"What is it?" Yoongi asked blankly, biting off another mouthful of toast. The strawberry jam seemed sweeter than usual and he knew that was because Hoseok had tried to prank Seokjin by adding in way too much sugar. Unfortunately for him, Yoongi actually really liked jam when it was sweet and if Seokjin no longer wanted it (he wouldn't) then he would gladly take the rest all for himself.

Jeongguk had also stolen eaten some of the jam earlier in the morning and, well, sugar always tended to make him a bit more hyper than some of the others. That too he had known was coming, but he also didn't want to bother expending energy to prevent it.

He was so excited that he was basically vibrating from anticipation, seeming to almost bounce up and down in place as he started talking.

"Okay, so this morning I got up early, right? I don't usually do that so it was a bit weird but that's okay since I found something super cool. I went down to where Namjoon usually works on stuff even though he told me not to go there, but whatever, it was awesome. Yoongi, he has like this really cool looking robot thing down there!"

"A robot thing," Yoongi said skeptically after taking a swig of juice though he already knew exactly what Jeongguk was raving about. It was some kind of supposedly 'indestructible' (he had to hold back a snort at that one) robot that would be used as a kind of sentry or early warning system mixed with another line of defence in case of attack. Oh yes, he knew that thing full well.

Jeongguk nodded so vehemently that Yoongi would have thought that his head would come flying off if he didn't know any better. "Come on! I'll show you!"

Grudgingly, Yoongi finished his breakfast and allowed the sorcerer to drag him down the maze of halls toward where the robot lay in wait. Soon enough, they came across a portion of the wall that was completely blown out and Jeongguk looked back at him nervously.

Yoongi already knew what happened, but seeing the guilty expression on the kid's face was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"What happened here? Namjoon decide to remodel or something?"

"Well, um, you see..." Jeongguk fidgeted nervously with the fabric of his tunic. "Namjoon told me that the walls down here were strong enough to withstand my spells so I could practice here instead of getting anywhere near his darling roses. His words, not mine. But..."

He trailed off and slowly slid his gaze over to the destruction.

"The walls are strong enough. Secret doors... not so much. But I found the cool robot!"

After perking up, Jeongguk clambered over the rubble, pausing to beckon Yoongi into the room. Yoongi followed, making sure to only step in areas he knew were safe. (Unlike how Jeongguk just placed his feet anywhere and hoped it wouldn't give out beneath him, barely managing to use his staff to help him balance.)

Inside stood a massive and imposing robotic creature with the exterior armour made of the most lightweight and durable metal Namjoon was able to get his hands on. It was actually quite impressive, and would probably have awed Yoongi if he hadn't already known what to expect.

As Jeongguk began to climb all around it, poking at it and satisfying his curiosity, Yoongi made sure to subtly make his way over to an area of the room that was heavily fortified and wouldn't be affected by even Jeongguk's magical mishaps. It would happen soon enough.

Yoongi began a mental countdown as Jeongguk clambered up the robot's arms and stood on them to face the helmet. Something glinted from within and Jeongguk - curious as ever - used his staff to reach in through the slats in the visor and jostled it around a bit more exuberantly than he probably should have.

The staff made contact with some internal wiring and the entire stronghold shook with the massive explosion that ensued. Yoongi coughed as he fanned some floating dust away from his mouth and glanced, completely unconcerned, over his shoulder.

Jeongguk had done exactly as he had expected - throwing up an insanely powerful shield spell like it was nothing and was completely unharmed by the blast. As Jeongguk let his spell drop and stared horrified at where the robot once stood, Yoongi took that time to slip out into what remained of the hall and walk away as if he hadn't just been witness to Jeongguk destroying something again.

After all, the boy would learn his lesson once Namjoon arrived at the site in approximately five minutes.

Chapter Text

That day's lesson was much different than what they usually did. In general, a typical day consisted of waking up, trying to avoid burning anything while making breakfast, listening to Namjoon drone about lessons and morals and whatever else he talked about before finally getting to the fun stuff.

Seokjin loved the fun stuff.

The fun stuff usually meant that they would be allowed to do whatever their hearts so desired as long as it fell within (or even just slightly beyond) the rules Namjoon had set. Of course, once the game had actually started, Namjoon usually lost most of the control he sometimes had.

Seokjin even pitied the man on occasion simply for having to put up with them and their antics despite the fact that it obviously wasn't his choice to do so. He could respect that.

On the other hand, when Namjoon's so-called 'lessons' ended up with him in a prison cell, Namjoon lost any shred of respect he once had from Seokjin. It was cold, the ground was uncomfortable for sitting - though he supposed that a comfortable prison cell would be kind of counterproductive - and it was damp. To make things worse, he had been shackled to the wall, hands above his head, and he hadn't quite figured out how to free himself yet. To top it all off, he had been trapped since breakfast and by now it was surely way past lunch. Seokjin was hungry, cranky and really, really tired of this mess.

In short, it was a terrible situation and he needed to find a way out as soon as possible.

There were only a few obstacles that stood in between him and freedom. (It was so close that he could almost taste it, but not really because that would be weird and what the heck does freedom taste like anyway?)

First, the shackles. Of course, the easiest way would be to steal the key - except for the fact that the key was currently in the hands of the person guarding his cell. Also, he was literally shackled to the wall and couldn't even reach the door with his foot if he gave up the last shreds of his dignity and reached out as far as he could. He could always break his thumbs and slip out that way, though it wouldn't exactly be ideal because humans have opposable thumbs for a reason.

The last option he had was risky, but if it succeeded, he could be rid of the shackles and the guard all in one fell swoop. He'd have to try, and if it failed... well, he had two thumbs and could probably live without one being functional for a while.

His gaze zeroed in on the guard and inhaled sharply. He had one shot, and one shot only.

"Hey," he said, breaking the silence with only a moment of hesitation. From the outside, he looked like the very definition of calm and composed, though inside he felt the complete opposite. The guard turned and looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Seokjin asked flippantly, smirking and raising a brow at the guard and nonchalantly waving one of his shackled hands. "I want many things, but we can't always get what we want, can we? But that's not the point here."

His eyes flashed silver as he knew the man was staring intently at him.

"My question is what do you want?"

The guard said nothing for a few seconds and Seokjin began to panic internally, hoping he hadn't just blown his chance. He shifted his legs into a more comfortable position - one where he could at least feel them after what felt like hours of kneeling on stone - and tilted his head to the side, showing off his neck and knowing that the guard's eyes were drawn there.

"What I want is probably something you wouldn't be so willing to give," the guard replied after a quick glance over his shoulder. Seokjin just hummed questioningly and pursed his lips just so. His hunch had been correct, and that would be the guard's undoing.

"Why don't you come over here and find out?"

He knew his tone was on the sultry side, hoping that the guard was playing right into his trap. He just had to be careful. One wrong move and he could be a dead man.

The guard seemed to mull over his words before slipping the key into the hole and unlocking the door. The footsteps echoed in the silence of the cell as he approached and Seokjin tensed his muscles in preparation. When he got close enough and began to reach toward Seokjin's face, he sprung up from his crouching position and swung out a leg that struck the guard in the knees. He buckled with a sharp cry and the keys in his hand went sliding across the floor in Seokjin's direction. The guard hissed and tried to reach for them, but Seokjin swiftly brought down his leg in a weak imitation of an axe kick but managed to catch the back of the guard's head.

The guard didn't move and Seokjin took that opportunity to grab the keys between his toes (thank goodness they had decided to rid him of his shoes in the fear he was hiding a weapon in there) and lift his leg high enough that he could grasp them in his hands. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable of positions, but when the key slipped in and he turned it to release the shackles, it was all worth it.

He shook out his hands and waited for them to regain feeling after being stuck for so long. He was about to stroll out and maybe wreak some havoc on his way back, but then he remembered the guard that was laying in a mostly unconscious state on the ground.

Seokjin carefully lifted him up and slipped the guard's hands into the shackles before using them to break the key. He locked them and slipped the broken part into the keyhole, effectively jamming the mechanism.

There, perfect.

And with that, Seokjin walked away with the slightest skip in his step and wondered what would be for dinner.

Chapter Text

Namjoon was tired. It was a simple fact that he knew well and he would very much like to solve that problem by going back home and laying down in bed. All he wanted was to bury himself under his blankets and maybe read a book or two before slipping back into dreamland for another few hours. Of course, not everyone gets what they want.

So naturally, instead of relaxing and taking it easy until someone inevitably destroyed something again, he was speeding down the path on a vehicle of his own creation. It was a type of board that hovered not even a foot above the ground and moved as fast as the average galloping horse. The Voliter was his pride and joy, one of his greatest creations and also one of his first. He knew the technology was unmatched by anyone currently alive and that he was surely centuries ahead of their scientific developments. Though this sometimes led to people calling him a magician or witch (which he found to be quite offensive to actual witches and magicians), he could understand how something so fantastical and advanced would seem like magic to a being of lesser intelligence and scientific knowledge.

Despite all that though, science was still fallible and if the power source was destroyed then he would be out of luck. He sped along the path, keeping his hands on the energy guns that he had strapped to his legs. He was carrying two today, though he typically only had one on him when he was at home. Why? Today he had a mission, and one that was he was personally invested in. Namjoon narrowed his eyes as he watched the world through the tinted lenses of his goggles, practically flying along with barely a hint of the high pitched whine produced by the Voliter. The sound dampeners he had added seemed to be working flawlessly and would be beneficial in contributing to the element of surprise that would surely give him an added advantage.

The town came into sight and Namjoon braced himself for what was to come. According to the info that he had been given by Yoongi and Hoseok, they had gotten separated from Seokjin nearby and they weren't able to prevent his capture. Hoseok had muttered something about not wanting to harm him, but Namjoon hadn't cared enough to listen to anything frivolous.

He had faith that Seokjin would be able to hold out long enough for help to arrive - he had taught them how to resist torture and interrogation, after all - and his student was definitely able to hold his own in a fight if it came down to it. Everything would be fine.

Namjoon bent his knees and leaned forward even more, activating a speed boost that rocketed him forward and into the town, practically barrelling his way through the streets in the direction of the prison. Once he arrived, he allowed the Voliter to spin, shooting off blasts at anyone who stood in his way and knowing that even if they weren't dead, they were injured enough to be out of commission for a good while. He shot the door open and began making his way deeper into the prison, completely ignoring the shouts and pleas of the other prisoners in his determination.

There were footsteps on the stairs that seemed to be slightly muffled, indicating that either the person was intentionally trying to be stealthy or that they were barefoot. Namjoon crouched down behind a crate and waited for the unlucky bastard to show themselves as he kept his gun aimed at the doorway, ready to fire at any moment. A head of silvery hair appeared and Namjoon had to physically hold himself back from pulling the trigger on instinct.

"Seokjin!" He called, waving in order to draw the other man's attention. "Over here!"

Seokjin looked at him and seemed to be somewhat surprised to see him there, though Namjoon wasn't sure why that would be. He walked over carefully and smiled in a teasing manner.

"Took you long enough," his voice lilted in such a way that Namjoon knew he was actually relieved instead of just joking. "I could have used all of this about twenty minutes ago, but this still makes everything easier."

"Glad to be of help," Namjoon replied, holstering one of his energy guns. "I assume you took care of everyone below?"

"Do you think I wouldn't?" Seokjin asked. "They brought this upon themselves by deciding to kidnap me, you know. And I made it out of there with both of my thumbs intact."

Namjoon nodded once. "Great. Now, what do you say we get out of here?"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," Seokjin confirmed with a smile. Namjoon gestured to the Voliter floating just behind him and bowed in a somewhat exaggerated fashion.

"After you."

"What a gentleman," Seokjin drawled as he stepped on and found his balance. Namjoon had to hold back a snicker as he got on as well and pulled his goggles down over his eyes.

"Ready?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder and Seokjin just rolled his eyes in response.

"I'd hold on if I were you," Namjoon chuckled as he bent his knees and switched to the Voliter's secondary power source, allowing the whine to fill the air as it charged the boosters.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Seokjin shrugged but Namjoon just grinned and launched them forward at such a speed that he clung to Namjoon's arm just to stay on the board.

At the faster speed, it didn't take them long to get back to the stronghold and Namjoon made sure to help Seokjin off and make sure he didn't fall to the ground as he stood on shaky legs.

"I am never doing that again," Seokjin announced as he shot a glare at Namjoon.

"Which one, getting captured or going for a spin on the Voliter?" He asked, knowing full well that he was pushing his luck. The only response he got from Seokjin was a rude gesture as he walked away.

Chapter Text

Hoseok looked between a few different outfits laid out on his bed, trying to decide between them. Usually, he would simply grab the first thing he saw, but today was slightly different. It wasn't some kind of special occasion or anything, he had just woken up and decided that he was going to wear something a bit nicer than usual.

When he was finally wavering and starting to lean toward one outfit more than another, someone knocked on his door. With a sigh, he walked over and opened it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see, per se, but whatever it was definitely wasn't Taehyung looking the opposite of composed.

"Hoseok, I'm so sorry to bother you this early but-" he began, chest heaving after apparently having run across the building to get to his room. Hoseok held his hands out in front of him in an attempt to calm the prince down.

"Whoa, just take a moment okay? I won't be able to understand you if you don't. Do you need some water?"

Taehyung inhaled deeply and nodded. "Water would be nice, thank you."

He filled a small cup with water and handed it over, Taehyung muttering a quiet thanks as he sipped it.

"So, what's so important that you ran all the way here?" He was curious, of course he was. Taehyung was usually one of the calmest of them all (with the exception of Yoongi because no one understood how he managed to remain constantly unfazed by anything that happened) so seeing him in such a panic was extremely unusual.

"Have you seen Jeongguk anywhere?" Taehyung asked with only the barest hint of panic in his eyes, swiping his finger across the rim of the glass over and over again. "He did something stupid the other day and I ignored him temporarily so he'd learn consequences, but when I went to his room this morning to sort everything out, he was gone."

"Gone like evidence of a struggle or gone like his stuff is also missing?" Hoseok asked, beginning to worry a bit as well. Jeongguk was rash sometimes, but he had never outright vanished before.

"His staff was gone, some clothes too, but nothing else," Taehyung said, voice wavering slightly more than Hoseok knew the prince wanted to admit. He hummed and thought for a moment.

"In that case, I'd say it was probably his decision. He didn't leave a note or anything?"

Taehyung shook his head. "No, nothing."

Hoseok watched the prince's face fall as he began to be consumed by worry. He had to do something, he knew he did, so he clapped a hand down on Taehyung's shoulder.

"Hey, I'll keep an eye out for him, alright? And Jeongguk's strong, he won't be hurt so easily."

"Thank you Hoseok, I really appreciate it." The prince smiled softly and it was almost odd to see in a situation without the sorcerer present.

"Anytime," Hoseok smiled back. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Oh right, Namjoon said something about clothing?" Taehyung muttered, trying to remember what he had been told earlier. "We should probably check that out."

With a nod of agreement, Hoseok followed Taehyung down the halls to the room they had been using for their paperwork. Namjoon was waiting inside with the others who appeared to be holding up different pieces of fabric in awe.

"Taehyung, Hoseok, glad you could join us," Namjoon greeted as they walked through the doorway. "The uniform you designed for yourself has been delivered, but feel free to make any adjustments to it that you like."

Hoseok scanned the room, looking for the outfit that he had designed with love and care making up for the lack of artistic ability he possessed. He skipped over a pile of colourful cloth before realizing that Taehyung had already found his and that Jeongguk's was laid out on the table next to him. Hesitantly, he approached it and gave it a closer look, unable to stop the frown that grew on his face.

"Why is mine so tacky-looking?" Hoseok asked as he stared at Namjoon, holding up the offending outfit. It was made of many different coloured pieces of cloth and not a single one matched.

Namjoon grimaced. "They did say there was a slight problem with one of them..."

"A slight problem?" Hoseok asked, looking at the clothes with a skeptical eye. "This isn't anything like what I wanted."

A small piece of paper fluttered to the ground and caught his eye, so he leaned over and picked it up. It was a note from the people who had made the clothes.

Dear customer,

The exact colours and fabrics were not specified, so it ended up being made of whatever fabric we had left over.
We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and will immediately dispose of the intern who forgot to send you a message of clarification.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you need anything.

"So, will you?" Namjoon asked. He paused, realizing that it was kind of his fault for half-assing it and not being specific enough with what he wanted. It really wasn't fair of him to ask them to redo all that work.

"Nah," he answered, crumpling up the note and leaving it on the table, "I'm sure I'll manage to rock this one."

And rock it he did, as every single enemy he came across would be momentarily stunned by the ridiculous colour scheme, giving him the opportunity to strike first.

Chapter Text

"You know what?"

Yoongi looked over toward Hoseok after he had broken the silence in the library. While typically he would have been annoyed that his reading was disturbed, today he didn't care. The book he was reading wasn't all that important anyway - just some basic information on the evils of a capitalist world - and besides, he knew that the other conversation would be much more interesting.

"What?" He asked, knowing Hoseok wouldn't say anything without being prompted, unlike basically the rest of the entire world. He was rewarded with a grin so bright that Yoongi almost had to shield his eyes.

"So in every tale we ever hear about those so-called 'great' heroes that go on epic quests to defeat the evil villains, you know how they always have a party?"

"A party as in a group of people that team up kind of party or the drink enough to kill your liver kind of party?" Jimin asked with a cheeky grin. It was a completely justified question, after all. All the stories usually had at least one grand celebration with copious amounts of alcohol, festivities and mirth where the heroes would be celebrated after successfully completing their quests.

"The team-up kind," Hoseok laughed. "But you're right that both were completely possible there. Anyway, have you noticed that even if the hero defeats the villain, which obviously means that they never took a class like we are, they always have to get help to do it?"

"You're right!" Seokjin exclaimed as if he had only just realized that fact. "Does that mean that theoretically the villains are actually better and more powerful, but were simply overpowered by numbers?"

Yoongi hummed, thinking about that statement.

"I mean, it's possible that they were just outmanned, but it's also equally possible that they were just dumbasses and didn't plan far enough ahead."

"Fair point," Seokjin agreed. "Not everyone has a teacher like Namjoon to remind them of the fundamentals, after all."

"Don't let him hear that you said that, he'll never let you live it down," Yoongi said with a chuckle as he pictured the scene in his mind.

"Oh don't worry, I won't say a thing," Seokjin laughed, grinning back at him. See, it was reasons like that that he got along with the older man. He was serious at the appropriate moments but funny at others and he was also getting really good at damage control. (Something they sorely needed, but that wasn't the point)

"Also," Jimin interjected, "what about the fact that their teams usually have one stupid person... like a thief who's scared of his own shadow or a musician who's tone deaf? Do they just need to laugh that badly or something?"

"Obviously, it's because they don't know how to have fun without it being at someone else's expense," Hoseok huffed. "That's why villainy is so much better. You don't need to constantly be a stick in the mud where all you care about is something as trivial as saving the world or whatever other garbage those heroes spout to convince people to support their cause."

"I wonder what his royal highness would have to say about all this, considering the fact that the royal family hires heroes the most," Jimin added. "But he's still in his room fretting about Jeongguk being missing."

Everyone went silent as they were reminded that their youngest friend was out in the world, probably alone and possibly hurt. The mood instantly darkened and Yoongi didn't like it at all.

"Fun fact," Seokjin smiled as he tried to hold back a giggle, breaking the tension in the room. "I was actually planning on being a hero at first, but I wasn't any good at it. Didn't approve of my methods or something, but I say they're just weaklings who can't handle the idea of doing anything remotely shady for the greater good. So now I'm here."

Hoseok frowned. "I can't picture you as one of those goody-two-shoes with a crap sense of humour. I can't believe they could stoop so low as to laugh at others just for being who they are."

"Sometimes it makes me wonder if we're actually the bad guys or not, to be completely honest," Jimin admitted. "I mean, sure, some people are actually doing genuinely bad things all the time, but when has a hero ever stopped to ask why we chose what we did? They just charge right in because someone told them to. Do they ever actually think for themselves?"

Yoongi thought about it for a moment, thinking of what his own mother used to tell him all the time when he was young.

"Yoongi," she used to say, "someday your ability will save lives. You will become a catalyst for change and you will welcome the future with open arms."

She had expected him to be a guiding light for young heroes, to help them in their frivolous quests and to stay far, far away from any battles. Obviously, he was a disappointment now but despite all that he was happy.

Did he regret anything? No, he didn't. He wouldn't change a thing given the chance.

He was happy, and that's all that mattered.

Chapter Text

Jeongguk hesitated outside of the imposing doors that lead to Namjoon's study, hand raised and ready to knock on them. Part of him was scared, the other part knew it was for the best, but he couldn't deny that all of him just wanted to run off and drink banana milk until all the stress was gone. Unfortunately, the current situation needed to be dealt with first.

His hand tapped three times on the dark wood and he cringed when he heard how loud it was. Absentmindedly tugging at the hem of his shirt, Jeongguk waited anxiously for an answer.

"Come in!" he heard Namjoon call from inside. After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Jeongguk pushed the door open and poked his head in.

"Um, hey Namjoon," he began carefully, ensuring that he never made eye contact with the scientist. If he did, he would probably lose all his nerve as it flew out the window or something. Namjoon barely glanced up from the stack of papers on his desk and if Jeongguk was relieved, he tried not to show it.

"Is something wrong?" Namjoon asked, pausing to grimace at one of the papers and shove it off to the side. "You usually don't come to find me like this unless you need something, or did something, or if Taehyung is mad at you. Now, which one is it?"

Jeongguk knew his answering laugh was suspicious and that it probably wasn't helping his case at all. Namjoon put the papers down and clasped his hands in front of him expectantly.

"Well, I wouldn't say that those are the reasons, exactly..." Jeongguk trailed off with a nervous and awkward smile. Namjoon sighed and rubbed his temples and muttered something that Jeongguk couldn't quite hear clearly. Something about patience and roses and please no, but he could have been wrong.

"What did you do?"

Jeongguk pursed his lips and fidgeted more the longer that Namjoon scrutinized him.

"Um, I maybe might have possibly gotten myself into a situation that I need your help with because Tae isn't talking to me right now and I tried to fix things but failed spectacularly?" Jeongguk's pitch went up at the end of the sentence questioningly and he watched Namjoon sigh and try to remain composed.

"Why am I not surprised?" Namjoon wondered aloud and honestly, Jeongguk didn't know either but didn't blame him one bit. He was trying to play everything cool, to act like he wasn't actually breaking down inside because what if they all realized what a mess he was and decided to leave him alone again? Who was he even kidding, he probably wasn't even hiding it all that well.

He stood there anxiously, waiting for the inevitable question of "What went wrong?" but it never came. Instead, the one that did was "What do you want to do now?" It was such an open-ended question that he wasn't sure how to even answer it.

"There is one thing that I want to try, but I don't know if it would make anything better," Jeongguk admitted, chancing a look up at Namjoon's impassive face. When he didn't say anything, Jeongguk took it as his cue to continue.

"This might seem a bit weird, but Tae and I were talking a few weeks ago about things we've always wanted to see someday. I just thought that if I could bring it to him, maybe he'd forgive me."

Namjoon smiled then and Jeongguk could have melted from the relief that permeated every inch of his body. There was a gleam in his eyes, one that showed that he was actually much more interested than he was letting on, as he leaned forward and asked one final question.

"Now, how would you like me to help?"

~*~*~*~

Jeongguk returned a week later, cold, hungry, but successful. He had contacted Namjoon earlier through one of his magical talking boxes (those were so convenient, weren't they?) and had let him know that he was coming back. The journey back, of course, was a lot faster than the trip out to the mountains. Typically that would be the result of knowing the landmarks and routes better, but not this time.

This time, he had a ride.

The wyvern beat its leathery wings as it flew through the air, Jeongguk sitting comfortably with his legs hooked just above its shoulder joints. His hand brushed over the great beast's scaly hide in a mix between an affectionate and reverent gesture. It had taken much longer than he had expected to find the elusive and dangerous creature, but it was worth every second.

He could see the stronghold quickly getting closer and his heart began to beat faster in his chest as his anticipation grew. Some people ran outside and Jeongguk couldn't help the large smile that grew on his face when he saw Taehyung staring up at him in shock. He directed the wyvern to land on the ground and slid off as it folded its wings back close to its body.

"Jeon Jeongguk," Taehyung began, taking a few furious steps in his direction, "what in the world are you-"

As if he crossed an invisible line, the wyvern hissed and snapped its jaws at him, curling its tail around Jeongguk protectively. Taehyung froze, knowing just how dangerous the elusive beasts were but shot Jeongguk the most confused look he could muster.

"Hey," Jeongguk frowned as he admonished the wyvern, "Tae is a friend. You can't snap at him like that." It seemed to relax slightly but still appeared to stare Taehyung down like a cat stalking a mouse.

"So... I should probably explain," Jeongguk began and Taehyung stared at him blankly though he made sure to keep an eye on the wyvern that was much, much larger than anyone had expected.

"If you say something like 'can we keep him' I swear I will ignore you for another week," Taehyung said clearly, crossing his arms. Jeongguk grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Um, about that, well, I'm not going to ask because the wyvern is staying, but-"

"What do you mean 'the wyvern is staying'!?"

Jeongguk looked taken aback. "Tae, you said you always wanted to see a wyvern, so I got one for you."

He paused and blanched as he came to a realization, looking up at Taehyung with large, worried eyes.

"You don't like it?"

"I- Jeongguk- What-" Taehyung struggled for words, still trying to come to terms with the large dragonlike creature that had decided to start nuzzling its snout into Jeongguk's hair. "Aren't you afraid it'll kill you?"

"Oh, this guy?" Jeongguk asked with barely a glance up. "Nah, I earned its respect earlier. I'll make sure it doesn't hurt anyone, I promise!"

Taehyung sighed and Jeongguk felt himself getting nervous again. "Are you... are you still angry with me?"

"Angry? Jeongguk, you left for a week without telling me and I thought you were dead or in prison somewhere, of course I'm angry!" Taehyung yelled. "But right now, I'm just relieved you're okay."

"We're good now?" Jeongguk asked hesitantly.

"For now," Taehyung agreed. "Just come give me a hug or something, we'll deal with the wyvern later."

Chapter Text

Jeongguk sat in the kitchen, sipping at his banana milk and sighing in happiness. He hadn't gotten to taste the wonderful banana drink in a week and god he missed it so much. Nothing up in the mountains could compare to his favourite drink and it showed. He heard someone approaching and he glanced up, seeing Namjoon pull out the chair across from him and sit down.

"So, I saw your new pet." Namjoon had a knowing grin on his face. "Good job on managing to tame a wyvern."

"I didn't exactly tame it, I just earned its respect," Jeongguk said shyly, trying to hide his face behind his drink.

Namjoon chuckled. "That's still more than most can say. I'm just surprised you came back with all your limbs."

Jeongguk laughed at the joke until he realized that Namjoon wasn't laughing along with him. His eyes widened almost to a comical degree when it finally hit him that the scientist was completely serious.

"What do you mean by that!?" He squeaked, holding tightly onto his own arms.

"Jeongguk, did you actually do any research on wyverns before you decided to find one?" Namjoon asked with a somewhat concerned voice. Jeongguk simply chuckled nervously and looked away. "You didn't, did you."

"Not really?"

Namjoon sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Jeongguk, wyverns will attack anything they deem to be of inferior strength, and besting a beast like that isn't easy."

"Oh, that makes more sense then," Jeongguk muttered, remembering the confrontation.

Namjoon leaned forward, intrigued. "So how did you do it?"

"Well," Jeongguk began, noticing the arrival of the others but barely paying any mind to it, "it attacked me for disturbing it, but I guess I did kind of stomp on its tail. In my defence, it was kind of hiding and I didn't see it there, but anyway, it got mad at me."

"Only you," Hoseok sighed, shaking his head. Jeongguk shot him an annoyed look but continued anyway.

"So I pretty much just used my shield spells until it got even angrier, so I tried to shoot off a minor explosion spell to ward it off until I could come up with a better plan-"

"Jeongguk? Succeeding in a minor spell?" Jimin snorted, "Never thought I'd see the day."

"-Shut up Jimin, anyway, it didn't work so well and I kind of maybe exploded the next mountain over."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," Seokjin deadpanned. "You blew up a mountain."

"Yes," Jeongguk answered without hesitation. He had just said that, hadn't he?

"A mountain," he stressed and Jeongguk just nodded again.

"I said what I said, but yeah, the mountain is in smithereens now and I guess the wyvern accepted me because of it. So I got a ride down to the town and everyone was panicking because a whole mountain just vanished, and maybe they were worried about an avalanche or something but the blast kind of melted all the snow in the area so I don't really know why they were worried, but still-"

He glanced over at Taehyung who had his head buried in his hands and was muttering something that he couldn't quite hear. He'd have to check up on him later. He continued the story when no one cut in.

"So I went into the tavern to stay the night because I was pretty tired - don't worry, I left the wyvern in the stable and I'm pretty sure it only ate maybe one or two horses - and then I guess people figured out that I was the one who blew up the mountain because they started buying me drinks."

"You don't even drink alcohol," Yoongi said as he took a bite of his toast and jam, though Seokjin looked oddly disgusted for some reason.

"I know! They didn't even have banana milk!" Jeongguk exclaimed in a tone that clearly said he was offended. "But apparently there was some kind of local legend or something about the mountain requiring a sacrifice every few years and I'm now their saviour, I don't really know. This one lady tried telling me how cool she thought I was and tried to cuddle up to me or something, but I was honestly too tired to care."

"Did it ever occur to you that she was flirting?" Hoseok asked as almost everyone else chuckled.

"Flirting?" Jeongguk asked, blinking as he tried to figure out what Hoseok was talking about. Taehyung groaned and Jeongguk really wanted to make sure he didn't have a headache or something, that wouldn't be good. "I just went upstairs and there was another lady there but she was super nice and kind of reminded me of my mom, actually."

"Out of all the ladies," Jimin said in disbelief, "You liked the motherly one the best. Why was I even surprised?"

"She even gave me a cool cloak before I left, saying that I would get cold otherwise. Isn't that nice?" Jeongguk said with a grin.

Namjoon sighed. Jeongguk was an interesting one, that's for sure.

Chapter Text

The messengers in the small, reclusive town of Fareshire were honest, hardworking individuals. They were well known for their punctuality and care when dealing with important messages and parcels that needed to be delivered from town to town. They were even said to be completely fearless after one particular messenger successfully delivered directly to a dragon's hoard. (How a dragon requested their services in the first place was anyone's guess.)

Others were known for having escaped a siren's song or weaved between the front lines of a war to carry out their task.

The Fareshire messengers were the best of the best, and yet even they were hesitant the first time they had been requested by the great evil being that lived in a forest stronghold. Worried chatter had broken out the moment the request had been read off the list. The messengers even began drawing lots and arguing over who would be the one unlucky enough to be chosen. Eventually, the task fell to one of the youngest and newest messengers, a boy by the name of Yugyeom.

His hand trembled as he accepted the request, the task appearing word by word on a piece of parchment. One of the others read it over his shoulder and blanched. He would have to approach the stronghold not once, but twice since the actual information was sensitive and could only be relayed in person, according to the message.

When he departed the town, he was given the traditional sendoff for those who were not expected to return. One reserved for those going on their final delivery.

After the tearful goodbye, Yugyeom made his way toward the stronghold following the directions he was given. He passed through several towns and many more forests before he finally began to approach his destination. The words on the parchment changed to direct him around the many defences that surrounded the stronghold. It was large, dark and imposing and he couldn't help but gulp in worry as he got closer, step by step.

After almost half an hour, he followed the directions over to a beautiful rose garden that seemed almost out of place somewhere such as this. He entered and followed the instructions through the maze of flowers and thorns until he saw someone sitting on a marble bench in the middle.

“Ah, so you're here,” the man said, looking up from the strange flower he had been looking at. He turned and Yugyeom had to hold in a surprised gasp.

“Your Highness!?” He blurted out in an uncharacteristic lapse of professionalism. There, right in front of him, was the missing prince of Seoul. Of all the people he expected to meet on this journey, Kim Taehyung was not one of them.

“Thank you for coming all this way, I'm sure it was a lot of trouble,” The prince continued, brushing off Yugyeom's startled outburst.

“It was no trouble at all, really,” he said, still not completely believing that the prince was really there. He looked around suspiciously before dropping his voice to a whisper. “This job… did you call me here to help you escape?”

The prince looked startled for a moment that went away so quickly that Yugyeom would have thought that he imagined it if he hadn't burst out in peals of laughter immediately afterward.

“No, if I wanted to leave, I could simply walk away.” The prince grinned at him, an endearing boxy smile that Yugyeom was sure many would eagerly go to war over. “I just need your help with retrieving some things for me.”

He passed over a list that included strange things like fifty potatoes, three blooms of deadly nightshade, many unrefined gemstones and banana milk, of all things. It was baffling, to say the least, but Yugyeom was a messenger and he would complete his task with honour and speed.

“It will be done as soon as possible, Your Highness!” He exclaimed, bowing deeply.

The prince smiled again and ruffled his hair. “I don't doubt it.”

It took him several weeks to gather all the prince's requested items, but he finally had everything and was preparing for his journey back to deliver everything. It was more tedious than the first time since he was hauling literal rocks, but he had the honour of the Fareshire messengers to uphold.

He arrived back at the imposing forest stronghold and made his way around all the defences again as instructed, but this time the instructions said to simply knock on the front door. He approached hesitantly but knocked with confidence he didn't have.

He waited for a moment, listening for any sounds of life and hoping nothing had happened to the prince in his absence. When he heard nothing, he was prepared to knock again, but suddenly an explosion shook the building and the birds in the trees shrieked and flew away with haste. The resulting roar from some kind of horrific beast petrified him to the core and somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how the more experienced messengers could handle things like this.

The door was flung open by a tall man who seemed oddly exasperated for this kind of life-or-death situation. He looked Yugyeom up and down before frowning. “What do you want?”

“I…” Yugyeom felt the dread pool in his stomach as another roar echoed through the air. “I have a delivery… For His Highness Kim Taehyung?”

The man hummed and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before opening his mouth in realization. “He's not currently available, so could I accept it on his behalf? He's just trying to help calm down the wyvern before Jeongguk destroys the entire place.”

Yugyeom floundered for a moment. “I, um, I don't think there's a policy for that kind of situation.”

“I can get his permission if you'd like,” the man suggested and Yugyeom nodded. That would be for the best. The man turned and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting the question at the prince in such a disrespectful manner that Yugyeom almost fainted.

Another explosion came from further inside and a boy that seemed to be around his age was flung back and came rolling to a stop near them. He got up, dusted himself off and smiled.

“He says yes, but that he can't come to the door right now because Tyr doesn't want to take his bath.”

Yugyeom stood in stunned horror as the boy casually strolled back over toward the commotion and glanced over at the man who simply shrugged.

“Well, that's that. How much was the agreed payment?”

Yugyeom handed over the parchment and the man smiled gently before reaching into a small coin purse that hung at his waist and dropping the amount in his palm. He paused, but then reached in and gave him a few more.

“As thanks for going through all this trouble. Would you like a spell of protection for the way back? These woods get dangerous after dark,” the man asked. “Jeongguk, get back over here! We need a protection spell!”

“That would be very kind of you,” he answered honestly. Within seconds, the air in front of him shimmered with what was obviously very complex and powerful magic.

“Thank you!” The man called out again, though the only response was another roar. With a final nod, Yugyeom was sent off and he walked back to Fareshire in stunned silence.

The others definitely wouldn't believe him even if he swore on his life that everything was true. It was just too crazy.

Chapter Text

Seokjin was worried, something that wasn't exactly unusual, but he supposed that he had a good reason this time. While Namjoon usually called them to the main hall when he had something important to say, he usually didn't call them with this degree of urgency.

Naturally, he, along with everyone else, dropped whatever they were doing and rushed over. Something was obviously wrong and they needed to know why.

Namjoon sat at the head of the table with his hands clasped in front of him looking abnormally stressed. He heard them come in and glanced up, though Seokjin noticed that he seemed like he hadn't slept well - if at all.

“Sorry for calling you all here like this,” he muttered with fatigue evident in his voice, “but we have a problem.”

“When you said that this task would be of the utmost importance and would challenge us in ways we haven't been yet, this is not what I had in mind,” Jimin grumbled as he tried to breathe in the almost corset-like breastplate. Seokjin had to agree. Unlike Jeongguk, Taehyung, Yoongi and Hoseok whose wiry frames allowed for the armour to fit semi-comfortably, the rest of them weren't so lucky.

Namjoon's chest was being squished uncomfortably as he sucked in as much breath as he could just to fit while Jimin was just a bit more muscular than the armour allowed (though somehow Jeongguk managed to get away with it - Seokjin had no clue how) and couldn't manage to get it to sit right.

Seokjin, on the other hand, just stared down at the petite breastplate in horror. While his waist was small enough that he would fit that part decently, there was no way in hell his shoulders would fit.

“Namjoon, are you sure this is the only way?” He asked, shooting pleading looks at the scientist.

“Well,” Namjoon wheezed and Seokjin had to cringe, “unless… you want… to wear… leather… no.”

“I'll do it,” he replied without missing a beat. “At least I won't need to break my collarbone to get in that.”

Namjoon waved in the direction of the backup outfit and Seokjin felt a twinge of pity for him. He picked up the outfit and grimaced, knowing that he wouldn't be able to wear any other clothes underneath it. With a resigned sigh, he went into another room to change.

He returned a few minutes later to Hoseok's impressed whistle.

“Wow, somehow you manage to make that work. I'm a bit jealous now.”

“Don't be,” Seokjin muttered. “You don't want to know where this is pinching me.”

He shot Namjoon a look that clearly said that he was one-hundred percent unimpressed with the leather ensemble, only to get a written reply of 'Not my choice'. (Apparently, Namjoon had completely given up on speaking in favour of breathing)

"Well," Taehyung muttered, "aren't we just a sight?"

Jimin scoffed. "I swear, if anyone else finds out about this they'll forget everything they heard or we'll just have to dispose of them."

"Whatever. Let's get going unless there's something else we need to do?" Yoongi asked as he glanced at the others in the room. Seokjin grinned in a way that totally wasn't at everyone else's expense.

Nope. Totally not.

A few minutes later, he had ensured that everyone looked sufficiently feminine, complete with wigs and the appropriate amount of makeup, according to their intel. He did a great job if he could say so himself. They were practically unrecognizable and (hopefully) wouldn't be traced back to their actual identities. The job was dangerous enough as it was.

According to the information that Namjoon had received, there was a specific villain who had decided to go against the laws set by The Organization and some of his troops had decided to request backup. Since this particular villain only accepted female troops, it probably would have been much more convenient for the request to go to someone who could blend in much more easily than seven men, but apparently, they were all busy or on vacation for some reason.

Whatever. They could do this.

They infiltrated easily enough, joining up with some new recruits that were being led into the villain's stronghold. Seokjin kept his wits about him, not trusting anything other than his instincts or anyone other than his friends. A woman walked up to him and he tried to seem more relaxed than he felt.

"Where does the free water flow?" She asked, looking at the group of them in suspicion. Well, there went his attempt at seeming nonchalant. With every second that passed, Seokjin got more and more nervous, until only the eight of them were left in the room. Yoongi stepped forward with an uncharacteristic smile.

"It flows underground, bubbling and preparing for the flood."

The woman sighed and relaxed. "Oh good, come with me."

Yoongi walked ahead confidently, gesturing for them to follow him though Seokjin watched him with narrowed eyes, wondering how he knew the correct answer. They followed the woman to a large underground room where many women were gathered, most clad in armour but a few were dressed in leather like Seokjin himself was.

"It's good to know we have more allies, even a Malkave," she said with a smile. "Ah, I'm Hyuna, by the way. And you are?"

Yoongi smiled. "Yoonji. These are my friends; Soojin, Taeha, Jimin, Jeongsook, Hosook and Namju."

"It's a pleasure," Hyuna replied. "Have you already been briefed on the plan?"

"They haven't, so please go ahead," Yoongi answered, looking back at them with a look that told them to stay quiet.

"Very well. As Yoonji may have told you, we're planning a revolt and we need every single person to make it work."

Seokjin listened intently as she explained the plan, already figuring out ways that he could make himself as useful as possible.

"We still need someone who can get the location of the weapon from the boss, but no one is confident enough that they'll succeed," she explained with a regretful look. "The entire plan hinges on that, but if we fail... everything will fall apart."

"I'll do it," Seokjin blurted out before he could stop himself. "I promise I won't fail."

"Are... are you sure?" Hyuna asked nervously. Seokjin nodded. He'd already dug his grave, why not go out with style?

"At least take someone with you. In case something goes wrong," she suggested and Seokjin hesitated before Jimin stepped forward.

"Don't worry, I'll go as backup. You can count on us."

"Well... Good luck. Will you be returning here once it is done, or is there a signal we should be looking for?" Hyuna asked, looking a bit more confident than before.

Seokjin noticed Jimin exchange a look with Jeongguk, gesturing to the phone he had hidden on his person and Namjoon's eyes widened in realization.

"Don't worry," Jimin grinned. "You'll know."

Chapter Text

"Be careful," Yoongi whispered to Seokjin as he passed by on his way out. Seokjin turned to look at him with an amused grin.

"Do you think I won't be? Have some faith, Yoongi."

"Oh, I have plenty of faith," he responded. "Just remember: when in doubt, go left."

"Go left," Seokjin repeated with a nod. "Alright, thanks."

He left with Jimin following right behind him and they made their way through the stronghold according to the map they had been shown. Jimin fiddled with some stones in his hand and seemed to be more jittery than usual, but Seokjin was confident that they'd come out of this fine.

The only good thing was that the majority of the guards were female and in on the plan, so after a quick password check (luckily it was the same one that Yoongi had answered earlier), they were waved on with a whisper of encouragement. While he appreciated the gesture, he was wondering how their costumes had managed to hold up against scrutiny for so long since there was only so much a wig and some makeup could hide.

Whatever. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

They approached the central room, the one where the villain (who Seokjin hadn't cared enough about to bother learning the name of) should supposedly be at this time of day. The guards outside that room were male and Seokjin steeled himself to get past them. Rule number one of subterfuge: blend in and act as if you belong.

Thanks to Hyuna, he knew his outfit was that of the Malkaves, a specially trained unit that answered to the boss himself, and that he could probably get Jimin in with him. He approached the doors with his head held high, Jimin following silently. He managed to walk past them without any issues but sure enough, Jimin was stopped when one of them grabbed onto his arm.

"What business does a lowly foot soldier have with the boss?" One of them spat with an ugly sneer. Jimin frowned and looked like he was about to retort with a sassy remark that Seokjin was sure would be absolutely hilarious, but that wouldn't be a good idea. He turned and shot the man an icy glare.

"She's with me. We have to report something and it would be truly unfortunate if the boss found out you were delaying us."

The man eyed him suspiciously, but reluctantly released Jimin's arm with a grumbled curse. Seokjin gestured for him to come closer and made sure to stay silent until they were far enough out of earshot that Jimin dared to whisper.

"Thanks for that. One more word and I probably would have decked him in the face."

"Thank you for not compromising our entire mission," Seokjin whispered back with a smile but schooled his expression into something more serious as they approached the double doors.

They pushed them open and the first thing Seokjin noticed was that the boss was all alone in the room - super convenient for them, not so much for him - and the second thing he noticed was the man's godawful goatee. It wasn't even a good goatee. In fact, it was the ugliest, most disappointing goatee that Seokjin had ever seen in his entire life.

Something like that had no right to exist.

The man turned when Seokjin walked up to him, and he tried to hold back the smirk on his face when Jimin closed the doors behind them. He had one shot at this and he was going to get it right.

"Are you here with a mission report?" He asked, looking at both of them curiously but paying Jimin less attention overall.

"Mission report," Seokjin echoed with a grin. "I believe that's what you'll be giving."

"Excuse me?" The man responded, moving to press what was probably a panic button before Seokjin allowed the silver to bleed into his eyes and stared into his soul.

"Tell me," he began, knowing his voice sounded overwhelmingly echoey to the man he held captive with his gaze. "Where is the weapon and how do I use it?"

The man's face was blank for a moment but Seokjin refused to blink and lose everything.

"The weapon. It's underground hidden in the sewers and to use it you need to blow into the tube at the end. The sound produced is capable of paralyzing all who hear it," he said, voice dull and emotionless as Seokjin kept his hold tight. When the man didn't offer any other information, Seokjin allowed himself to blink and the man stumbled backward, cursing and holding his head before his gaze snapped up to Seokjin.

"You," he positively snarled, "you'll pay for that-"

"And now you're going to shut up," Jimin cut him off as he pressed a stone to the man's head. Jimin pulled away and grabbed Seokjin's arm, dragging him out of the room in a hurry.

"We don't have much time before he wakes up," Jimin told him as he repeated the gesture on the two male guards. "Luckily, they won't know that we were ever there."

Seokjin smiled at him in thanks before they slowed down their pace in the halls and walked down through several levels until they got to the winding maze of the sewers. They wandered lost for a moment, following the right-hand rule as much as possible before coming to a four-way sewer intersection and stopping.

"Which way should we go?" Jimin asked, glancing over at Seokjin in worry. The others were probably antsy and they had to reach and secure the weapon soon so the next phase could begin. Seokjin narrowed his eyes in thought before gasping.

"Go left."

"What?" Jimin wondered.

"Yoongi told me to go left," he replied, glancing down the path to their left. Jimin followed his gaze and frowned.

"You're just going to trust that?"

Seokjin smiled in return. "Remember what Namjoon taught us?"

Jimin sighed but nevertheless followed Seokjin down the winding path until they came upon a wall that seemed hastily constructed. Moving a few rocks here and there, they opened it up enough to reveal an instrument. An instrument with a pipe on the side.

They exchanged glances with each other and Jimin pulled out the phone to send a message to Namjoon. Within seconds, the stronghold shook with the power of an immense explosion, courtesy of their sorcerer. The sounds of many feet rushing, shouting and the clashing of weapons filled the air until that was all that could be heard.

The rebellion had begun.

Chapter Text

Yoongi stood alone in a flower field, one that was a rainbow of coloured petals that swayed back and forth ever so slightly with the breeze. There was never a scent, or if there was it smelled like nothing at all. He sat up and looked over toward the hazy grey fog that obscured the land further away as it always did.

It didn't exist yet, after all.

Yoongi stood up and started walking toward the fog, the flowers bending out of his way with a wave of his hand. The land grew more vast as he walked and expanded with every step he took, coming into existence slowly. He knew what should exist and what shouldn't and Yoongi smiled softly to himself as he moulded the world into the way it must be. The field of endless flowers, the river of pure starlight that separated the earth and sky from the thunderstorms that raged ceaselessly beyond and a forest so vast the end couldn't be seen. The lightning crackled across the sky in slow-motion, leaving behind a trail of light that slowly vanished a few seconds later.

With a single glance, the clouds that blanketed the sky dissipated and the sun shone down on the scentless flowers, turning the sky into the beautiful blue of a robin's egg. Sounds of laughing and children calling to each other filtered faintly through the air and Yoongi headed in that direction. Bone horses and grotesque children played in the field, the flowers dying and withering under their touch. The children joined hands in a ring around another child, one that seemed perfectly human, and danced around them mockingly. The child cried and wailed from where they kneeled on the grass, looking around frantically for a way to escape.

Yoongi wanted to help and bend the earth around them to push the children away but he waited. It wasn't time yet.

One of the children began to scream and writhe as their grotesque features morphed and melded themselves into something new before vanishing completely. The empty clothes fell to the ground and yet the other children continued their chanting and mockery, ignoring the one who disappeared. A snake slithered its way out of the sleeve and weaved its way between the legs of the dancing children and reared up its head to strike the crying child in the center.

Yoongi knew what was to come (the snake would bite and the child would scream and writhe in pain as the toxin entered their bloodstream and then they would lash out and the blood would fly through the air and the children would start to melt but they continued their laughing until a woman came and oh god was that his mother but then the world would burst into flames and burn until nothing was left) and he closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath and reached out to grab the snake in his hand, the creature falling motionless because he willed it so. He closed his hand tightly around it and felt it vanish into nothing.

The children paused in their playing and turned to look at him with faces so blank and emotionless that they could have been carved from stone and it wouldn't have made a difference. The child in the middle looked up at him with a spark of hope in their eyes, trembling slightly. Yoongi barely glanced between them before pushing at the air and watching the ground around them surge and swell like it was water. As it rose and fell in imitation of solid waves, the children were carried far away from where he stood, leaving Yoongi alone with the terrified child.

He approached slowly, taking care to not frighten the child any further. They flinched away when Yoongi knelt next to them and they acted like a tightly coiled spring, just one wrong move and they would surely scramble to their feet and run.

“It's alright now,” Yoongi whispered in a soft voice. “You're safe.”

“Safe?” The child repeated as some of the tension vanished from their body. Their shoulders relaxed and their voice came out as a breathless gasp as if they weren't expecting a rescue.

“That's right,” Yoongi confirmed, smiling gently. “I need you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that for me?”

The child nodded and leaned a bit closer, curious to hear what the older man had to say. Yoongi pressed his index and middle fingers to the child's forehead and let himself relax.

“It's time to go to sleep. Just close your eyes and breathe with me.”

The child's eyes fluttered closed and their breathing began to even out as the world began to shudder and destabilize. Yoongi glanced around as the flowers turned to ash and vanished into the quickly fracturing sky and closed his eyes.

Now, it was his turn to sleep.

Chapter Text

They had made a grave miscalculation. It was simple and kind of stupid now that Hoseok thought about it, but what's done is done. Namjoon had caught them fair and square and now they had to face the repercussions of it.

“This sucks,” Jeongguk sniffed miserably from where he sat a few feet away. Jimin only rolled his eyes.

“What are you even doing?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Jeongguk asked, flinging his arms out to the sides and staring at him miserably. “I'm moping in my corner because I have nothing better to do.”

“Jeongguk, we're literally trapped inside a circle,” Jimin retorted and shot Hoseok a look that said just how exasperated he was with the whole situation.

“It's just a figure of speech, geez,” he huffed, crossing his arms again. Hoseok sighed but he didn't really want to get involved. It wasn't like they wouldn't be allowed back in shortly anyway, but he did have to admit that it sucked being benched like this.

It was a simple game that Namjoon had suggested, heroes and villains. It was a game that basically every child loved: a more exciting game of tag than any of the others. The only people who apparently had never played before were Taehyung (kind of expected because, well, he's a prince and heroes and villains was a game enjoyed by the plebians) and Seokjin (no one had any clue why he was so confused, but they decided not to question it because Seokjin was scary) though they quickly picked up on the rules.

They had all been somewhat offended when Namjoon told them that they would all be heroes for the day and that they'd be trying to get past him, but he had conveniently neglected to mention that he had backup in the form of security cameras that tracked their every move and robotic protectors stationed throughout the forest.

Another thing he had 'forgotten’ to mention - to Hoseok's eternal ire - was that the “jail” for the game was actually a locked prison cell.

To free their allies, the 'heroes’ (as if) would have to get the key off of Namjoon himself. Jimin had tried earlier to help them escape but obviously, that didn't go so well. Instead, he had ended up right next to them in the prison cell and was more frustrated at himself than anything. He wasn't actually mad at Jeongguk, but the younger sorcerer just didn't understand that it would be better to just sit and wait quietly for once.

Jimin leaned back against the bars of their round cell and groaned. “How long do you think it'll be before someone else gets unceremoniously shoved in here with us?”

Hoseok hummed. “Not sure, but I think it'll probably be Seokjin or Taehyung next.”

“Not Yoongi?” Jeongguk asked, piping up from where he was sitting.

“Nah,” Hoseok said, shaking his head. “Yoongi's probably going to be the last one caught - if he even gets caught at all. I can't be the only one who noticed that he's really good at this kind of game.”

“Do you think he'll try to free us?” Jimin asked curiously and Hoseok could have laughed.

“With these odds? I doubt it.”

They waited for what felt like hours (and was likely only around fifteen minutes in reality) in complete boredom before the door was wrenched open and Seokjin was pushed through.

“Welcome to the failures club,” Jimin droned. “Meetings are on Wednesdays at five o'clock. Snacks and beverages are not provided.”

“Very funny,” Seokjin scoffed, turning to glare out the door. “I actually lasted longer than I expected so I count that as a success.”

Jeongguk exaggerated a groan. “Ugh. Optimists.”

“What would you prefer me to say?” Seokjin asked. “That we're screwed unless someone decides to rescue us, which in this situation is extremely unlikely?”

“Yeah, that's better,” Jeongguk responded sarcastically. Hoseok started to have an inkling of an idea and furrowed his brow as he thought.

“Guys,” he called softly though he was ignored.

“Not now, I need to teach this brat a lesson about respecting his elders,” Seokjin muttered, though they all knew that he didn't actually mean it. It was just something that would make their incarceration slightly less boring.

“Guys I'm serious,” Hoseok repeated. “I have an idea.”

Jimin crossed his arms and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to reveal what he had thought of.

“This is Namjoon we're talking about, why would he make a mistake as bad as locking us all up together where we can plan and help each other? It's like he's setting himself up to fail.”

“So what?” Jimin asked. “He hasn't exactly been failing so far.”

“Just listen for a moment,” he said in exasperation. “There's probably a solution we haven't thought of yet that he's set for us. We just have to find it.”

“You're right.”

Hoseok turned and saw Yoongi grinning from outside their prison. His eyes slid from Yoongi to one of Namjoon's robot guards that was slowly coming after his friend and he was ready to warn the other man when he saw it. A key that was held in a clear pouch hanging from the robot's arm.

“Yoongi, do you think you can get that key for us?” He asked, gesturing to their only hope of escape.

“Do you think I wouldn't after I put in all this effort just to lure it here? Have some more faith in me,” Yoongi joked as he easily snatched the key from the robot and tossed it to Jimin, who fumbled it slightly. Jimin pulled it out of the pouch and slipped it into the keyhole and they all grinned when the door opened with a click.

They were out, and now it was their turn to get the upper hand.

Chapter Text

Jeongguk huffed in annoyance as he stood in the hall, waiting for someone to tell him what he should do. In an ideal situation, he would have already gone up to talk some sense into everybody, but he couldn't. That was against the rules.

The game was more difficult than the others they'd played before since they couldn't rely on their friends and allies the same way they were used to. Unlike basically every other time they did a training exercise or a game disguised as a lesson where they were put in teams or formed their own as they went along and worked together to solve a problem or just simply decimate their opponents, this time they were basically alone.

They were in teams, sure, but the game was more strategic and individual than any before. The game had been confusing when Namjoon had explained it, but now that they were playing it, it was even more so.

Two of the team members would never actually interact with each other, one of them on the playing field and the other on strategy. The third was the messenger, the one who passed orders and feedback between the two. That was Jeongguk's job, and he was already fairly certain that his team would lose.

While he trusted Hoseok on the field, he wasn't too certain about Seokjin on strategy. Luckily for them, though, Jimin was on strategy for the other team instead of Yoongi or Taehyung, who most definitely had prior experience with that sort of thing. In fact, those two seemed extra annoyed at being told that they couldn't even help Jimin and give him any advice.

Yoongi had been muttering to himself under his breath every time him and Jeongguk had crossed paths, having been stuck as the messenger for the other team.

Taehyung was on the field and Jeongguk really hoped that Hoseok would go easy on him and not actually hurt him. It was just a game, after all, they didn't need to use fatal force or anything.

"Jeongguk!" Seokjin called from the other room and he sighed as he walked over to the door, seeing Jimin and Seokjin peering down at a board in between them. Jeongguk approached and let Seokjin whisper into his ear.

"Tell Hoseok to move to position F3 and prepare to strike."

F3. Strike. He could remember that. Jeongguk nodded and pursed his lips as he left and walked down to the console Namjoon had set up to transmit the orders to the players on the field. He wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but Namjoon made it so it would probably be fine. He put in the commands and waited for Hoseok's return message, which he would carry to Seokjin and then wait in the hall for more orders. Then he would repeat it all over again until one of the two strategists admitted defeat or surrendered or if one of the players was out of commission.

He watched a tree fall in the forest and cringed slightly. Hoseok was strong, there was no doubt of that, but no one really knew what he was capable of. Unlike Jeongguk himself, who hadn't bothered to keep his magic secret, Hoseok hadn't told anyone. No one could blame him for worrying about Taehyung in that kind of situation.

The message came back shortly after.

He's hiding in the trees just north of me. I could get him if I try, but I don't know what Jimin will do. My position is compromised.

Jeongguk nodded to himself since no one else could see it and rushed up the stairs to bring the news to Seokjin. He passed Yoongi along the way as he headed toward the console, but they tried to not acknowledge each other as much as possible. He reached the door and passed on the message before stepping out and allowing Seokjin some time to think things over. When he was called, he went in and listened carefully.

"Tell Hoseok to retreat to position B6, that's where the cave is, right? We'll try to lure Taehyung back into a dead-end," Seokjin whispered and Jeongguk nodded.

He went back to the console and did his usual routine with a sigh. While he was sure the game was super tense for Seokjin and Jimin and stressful for Hoseok and Taehyung, he knew as a fact that he and Yoongi had the most boring jobs. Jeongguk waited but then the message he received was concerning.

His Highness trapped the cave so I'm a bit stuck. I think he's coming after me. I can break out, but I could end up seriously injuring Taehyung if I try. My hands are tied here.

Jeongguk inhaled sharply but rushed the message up nonetheless.

"Seokjin!" he hissed, causing the older man to turn to him with a frown.

"What is it?"

Jeongguk passed on the message and stood there, wringing his hands in worry.

"We should just surrender," he said quietly. "Tae could get hurt."

Seokjin watched him carefully. "Do you have any other reason than not wanting your prince to have a few scratches?"

Jeongguk flushed red but continued his point anyway.

"Hoseok doesn't feel very confident either, we played right into their trap."

Seokjin was silent as he thought and the tension in the room was almost palpable. He had to break it, he had to get rid of that uncomfortable pressure.

"Also we've been playing for a while and I'm hungry."

He didn't care if they thought he was immature for it or if they were disappointed in him. He had to help everyone with the stress and also ensure that Tae would come out of this alright.

Seokjin sighed but smiled knowingly at him nonetheless.

"On account of Jeongguk's appetite, we surrender."

Chapter Text

"Hey, Namjoon?" Hoseok asked as they sat across from each other at the table. Namjoon glanced up from the drink in his hand and hummed to show that he had heard.

"Have you done anything that made you feel really guilty before? Like so guilty that you want to cry or undo everything?"

Namjoon set his drink down on the table and clasped his hands together.

"Hoseok, there are lots of things that you'll do in this job that might not align with your moral compass, wherever that happens to point. There will always be things you regret and you will feel bad about them, there's no avoiding that."

He looked up and tried to smile, but Hoseok knew it didn't reach his eyes.

"If you're asking that then I'm sure you have those kinds of things too, but I wish I was able to protect you from it. I can't, and there's nothing I can do to change what's already happened, but the least I can do is prepare you for the future," Namjoon told him and Hoseok felt oddly warm inside. He considered Namjoon a friend, of course he did, but it was nice to hear that the man was actively trying to help them.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened?" Hoseok wondered before stopping himself and quickly backtracking. "Of course, if that's too invasive you don't have to answer. I'm just... curious, sorry."

Namjoon shook his head with a quiet laugh. "You don't have to apologize. I guess it's only natural to be curious about this sort of thing. Besides, you're all intelligent and I'm positive you all would find out sooner or later."

He sighed to himself and sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers nervously on the side of his glass. He seemed anxious and Hoseok gave him as much time as he needed to prepare himself.

"You know, when I first started out I was a lot like you. I was rash, immature, but the difference is I didn't have a mentor to help me learn the lessons the easy way. I made so many mistakes back then that I could easily avoid now. It took a long time for me to realize what went wrong, and now that I have the chance I want to make sure you don't make the same mistakes I did. I was young and stupid back then but I've owned up to those mistakes now."

He smiled to himself and Hoseok stayed silent, just listening and letting the words sink in. Namjoon took a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a moment, letting himself remember.

"But Hoseok, sometimes the things you regret the most aren't the mistakes. Sometimes they're the decisions that you knew had to be made, and sometimes the only way that will work will hurt you. Back then, there was a man who wanted to be a hero. He was young, but I don't think he realized that he was older than I was at the time. He had a family too, a wife and an infant son."

He paused, giving his words the chance to sink in.

"He tried to kill me even though I hadn't even really done anything yet. I don't regret killing him since it was in self-defence, but I knew that I'd be labelled a villain and that his family would swear revenge."

Namjoon glanced up at Hoseok again, holding his gaze as he told the next part.

"So a few nights later I went to their house and burnt it to the ground after locking them inside. They never even woke up. It was a horrible thing to do and I know it, but I was scared that someone else's decision would get me killed years down the line when I least expected it. I regret it every single day and I wish I had just explained myself to them instead, but I can't do anything now. I left the town and came here to start over, but I brought a piece of the house with me as a reminder of my own mistakes."

A tear slipped down his cheek and Hoseok felt his throat tighten.

"I still dream of the fire and their faces, but I'm learning how to cope with it. Hoseok, I hope that through my mistakes you'll learn to be better than me so you won't make the same ones I did."

Hoseok shook his head. "Then we'll just end up making new ones. Thank you for telling me even though that was probably hard to talk about."

"I've heard that talking about it can help," Namjoon admitted with a sad smile.

"Yoongi recommended some stuff to help with the dreams and it's worked pretty well so far," Hoseok told him. "Maybe you should talk to him."

"I guess I will."

They all cared about him and it was hard to see a man that they looked up to feel so weak. He hoped Yoongi would be able to help Namjoon with everything. If it had worked for him, maybe it would work for Namjoon too.

After all, he no longer dreamed of endless flower fields and laughing children.

Chapter Text

Jeongguk liked daydreaming. It was an escape from reality and anything could happen, no matter how improbable it actually was. When he was younger, he often daydreamed about heroics and valiantly leading a charge against the forces of evil. Then he learned magic despite his parents’ protests and found that he couldn't manage to be anything but destructive and gave up on that idea.

No use leading a charge when you'd end up unintentionally devastating both sides of a conflict, after all.

No, he would much rather ride in alone on Tyr (and maybe keep Taehyung close so nothing could happen to him in the meantime) and completely decimate the other side from the air where measly arrows couldn't reach him. Failing that, maybe he would stand on a cliff and rain ice lances or giant balls of molten rock down on the enemy forces.

Namjoon had said something the other day about staying behind, but Jeongguk figured that was more of a thing for the people who weren't capable of singlehandedly winning a battle with a sweep of their arm. He didn't know much about strategy, but to him, it made no sense to keep the strongest player off the field.

The other part of the lesson made sense though. Purposefully picking out your enemy and challenging them to a one-on-one match never worked. The heroes would usually end up cheating or getting help from someone else and then say they won due to divine will, prophesy or the power of friendship.

Why bother going through all that trouble when you could just kill them in a large group and avoid the hero becoming a martyr? That was a way simpler better use of time and was just much more convenient than having to deal with the heroes allies suddenly getting all motivated after the hero's death.

He yawned, knowing that he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. While logically he knew that he needed a lot of sleep, he still didn't need anywhere near the amount of time Yoongi seemed to get on a regular basis. How that man could sleep for days and still wake up and feel tired, Jeongguk had no idea.

It took him a few moments, but he slowly pulled himself up from the chair where he had settled in to do some research.

Yes, that's right. He was doing research of his own free will.

Ladies, gentlemen and all friends of other gender identities: give this boy a standing ovation.

Namjoon's library was, in one word, massive. It was almost like he had gathered a copy of every single book or paper ever made and they were all stored there in case he ever needed them. Jeongguk wouldn't even be surprised if the man had already read all of them.

Since Namjoon was a scientist, he didn't have much in the way of magical texts, but what he did have was a good start.

For a while, he'd been having strange dreams that almost seemed like memories but yet he couldn't remember anything even close ever happening. Typically, he would have just brushed them off and ignored them as a figment of his imagination playing tricks on him, but the problem was that if they were actually true, then they would explain so much.

In those dreams, he saw his parents talking worriedly to each other from where he hid behind the door. He couldn't quite make out their exact words, but he could tell that they were talking about him. That part wasn't unusual.

His parents. He missed them sometimes.

It had been an awfully long time since he had last seen them, and even then they hadn't exactly parted on good terms. They would probably be disappointed in him now.

Sometimes the dream would end there, but others the scene changed to one he couldn't recognize whatsoever. A woman who he had never seen in his life came up to him and looked apologetic before muttering some words in hushed tones and pressing her palm to his forehead. It burned like a searing brand and he could hear himself scream until his voice went hoarse and she took her hand away.

“It is done,” she always said in a scathing tone, turning to his parents. “The boy will never be able to learn magic.”

Maybe it was just a dream, but maybe it was real. Jeongguk settled himself back into the chair with another book on curses, ready to continue his research before yawning again.

Maybe he should let himself daydream as he rested just a bit more first. He smiled to himself as his mind filled with images of Taehyung, of Tyr, and of all the other friends he had made since first coming to Namjoon's stronghold.

For the first time in a while, he slept completely peacefully.

Chapter Text

"Today we are discussing something incredibly important for all villains," Namjoon said somewhat proudly as he stood at the front of the room, his back to a large slate board that had apparently been installed only a few days ago. He took out a piece of chalk and wrote in large letters across the middle.

SUPERWEAPONS

"Namjoon, what would even classify as a superweapon?" Jimin asked, his hand up in the air.

"That," Namjoon said with a smile, "is a very good question. A superweapon is anything that can do crippling amounts of damage to whatever you choose and could theoretically win you a battle even if you only use it once."

"Does it have to be an actual weapon?" Hoseok asked as he doodled on the sheet of paper in front of him. "Because not all of us are capable of building stuff like that."

Namjoon's grin widened even more - and not just because Hoseok had indirectly given him a compliment.

"You're right, it doesn't necessarily need to be an actual weapon. Some would even call it simply a special power, but it can be almost anything."

Taehyung tapped his fingers on the table absentmindedly. "So, in that case, the weapon could vary based on what type of villain you are?"

"Precisely!" Namjoon agreed.

"Someone like me could be capable of building something that could vaporize an entire town if I wished, but most people choose other types. For example, someone like you -" he gestured at Taehyung "- would likely have something more politically based since you aren't exactly the type for head-on confrontations."

"Most of us aren't fighters in the traditional sense, now that I think about it," Yoongi mused with a glance around the room. "I think less than half of us, actually."

"And that's perfectly fine," Namjoon agreed. "Having variety keeps the heroes on their toes and means that they can't just rely on prior knowledge when going into a war against us. If a hero was really powerful against magic users like Jeongguk, they probably wouldn't have expertise against someone like me who uses machines, or even someone who will simply outsmart them."

"So basically what you're saying is that we all need to find a style that works for us and then find something extremely powerful that fits with that style?" Seokjin asked to clarify and smiled when Namjoon nodded, showing that he was correct.

"Sometimes it takes a long time to figure something like that out, which is why we're starting now. Some of you will find it faster than others, but that doesn't automatically mean it's better," Namjoon reminded them. "Feel free to discuss with me or between yourselves if you think that's helpful."

“So quick question,” Hoseok asked with a cheeky grin. “Could we count Jeonggukkie here as our superweapon?”

Jeongguk squealed a little bit when his name was mentioned, but the grin on his face said that he seemed to like that idea. Namjoon sighed and hung his head.

“If you're saying that he is the most powerful out of all of us, then yes, sure. Jeongguk is our superweapon.”

“Nice!” Hoseok cheered and they all laughed and giggled for a few moments at the mental image of the youngest being some kind of secret weapon.

"Should we only use these as a last resort?" Jeongguk asked quickly, still slightly flushed from being singled out merely a minute or two beforehand. Namjoon was slightly surprised by that question, especially coming from the sorcerer.

"Ideally, no," he responded and was met with several confused faces. "If you have something extremely powerful that has almost no drawbacks, why not use it as often as you can? Save the weapon that has extreme backlash for when you truly have no other choice."

"Ah okay," Jeongguk said with a nod. "Guess I won't try to figure out a spell for when I have no other options. Maybe I should go with the Earth Shatter spell..."

Namjoon didn't know what Jeongguk had in mind for his 'last resort' spell, and he really didn't want to. Knowing the kid, it would probably be destructive on a scale that none of them had ever even dreamt of before. On the other hand, this 'Earth Shatter' didn't sound that much better.

The kid was going to be a force to be reckoned with once he'd fully matured and gotten used to his powers. He was already a strong fighter and could easily do much more damage than anyone else there, but Namjoon knew he still had many exploitable weaknesses. He turned his attention over to Taehyung, who Jeongguk had begun animatedly conversing with, the prince smiling serenely and listening with rapt attention.

His biggest downfall would probably be his kindness and his fondness for the third prince of Seoul.

Namjoon didn't know much about anything like that, but he saw how those two looked at each other and how they had gone from two people placed together by coincidence and misunderstandings to two people who cared much more for each other than they rightfully should.

Namjoon recognized that look in the sorcerer's eyes, and he grew afraid.

That was the look of a man who could do anything if it meant ensuring the safety of those precious to him.

That was the look of a man who would destroy a world if anyone dared to take away what was his. That was the look of a man in love, and Namjoon knew that love was the most dangerous and double-edged sword in the world.

Chapter Text

"So everyone," Namjoon said as he started a pseudo pop quiz over dinner. "Once you have managed to make it as a villain and secure your place as a powerful and fearsome foe, what is the first thing you should do?"

His students stared at him, completely unimpressed, as they ate their noodles.

"This couldn't wait fifteen minutes? Seriously?" Jimin groaned as he poked at his food with his chopsticks. "We're trying to eat here."

Namjoon tsked slightly and wagged his finger. "You must be prepared at any time so that you won't be caught unaware at the worst of times."

Jimin didn't answer and instead filled his mouth with the slippery noodles without breaking eye contact with the scientist. It was slightly gutsy, in Namjoon's humble opinion, but he had also kind of interrupted the nice peaceful meal they had been having.

(Peaceful was relative. They'd already had to prevent three food fights and had to clean up after Jeongguk accidentally exploded the water pitcher and soaked everyone.)

"So?" Namjoon asked, looking at the others. "Any ideas?"

"Build a stronghold where you can't easily be ambushed?" Hoseok asked though he didn't quite seem confident in his answer.

"Close, but usually you should have already done that," Namjoon said as he gave Hoseok a look of what might have been approval. It was a good idea but he was still thinking too early in the game.

"Um, outlaw things that could get you killed?" Jeongguk piped up from his seat after placing some meat on Taehyung's plate. Namjoon tried not to frown when he noticed.

"Incorrect," he answered. "Does anyone know why?"

Yoongi glanced up from his meal. "Because it could make your weakness public knowledge. Just outlaw something ridiculous, like puppies or something because then your enemies would bring you a ton of puppies while trying to defeat you. Then you kill them, take the puppies and voila - an endless supply of love and affection."

The room fell into an incredibly awkward silence as everyone stared at Yoongi in confusion. The man didn't seem to notice for a few minutes, but when he did, he looked back up at them and gave them a strange look before yawning.

"What? Am I not allowed to like puppies or something?"

"No, no... it's just..." Seokjin said quietly, struggling to find the right words. "You seem to have this pretty well planned out. Also, you look really tired, are you okay?"

"So what if I do? And I didn't sleep last night."

The look he gave them was almost daring them to say anything further on the subject. It was then that Namjoon decided to spare him and cough to draw all the attention back to him.

"Other than plans to get cute animals delivered to your front door, is there anything else you think you should do?"

"Dispose of those with heroic tendencies?" Seokjin suggested though the barely-present frown on his face said that he didn't exactly approve of the idea.

"Usually, no," Namjoon told them and pretended that he hadn't seen Seokjin relax at those words. "That's reserved for extremely desperate situations, and even then you're more likely to have a rebellion on your hands since people generally aren't very cool with massacres."

Taehyung nodded his head and Namjoon could tell he was feigning ignorance as Jeongguk poured him another glass of water.

"I'm not sure how the two situations could be compared, but in my experience, it's better to leave the people to their own devices. Do a random check-in every once in a while, but don't let yourself fall into a pattern or else you'll be easily taken advantage of. Of course, if the people needed anything from the royal family, they'd come to the palace and ask to have an audience with my father or with his council, but I doubt that would be the case for villains."

"It's similar, yes," Namjoon agreed. "It's best to not antagonize the civilians because it has been proven that they are quite capable of overthrowing someone if they become brave enough to do so or if they find a leader."

"So what's the correct answer?" Jimin asked as he placed his chopsticks down. Namjoon looked at them and grinned.

"This might seem a bit ridiculous -"

"As if everything else isn't in this place?" Hoseok stage-whispered.

"- but the answer is time-travel."

"Time travel," Yoongi drawled, staring at him with a deadpan expression. "Why that of all things? It's not like it's actually been proven that it's even possible."

Namjoon cocked his head to the side and chuckled. "Would you really want to take the chance? It's best to destroy anything that's even said to be capable of it. Destroy all magical items, get rid of any spells that could make it possible and eliminate anyone who would know how or where to get one."

They sat there for a moment, the atmosphere serious.

But then Jeongguk went to get up and tripped, grabbing the table for support but ended up bringing it down with him. Food got absolutely everywhere and slowly but surely, everyone dissolved into laughter.

It wouldn't hurt to enjoy themselves just a little bit. Things didn't always have to be so serious, after all.

Chapter Text

Yoongi liked cute animals. It was a fact that was kind of an open secret at the stronghold at this point, but he'd never had the chance to have one of his own. All his childhood, the only thing he wanted was a puppy or ferret or llama. Of course, his parents always said that it was too risky and that he wasn't responsible enough.

He snorted at the memory - he was actually responsible, thank you very much - but his parents just refused to acknowledge that fact.

At one point, he had befriended a large canine that followed around one of the heroes that frequented his home and the man had joked that if he ever needed someone to take care of his dog that Yoongi would be the first person on his list.

He loved that dog with everything he had. Whenever the hero came, he would whisper to the dog before letting him off to go run around with Yoongi in the back. He had never asked for the dog's name but he had always called the dog Holly in his heart.

Holly had been his closest friend growing up since his family lived far away from any towns or villages and had taught him to be extremely distrustful of others.

“The world is a dangerous place for people like us,” his father would often say. “It's even more dangerous for a child like you.”

He had been told the dangers of the city, of the roads and the paths and of the deceitful webs of lies that anyone could weave with their words.

Above all, though, he had been taught the dangers of villains. Instead of bedtime stories about princesses and heroes and epic adventures, Yoongi had grown up with stories about the awful things villains could and would most certainly do if they knew who he was and what he could do.

He was told that they would take him away and lock him up and never let him come back home to his family. He was told that he would be forced to say exactly what the villain wanted to hear and that his life would always hang in the balance. He was told that there would be no such thing as mercy.

He had grown up believing those stories and hid away in his room whenever anyone came to knock on their door in fear that they would be a villain coming to take him away.

Holly had been the final straw.

The hero who would come by for tea with his mother left his house one morning with a prophecy from his mother. He had called Holly back from where Yoongi had been playing with him and rolling around in the soft grass before leaving after a quick goodbye.

Once the hero was out of sight, his mother had pulled him close and apologized over and over. At the time, he hadn't understood why.

“Sometimes it's better to be ignorant of things than to know the inevitable and have the guilt resting on your shoulders,” she had said and he remembered being confused until the hero returned weeks later without Holly.

The dog, he had said, was killed by his nemesis after he tried to save his owner in battle.

Yoongi was heartbroken and devastated, running away in the middle of the conversation and screaming in his room as he punched the walls with feeble arms. He wanted to lash out and avenge Holly but he didn't know how. If he had only seen the villain he could have done something.

So, that night he had snuck out of his home and braved the woods as he tried to find the villain but he easily got lost since he had never been out of sight of his house before. The moon had been shining brightly in the sky and he was crying pitifully under a tree, incapable of falling asleep to find his way home.

It was then that a woman came and sat by him, asking him why he was sad. He hadn't known who she was at the time, but she had stayed with him until he felt better. When an owl had come out of nowhere and killed a small squirrel, he had almost cried again until she chased it away and picked up the broken animal in her hands. She had smiled then before asking if he could keep a secret.

She muttered words under her breath, quiet but anyone would be able to feel the power that came from them and then slowly, the animal woke up though she told him it would only last for a few hours.

When the morning came, they had buried it together and she ruffled his hair before going on her way.

He hadn't known until later that she was a necromancer, one who had conquered a small kingdom to the south with the power of her undead army. He had also learned that heroes weren't always right when he had found out that the hero hadn't even tried to save Holly. It was unforgivable and he had lost all respect for them after that.

The necromancer became the reason he was where he was now.

She had taught him that it was possible to be a villain and to still care enough to comfort a crying child. She had used a powerful form of magic to revive a deceased animal just for him and that's when he had made up his mind.

He would become a villain, but he promised himself that he would never prey on the innocent.

Chapter Text

Taehyung felt somewhat conflicted, not that it was an uncommon occurrence. He supposed it was normal to not know what the future would hold for him and to be afraid of that. There were so many things he was scared for and so many more that he hadn't even begun to understand.

Of course, the current conflicting feeling had nothing to do with the futility of life.

No, it was something much more simple.

He sighed and tilted his head back, letting it rest against the stone walls. He really didn't want to do this but he knew he had to. They had each been given instructions that day on what their roles were to be for the training exercise and they weren't allowed to know what each other had gotten.

Thanks to Taehyung's royally (ha-ha, he had a terrible sense of humour some days) rotten luck, he had gotten cast as the captured rebel and had to escape. Bonus points if he got the villains' plans while he was on his way, according to the little instruction card. Usually, that wouldn't be a huge problem for him whatsoever - as a prince he had already gone over the fundamentals of what to do in the case he was taken captive - but this situation wasn't quite so simple.

Of course, Jeongguk had been chosen to guard his little cell and prevent him from escaping.

And thus, his dilemma.

It wasn't that it would be frustratingly difficult to get the information he needed or to escape, but rather that Jeongguk would make it too easy for him. Taking advantage of the young sorcerer's obvious fondness for him (it really wasn't that difficult to see) to make his escape easier went against so many of his morals but he didn't doubt for a second that Jeongguk would turn a blind eye if he even so much as asked.

Taehyung knew that Namjoon was concerned about that weakness and he was as well, even if he tried not to show it. A single moment of weakness could be the deciding factor in a battle and could lead to someone not coming home at the end of the day. A single moment of weakness could cause a carefully crafted plan to fall apart like a house of cards.

All his life he had been raised to show not even a hint of weakness so that no one could take advantage of them and now he was spending time with people who showed too much.

It scared him. All his carefully crafted masks were slowly cracking and falling apart between his fingers, every facade and every lie crumbling away before his eyes. He had spent so long playing a part that he wasn't even sure he knew who he was anymore. Who Taehyung was other than the third prince of Seoul.

The prince wouldn't hesitate to strike at Jeongguk's weak points and emerge victorious just as he had been taught to do.

Taehyung wasn't so sure.

He glanced over to where Jeongguk was watching him intently and tried not to show just how much it affected him as a shiver that ran down his spine. Taehyung knew the look on his face and it made him worry.

That look was the one that he had spent most of his life feeling on his back - a look that said that someone was looking at him and only him. Growing up in the courts it was normal; there were always knights, nobility, servants and assassins watching his every move, physically and politically.

But even then this was different. Those people had all looked at him and saw his status and his money. Jeongguk saw him as a person.

It was everything that he had ever wanted but it had come in a way that he had never expected. When he was younger, he wanted someone to come and sweep him off his feet like in the stories his mother used to read to him before bed. Instead, while he was on his way to finalize a political alliance, he had found himself pulled into a cave behind someone who hadn't even meant to grab him in the first place.

He had ignored the fluttering in his chest back then and told himself that it was only nerves. Now, however, he wasn't so sure. As he glanced back over and saw Jeongguk watching him with a smile, the fluttering returned and it felt oddly nice. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad and maybe no one would come looking for him and jeopardize what they had built together, but it was possible that it could all fall apart in a heartbeat.

The future was fickle and uncertain but as he spent more and more time around the sorcerer, he thought that maybe taking a chance wouldn't be so bad.

With a small smile, Taehyung shifted so he was sitting in a more comfortable position and prepared himself to sit there for as long as necessary.

Chapter Text

There were rumours floating around again, not that it was unusual. There was always some kind of gossip or strange story that would somehow find its way to Namjoon's ears, sooner or later.

The problem with this particular rumour was the subject - the third prince of Seoul.

Of course, he knew exactly where the prince was at that very moment, and it was a good thing he did. Taehyung would want to know about this.

Namjoon got up from his desk with a groan and made his way out to the rose garden, taking some time to admire and inspect them as he walked between the rows of bloomed flowers and the large hedge walls. They looked fine, which was good and somewhat surprising considering the fact that Jeongguk was doubtlessly with Taehyung.

He was right (of course he was) and found the two of them sitting at a small table that they had brought with them and Taehyung was trying to teach the sorcerer some basic etiquette. They were drinking some blend of tea, though Namjoon couldn't tell which, but Jeongguk obviously wasn't too fond of the bitterness and was trying his best to hide the grimace that appeared on his face due to the taste.

Watching them interact on their own like that was different than how they would interact in front of the others. Unlike usual, Jeongguk had gotten confident enough to hold Taehyung's hand on top of the table and Taehyung was so obviously endeared by the younger boy that Namjoon could almost feel the affection radiating off of the prince.

Even Namjoon had to admit that they were cute - he wasn't made of stone.

He waited for a moment, hoping that they would calm down with the cuteness for a little bit so he could approach but quickly gave up on the idea and just walked right over.

"Namjoon?" Jeongguk asked, his eyes widening like a deer in the headlights. Taehyung and Jeongguk quickly separated their hands and placed them in their laps as if they hadn't just been holding hands for the past half-hour. "Do you... do you need anything? From us? Or me?  That... that is why you came, right?"

Namjoon shook his head and looked at Taehyung seriously. "Taehyung, I heard about something earlier and I think you might want to know about it."

Taehyung finally tore his eyes away from Jeongguk's face and looked over at Namjoon with a frown. "Is it about me?"

Namjoon's silence was enough of an answer. Taehyung folded his hands together in his lap and hesitated for a moment before inhaling deeply and standing up.

"Alright, let's talk."

"Wait, what about me?" Jeongguk asked with wide eyes, looking as if he was about to stand up to follow them.

"Jeongguk, don't worry about it. I won't take Taehyung away from you for too long, I promise,' Namjoon said with a tiny smile and Jeongguk plopped himself right back down on the chair.

"I'll be right back, okay Gukkie?" Taehyung confirmed, watching Jeongguk nod.

"And I'll be here."

Namjoon gestured for Taehyung to follow him and he waited until they were sufficiently far enough away before he began speaking.

"I heard a strange rumour today," he said, looking straight into Taehyung's eyes. "They're saying that your father is looking for you."

"I'm sure he is," Taehyung agreed, "so what makes this different from before?"

Namjoon sighed. "Apparently he's hired some mercenaries who are specialized in tracking people down, so it wouldn't surprise me if they find out where you are eventually."

Taehyung hesitated, glancing away nervously.

"Did those rumours say who he hired?" He asked and Namjoon could tell that there was a certain answer he was hoping not to hear.

"A mercenary group called EXO, apparently," Namjoon told him and he watched as Taehyung paled.

"If it's them, they probably already know where I am," Taehyung told him. "They're experts in their fields and as far as I am aware, they have never failed a job."

The silence hung in the air for a while, making Namjoon realize just how troublesome this new development actually was. They probably didn't have much time to come up with a contingency plan and he was trying not to panic even a little bit.

Panicking was bad, and usually ended up resulting in even worse mistakes in the long run. They had to stay calm and figure this out before things had a chance to go wrong.

"If we want to be well prepared, we should probably tell everyone else-"

"No!" Taehyung interrupted Namjoon in the middle of his muttering, looking much more upset than he ever had before. "We can't."

"And why not?" Namjoon asked, taken aback.

"I don't want them to worry and panic," Taehyung told him. "It would make everything worse."

Namjoon frowned. "Not even Jeongguk?"

"Especially not him."

Taehyung's tone made it obvious that the decision was final and that he wouldn't be discussing it any further at the present time. As he turned on his heel and walked back to Jeongguk, Namjoon hoped that it would be the right choice.

Chapter Text

“Your Highness, I beg you to reconsider,” one of the royal advisors begged as he stood in front of His Majesty, the King of Seoul. The king showed no emotion as he looked down upon the man with disdain from where he sat on his throne.

“Are you questioning my judgement?” He demanded without breaking eye contact with the advisor. He flinched away and curled more into himself, trembling like a leaf.

“No, your majesty, it's just-”

“It's just what?” The king continued. “What is so important that you would dare to speak when you have not been asked to?”

“Your majesty, I deeply apologize for speaking out of turn,” the advisor replied submissively. “Permission to speak, sire?”

The king waved his hand nonchalantly as he allowed the advisor to say what he had been trying to say earlier.

“Do you really think hiring a group of mercenaries to retrieve the prince is a good idea?”

He didn't say anything in return and instead prompted the advisor to continue.

“I'm sorry your majesty, but I don't trust them. They could easily kidnap your son and hold him ransom instead of returning him safely.”

“They wouldn't dare,” the king answered with a grin. “I've hired them for their services before and they have already been made aware of the consequences of failure or betrayal.”

The advisor hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Should we send some of the guards with them to keep them under observation and to ensure their loyalty?”

“They work better alone - the guard would only slow them down.”

The advisor glanced nervously up at the king, seeing just how frighteningly serious his face was. He didn't understand why the king was putting so much into finding the lost prince, the one who was soon to be married off anyway. If it had been his eldest brother, the heir to the throne, the advisor would have understood perfectly why. Kim Taehyung was only the third prince and didn't have much political significance other than cementing alliances through an arranged marriage. It just didn't make sense.

The king wasn't one for being sentimental either so it was unlikely that he would put that much effort into finding the prince unless there was a very good reason for it.

Over the past few months since the kidnapping, the palace staff had seen their king decline drastically. It wasn't unusual anymore to not see him for several days when he locked himself in his study and his words had become harsher. It was like the king's personality had changed and he became desperate to retrieve his son.

The advisor himself had heard rumours that the king was going mad, but he had swiftly ended those where he could. As he stood in the throne room, though, he began to believe them a little bit.

The king had a crazed look in his eyes and it seemed like he hadn't slept in a few days. He had become nigh unrecognizable as he was blinded by whatever force was driving the search.

Vaguely, the advisor realized that this wasn't even the first time it had happened. When the prince was young, he had decided to go exploring and had snuck out. He hadn't returned by dinner time and the king had been furious, even sending out his personal guard to retrieve his child.

“Are you sure they'll be able to do it?” The advisor found himself asking and shuddered as the king's gaze sharpened.

“They are extremely capable,” he responded in a scoff. “Are you daring to doubt my decisions?”

“No, your majesty,” he answered, averting his eyes and bowing deeply. “I heard rumours that the man who kidnapped him was very powerful. I am just concerned that they won't be able to succeed.”

“A magic user, yes?” The king grinned. “He won't stand a chance. I only hire the best of the best and I know they are very much capable of disposing of the trash.”

“But my liege, they are only mere men!” the advisor sputtered even though all his self-preservation instincts were screaming at him to shut up and get away as soon as possible. “He is a sorcerer, even I know that the odds are stacked against them. What could they possibly do?”

The king's grin widened even more as he swiftly drew his sword and plunged it through the advisor's abdomen.

“This.”

The advisor choked and fell to the ground in pain and watched in horror as the king wiped his bloody hand with a silk handkerchief and sneered down at him. There was no doubt in his mind anymore, the advisor realized as his vision began to darken, the king truly had gone mad.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Taehyung?” Jimin asked as he sat in the library with the prince. Taehyung hummed in acknowledgement and glanced up from his book, closing it after looking at the page number and placing it on his lap.

“What is it?”

“Why is it that most heroes start their journeys when they’re still young and dumb?”

Taehyung snorted out a laugh before covering his mouth and staring at Jimin, his eyes just daring him to make a comment about it. When he didn’t, Taehyung relaxed back into his chair.

“Well, that depends,” he said with a wave of his hand, “do you want the garbage that we tell everyone or do you want the truth?”

Jimin frowned. “There’s an official story you tell everyone?”

“Official garbage, but yes,” Taehyung corrected with a grin. “We’re the royal family, what were you expecting?”

“I don’t know, not garbage?”

“Oh, Jimin,” Taehyung sighed as he shook his head. “You have so much to learn.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure-” he waved his hand nonchalantly “-just tell me what this official garbage is anyway.”

"The official garbage. Yes. Right." Taehyung coughed into his fist as if he was starting some sort of official declaration, making Jimin giggle a little bit at his theatrics. "So the official story is that the younger a hero is when they have to face their destiny, the longer they have to prepare for it - which is true, to an extent - but they are generally luckier and are able to find mentors easier."

"That makes sense, so what's the actual truth then?" Jimin wondered and Taehyung laughed.

"You really want to know?"

"Yep."

"Alright, so," Taehyung began, trying to hide his giggling, "the actual reason we find heroes at a younger age is because they're more gullible."

Jimin stared at him with a blank expression, hoping that he had heard wrong.

"Because they're more gullible. You have got to be kidding me."

"Not kidding you," Taehyung snickered. "I told you that there's a reason we tell everyone that garbage."

"So let me get this straight," Jimin said as he held out his hand in front of him, gesturing for Taehyung to listen to him. "You tell twelve-year-olds that they're heroes because they're more gullible?"

"Precisely."

"That's messed up. What if they die on the journey?" Jimin blurted out, staring at Taehyung with disbelieving eyes. Taehyung looked back at him with amused ones.

"Then we obviously chose the wrong kid," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Hey, I never said that we were the good guys in all this."

"I can't believe it," Jimin muttered as he flopped back into the chair. "Just imagine the headlines if anyone else found out."

"Ah yes," Taehyung said as he nodded sagely, "it's not like anyone would believe them anyway. After all, we are the royal family that has brought peace and prosperity to the land."

"That's honestly more evil than anything any of us have ever done." Jimin stared at him accusingly and Taehyung chuckled in response. It wasn't wrong, per se, but the fact still remained that the royal family of Seoul weren't exactly the kind and benevolent people that everyone seemed to think they were. Taehyung knew that most of all.

Just by kidnapping him, the villains had drawn attention to themselves before they were even ready and Taehyung knew that it was possible that things could go very badly very quickly. His father, though a fair king, wasn't the type to simply be merciful to someone who had wronged him. Taehyung had hoped that if it ever came to it, he could use himself as a bargaining chip to ensure his friends' safety, but if his father had hired those mercenaries again he knew that would never work.

They never showed any mercy and completed every one of their tasks perfectly. It would only be a matter of time before they found him - if they hadn't already - and then he didn't even know when they would be arriving to bring him home. Hopefully, those were their only orders.

Taehyung wasn't sure what he would do if their orders also consisted of completely destroying his so-called 'captors'. If anyone else got hurt because he was too dumb to leave before he got attached, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

"For villains, you aren't really all that evil," Taehyung joked, trying to put his worries out of his mind.

"We can too be evil," Jimin muttered with a pout, shooting him a glare. "Just wait until you find slugs in your pillow or something."

"You do that and I'll tell Gukkie to explode yours," Taehyung responded in a voice much too sweet for what he was saying, letting the underlying threat come across clearly. Jimin grumbled but relented anyway.

"Fine, whatever." Jimin sighed and stared up at the ceiling before a grin spread itself across his face. "Hey, Taehyung?"

"What?"

"Do you think Yoongi is sleeping?"

Taehyung stared at him blankly until Jimin laughed. "Right, stupid question. Do you want to go prank him or something?"

"Jimin, I am a prince," Taehyung said, his voice carrying the strength of his royal upbringing. He placed the book down on the table beside him. "Of course I want to prank him, are you kidding me? I've never gotten to prank people before!"

"What are you waiting for?" Jimin giggled, grabbing Taehyung's hand and pulling him to his feet. "Let's go!"

Chapter Text

Jeongguk knew he had screwed up, not just once, but many times. Normally, that wouldn't be so much of an issue - he would just apologize, everyone would laugh it off and that would be that.

But no.

Today the screw-up was even worse than it had ever been before. Even worse than demolishing a few walls or accidentally eating Yoongi's stupidly sweet jam.

It was even worse than destroying Namjoon's precious roses.

He stared at the monstrosity that sat on the floor in front of him and wanted to cry. It had once been a beautiful hand-blown glass vase that Jeongguk had bought for Taehyung a few months after he had started living with them so that the prince maybe wouldn't be as homesick. It had cost him quite a lot, but it wasn't like Jeongguk went shopping often enough to worry about it.

The vase hadn't been anywhere near as splendid as anything back in the palace, of course not, but Taehyung had smiled beautifully and accepted it like it was the most precious gift he had ever received. It had found itself in a place of honour and pride near his bed and he had already warned everyone about the consequences should it ever get broken.

Jeongguk had already had to deal with a period of silence from Taehyung once and it was the worst week or so of his life. When he found out (because it was Taehyung - he would without a doubt find out) Jeongguk knew he was as good as dead.

In his panic, he had decided that the best course of action was to try and fix it. Unfortunately, the spell to fix something like that was incredibly simple and therefore one that he had never been able to succeed at. Instead, he had picked up the glass shards in his hands slightly less carefully than he should have and attempted to piece it back together using some kind of adhesive substance that Namjoon had created and asked them to test, which brought him back to now.

He wasn't sure where he had gone wrong but the whatever that was didn't look remotely like a vase. It was misshapen and crooked and looked nothing like the beautiful vase it had once been.

Taehyung would be coming back any moment and there he was, kneeling on the floor with a panic-stricken expression on his face in front of the ex-vase. The roses from Namjoon's garden that he had brought up to put in the vase were left in a heap on the floor to wilt and his heart thudded in his chest nervously as his gaze flitted between the vase and the door.

The footsteps in the hall got louder and louder as someone approached the door and Jeongguk had half a mind to take a leap of faith out the window to avoid the inevitable confrontation. Unfortunately for him, he hesitated just a few seconds too long and the door handle turned with a barely noticeable squeak. The door creaked open and Jeongguk froze when Taehyung walked in, hands rubbing at his temples and a slight grimace on his face. The prince glanced up and he tried to smile when he saw Jeongguk there.

“Gukkie?” He asked, sounding a bit confused. “Is everything alright?”

Jeongguk fidgeted nervously, refusing to meet Taehyung's gaze.

“Hey, Tae… I'm fine. Are you fine? You don't look all that fine…”

Taehyung frowned slightly. “Just a small headache, it'll be gone soon. But are you sure you're alright? You're acting weirder than usual.”

“No, really, I'm fine!” Jeongguk blurted out, holding his hands out in front of him to try and keep Taehyung from worrying. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. Taehyung sucked in his breath sharply and rushed over to him, gingerly reaching out and touching Jeongguk's hands with his fingers.

“What happened?” Taehyung demanded as he held Jeongguk's hands so the palms faced up. “Your hands are all cut up!”

Right. He had forgotten that broken glass is sharp and that it's really not something you should pick up with your bare hands. Oops.

“Tae, really, I'm fine-”

“Not if your hands are bleeding!” Taehyung protested and shot him a stern look. “Wait here.”

Taehyung left for only a few minutes and returned with some bandages that he used to carefully wrap Jeongguk's hands. It wasn't a professional job or anything, but that small gesture meant so much to him.

“So, out with it,” Taehyung said, drawing his attention back.

“I… uh…” Jeongguk floundered as he tried to figure out what to say. “Um so I brought your vase with me to go get some flowers but then Tyr wanted to say hello and he stepped on it.”

“You really need to get better at lying, you know?” Taehyung told him softly with mirth dancing in his eyes. “What really happened? Tell me the truth Gukkie.”

“That was-”

“I've been with Tyr all afternoon,” Taehyung cut him off with a grin. “The truth please.”

“The flower part was real,” he muttered, “I just accidentally knocked it over while I was trying to put the flowers in.”

“See? It wasn't that hard,” Taehyung grinned.

“You aren't… Mad at me?” Jeongguk asked as his voice wavered. Taehyung shook his head.

“I'm mad, but I'm more mad that you didn't even notice you were hurt. A vase is a vase, Gukkie. I can replace it, but I can't replace you.”

Jeongguk brightened. “So I'm off the hook?”

“I never said that.”

He wilted and Taehyung laughed.

“Don't give me that look, you still broke my vase. I'll forgive you if… Hm… if you go bring me some cake.”

Jeongguk was on his feet and out of the room within seconds.

Chapter Text

It had taken a little bit of time for the wyvern to warm up to Taehyung and even longer before he was comfortable enough around the others. Taehyung had watched him follow Jeongguk around like a lost puppy for the first few weeks, crooning sadly whenever a room or hall was too small for him to enter. Sometimes Tyr got so upset that Jeongguk had had to go sit with him until he calmed down.

After a little while of that, Jeongguk had brought Taehyung with him, his grip around his wrist like a searing brand, though for some reason Taehyung never once found it uncomfortable. He had told the prince to sit down and had proceeded to lead Tyr over and had started getting them accustomed to each other.

Taehyung knew the wyvern hadn't been overly fond of him at first, but that was alright. He was the intruder in Tyr's mind - someone who was stealing Jeongguk's attention away from him. It wasn't a surprise that Tyr had outright refused to look at him during the first few 'bonding sessions’, as Jeongguk called them.

Over the next few weeks, they had gotten more familiar with each other and Tyr had actually allowed Taehyung to touch his scales as long as Jeongguk was watching. Even though the wyvern had snapped at him angrily the moment Jeongguk had gone back inside and flew over to the other side of the courtyard, progress was still progress.

Taehyung had accompanied Jeongguk whenever he went to feed the beast and he had often let Taehyung do the actual feeding until the day where Taehyung had offered to do it on his own. Tyr had been slightly more friendly than usual but had looked almost offended (if wyverns could even do that?) that Jeongguk hadn't been there. Nevertheless, it became a routine. Jeongguk, always an early riser, would bring the wyvern his breakfast and Taehyung would bring dinner.

Slowly but surely, the wyvern had warmed up to him more and more until the point where Taehyung felt that Tyr was finally comfortable around him. Oddly enough, that had come right after he had had to lecture Jeongguk about being irresponsible and breaking something else unintentionally. He had meant to do it earlier, but Jeongguk had been hiding with Tyr all day and Taehyung hadn't been able to find him until their regular bonding hour.

After that day, the wyvern had begun to trail after Taehyung the same way he did with Jeongguk. There was a sense of grudging respect and though the prince wasn't exactly sure what had caused it, he didn't want to bother questioning it.

He had begun spending his free time with Tyr and Jeongguk, the three of them curled up in the courtyard with a book. Tyr would nap while the two humans leaned against his scaly hide, Jeongguk would almost always rest his head on Taehyung's shoulder and listen to the prince's voice as he would read the stories out loud.

Namjoon had caught them once while both the wyvern and the sorcerer had been sleeping, but Taehyung had only brought his finger up to his lips with a small smile, asking that he doesn't say anything. Namjoon's gaze had softened and he had agreed silently before leaving them alone.

On days when one of them had been busy, the other had always gone to sit with Tyr and scratch those hard-to-reach spots on his hide. If both of them had been busy, they would always bring an extra-large portion of meat at dinnertime.

The others had always been much more hesitant when it came to Tyr, and none of them had ever gotten to the same level of familiarity that the two of them had. They had agreed to help feed him, but none of them had wanted to join in on their cuddle party, which was fine with Jeongguk and Taehyung. It had been more time that they could spend together undisturbed, after all.

One day, though, everything began to change.

Taehyung noticed Tyr acting strangely around him, sniffing at a particular spot on his side where he knew a small birthmark rested. The wyvern seemed increasingly attentive to that spot and would snap if that area wasn't pressed against him while they were cuddling. The time Hoseok had hugged him and placed his hand there, Taehyung almost thought that Tyr would attack just because of how fiercely overprotective he had become in only a few days. It was weird.

Taehyung wasn't sure why a simple birthmark would cause such a reaction - he had had it since he was a kid - but whatever it was, Tyr seemed to be panicking whenever Taehyung left his sight.

Not even Jeongguk could calm him down and they just decided to remodel a bit and create a door large enough for Tyr to fit through so the wyvern could sleep in Taehyung's room since everyone agreed that it wouldn't be very comfortable to sleep outside every night.

Taehyung knew Namjoon was tinkering more often than usual and he knew why. Namjoon was scared. They both knew something was coming, maybe Tyr did too, and they knew that when it did there would be no stopping it.

Chapter Text

Yoongi waited to go to sleep, though normally he would have gone to bed three hours ago. He needed to talk to Namjoon, who was still tinkering in his little workshop and didn't want to intrude. It was around forty minutes later that he emerged, smelling of metal and grease and looking way more tired than he should.

“Yoongi?” Namjoon said in surprise when he noticed Yoongi sitting on the floor of the hallway. “What are you doing here?”

Yoongi yawned and rolled his shoulders as he stood up slowly. “I have to talk to you about some stuff.”

“It can't wait until morning?” Namjoon wondered and Yoongi shook his head no. This couldn't wait. Namjoon sighed but gestured for Yoongi to follow him and the two walked back to his room. Namjoon sat down on his bed, bringing up his bare feet and crossing his legs while Yoongi took a seat on Namjoon's desk chair.

“Well? What's so important that you stayed up this late to tell me about it?”

Yoongi took a deep breath. “I don't know everything for certain,” he said, “but I do know that whatever it is you're stressing about will happen soon.”

Namjoon opened his mouth to protest but Yoongi cut him off.

“And before you try to say that you aren't stressed, you don't tinker like that unless you are. I also know that Taehyung is involved somehow and that whatever will happen - because it undoubtedly will -  will affect him the most.”

Namjoon looked down at the sheets on his bed and tapped his finger on them rhythmically. Eventually, he looked up and narrowed his eyes at Yoongi.

“How do you know this?” He asked suspiciously. “And why are you telling me?”

Yoongi chuckled slightly before smiling at Namjoon.

“Namjoon, I'm a seer. I've seen what happens to an extent - I'm not omniscient - and I want to be able to understand the situation a bit better.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Namjoon asked. Yoongi sighed and glanced up at the ceiling.

“Ever since I was young I've been told stories about people who would take advantage of my powers so I didn't want to say anything until I was sure that I could trust you,” he admitted truthfully and he tried to pretend that Namjoon's hurt expression didn't pain him.

“How about this,” Namjoon suggested, “I'll tell you what's going on if you explain how your powers work.”

Yoongi immediately agreed. After all, he knew Namjoon was trustworthy and wouldn't abuse his visions.

“You first,” Yoongi told him and Namjoon nodded before beginning.

“We have reason to believe that Taehyung's father, the king, is sending people out to retrieve him. I've already spoken with him about it but we aren't sure why the king is doing this now or why he's supposedly hired an elite mercenary group for the job.”

Namjoon sighed and Yoongi already knew that when they came that Namjoon would feel the most guilt for letting it happen.

“We weren't sure how to prepare for it but if what you say is true, then it might be best to not do anything. That would prevent the most injuries.”

Yoongi nodded as he took in what Namjoon was saying. He didn't know why this was happening either and he wouldn't be able to unless he somehow got to see the king in person.

“Your turn,” Namjoon told him with a half-grin and Yoongi gratefully took the reins.

“I said I'm a seer, but that's not completely true,” Yoongi admitted. “We just call ourselves that so others will understand. To be completely accurate, I would call myself a Dream Walker.”

He smiled as he watched Namjoon listening attentively and taking it all in.

“I can't dream the way you do either. All my dreams are premonitions but they get more detailed the longer I sleep.”

“Now it makes sense why you're always napping,” Namjoon joked and Yoongi couldn't help but chuckle in response.

“I'll admit, some of those were to see what we would be eating for dinner,” Yoongi told him and Namjoon threw his head back in a laugh.

“That isn't all I can do either,” Yoongi said with a grin and Namjoon calmed himself down enough to listen.

“If I have seen a person, I can enter their dream and change it to my will. Namjoon, surely you understand how much power dreams can have over someone. I can relieve pain, create nightmares and, under the right circumstances, I could even start a war. It's dangerous and unpredictable, but I love it.”

Namjoon's smile turned into a frown. “How can I trust that you're saying the truth?”

Yoongi's lips stretched into a sly smile.

“Sleep, and I'll show you.”

~

Yoongi looked around, finding himself on an abandoned road and watched as a small cart filled with loose hay came around the bend. Namjoon stood alone at a checkpoint, waiting for the cart to arrive. When it did, Yoongi took note of the young man who sat at the front and watched as Namjoon told him that loose hay wasn't allowed.

When the man protested, Yoongi knew that Namjoon would kill him and set fire to the hay where the man's family was hiding. He exhaled and started to change everything.

The cart of hay shimmered and turned itself into a perfectly legal passenger carriage.

The Namjoon in the dream took it all in stride and extinguished the torch sitting behind him, having no use for it anymore. He waved the man on and then turned to notice Yoongi.

He walked up to Namjoon and pressed his fingers against the man's forehead.

“Don't worry about any more nightmares tonight,” he said. “You can thank me in the morning.”

Chapter Text

Jeongguk woke up knowing something was wrong. Maybe it was just something in the air or maybe he had simply slept wrong. Heck, it could even have been a bad dream that he'd forgotten about making him paranoid.

Whatever the case, he didn't like it. When he ate breakfast he pretended not to notice Namjoon and Yoongi exchanging solemn looks, Yoongi even nodded as if he were confirming something. It was weird and it put him more on edge.

He could feel the magic inside of him churning like the waves of a troubled ocean and it sent shivers up his spine. Jeongguk couldn't sit still, continuously having to bounce his knee or tap his fingers on the table. Something inside of him, maybe it was his intuition, told him that he had to stick close to Taehyung today.

As if he didn't already do that everyday.

“Jeongguk, meet us down in the basement. We're going to go over some communication skills today,” Namjoon said from across the room.

He finished his breakfast and got up from the table, nodding as he tried to quickly swallow the little bit of food still in his mouth.

“I'll go wake Tae up and then we'll come down together,” Jeongguk told them with a smile and left before he could see Namjoon shoot Yoongi a distressed glance.

Oddly enough, Jeongguk liked waking Tae up. The prince was one-hundred percent a cuddler and would often pull Jeongguk onto the bed for a brief fifteen-minute cuddle session before he had woken up enough to feel alive. Ever since Tyr had taken up semi-permanent residence there, their daily cuddle sessions had gotten just that much better. The large reptile was also very affectionate once you got past the whole hate-everyone-and-everything phase.

He was halfway up the stairs when he heard it.

The sounds of a wyvern's unholy shrieks and shattering glass.

Jeongguk ran.

He threw the door to Taehyung's room open so hard that it slammed against the wall and he saw Tyr struggling against the ice that was slowly creeping up his legs and keeping him locked in place. Beyond Tyr's thrashing wings he noticed Taehyung hanging limply, held in a chokehold by a strange man and Jeongguk saw red.

A second man (he could only see three but he was too infuriated to care about what they looked like) turned to face him and the next thing he knew he couldn't see a thing, having to shield his eyes from the blinding light that emanated from his hands. When he was able to open them again and blinked away the black spots on his vision, they were gone.

Jeongguk rushed to the window, noticing several other men standing outside, one of them seemingly manipulating the air currents to carry the intruders and Taehyung down to them. He let his magic well up inside of him and felt it overflow all the way to his fingertips without his staff to help direct it but he didn't care. With a wave of his hand, the ice fractured and fell away from Tyr's legs, freeing him, and neither of them cared as they burst through the stone wall to get outside. He could see the others running out from the front doors and blocked them into a barrier to keep them out of the way before raising his hands to the sky.

Humongous missiles of ice fell from the sky like a deadly hailstorm but were swiftly melted by a wall of fire. The ice was replaced by flaming meteors but they were countered by a wave of water that almost completely submerged the courtyard and the rocks inside were turned into dust by one of the other men.

Jeongguk was about to try a different tactic when lightning struck beside them and he lost his focus, dissolving the barrier. A quick glance down told him that Hoseok had run forward and had thrown out an arc of red that would have crashed onto the intruders until it froze in midair. If Jeongguk had been paying more attention he would have noticed one of the men focusing intently on it, keeping it in place while Hoseok struggled equally hard to move it.

He didn't have the luxury of paying attention as one of them crouched down and rocketed into the sky, darting every which way around him and Tyr, confusing the furious wyvern that tried to snap at him but was always mere seconds too slow.

Jeongguk grimaced and placed a quick protection spell on Tyr before purposefully allowing himself to explode a simple location spell. The flying man was caught in the blast radius and hissed at him, holding onto his burnt arm.

“Give him back,” Jeongguk shouted before charging forward. The other man darted backward and glared at him.

“Unfortunately, we can't do that.”

“Then I'll just have to make you,” Jeongguk spat but the man ignored him, glancing down at the ground and shooting Jeongguk one last look before returning to the group. A man with glowing hands passed them over the injury and Jeongguk bit back a curse as he saw it disappear.

Maybe he'd just have to explode them all at once then. Taehyung already had the strongest of the protections spells he knew on him, something that would protect him from virtually anything. It would be okay. Jeongguk simultaneously set off a blast in the middle of the intruding group and shielded Hoseok. That would take care of them, it had to.

Instead, he ended up slack-jawed as one of the intruders paused the explosion and reversed it until it was mere magical components as if they had reversed its time. He hesitated for one moment too long and the intruders, with Taehyung in hand, formed a ring. Jeongguk made eye contact with one of them who only smiled before all thirteen vanished from the clearing.

Tyr made an anguished noise as he nosed at the spot Taehyung had been held and Jeongguk screamed, falling to his knees and holding his hands up to his head. His magic overflowed and lashed out at everything around him, levelling stone and wood alike. Anything within a fifteen-foot radius was decimated and it was like none of that had ever existed at all.

He could vaguely tell that the others were trying to approach him but a barrier of earth formed around him, blocking him from sight. It took several minutes for him to calm down enough to stop his magic from being destructive and when he did, he looked up at the others from the crater that had formed around him and whimpered. Jeongguk could feel tears begin to slip down his cheeks and his hands shook.

“He's gone.”

Chapter Text

When Taehyung woke up, he knew he wasn't at the stronghold anymore. His head hurt and he was groggy in a way that he knew from experience meant that he'd been knocked out. Glancing around told him exactly what he'd expected.

He was home.

The sheets beneath his body were much softer than the ones he had gotten used to and they didn't feel as warm anymore. A beautiful imported vase from the coastal regions sat in his room but it was ugly in comparison to the pieced-together one that had been in his room at the stronghold. It was filled with flowers of different kinds but it didn't have any roses whatsoever.

The walls here were covered with expensive items that only felt cheap in comparison to the charcoal drawings that hung in the stronghold. The floor, the one window that was much too high up to reach and the door that he suspected was locked only highlighted the expensive furniture and other luxuries that he had once loved.

It didn't feel right anymore.

The doorknob turned after the click of a key in the lock and Taehyung wasn't surprised to see his father there with some guards.

“Son.”

His father's voice was as firm and cold as it had always been, though it seemed to have lost the slight tinge of affection it had held all throughout his childhood. It was horrible how much that voice could affect him even after months of being out from beneath his father's thumb.

“Father,” Taehyung said, narrowing his eyes but nevertheless straightening his posture out of habit. He had to resist the urge to clench his hands into fists and instead forced himself to place his hands demurely into his lap.

Don't show disrespect. Don't show weakness. Either one of those could get him in even more trouble than he surely already was.

“I am glad that you're home safely,” the king said and Taehyung wasn't sure if he liked the way that his father smiled at the end of the sentence. “It must have been hard surviving in a lawless place like that. Just say the word and I'll have it destroyed for you.”

Taehyung stayed silent and he saw his father's smile fall. It didn't matter how much his father wished to please him, there was no way he'd agree to something that would harm the people he cares about.

“Father, if I may speak,” Taehyung asked hesitantly and waited for his father to allow him to continue. “Why did you only send for me now? And why did you send those mercenaries?”

“My son, we have been searching relentlessly for months and when we finally got a lead, we realized that it would be much too difficult for anyone other than the professionals,” he said with a slight quirk of his lips. “It's simple common sense.”

Taehyung didn't want to say anything that would upset his father but inside he wondered why he didn't simply send someone to negotiate. The others wouldn't have liked it but Taehyung would have gone willingly in exchange for their safety. His father, though, would never see it that way.

“Because of your kidnapping we had to postpone the engagement,” his father continued and Taehyung felt a sick feeling in his stomach. He never wanted it in the first place but now he wanted it even less. He had never known what love felt like before but after meeting Jeongguk he thought he might have an idea. The others all became like his second family - one that was better than his real one.

“We will be discussing those arrangements soon.”

Taehyung glanced up at those words and wanted to protest, to say that he didn't want to, but he was Kim Taehyung, the third prince of Seoul now, not Kim Taehyung, Jeongguk's possible lover. He'd never had any say in those things and there was no way he would have any now.

“Yes father,” he mumbled out, already falling back into that old routine that had consumed most of his life when all he wanted was to be back with everyone, sitting in the rose garden and laughing like they had known each other all their lives. He had thought he was lucky when Jeongguk had accidentally taken him but he had forgotten that every good thing that had happened to him had been ruined sooner or later.

It was best if he just resigned himself to his fate and hoped they wouldn't come for him. Taehyung didn't know what he would do if any of his friends got injured while trying to rescue him.

His father nodded once and Taehyung knew that their conversation was over. He watched, mute, as his father left the room and it was plunged into an uncomfortable silence. It wasn't like he was truly alone - no, he had some guards outside the door but they were more like his jailers than someone meant to protect him - but at that moment he felt like he was

Chapter Text

Things were a mess, to say the least. After they had managed to pull Jeongguk to his feet and practically dragged the distressed boy inside, he had shut himself inside Taehyung's room and hadn't come out since.

It had been three days.

Hoseok was only the latest of the brave souls making an attempt to get him to emerge and talk with them. Typically, they would have just gone up through the destroyed outer wall but Jeongguk had already thought of that and had fixed it with barely a thought. That was the other problem. His magic was still extremely volatile and none of them were sure when it would even be safe to approach him.

Taehyung's abduction was like a slap in the face to them all, reminding them once again that he existed in a world completely separate to theirs. It had hurt and affected everyone, but it hurt Jeongguk most of all.

It wasn't a secret that the youngest of them all had given Taehyung his heart and now it probably felt like it had been ripped out of his chest. Though Hoseok never loved Taehyung in the same way Jeongguk did, it was obvious just how badly the boy was taking it and he pitied him somewhat.

It wasn't easy to see something important ripped away from you, Hoseok knew that, and it was always even harder when you had given your all to keep it close. Hoseok could still remember that look of pure concentration on the other man's face as he held Hoseok's blood weapon in place with only the power of his mind. It had been a battle of wills - one that had never actually found a winner - and Hoseok hated feeling like he could have done more.

If only he had moved faster. If only he had been stronger. If only Jeongguk hadn't bothered to shield him first and had just attacked with everything he had.

If only.

Hoseok knocked on Taehyung - no - Jeongguk's door and waited patiently though he knew there would be no response.

“Jeongguk? Do you want to come and eat with us? Seokjin says he's making your favourite,” Hoseok called out in the hopes that the promise of food could draw the boy out. No answer. He sighed and tried again with a different tactic.

“Jeongguk, we're going to be discussing what to do from here over lunch. We really need your input for something like that.” He paused. “I promise that if you come out then Namjoon won't get mad at you about his roses.”

In true Jeongguk fashion, he had completely levelled half of Namjoon's rose garden with his magic outburst but even the surviving half hadn't been faring much better. It had been singed, frozen, battered and littered with holes where debris had landed during the fight.

It was the embodiment of every florist's worst nightmare but Namjoon wasn't even upset. According to him, roses could be re-planted but their lives aren't expendable.

(Seokjin may have teared up a bit at that but he had sworn Hoseok to secrecy and he'd be damned if he ever told. That man was scary .)

There still wasn't even so much as a peep from inside so Hoseok decided to take things into his own hands and implement plan B, though plan Q, which involved busting the door down, and plan X, busting the door down with added style, were looking pretty tempting.

Following some instructions from Namjoon, he walked down the hall and pressed on a specific brick that easily slid back and opened a door in the wall. The hall in behind was a bit cramped, musty and dark, but Hoseok managed. He didn't exactly manage all that well, but he managed nonetheless. He counted the steps down the hall just as Namjoon had told him to and then turned to press yet another brick to his left.

That wall swung open just like the other one had and Hoseok inhaled deeply before striding confidently into what used to be Taehyung's room. He closed the door behind him and glanced around in search of Jeongguk. He found the boy on Taehyung's bed with his face buried in the pillow and his shoulders were shaking with quiet sobs.

“Jeongguk?” Hoseok asked, carefully reaching out to place a gentle hand on his shoulder and even began rubbing Jeongguk's back in a comforting manner. “Can you talk to me?”

“Go away!” Jeongguk yelled, shaking his head but still refusing to look at Hoseok. “Leave me alone!”

“You know I can't do that. I just want to make sure that you're okay.”

It was hard seeing a boy who had always been cheerful and funny in this state. Namjoon had said once that Taehyung was Jeongguk's weakness and he had to admit that it was true. If Taehyung had been there with them right now he would certainly have been able to get Jeongguk out in a heartbeat.

Jeongguk looked up at him, his lip quivering, and Hoseok sat down on the bed beside him.

When Jeongguk clung to him and cried, Hoseok let him and cradled the boy in his arms.

In order to get him to smile again, Hoseok knew that they would all tear down the world to get Taehyung back.

Chapter Text

Taehyung found himself escorted down to dinner by five guards that had known him since he was only a child. He wasn't sure if his father had sent them with him to protect him or to ensure that he wouldn't do anything.

He had always been told that his mind was the most dangerous thing about him, but he wasn't even sure about that anymore. Throughout his childhood, Taehyung had gotten quite good at reading his father so he could adapt his actions to not get him in trouble depending on his father's mood. His father was hiding something, though he wasn't sure yet about what it was.

Judging by the situation, it probably involved him in some way. He hadn't even been allowed to see or speak to his brothers yet despite having been home (no - not home. This place would never be home anymore. It was a prison.) for almost a week. He wasn't even sure that they knew he had come back.

Whatever the case, he suspected that they wouldn't even be present at the meal and instead it would inevitably be just himself and his father. He already knew that this would easily top the list of awkward encounters - which had gotten quite long - and he definitely wasn't looking forward to it.

The guards opened the large doors that lead to the great hall that was usually only reserved for grand feasts and other such celebrations and Taehyung walked in to see his father not even present, as expected. Without wasting any time (because a prince never wastes anything without reason) he took his designated seat, three down from the king's right hand. He sat there silently and waited, his hands placed demurely in his lap like he'd been taught.

He was only the third prince, a disappointment and was only useful for alliances through matrimony. He remembered overhearing his father speaking with a minister once, ranting about how no one from a respectable royal family would want to wed their daughter - maybe even their only child - to a prince who wasn't even likely to inherit anything.

His father had been furious until the minister had suggested something, a predatory gaze on his face.

“If he isn't useful as a prince, why not teach him to be a princess?”

Taehyung had been eight and no one knew he had been hiding behind the tapestry.

He had been taught to act more feminine, to speak only when spoken to and to be seen and not heard. He was taken aside for lessons that his brothers never had to attend; lessons on etiquette, mannerisms and poise. He was treated like he was made of fragile glass, like he was a delicate flower and a single touch would spoil him. In the eyes of the rest of the court, he was female in all but biology and dress. It only got worse as he got older. The lessons took up more and more time, he was no longer allowed to go out and play with his brothers or to ride astride on the horses. These things would ruin him, they said.

He had been fifteen when the bards began to weave tales of his kindness and sing of his ethereal beauty.

People had come, wanting to take and take and take not knowing that he had nothing left to give. Memories that his mind had blacked out tormented him as nightmares that he couldn't remember once he woke up.

It had taken until he was almost twenty years old for his father and the ministers to agree on a foreign royal family to marry him off to. They had offered the most for his hand as if he was some kind of merchandise to be sold.

For twelve years he had been suffering under the hands and gaze of those above him and once he would be finally free of them, he would have new tormentors in the form of a husband who would expect him to sit silently and accept anything he was told to do.

He couldn't have been gladder that Jeongguk had come and swept in to save him from all that, though he had never told the younger boy the full truth.

Taehyung looked up at the sound of the doors opening and stood when his father entered the room. As he passed, Taehyung bowed in respect that he didn't truly feel and waited for his father to take a seat before he did. Chefs swept into the room and laid out many delicious dishes including several of his childhood favourites, though none of it looked as appetizing as it once had. All he wanted to see on that table was Hoseok's braised chicken, Seokjin's many experimental dishes using ingredients he had found around the forest or even the slightly burnt pancakes that he and Jeongguk had made together once. While the taste was exquisite, it wasn't the same as something cooked with genuine love poured into it, whether it's romantic or familial.

His father began eating and Taehyung, too, picked up his fork though he made sure to never meet his father's eyes. They were halfway through the meal when the king finally spoke.

“My son, despite the earlier… inconvenience… the royal family of Jeju has still agreed to proceed with the betrothal. To prevent another incident-” he eyed Taehyung sharply “-they will be coming here in a few weeks time to finalize the arrangement.”

Taehyung tried not to outwardly show his discomfort despite wanting nothing more than to recoil and flee. He didn't want this. He would never want this.

“You will be restarting your lessons to make sure any of those villains haven't ruined what we've worked so hard to make.”

'No,’ Taehyung wanted to say, 'what you've worked to make me into. A puppet. A pawn that is only moved in the interest of political gain.’

His father fixed him with a steely gaze and when he spoke, his voice was cold and left no room for argument.

“You will be marrying the prince no matter any preposterous ideas that those wretches have placed in your head.”

Don't talk back. Don't show resistance. Be obedient and agree because you don't know what's best for you. You are Kim Taehyung, third prince of Seoul.

“Yes, father.”

Chapter Text

Everyone sat around the table, plates pushed aside after being cleaned of the food that was once on them. The dishes could wait - this was much more important.

“How are you feeling, Jeongguk?” Seokjin asked with concern lacing his tone. The boy only shrugged and Seokjin's frown deepened. He had finally come out of the room thanks to Hoseok, but he was still oddly absent and hadn't really smiled or regained his usual cheer yet.

“We will get him back. I promise,” Namjoon said seriously as he sent a confusing look to Yoongi, who Seokjin noticed nodding almost imperceptibly in return. It was odd, but he chose to file that away for later.

“How are we going to do that, though?” Jimin wondered, crossing his arms and staring down at the wood grain in the table as if it somehow held all the answers. “We can't exactly storm into the castle with everything we've got and expect no resistance. Even if we did that, if we fail we could just make it worse.”

“That's very true,” Yoongi said as he finally joined the conversation. “I can guarantee that's what will happen if we do that.”

“How can you guarantee it?” Jimin snapped. “Don't tell me you're a double agent for the palace or something.”

Jeongguk's eyes widened and he turned his head to look in Yoongi's direction so fast that Seokjin thought he would hurt his neck.

“Chill, that's not what's going on,” Yoongi groaned with a small yawn.

“How can we trust you if we don't even know what you're capable of?” Jeongguk hissed, his eyes roaming around the table. “All of you.”

Seokjin knew this would happen. There were too many secrets and too much tension that it was bound to blow up sooner or later. The best course of action would be to reveal everything so they could regain that trust that they had all built over the months they'd spent together. Yoongi seemed to be thinking something along the same lines since he sighed and sat back in his chair.

“I'll spill my secrets if you spill yours,” he said simply. “Otherwise there's no deal.”

“I agree,” Seokjin chimed in. “It's more important to work together than to fight amongst ourselves.”

Hoseok hesitated but sighed. “I'm in too.”

“Jimin?” Seokjin asked, glancing in his direction. The younger boy was deep in thought and seemed somewhat conflicted. Eventually, he lifted his eyes and nodded.

“Yeah, I'll do it.”

“This is fine for me,” Namjoon said with a small smile. “Jeongguk, does this help?”

The sorcerer pursed his lips but eventually shrugged. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Great,” Yoongi began. “I won't bore you all with the semantics, but to make things simple, just think of me as a seer who deals with dreams. Oh, and before we move on, you're welcome for fixing your nightmares.”

“Wait,” Jimin said, narrowing his eyes, “that's what you were doing?”

Yoongi only rolled his eyes. “I just said that, didn't I?”

“That makes way more sense,” he muttered and everyone sent him a strange look before Jimin decided to explain.

“I can erase memories by transferring them into my crystal stones. I can give them back as well, but if there are no empty stones then it'll backfire and it'll be stored in my own mind.”

“That's what happened back then!” Seokjin exclaimed, still remembering how Jimin was convulsing on the floor, screaming and clawing at himself.

“Yeah, I thought Yoongi was having a nightmare so I was just trying to help,” Jimin mumbled in a pout. “I guess I just made everything worse, I'm sorry.”

“That wasn't even my nightmare,” Yoongi snorted, though he patted Jimin on the back comfortingly. “It was Hoseok's.”

“Ah, I should probably explain that one,” Hoseok said with a slight laugh and reddened cheeks.

“When I was a kid, I was pretty average but I learned that I could control my blood outside my own body. I kept it hidden because my people are pretty nomadic and I didn't want to attract any negative attention to myself. When I was around… twelve, I think… I was bitten by a venomous snake. I guess it reacted with my abilities differently, so it didn't kill me but now my blood is toxic.”

Seokjin shuddered. “Remind me to never get a transfusion from you if I ever need one.”

Hoseok threw his head back in a laugh and Seokjin smiled, relieved that he broke the tension somewhat.

“You guys pretty much know everything about me,” Namjoon admitted with a shrug and his hands held in front of him in a pacifying gesture. “I'm just a scientist.”

“But people say that you do magic sometimes,” Hoseok said with a giggle.

Namjoon scowled and Seokjin couldn't help but laugh as well. It was an expression that definitely didn't fit him at all.

"If you understand magic, it becomes a science, and so I'm a scientist. I don't trust things I can't understand."

“Do you trust me?” Jeongguk asked cheekily, finally getting some cheer back. “I do magic.”

“I trust you but not your abilities,” Namjoon answered. Seokjin had to admit that it was fair. Those abilities have destroyed his garden more times than they could count.

“Eh. You'll come around eventually,” Jeongguk shrugged. “I'm a sorcerer, but I think I was cursed. Yoongi, could you help me with figuring that out later?”

“Sure thing, kid,” Yoongi agreed with a smile.

Seokjin looked around, realizing that it was only him left.

“Well, saving the best for last, are we?” He asked with a comical wink that was well worth the slap he got from Hoseok.

“I'm what you might call a Silver Tongue. I can make people tell me the truth even if they don't want to,” he said with a sly grin. “Unfortunately, it only works once per person so I have to be careful how I use it.”

“Have you used it on any of us?” Jeongguk asked suspiciously and Seokjin laughed.

“If I tell you that, I'll lose any advantage I have.”

“Darn.”

“Well,” Namjoon said with a glance at Jeongguk (who was pouting), “we aren't exactly the most subtle of people. If we want this to work, well have to form specialized groups.”

“Like Jeongguk and I on offence?” Hoseok wondered.

“Exactly like that. Strategic will probably be myself and Yoongi, and-”

“Jimin and I are infiltration, right?” Seokjin asked though he already knew the answer. “We did that during our little mission before, remember?”

“Right, yes. We just have to use our abilities to their fullest and plan around them,” Namjoon said, his eyes flashing with determination.

When they decided to strike, they would be fully prepared and the palace wouldn't be ready for anything coming their way.

They would get their friend back, and that was something set in stone.

Chapter Text

“Alright, so remember that accuracy and precision are different things,” Namjoon reminded his five students. (Five. It was weird only having five after so long with six. It didn’t feel right, but they were trying to fix everything to get the last member of their little mismatched family back.)

“What’s the difference?” Jeongguk asked, scrunching his nose as he stared at the targets in front of him.

"Honestly, who even cares?" Jimin grumbled as he hoisted up the new gun prototype that Namjoon had made and aimed again.

"I care," Namjoon retorted despite keeping a watchful eye on everyone to make sure no one would get injured. "They're completely different and people don't care enough about physics or proper use of language to correct themselves or even notice that they're using the wrong one. It's positively infuriating."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Jimin muttered as he rolled his eyes and pulled the trigger. The recoil made him take a step back and Namjoon narrowed his eyes. He'd have to work on that a bit more, it seemed.

"To answer your question, Jeongguk," Namjoon said while unabashedly sending Jimin the stink-eye, "precision means that you get the same area every time, while accuracy means that you're actually hitting where you want."

Jeongguk hummed and glanced back over at the target. "Why should I even bother with boring and technical stuff like that when I can just get everyone at once with a spell instead of relying on something this slow?"

"Maybe we want to make sure that you don't catch your allies up in your magic again?" Seokjin suggested dryly, though internally Namjoon was sure he was grateful that Jeongguk was even willing to joke around with them again. The boy pouted and sighed and Namjoon could see how everyone else couldn't help but shoot him an endeared look.

He quickly surveyed the others to see how they were all doing. Of course, some were doing better than others but at least there was progress. In some cases, even being able to fire it was progress in and of itself. Yoongi, for example, had taken one look at it and scowled before loudly proclaiming that his particular skill set would be much more useful in other ways and that he really didn't need to learn this sort of thing. Namjoon had responded by giving him that disapproving stare that he knew everyone hated and actually kind of feared. Yoongi had shut up and had started practicing then.

On the other end of the spectrum was Hoseok, who seemed to be almost scarily proficient already. His eyes were focused and sharp as he stared down the target as if it had murdered his mother. Every shot he took found its mark with terrifying precision and above all, he was accurate - maybe even more so than Namjoon himself.

"Hoseok, you're doing well," Namjoon said in an attempt to compliment him but he never responded, too deep in his concentration until he eventually closed his eyes and took a step back. A bright smile spread across his lips and he wiped the sweat from concentrating so hard off his forehead and looked at them in an odd form of confusion.

"Is everything okay? Why is everyone staring at me?" He asked and Namjoon could only chuckle and hang his head.

"What?" Hoseok asked, glancing between the others with a small frown.

"You're too good at this," Jeongguk sighed. "This isn't fair."

"Ah, but life isn't fair," Seokjin reminded him. "It's like those times where you think you're going to be good at something but actually you're complete trash-"

"So... like now?" Jimin muttered. Seokjin brightened up and pointed at him enthusiastically.

"Exactly!"

Yoongi groaned. "Please let me know if that made sense to anyone else because to me that literally makes a grand total of zero sense."

"I mean, it kind of made sense to me," Jeongguk admitted and Namjoon already wanted to go hit his head against a wall or something because then at least he'd have a valid explanation for why his head hurt other than stupidity.

"He literally explained our current situation by using now as an example. That's not how explanations work!" Yoongi said with a grimace and to be honest, Namjoon completely agreed with him.

"Anyway," he began, glancing at everyone again, "you're all progressing better than you - or I - expected. Some of you couldn't even hit a target five hours ago."

Yes. He had been putting up with this nonsense for five. freaking. hours.

He didn't think anyone would blame him for wanting dinner to come quickly because then at least he could escape this and focus on something other than how hopeless some of his students were.

"Okay, but that's kind of like what happens when you learn a skill," Seokjin said seriously as he began his explanation spree again. "It's like we're gradually learning how all this works and we're improving slowly so now we can hit a target-"

"Oh my god," Yoongi groaned as he sank to the floor and put his head between his knees. Namjoon was inclined to copy him but he laughed instead. This was much better than the silence that had been there before.

Chapter Text

Hoseok hummed as he flipped a page of a strange book that he had found just sitting on Namjoon's desk. It wasn't an overly thick book by any stretch of the imagination, but it was more interesting than just sitting and trying to come up with some kind of plan while extremely sleep-deprived.

No, Hoseok just wanted to take some sort of break before he tore his hair out from frustration. Even with having Yoongi on their side, he still couldn't predict what the response would be to any form of attack because he'd never actually seen anyone at the palace and whenever he tried to read Taehyung, he said that all he really ever saw was the same room.

Jeongguk had gone completely silent the moment Jimin had suggested that he was being treated as a prisoner even within the palace walls and that he was locked in his room. He remembered sitting there, trying to offer some kind of alternative option that maybe wouldn't be so upsetting to the younger boy but Jeongguk had stood up from the table, muttering that he was just going to go and cuddle with Tyr for a few moments.

He hadn't come back yet and it had been three hours, so Hoseok suspected he had probably fallen asleep. That was alright. They all needed some time to themselves before they jumped back into the planning mindset again. He flipped another page and then squinted down at it, realizing for the first time that it was handwritten with some notes squished into the margins.

Namjoon's handwriting wasn't the neatest either, so sometimes the words were a bit difficult to make out properly. Letters blended into one another and every once in a while he had to squint to try and differentiate the words.

It was some kind of manual, or at least that was what Hoseok was guessing, but it never exactly said what it was for. Heck, it could have been a grocery list and Hoseok would have been none the wiser.

The pages were filled with lines upon lines of jargon that he had no hope of understanding and absentmindedly he thought that maybe it was a secret coded message of all Namjoon's deepest and darkest secrets disguised as a journal.

Who even knew what this weird 'Ohm' thing was - Hoseok had surely never heard of that before. Maybe it was some kind of tool? Or food? Maybe it was an animal?

He let his imagination run free as he started picturing a giant six-legged creature, herbivorous - obviously - and friendly as could be. Perhaps it was the natural prey of the strange and elusive 'Ampere' that Namjoon also mentioned quite frequently.

The 'Volt' also seemed to be quite interesting, a kind of food for the Ohm to eat, possibly? He described it as some kind of potential energy and it only made sense if something like that was food.

The next page held some kind of diagram and Hoseok tilted his head with a frown as he tried to make some sense of it. The creatures from before were mentioned again, though he wasn't sure how they would have any kind of effect on a robot. At least, he thought it was a robot. He could quite easily be wrong, after all.

The door creaked open and Hoseok looked up from the book with eyes wide like he was a deer in headlights. There was no time to slam the book shut and pretend he hadn't been snooping, but hopefully, Namjoon wouldn't mind too much.

The scientist sighed as he closed the door behind him and glanced up, meeting Hoseok's eyes. The two of them stared wordlessly at each other for what felt like half an hour before Namjoon took a hesitant step forward.

"What are you doing in here?"

His voice wasn't sharp or accusatory, which was a relief, and seemed to be more curious than anything.

"Ah, well, I knew that the others would either go to their rooms or the library and I just needed some peace and quiet. Your office was the first place I could think of," Hoseok admitted with an appraising gaze as he looked around the room. "It has a very calming atmosphere too."

Namjoon snorted out a laugh. "You're the only one who thinks so. I just come in here to do work so I always feel stressed, but feel free to drop in whenever you want."

"Thanks," Hoseok said with a bright smile. "Oh, and I'm sorry for just reading through this book, but your observations on giant herbivorous creatures and the ecosystem are very interesting."

So what if he was trying to seem smart, Namjoon was smart and he wanted to keep up despite never actually having a formal education.

"Giant... what?"

Namjoon looked incredibly confused and Hoseok just opened the book to the page where it mentioned the Ohms, Amperes and Volts, pointing at the words.

"This stuff."

"Oh, Hoseok," Namjoon laughed, "that's priceless. Here, let me explain it."

As Namjoon took the book and enthusiastically launched into a lesson, Hoseok smiled and listened intently. Maybe this would help them understand each other more, and maybe it was exactly what he needed to feel a bit better.

Chapter Text

Taehyung lay in his bed, arm draped across his forehead and his eyes closed as he tried to hold back from crying. He didn't have much time before everything he had made would come crashing down and this dream he was trying to keep alive would perish.

It would be for the best if no one came for him. If they forgot about him, kept themselves safe and just stayed away then no one would get hurt except for him. Taehyung sighed and rolled over, burying his face in a pillow. It didn't matter. All his life he had been prepared for this and he knew it would be easier if he just cut himself off already. Where he would be going, he would have no use for hope.

He'd have to act the part, be the doting husband that he was expected to be. He wouldn't love whoever he was marrying, he knew that already, but he would still have the memories. The memories. Sometimes when he sat in his room he wondered if it would just be better to forget everything and pretend that he was okay with what was happening to him. Maybe if he just forgot then he wouldn't have to feel the pain of remembering what it was like to be happy.

Taehyung heard the sound of a key in the lock and the door opened silently but he didn't look over to see who it was. It was probably one of the servants dropping off some food for him. He wasn't allowed to leave his room unless summoned by his father and he had a slight suspicion that the servants felt at least somewhat bad for him.

"Your Highness?" A quiet voice asked and Taehyung willed himself to roll over, though he didn't put in any effort to look remotely happy. A young servant girl stood there, tray in hand, and looked around the room nervously as if wondering where to put it down.

"You can just bring it here," he told her, gesturing to the bed beside him and realized just how sad and broken he sounded. The girl hesitated but a small smile and a nod from Taehyung was all it took for her to carefully approach.

"Your Highness, I apologize-"

"No need," Taehyung responded with a shake of his head. "I understand."

The girl frowned and looked back at the door carefully before curtsying and walking back out. She paused in the doorway and looked back at him nervously. "I hope you'll enjoy the potatoes. The chef took care to make them extra special today."

Her gaze bored into him and she waited for a few moments more than were probably appropriate before leaving and locking the door behind her. Taehyung frowned and removed the cover from the tray, seeing potatoes - just like she had said - and steak. The steak was cooked to perfection, as usual, and he enjoyed it as much as one trapped in their room could. The potatoes, though, he approached with more caution. They were scalloped and it was only when Taehyung moved them around that he noticed something strange under them. He lifted one of the slices with his fork and grinned as a shining key lay innocently on the plate.

That night, Taehyung slipped the key into the lock as soon as he heard silence from the hall. Instead of two guards standing outside his door all night long, there were instead only routine patrols until morning. Though he hadn't expected an actual chance of getting out, he had memorized the patterns nonetheless just in case the opportunity ever arose.

The key turned in the lock and it clicked open, making him breathe out a sigh of relief. Taehyung locked the door behind him and hurried off down the hall toward where he knew his father was likely still working. Turning down a rarely used servants' hall, he stopped in front of an old barrel that he hoped hadn't been moved during the time he was gone. He lifted the lid off the top and couldn't help the smirk on his face when he looked inside and instead of the wooden bottom one would expect, there was a hole in the stone floor just barely large enough for a person to fit through.

Taehyung climbed in and half-crouched, half-crawled through the passage until he found it sloping upward and flattening out. He knew he was in between the walls and he also knew that he was near his father's main office. There was a small hole in the wall and Taehyung sat next to it and listened, hearing his father's voice filtering through it. He heard that minister speak as well and he stiffened, remembering everything he had put up with through the years.

"Your Majesty, why did you hire those mercenaries to bring Prince Taehyung back? Though the alliance with Jeju would be beneficial, wasn't that a waste of our resources when he's only the third prince?"

"I understand that it might be too difficult for someone like you to understand," Taehyung heard his father say in return. "My son is much more important to this kingdom than you are. Do not forget that."

"Yes, your majesty," the minister squeaked, "but why the urgency? Why risk so much just to get him back?"

Taehyung's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened as he heard his father's answer. His heartbeat pounded in his chest, his hands grew clammy and Taehyung felt like he'd been dunked under water.

"I thought you knew," his father laughed. "Whoever controls Taehyung, controls the kingdom."

Chapter Text

Sitting around the table planning the who, what, where and when of Taehyung's rescue was stressful. So stressful that almost everyone else had already decided to stop for the night and go to bed but not Jimin. Instead, Jimin frowned as he looked at the list that lay innocently in the center of the table that had only a few ideas jotted down on it.

(Like Hoseok’s oh-so-helpful “break down the door, kick ass” and Seokjin's tentative “poison their water supply with laxatives and sneak in when all the guards are in the bathroom” - to name a few)

He felt helpless - like it wouldn't matter what they try, even if they showed absolutely no mercy to anyone who could potentially stand in their way. He just wanted his friend back and he couldn't help it if he was a bit grumpier than usual as a result.

Though they weren't anywhere as close as Taehyung and Jeongguk, Jimin still liked to think that they could have been best friends in another universe where nothing happened to tear them apart.

He glanced helplessly over at Yoongi for probably the hundredth time that evening in hopes that he could offer some more answers. Yoongi noticed and simply shook his head.

“I still haven't got anything. I can check Taehyung again tonight but there really isn't much more I can do unless I see the king in person.”

“That isn't feasible!” Jimin protested. “He rarely leaves the palace and we aren't going to blow our cover to sneak you in.”

“I know,” Yoongi snapped back. “I know, okay? Don't you think it's tearing me up inside too that I can't even do the one thing I was meant to be able to do?”

Jimin sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in annoyance.

“Can't you get in contact with him through his dreams or something?”

Yoongi glanced up with wide eyes.

“I- I've never tried. I'm supposed to be untraceable and no one is supposed to remember me once they've woken up,” he told Jimin, who only scoffed.

“Then just be much less subtle,” he shrugged. “It's worth a shot, right?”

Yoongi rubbed his fingers against his temples and frowned.

“I guess. Would you, uh, mind?” Yoongi muttered as he gestured in Jimin's general direction. Realization lit up Jimin's eyes and he gasped. It made sense, this kind of thing probably left him in a vulnerable position and he didn't want Jimin there to see it. Sure, it sort of hurt because he thought they were past this sort of thing but on the other hand, he could understand why.

He got out of his seat and started walking toward the door, intending to go make a drink or something that they could have once Yoongi's mind returned. He had almost reached it when he heard the screech of Yoongi's chair against the stone floors.

“Where are you going?”

“Out of the room. That's what you wanted, right?” Jimin asked, turning around just enough to see Yoongi staring at him, slack-jawed.

“What?” Yoongi asked, his face scrunching up as he tried to remember when he'd said that and Jimin was very confused.

“You, ah, asked me if I minded so...” Jimin let himself trail off and Yoongi slapped a palm to his forehead, muttering something under his breath before slamming his hands down on the table and looking at him with newfound determination.

“Jimin, I was asking if you can keep an eye on me.”

Oh. So that's what he meant

“Okay. Yeah. Sure,” Jimin confirmed, probably babbling at that point. “I don't mind at all.”

“Good,” Yoongi said as he sat back down and leaned his head against the backrest. He closed his eyes for barely a moment before snapping them open again and looked in Jimin's direction.

“If I wake up with a concussion because I fell out of a chair, I'm blaming you,” Yoongi told him with narrowed eyes and Jimin couldn't help but laugh.

“I won't let you fall, don't worry,” Jimin answered and he watched as Yoongi closed his eyes again.

“You'd better not.”

And then he was asleep. Jimin sat down beside him and kept adding to the list, checking on Yoongi every once in a while and holding onto his arm to make sure he wouldn't fall. He looked abnormally peaceful and there wasn't a hint of the scowl that was usually on his face. It was weird seeing him this vulnerable and Jimin didn't know what to do about it. When he was sleeping Jimin had to admit that Yoongi looked a bit - dare he say it? - cute, but there was no way he would ever say it to his face.

“Hey,” Yoongi said from beside him. “You can let go of my arm now.”

“Oh, sorry,” Jimin replied, pulling his hand away as if he'd been burnt. “Did you get anything?”

Yoongi's grin slowly spread across his face. “I think I just might have.”

Chapter Text

Taehyung sat in his room, nervously playing with his fingers. The delegation from Jeju had arrived the day before and he'd had to spend his entire day sitting in on meetings where he had no say. The other royals hadn't been pleased that they'd had to come all this way, but had agreed to hold the wedding in three weeks time along with a few other conditions.

Taehyung wasn't sure what to do anymore. He had dreamed of Yoongi the night before, but he couldn't be sure if it was real or just his mind tormenting him with images of something he could no longer have. That night would be the test - if Yoongi returned then he would believe it was real, though as he lay down to sleep, he hoped it wouldn't be. It wouldn't do to build up his hopes only to watch them get destroyed.

He fell asleep and as he drifted off, he felt a pull somewhere inside his mind and he found himself standing in front of the stronghold. It seemed to be deserted, but the door creaked open as if inviting him inside. Taehyung stepped in, cautiously glancing around corners and taking care to not make much noise - just as Namjoon had taught them.

“You know, it's only us here,” Yoongi said from behind him where Taehyung knew he most definitely hadn't been three seconds ago.

“Yoongi!?” He exclaimed, staring at him in surprise. The man cocked an eyebrow but smiled anyway.

“I told you that I'd be back. Yesterday was just a test to see if this would work,” Yoongi said as he took a step toward Taehyung.

“Why are you reaching out to me now?” Taehyung asked. His voice sounded exactly as tired as he felt - both physically and emotionally - and he watched as Yoongi's gaze grew concerned.

“We wanted to see if there would be any opportunities to get you back,” Yoongi told him. “Honestly, even just a peep from you that you're alright would be appreciated. Everyone here is kind of a mess right now.”

Taehyung hesitated, looking around at the stone walls of the stronghold and brushing his fingers against them. He took a deep breath before finally speaking his mind.

“Yoongi, I-” he paused, wondering if he should really say anything. “- I don't know if the risk would be worth getting me back.”

Yoongi's eyes narrowed and a frown found itself on his lips.

“What do you mean, Taehyung?”

“I mean my father won't give up. This is bigger than us now, Yoongi, and I don't even know all the details myself. All I know is that I'm way deeper than I ever want to be and that it would be best if you didn't get yourselves mixed up in this too.”

His tone was serious and Yoongi even looked taken aback. It came out harsher than he had intended but it had gotten the message across nonetheless.

“What-” Yoongi tried to ask before Taehyung cut him off.

“Yoongi, I'm locked in my room twenty-four seven under surveillance, I have no say in anything anymore and in three weeks I'll be married to some man I met yesterday,” Taehyung said even as his voice trembled. “I've overheard things and for your own safety, I think it might be for the best if you all just forget you ever met me.”

Yoongi grabbed his shoulders firmly, though his grip was tight, and stared into his eyes.

“Taehyung, I'd like to see you even try to tell Jeongguk to give up on you.”

That's when Taehyung felt a lump form in his throat and tears starting to prickle in his eyes. Jeongguk. God, he just wanted to see the young sorcerer again before he was shipped off somewhere that he couldn't ever come back from.

“That kid is so in love with you that if you asked him to jump, he wouldn't even ask how high. He'd trust you with everything he has and jump without question. Taehyung, this is tearing him apart can't you just understand that if anything happens to you, it would break him!?”

Yoongi's grip on his shoulders tightened and so did Taehyung's chest. Even though all his common sense was screaming at him to stand strong, his heart knew Yoongi was right. He licked his lips, finally realizing how dry they felt, and looked into Yoongi's eyes.

“Three weeks from now on Wednesday, there will be a festival in the capital to celebrate the marriage the next day. According to requests from the royal family of Jeju, there will be a contest of skill featuring both the Jejun people that came along with them and any of the citizens of Seoul who wish to sign up. That'll be your ticket in.”

His gaze softened and Yoongi's hands fell off his shoulders.

“Don't make me regret this.”

Chapter Text

Yoongi tapped his fingers on the table nervously as he waited for everyone to drag themselves out of bed and down to the kitchen. Typically he would be the last one up but he had bolted awake after speaking with Taehyung and had almost rushed off to tell everyone the news before he realized it was three in the morning. He had nothing else to do so he had taken it upon himself to make breakfast in the hopes that the smell of cooked food might be persuasive enough to get everyone down faster.

Luckily, it seemed like his plan was working as Jimin arrived, dragging in a zombie-like Jeongguk behind him. Hoseok walked in only a few moments later deep in conversation with Seokjin who, despite the occasional yawns, seemed decently awake. Namjoon, on the other hand, stumbled in - still half asleep - and blearily opened his eyes to make some coffee. Only after he took a sip did he relax and notice Yoongi sitting there already.

“You're up early,” Namjoon remarked and Yoongi shrugged.

“I've been up for hours. Count yourselves lucky that you weren't too.”

“What could have gotten you out of bed that early?” Hoseok wondered as he voiced the question that Yoongi knew everyone else was secretly thinking.

“Something important,” he answered, “but that can wait until we're done eating.”

Jimin pushed Jeongguk into a chair and let go of him to start eating his own food.

“Is it about..?” Jimin began, still keeping it a secret and Yoongi nodded. The grin on Jimin's face grew as he began to dig into his breakfast. There was a strange thunk and groaning sound and Yoongi looked over to find the source.

“Jimin, could you pull Jeongguk's face out of his eggs?” Seokjin asked as he drank his own coffee. “I don't want to hear him complain about smelling them all day only to find a piece up his nose again.”

“Do I have to?” Jimin asked. “He's only going to fall again because he isn't exactly fully awake at the moment.”

Yoongi sighed. “He'll probably wake up the second I start telling you the important stuff.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Hoseok asked, trying his best not to laugh at the sorcerer sleeping in his food. Yoongi glanced around at everyone else, who seemed to agree.

“Last night I got in contact with Taehyung,” he began and watched in endless amusement as Jeongguk's head shot up at the mention of the prince. His face was covered in eggs and there was sauce on his nose from where it had been squirted in the middle of the plate. Rice stuck to his chin and a piece of meat slowly peeled itself off of his forehead.

“What about Taehyung?” He slurred, rubbing his nose and sniffing as he slowly woke up. The others found it difficult to conceal their laughter, snickering behind their hands or smiling the kind of constipated smile one gets on their face when they're trying not to laugh at something hilarious.

“I talked with him,” Yoongi answered seriously. “Overall he seems alright, but he did say a few things that might come in handy.”

“Did he give you blueprints of the castle?” Namjoon asked, wondering what else may be helpful.

Yoongi shook his head no. While it would be nice to be able to plan ahead and learn where the best hiding spots are (like alcoves or behind buttresses) or know where not to go, the information Taehyung had passed along was good in its own way.

“He gave us a timeline,” Yoongi told them and watched as everyone - even Jeongguk - suddenly seemed to straighten and pay more attention than before.

“What sort of timeline?” Jeongguk asked and Yoongi glanced over at him. Thankfully, the boy had cleaned his face off so Yoongi didn't feel the urge to laugh.

“We have three weeks.”

“Three weeks!?” Jimin raged. “What will happen if we don't get him back before then?”

Yoongi stayed silent for a moment, wondering if he should say the reason. It would hurt Jeongguk and he knew it, but maybe it could motivate everyone else to move a bit faster.

“In three weeks, Taehyung said that he'll be sent away to Jeju,” Yoongi said.

“Jeju?” Seokjin questioned. “That warmongering kingdom?”

“One and the same, I'm afraid,” Yoongi confirmed. “Taehyung said that our best chance to get into the capital will be Wednesday three weeks from now. Something about a competition of skill.”

“What I don't understand is why the king would send him off to Jeju of all places. It's probably more dangerous there than it is here,” Hoseok muttered. Yoongi didn't know why Jeju had been chosen, but some of what Taehyung had said didn't sit well. It was suspicious and he already knew that there was something else going on behind the scenes. Call it intuition or just nerves, but something told him that he wouldn't like the answer.

“Why Jeju was chosen I couldn't tell you, but what I can say is that Thursday will be our last chance.”

“Last chance?” Namjoon asked, eyes narrowing. Yoongi paused and glanced around the table at the multitude of concerned faces.

“Possibly our only chance and our opening isn't very big either.”

“What's happening on the Thursday?” Jimin asked, voice oddly serious. “What aren't you telling us?”

Yoongi made eye contact with Jeongguk and made sure to hold it as he said the next sentence.

“On the Thursday, Taehyung will be married to the prince of Jeju on his father's orders.”

Jeongguk's eyes grew wide and everyone could already feel the raw power he exuded filling the kitchen as wind began to wrap around his body. He was furious, and Yoongi inwardly grinned.

“You still have to finish carrying out Princess Protocol, right Jeongguk?” Yoongi asked and Jeongguk stood up and slammed his hands on the table. His voice came out almost like a growl but Yoongi only felt pride grow in his chest.

“We are crashing that wedding and we will get Taehyung back. I swear it on my own life.”

Chapter Text

Taehyung opened his eyes and glanced around. He was standing in an empty field at the base of a mountain and he could feel the wind at his back pushing against him like it wanted him to ascend. His mind buzzed and he squinted up at the cloud-covered sky, watching as they changed shape in a way that he could swear wasn't in any way natural.

With a glance up at the mountain and a shudder that betrayed just how much he didn't want to go there, Taehyung turned around and started to run away.

It was then that the world changed, almost like it was made of paint that was slowly being smeared down a canvas. The details in the trees and grass blended together into falling waves of colour that were slowly moving around him. He spun around and looked to see if anywhere was safe from whatever was happening to his surroundings.

The only spot that still looked remotely normal was the mountain, dark and imposing ahead of him. With no other options and the smearing rapidly approaching him, Taehyung spun on his heel and took off in a sprint toward the mountain path. He couldn't help the few times he stumbled or tripped on the loose stones that littered the path in his hurry to get away from whatever was happening to the world.

The birthmark on his side started to burn the closer he got to the top of the mountain, though he wasn't sure how he had gotten so far so quickly. A quick glance at the path behind him told Taehyung that the strange smearing phenomenon had begun to affect it as well.

He reached the top and looked around in every direction, watching as the world grew less and less detailed by the second, how it was just becoming a streak of colours instead of what it had been originally. The mountain was the only thing safe, though everything was converging on it and Taehyung had nothing to do other than wait for it to consume him as well.

He squeezed his eyes shut as the world around him shifted and everything went so silent that he couldn't even hear his own heartbeat. Taehyung couldn't feel the rocky texture of the mountain peak beneath his feet anymore and even when he reached out with his hands he felt nothing at all. He opened his eyes and saw something else there in the colourful void (eyes, they looked like giant eyes) but was immediately assaulted with such an ungodly high pitched sound that was so painful that he shut them again and put his hands up to his ears to block it all out. The sound had been so piercing that Taehyung thought his ears were bleeding.
He floated there for a moment, eyes shut and hands over his ears until a warm feeling invaded his system and somewhere deep inside him knew that he could take his hands off of his ears, as long as he kept his eyes closed. He removed his hands but then all he could feel was the dull burn from his birthmark and an odd feeling. There was something else out there, floating with him. Taehyung had a chance.

He opened his mouth to ask whatever it was to identify itself, but even when he tried to shout not a single sound escaped his throat. Taehyung began to panic, grasping at his throat and trying to scream until his body suddenly went still.

Reassurance.

What was that, he wondered.

Curiosity. Knowledge. Calm.

It felt almost like feelings themselves were coursing through his mind - like this was how he could communicate with whatever was there with him.

Satisfaction. Pride. Contentment.

At that feeling, Taehyung realized that he had been correct and that the thing was reading him as well. He wondered why he was there, why everything was happening around him and yet he had no way to change it.

Purpose. Certainty.

Why did he feel the burn on his side?

Pain. Importance. Power.

What should he be feeling?

Fearful. Anxiousness. Anticipation.

Who did this to him?

Tenderness. Love. Regret. Sympathy.

He wanted to know what it was that was there with him.

Refusal. Disappointment.

Taehyung grew frustrated and frowned. Why not? Why couldn't it tell him?

Indignation. Stubbornness. Fury.

Taehyung winced as the birthmark burned even more and felt a hollow begin to form in his stomach. He thrashed around when he felt something touch him, but slowly he fell unconscious nonetheless.

Possession.

Chapter Text

Namjoon nervously waited in his communications room after having once again flipped all the appropriate switches to open a connection to headquarters. It shouldn't take too long for someone to respond to him. The plan was risky, sure, but they didn't exactly have any other choices.

“Hello?” A deep voice boomed and he luckily managed to keep his composure this time.

“Hello Jackson, it's Namjoon,” he said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. “I need a favour.”

“A favour, huh?” Jackson paused. “What kind of favour are you talking about?”

Namjoon tried to hold back a smile. “I just need some blueprints and maps.”

“You couldn't just get these any other way?” Jackson seemed to be somewhat suspicious and Namjoon tried to lead them off the trail.

“These aren't exactly the kinds of maps that are readily available, you know.”

“Alright, you've piqued my curiosity, scientist. What maps do you need?”

Namjoon smirked victoriously despite the teasing nickname from one of his best friends. Jackson had taken the bait, and now all he had to do was reel n his catch.

“I need maps of the capital, the sewer system and the palace if you can get them for me.”

Jackson chuckled. “The palace, eh? Damn, Namjoon. You've got balls, I respect that. What're you planning, a robbery?”

“Of sorts,” Namjoon hummed. “So? Are you able to find them or are you not up to the task?”

“Who do you take me for, Jay? I'll have them to you in less than three days.”

Jackson huffed in annoyance and Namjoon could practically picture his friend glaring at the speaker and plotting a murder or something while simultaneously getting excited about the challenge. Jackson was weird like that.

“Thanks, man.”

Namjoon's friendship with Jackson had started back when they were both still rookies in the villain business and had actually, for a time, apprenticed under the same man. It was very much give and take and they got along remarkably well despite their differing skill sets.

Where Namjoon was armed with a sharp and analytical mind, Jackson was an expert in blending in. The man could integrate himself into any culture or family that he wished due to his ability to change his appearance. Namjoon hadn't even known what Jackson looked like until almost a year after he met due to his constant changes - something that he often used to prank people.

Now though, Jackson worked at headquarters as an informant and always enjoyed a good information retrieval request every now and then. For all that Namjoon teased, he had full confidence that Jackson would be able to get exactly what he needed and probably wouldn't even ask for much at all in return.

Jackson was cool like that.

A few days later, Namjoon heard a ringing noise that told him that headquarters was trying to contact him. Upon answering, Jackson's voice filtered through the speakers.

“Hey Joon! I got the stuff you wanted and I'm sending it over now. You owe me, man.”

“I guess I do,” Namjoon answered. “Name your price.”

“You see, that's the thing. Do I hold this over you or do I call it in right this second?” Jackson asked, probably smiling more than he wanted to admit.

“Well?” Namjoon pressed, already knowing Jackson would cave.

“Okay, fine. What kind of robbery are you even planning? I heard some rumours while I was grabbing it all and I think they might be interesting - or at least something you might have to plan around,” he said and Namjoon waited for him to continue. He already kind of had an idea of what it was, but he stayed quiet anyway.

“So they were saying the prince is getting married in three weeks. On one hand, there will probably be fewer guards at the palace and more at the wedding, but on the other, it's possible that other people have a similar idea,” Jackson paused for a second before remembering something else to add. “Oh, and you can't forget the possibility of assassins.”

“Yeah, I knew about the wedding. It's why we're going, actually,” Namjoon replied.

“Oo, risky. You trying to steal the crown jewel or something?”

Namjoon couldn't help but laugh a little.

“I guess you could say that.”

Later that evening, Namjoon sat in his study poring over the maps and traced possible routes of entry to the capital, palace and wedding venue - the large field just outside Seoul's most sacred site. Typically, royal marriages would happen there, but the people of Jeju didn't believe in the same things they did so they had made a compromise instead.

Namjoon couldn't help the little smile that came to his face as he worked. They were making progress and working hard to plan the retrieval in the hopes that it would pay off in the end. Maybe he didn't want to say anything yet and just get everyone's hopes up, but he had to admit that he had a good feeling about it all.

Chapter Text

Jimin sat on his bed, running his fingers lightly across the edge of the small dagger he'd brought from home when he had first left to come to the stronghold. Ever since he was a child he'd been trained to use it without hesitation, but Namjoon had shown them all that sometimes hesitation was a good thing. Funny how that all worked out in the end.

He knew his father would not approve of some of the lessons Namjoon was teaching but it wasn't for the reasons most would think. No, if anything his father would say Namjoon was being too soft on them.

As a legacy villain, Jimin had always known the weight of expectations and he knew better than most how much they could beat you down and crush you. Maybe that was why he'd acted up a bit more at the stronghold than he would have ever dared to otherwise and maybe that's why he felt such an instant connection with Taehyung.

Being out from his parents’ control felt amazing and it was so much different than he had ever imagined and it would make sense if the prince had been experiencing the same evanescent euphoria.

Though he hadn't run away or been kidnapped like Taehyung, he had still felt that sting of disappointment when his father told him that he wouldn't be able to make it on his own. He thought Jimin would just come running home the second he faced the slightest adversity but that had only made him more determined than ever to succeed.

It had been months and his parents probably thought he was dead since he hadn't even sent them anything to prove he wasn't. Honestly, he didn't care. He'd rather die than go back and have to live out his life without a chance to do things for himself. Jimin glanced over at the pouch of stones and the other object that lay at the bottom. Even when they'd revealed their powers, that was the one thing he wouldn't spill unless he had to.

You already had to , a traitorous voice in his head told him. Seokjin knows. Seokjin knows and he'll use it against you. Seokjin knows and you are too weak to take that knowledge away.

Jimin's eyes narrowed. That object had always been both a blessing and a curse; being able to take away his powers, but also allowing himself the chance to save himself from his own mistakes.

Mistakes you've made. Mistakes they've seen.

His hands tightened around the dagger and he flinched when pain cut through his hand and a drop of blood beaded on his skin. He left the dagger on the bed, uncaring if a bit of blood stained the sheets, and wrapped his hand up after rinsing them. The sight of blood on the blade made him freeze slightly.

It wasn't his blood anymore. It was the blood of innocents, the blood of criminals, and the blood of those in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Show no mercy,” his father had said. “The moment you hesitate is the moment you're killed.”

So Jimin hadn't, regardless of who they were.

Every time he would go out, follow orders, and erase the memories of anyone who had seen. To them, the murdered had never even been there to begin with.

Did he feel guilty? Of course he did. Was he allowed to feel that? Of course not.

Jimin was a weapon, the means to help further his parents’ goals. Weapons - tools - didn't have the luxury of feeling guilty when the body count only rose by the week. Even after coming to the stronghold, Jimin was worried that they would realize and take advantage of his abilities just as his parents had.

It didn't matter that he knew there were others with a body count, but he knew his was the highest. Maybe it was only his curse to bear, but the one thing Jimin couldn't do with his powers was erase his own memories.

The others he could relieve of their pain, but he was forced to remember. He wondered sometimes if the price was worth the result.

Instead of living in blissful ignorance, Jimin vividly remembered every single one of his target's (Victims. They were victims.) faces before he'd dealt the final blow. The emotions were so vastly different; faces twisted in pain, faces wet with tears sobbed as they pleaded for life, faces peacefully slumbering, and those faces of quiet acceptance when they simply gave up.

Every face was a memory and every memory a dark line on his soul that would never be removed. He wondered sometimes what it would be like if he could help others with this cursed power of his, if he could take away the pain that other people were feeling and make their life better for them. It was only a distant thought, but maybe it would help him atone, if only just a little bit.

Chapter Text

The king sat on his throne, tapping his fingers on the arms. His sons had the inkling that something was up and he suspected that his second son already knew that his younger brother had come back.

If it weren't for who - what - Taehyung was, it wouldn't be a problem. He loved his sons dearly and made sure they had all they could ever want but even then he knew he had to treat his youngest differently. There was the overwhelming need to keep him safe and far away from prying eyes that might figure out just what the third prince was capable of.

It didn't matter if his son resented him for it, hated him or cursed his name. The boy had to be supervised for the good of the kingdom and the only way to keep him completely safe was to hide him away where no one would find him.

The king looked down at the marriage contract laid out on the small table in front of him. That's where the marriage to Jeju came in. It would be like killing two birds with one stone.

An alliance to strengthen both kingdoms, and the perfect hiding place for the prince where few would dare attack. The soldiers of Jeju were widely known for defending their own to the last breath and even then there were stories of fallen soldiers pulling themselves back to their feet to fight from even beyond the grave.

Yes, it would truly be the best place to keep the prince away from the villain infestation that had plagued Seoul for generations. If any of them managed to get their slimy hands on his son - or worse, on the veritable wealth of power contained within him - then the entire kingdom and monarchy could fall.

Even the thought of it made his mouth form into a snarl and the nails on his hands sharpen into deadly claws.

Calm. He had to stay calm.

The snarl faded into low rumbles and his nails reverted to their normal form. It wouldn't do to succumb to the curse now, not when he was so close to succeeding where his predecessors had failed.

He had been the one to figure out how to contain the power and the curse. He had been the one to find the perfect vessel. He was the one who knew the price of failure.

He had to be the one to see it through before passing the duty down to his first son. Of all the things the king had taught him, this secret would be the last, for when it is told and the previous keeper passes beyond then the curse too will be passed down their blood ties.

And with the curse would come the madness.

The king knew that being in close proximity to the power within his youngest son would speed the curse's progression and would cause his control to slip more easily. To prevent that, he had to keep his emotions under lock and key whenever he (rarely) met with his son.

He couldn't lose control now, he couldn't let everything fall apart after all the work he'd done, after all the planning that was finally coming to fruition. Not a thing would stand between him and that which he sought.

Not the curse, not his sons, not the villains.

The king wouldn't let them, and he'd do anything to ensure it.

Chapter Text

Jeju…

The identity of the kingdom where Taehyung would be sent weighed heavily on Seokjin's mind. The kingdom was known for being brutal beyond compare and it wasn't the sort of place he could imagine the third prince ever wanting to go.

Seokjin knew the island kingdom better than most and he was aware that if they missed their chance to get Taehyung back during the wedding that it would be nigh impossible to retrieve him from Jeju. It wouldn't be practical - the island was practically always on complete lockdown and once the Jejun people had claimed him as one of their own, they would stop at nothing to keep him.

Despite that, there was still a slight possibility that none of the others knew about.

As a Jejun native, Seokjin would be able to get into the kingdom with little fuss since he still kept his identification with him out of habit. It may have seemed strange to others since Seokjin's clan of silver tongues were incredibly pacifistic people residing in a kingdom that lived for bloodshed.

Perhaps that's why it worked so well - they were the balancing factor. Two ideals on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

The world would balance herself to keep the natural order, but only in Jeju was it so obvious.

The silver tongues were not even a clan in the traditional sense; they weren't a family, a sect, nor a regulated group.

No, they were bound together by fate and the will of the world. The first of them all was said to have been abandoned as a baby and was raised by the world herself, learning all her secrets and learning how to pry them out of others as well.

The following generation was a patchwork group of orphans and abandoned children and so it had always been. Seokjin had been one of them too. A child found wandering the woods, covered in bruises and scratches, with no memory from where he came.

They had taken him in as one of them, trained him with the secrets of the world and taught him the value of a life.

“No one life is worth more than another,” they told him back then. “The life of a king, a conqueror, and a blade of grass are all judged equally in the eyes of the world.”

They would never take a life unnecessarily and would thank the world for any beings whose lives had to be ended to allow them to eat.

That was how Seokjin had been raised, and he supposed that it was strange compared to the others.

Everyone else had come from somewhere where killing was alright, accepted even. He couldn't imagine it and knew that despite his career choice, he would never kill without reason. That would go against everything his people stood for.

That brought him back to the problem at hand. If Taehyung was truly going to be taken beyond their reach, he might have no choice. The others wouldn't be able to enter without identification and it would take months before the appropriate paperwork could be completed. In the worst case scenario, Seokjin would have to retrieve the prince by himself before it would be too late.

Beginning to plan for the worst case scenario, Seokjin made his way to the library and painstakingly copied down an extremely detailed map of the island kingdom of Jeju by hand until it cramped and he had to stop for a moment.

Once he could move his hand again, Seokjin kept drawing the map and kept his eye out to include even the most subtle of details. A single hill left forgotten could mean at the very least a change of plans or, at the worst, complete failure.

If the mission failed because of his hand cramping and forgetting to draw a hill, Seokjin would never forgive himself. Even still, he hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this plan. All going well, it would be ideal to retrieve their favourite prince from the wedding without much fuss and then be done with it.

They all knew that and hoped, but as Namjoon had taught them, it was best to have so many backup plans that there wouldn't be enough letters in the alphabet to cover them all. This was Seokjin's backup plan, but he never wanted to have to use it.

It would be wonderful to succeed at their goal in one try, but it never hurts to be a little bit too prepared.

Seokjin swore on his identity as a silver tongue of Jeju that no obstacle would be too large, no challenge too hard, and no army too strong to stop them.

They would succeed.

Chapter Text

There were only two weeks left.

Only two weeks before he would be sent away to a place he had never been and Taehyung was already worried. At first glance, many would assume him to be nervous about the marriage - which was true to an extent - however, it was not for the reasons they might suspect.

He wasn't nervous about having to marry a man he didn't love. That's just how things were for royalty. Marriage for the sake of love was practically a fairy tale and something that everyone only hoped for as a child before the reality of duty and politics came crashing down on their heads.

This wasn't anything new to him, he didn't fear it. No, what Taehyung feared was everyone (Jeongguk) coming for him and failing. His father was not one for mercy and wouldn't hesitate to execute them publicly as an example.

It wouldn't even be the first time. Taehyung remembered back when he was a child the time that a villain had tried to abduct him while he was out feeding his horse, Tata. Though the stablehands had protested and told him that it wasn't befitting of a prince to get dirty to simply do a job that they could do for him, Taehyung had smiled in the way that he knew would cause even the most stubborn to give in. They had relented and Taehyung had confidently strode off with a bucket of feed to see Tata.

They hadn't left him unsupervised despite the fact that he had thought so at the time, and that had turned out to be his saving grace.

When the villain had grabbed him, one of the stablehands had run to get the guards. They had arrived swiftly and subdued the villain easily. At the time, Taehyung had thought that the royal guard was simply that well trained and disciplined but after meeting powerhouses like Jeongguk, geniuses like Namjoon and all the others who had their own strengths though he had never seen some of them in action, he knew that the villain who had attempted to abduct him was simply weak.

His father had ordered the villain's execution after a trial that could hardly be counted as fair but Taehyung believed that his father was just doing his best to protect him.

Now though, Taehyung realized that his father was protecting whatever it was that was so important to the kingdom. It hadn't been about him. It never was.

No, it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with power.

If whatever it was, was contained inside some peasant instead of a prince, Taehyung was sure that his father would kill for their sake too.

He knew that if something went wrong with their attempt to retrieve him, then his friends would surely be left at his father's mercy - or lack thereof. After attempting to abduct him and actually succeeding on one occasion, Taehyung knew that his father wouldn't even give them a sham of a trial and would instead immediately escalate it to barbaric levels.

Taehyung sat on his bed and carefully ran his fingers over the ridges of the door key, debating if he should take the chance and sneak out again that night. It was a riskier move than it had been before since there were now soldiers of Jeju spread throughout the palace by the order of their royal family. It might not be worth the risk just to simply get the barest taste of freedom as his doomsday drew ever nearer.

He still had a few hours to make a decision since the sun had not yet set. It was then that Taehyung heard the familiar tolling of bells from one of the towers. It was a bell that he was accustomed to though not as much as the ones from the clock tower's carillon. No, this bell was the executioner's bell.

Stumbling slightly, Taehyung rushed to his window and climbed up on top of the furniture he had placed beneath it so he would be able to see outside and breathe some air that wasn't tinged with the mustiness from inside the palace. He looked outside and blanched as he watched someone being led out to the executioner's block from where he knew the castle prison was located.

In this person had been held there, it meant that they had committed some sort of heinous crime against the kingdom or its ruling family. The conditions down there were awful but Taehyung knew that that was intentional. It wouldn't do to have those bound for death to be comfortable, according to his father.

Taehyung watched in rapt horror as the execution was carried out. He watched as the doomed's sins were read out, though he couldn't hear them from his window, he watched as their head was laid down on the block and as the axe was raised.

It was only when the axe fell that Taehyung closed his eyes and looked away.

Chapter Text

Namjoon sat in his study staring down hesitantly at a strange tablet that he had somehow managed to con off of Jackson without him having to owe his friend yet another favour. He wasn't sure where or how Jackson had even gotten it in the first place, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Despite Jackson's claims that he had gotten it off of his friend who got it from his cousin who had supposedly stolen it off of some peddler who had won it after a game of solitaire against a shady bastard (Jackson's words, not his) who claimed to have found the location of this tablet in his dreams after ingesting some strange forest mushroom.

Of course, Namjoon had to take into consideration the fact that Jackson had admittedly been so drunk that he was barely capable of sitting upright so whatever he said probably shouldn't be trusted, but it wasn't that big of a deal, right?

After all, beer was cheaper than water - safer too - and they had both needed a bit of a break from the stress. Everything would be fine.

So that brought him back to the present, staring at this weird magical object (magical was, of course, snarled out through gritted teeth) and wanting nothing more than to go smash it or dismantle it so he could understand how it worked because he was a scientist dammit, and he hated being faced with something that was not supposed to exist.

The fact that most of his students used magic in some way, shape or form was a fact that he conveniently liked to forget as often as possible.

Anyway, that didn't matter right now. He stared down at the clay tablet that was covered in strange etched symbols of some sort, though it wasn't any in Namjoon's modestly impressive repertoire. No one had been sure of what, exactly, it was and as far as he could tell, none of its previous owners had wanted to find out. Supposedly the sketchy mushroom guy had called it a key to the gates of hell but he had also allegedly said something along the lines of his sister turning into a horse at night so Namjoon was taking those claims with a grain of salt.

Anyway, now it was time for some extremely scientific testing.

He took a stick and poked it before hiding behind his desk and staring at it suspiciously. The tablet did nothing at all.

Namjoon poked it again. Still nothing.

He used the stick to lift it up and look at the bottom. It flopped over to show even more runes etched into the clay. Nothing new there.

Again, extremely scientific testing.

Namjoon was about to try picking it up and smashing it on the ground when his door creaked open and Jeongguk poked his head in. Namjoon froze, his hands holding the tablet above his head and looking exactly like Jimin when Seokjin had caught him eating Hoseok's chocolate 'on Taehyung's behalf’. Jeongguk stood there, suddenly seeming much more awkward than before.

“Am I interrupting something? Should I come back at a better time?”

Namjoon looked up at the tablet before awkwardly placing it back on the table. “No, no, it's fine. You weren't interrupting anything. Now, what can I do for you?”

“Well,” Jeongguk began, “Seokjin fell asleep in the library again and you know that he won't listen to any of us if we tell him to take better care of himself so…”

He fidgeted nervously in the doorway and Namjoon sighed. The stress levels in the stronghold were escalating with every passing day and it was starting to affect them. He supposed that they all had to do their part, but it surely wasn't worth sacrificing their health for it.

“Yeah, I can do that in a few minutes. Just let him sleep, for now, he really needs it. Anything else?” He asked, watching as Jeongguk's gaze flickered over to the tablet.

He approached it, seemingly watching Namjoon to make sure that he wasn't doing anything that he wasn't supposed to. When he stayed silent just to see what the sorcerer would do, Jeongguk picked it up and carefully examined the runes that coated virtually every surface of the clay. His eyes widened and he muttered words under his breath as he ran his fingers lightly over the bumps and ridges in awe.

“Where did you get this?” Jeongguk asked.

“Gift from a friend,” Namjoon replied flippantly. Sure that wasn't the whole truth, but they were villains. Little white lies were the least of their concern.

“I wonder if your friend knew what he had,” Jeongguk admitted with a tinge of respect in his voice. “This is an old communication spell that probably works something like your magical talking boxes. Nobody really uses this stuff anymore though, the runes are too hard to read.”

Namjoon looked at it with suspicion. “How does it work?”

Jeonguk blinked and flipped it over again.

“Oh that's simple, you just have to read the runes in the correct order - sort of like a password! This always leaves a trace of magic behind, though, so I could probably feel for it and activate it if you would like.”

Namjoon nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

Jeongguk closed his eyes and let his finger trace a pattern on the tablet, reading out the runes that his finger touched. When he was finished, the grooves of the runes began to glow and a faint voice filtered out from it.

“Who are you and how did you activate the tablet?”

Chapter Text

It was risky, but Taehyung was willing to take the chance. It had taken him a few days to figure out the Jeju soldiers’ nightly patrol routine and once he had, all that he had to do was wait for the golden moment. He knew these corridors better than anyone else. He knew exactly how many steps it would take before someone turned the corner on either end of the long hallway. He knew exactly how long the time was between patrols. He even knew if it was a soldier from Jeju or one of the royal guards of Seoul simply from the sound of their boots.

In five minutes, a light-footed guard would pass by much too quickly than he was supposed to, giving Taehyung a greater window of opportunity to leave his room. The key in his hand was held so tightly that it would surely leave marks as he waited, heart racing and anxiety building inside of him.

With the wedding only a week away, if he didn't take this chance now then he would never get the opportunity again. He had overheard the guards outside his door complaining about the increased patrols in the week leading up the wedding as well as having at least one guard at his door at all times. Supposedly, it was to prevent another kidnapping but Taehyung suspected that there were other reasons hiding behind that one. He wouldn't be surprised if they were meant to keep an eye on him and make sure that he wouldn't try anything either.

Perhaps the nervousness he felt was exactly what all his friends back at the stronghold were feeling, albeit on a much larger scale.

Taehyung waited, listening intently with his eyes closed until he heard the hurried footsteps of the guard coming down the hall. He stood up from his bed and approached the door, holding onto the handle and held the key ready to be slid into the lock to set himself free. Just a few more seconds.

The second that he knew the guard was gone, he swiftly unlocked the door and slipped out into the much cooler hallway. Double checking that the coast was clear, Taehyung hurried barefoot down the hall to prevent his shoes from making any unnecessary noise. He made his way back down to the trap door in the barrel and clambered down before hiding between the walls and listening for his father. He seemed to be just finishing up in his study and Taehyung smiled to himself. He had made the right decision by coming out here.

His father left for bed and Taehyung continued down the corridor until he came to a second door in another seldom used hall and pushed it open as soon as he was certain no one was around to see him. This exit was closer to the study and luckily for him, Taehyung knew that his father had used the same key on his door as the one for his study - simply to restrict access. Unluckily for his father, Taehyung happened to have one of those keys.

Feeling a bit nervous, Taehyung unlocked the door in a hurry and walked in, looking around at the bookshelves full of important documents, the perpetually messy desk that was exactly the same as he remembered it being back when he was a child. The map of the kingdom spread out on a mapping table, the countless quills and empty jars of ink, and the smell of smoke from the now-extinguished candles.

It was as if nothing had changed, and yet, everything had.

Taehyung shook his head and tried to focus on his self-appointed task. After all, he hadn't risked so much just to come here to reminisce.

He carefully lit a candle and started to go through the plethora of documents on the desk, finding among them his own wedding contract (He scoffed when he saw it, signed by his father, the king of Jeju, and the prince he was set to marry - his own signature was nowhere to be found), a document outlining a new law that should be passed in the next year, and something or other about fish imports. What he was looking for wasn't there.

“Come on…” Taehyung muttered as he rifled through the desk drawers. “You have to be here somewhere…”

At the very bottom of one of the drawers, he finally found it. It was a leatherbound book hidden under a false bottom, something that most wouldn't notice, but Taehyung was a bit more dedicated than most other people. He flipped it open and skimmed through until he noticed his own name appearing in several handwritten entries dated back to when he was only a few months old. The expression on his face got even more grave as he read them, occasionally flipping to another date that his father had referenced.

“Oh my god,” he breathed, holding his head in his hands and staring down, horrified, at the book. “This can't be true.”

But it was, wasn't it. Everything made sense now, and he was staring down at the evidence that detailed exactly who (what) he was.

It was then that Taehyung heard a key in the lock and he could only sit there, frozen in his seat, as the door swung open.

Chapter Text

“Who are you and how did you activate the tablet?”

Namjoon looked down at it in surprise before exchanging an incredulous look with Jeongguk.

“It worked?” He whispered quietly enough, still somewhat in awe though he was loath to admit it, that he hoped whoever he had contacted wouldn't be able to hear.

“Did you expect anything else?” Jeongguk scoffed. “I told you I'd get it to work and I did.”

“So you're the one who activated it,” the voice said again and Jeongguk smiled.

“Of course I did, if you wanted to prevent others from using it, you probably should have replaced the shil runes with either pik or drun runes.”

The voice was silent for a moment.

“Crap, you’re right. Dammit, I should really tell Baek about that.”

“It's still good enough that unless you studied runes, you wouldn't be able to figure it out,” Jeongguk reassured him. Namjoon just sat and watched with a blank face as Jeongguk had somehow stirred up a full-blown conversation with someone whose name they still didn't even know.

“Anyway,” Namjoon cut in before Jeongguk could start gushing about something Tyr had done the other day, “you asked about who we are?”

“Indeed I did,” the voice replied after a polite cough as if to pretend that he hadn't been just as engrossed in the conversation as Jeongguk had been.

“My name is Kim Namjoon,” he said politely. “I could tell you how I got this tablet but honestly the story is too long for you to want to hear it. Also, half of it may or may not be fictional and created by some person who makes a habit of consuming strange forest mushrooms on a regular basis.”

“I'll admit, that does sound intriguing,” the voice said with a laugh. “I actually kind of want to hear this story now.”

Namjoon smiled and Jeongguk only looked slightly confused since he didn't know the story either.

“Alright,” Namjoon said, giving in. “I'll tell you if you tell me who you are.”

“Sounds fair,” the voice agreed. “I'm Kim Junmyeon, but you can just call me Suho.”

“Suho,” Namjoon repeated. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Suho said politely.

“Ah, I'm Jeon Jeongguk,” the sorcerer piped up, not wanting to be left out.

“It's a pleasure,” Suho replied and Jeongguk's smile only grew. “So, let's hear this story of yours. I hope you don't mind that some of my… Colleagues… might be listening in as well.”

“Oh no, I don't mind at all,” Namjoon reassured him. “I'm not revealing any sensitive information, after all.”

Suho hummed in response and Namjoon took that as his cue to begin.

“To make it super simple, my friend and I went out drinking, he talked about this tablet he got and I managed to con it off of him. I'd be surprised if he even remembers he had it in the first place because that's just how drunk he was. Anyway, he, in all his drunken exuberance, claimed that he had gotten it off of his friend as a gift or something, I don't know, but his friend got it from his cousin - he didn't specify if it was his cousin or his friend's cousin and honestly, I don't really care. So the cousin supposedly stole it off of some peddler which is really terrible and rude, though I guess I really shouldn't be the one with the moral compass here. The peddler, according to my very drunk friend, said that he had won it after a game of solitaire against a shady bastard - not that I could tell you who that person is or why they are both shady and a bastard, most of the time people are only one of those - who claimed to have found the location of this tablet in his dreams after ingesting some strange forest mushroom.”

Everything was silent for a few moments before Suho, and several other people who Namjoon supposed were his colleagues, broke out into raucous laughter.

“Oh man, that was priceless,” Suho gasped as he tried to breathe. “Honestly one of my colleagues probably dropped it while he was out, so the forest mushroom guy might not be so untrustworthy after all.”

Namjoon could hear some quiet muttering from Suho's side, though he couldn't quite make out the words.

“Ok yeah, Chanyeol did drop it somewhere in a forest after we finished that one mission,” Suho chuckled. “Just for that, he's on errand duty for the rest of the week. If you want, we could meet so I can take that off your hands?”

“Sounds good to me,” Namjoon agreed, “Anywhere in particular for the meeting spot?”

“I'll discuss it with everyone and get back to you on that, is that ok?” Suho asked. Namjoon simply hummed his approval. He glanced over at Jeongguk, who seemed much more fidgety than usual. It was like he really wanted to say something but was just scared to do so. Eventually, he calmed and asked the question that, honestly, Namjoon was curious about as well.

“If I can ask, what kind of mission was it?”

“Oh, that mission?” Suho asked. “We were hired by the king to retrieve his son from a group of villains that had taken him hostage.”

The air itself seemed to chill and the previous amicable atmosphere had completely vanished. Jeongguk had gone eerily silent and Namjoon chanced a look over at him only to see pure fury radiating off of him in waves.

“Um, I'll call you back later,” Namjoon said quickly and watched as the runes stopped glowing before turning to Jeongguk hesitantly. He had put aside one problem, but now he had a whole other one to deal with.

Chapter Text

The door swung open and Taehyung's breath caught in his throat. The candle only lit up the area of the desk so the door was still shrouded in darkness and Taehyung had no idea who it was who had just caught him outside of his room.

The person approached slowly with boots that clicked loudly on the stone floor. Taehyung tensed his muscles, still not sure if he was planning to fight or run away. The intruder's face gradually came into focus as they got nearer to the candle and all of a sudden Taehyung found himself relaxing more than he probably should have.

“So it is true,” his elder brother muttered. “You are back.”

Taehyung stood up, his etiquette training automatically kicking in, and bowed in respect.

“Brother.”

He dared a glance up at his brother's face, waiting to see if he would show any hints of something suspicious. Instead, what Taehyung found was the opposite.

His brother rushed forward, knocking several important documents off the table, and enveloped Taehyung in a tight hug.

“Gods, Taehyung. Where have you been? We've been worried sick! If you've really been here, why didn't you come out to find me?”

“Brother, please,” Taehyung whispered as he hugged his brother back. “I've been living with friends for a few months, but father ordered me to come back. I've been locked in my room since.”

“Locked in your room?” His brother asked, stepping back incredulous and stunned. “But that's awful! Why would father…?”

Taehyung shook his head. “I'll tell you, but not here.”

His brother hummed for a moment before smiling. “To my room then.”

Taehyung extinguished the candle after making sure that all the documents were exactly as they had been before he arrived and even the journal had been returned to the false bottom of the drawer. They locked the door behind them and Taehyung followed his brother through yet another hidden passage that led directly up to his room in order to avoid the many guards that were constantly patrolling around the palace. They almost got caught when a pair of guards rounded a corner much faster than either of them had expected. Taehyung didn't know if the guard had seen them or just heard their footsteps, but they had ducked into a small servant room to hide as the suspicious guards walked by in their search for whoever they had seen.

When they arrived at his brother's room, it had been a while since he had seen it - years even - but yet somehow it still felt as safe and homey as it did before.

“Brother-” Taehyung began, finally ready to begin his explanation of what had actually happened all this time, when the older prince cut him off.

“Taehyung, please. Why are you calling me 'brother’ like we're in the public eye? Just call me Heechul like you used to,” his brother laughed. “You know I don't give a damn about etiquette.”

Taehyung laughed quietly as well. He had always been close with Heechul, even closer than either of them had ever been with their eldest brother. Perhaps it was simply because neither of them were heir apparent, but they had fewer lessons to attend.

Taehyung sat up straight with impeccable posture and spoke in his most diplomatic tone.

“If that is what his highness wishes.”

Even he had to admit that the smack he received for that one was completely justified.

“So tell me, Taehyung, what are these friends of yours like?” Heechul asked, leaning forward in interest. Taehyung grinned, thinking about his friends for a reason other than worry for the first time in a few weeks.

“Oh Heechul,” Taehyung sighed. “They're wonderful. At first glance, one wouldn't think so, but they're actually the sweetest. I learned so much from being there.”

“Come on, stop drawing it out,” Heechul groaned. “What are their names? What do they do? Are any of them your type?”

Taehyung shot his brother a feeble glare because, well, he wasn't wrong, but Taehyung still felt like he had to defend his dignity anyway.

“Namjoon is so kind, he's a genius and he really loves gardening. I'd say that his rose garden is even more grand than ours here,” Taehyung told him, picturing the roses as if they were right there in front of him.

“Seokjin helped to keep everyone in line and is super sweet. If you need someone to talk to, he's always there for you. Yoongi sleeps a lot, but he is probably the wisest out of them all. Hoseok, I didn't have the opportunity to get to know him as much as I would have liked to, but he's very protective of his friends and will do his best to cheer you up when you're sad.”

Taehyung glanced over at his brother who sat there with a soft smile. He urged Taehyung to continue, so he did.

“Jimin was pretty much my best friend there. We're the same age and he loves pulling pranks on the others.”

Taehyung paused for a moment, glancing over at Heechul again.

“Last is Jeongguk. My Gukkie.”

Heechul's eyes narrowed and his grin widened.

“You love him, don't you?”

Taehyung could feel his cheeks redden. “How did you know?”

“You speak of him like our honoured brother-” he said that in a sort of sarcastic drawl that made Taehyung giggle “-speaks of his wife.”

“You're right. He's the one who brought me there and I just found myself falling for him. He's the sweetest and even though he's sometimes a fool, it's endearing.”

“Does he make you happy?”

“Without a doubt,” Taehyung answered immediately.

“Good.”

Heechul seemed so genuinely happy for him that Taehyung was honestly shocked. At the same time, though, his brother's approval meant the world. He couldn't help the fond smile that found its place on his lips.

“Did you know that he went out and tamed a wyvern for me?”

“No!” Heechul gasped, eyes wide. “Tell me more!”

Taehyung laughed but obliged.

“It all began…”

And so they talked until the light of dawn began spilling over the horizon.

Chapter Text

Namjoon glanced around nervously as he approached the previously agreed upon meeting spot to return the tablet. While the original plan had been to bring Jeongguk along so the two could go have some kind of strange magical discussion that he wanted no part of, that was no longer possible after the revelation the other day. If Jeongguk ever met the man, one of them probably wouldn't walk away from the encounter.

To make sure that the sorcerer wouldn't follow him, Namjoon had asked Hoseok and Seokjin to distract him somehow. He probably didn't want to know what, exactly, their plan was. Especially considering the sly grins both of them had gained once he had made his request.

No, it would probably be better for his sanity (or what was left of it at this point) if he never found out.

Namjoon arrived in the clearing and looked around as if Suho could appear from virtually anywhere, including from inside the hollow log that lay slowly decomposing on the forest floor. It was completely possible. Stranger things have happened.

Suho did not, in fact, emerge from the log like some form of elusive forest creature. He walked down the path like a perfectly normal and reasonable individual, to Namjoon's dismay. He had internally hoped for a bit more fanfare but he resigned himself to being slightly disappointed.

“So you came,” Suho said with a small nod of his head.

“I did,” Namjoon replied, a tiny smile playing on his lips. “I'm sorry for being so rude before, I just had to deal with a slight temper tantrum.”

“Not a worry,” Suho replied with a soft smile, “I completely understand.”

“I'm not quite sure that you do,” Namjoon sighed and refused to meet his gaze.

“Oh, really?” Suho wondered. Namjoon nodded and turned his gaze over to the forest, looking at how the sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves to form a speckled pattern on the ground. It was pretty and managed to distract him momentarily from the task at hand.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I'm not sure you realized at first, but it's about that mission that you mentioned.”

“What about it?” Suho asked.

“It was us that you attacked to kidnap the prince.”

Namjoon watched and waited as Suho's eyes lit up in realization.

“Oh,” he gasped. “ Oh. That boy… Jeongguk, right? He was that sorcerer who fought with us, wasn't he?”

“You hit the nail on the head,” Namjoon said and Suho blanched even more.

“So the temper tantrum you mentioned-”

“Yep.”

“He hates us, doesn't he?” Suho muttered, sounding much more despondent than he probably wanted to.

“Also yes,” Namjoon admitted, “but he could potentially forgive you.”

He paused.

“Maybe in a few years.”

Namjoon looked back over at Suho. “This might sound crazy, but I have a question.”

Suho looked at him curiously.

“What kind of question?”

“Do you have any kind of loyalty to the Royal family?” Namjoon wondered as the beginnings of a plan began to form in his head.

“EXO's loyalty is to our current client and to no one else,” Suho answered honestly with a glance that Namjoon clearly interpreted to mean that he hadn't quite caught on to the 5 percent of a plan that was floating around in his mind.

“So, theoretically speaking,” Namjoon began speaking with a tone much more sly than others he'd ever used, “if I was to hire you to retrieve the prince, would you do it.”

Suho grinned. “Now we're talking. We would, provided that you could pay for it. Theoretically, of course.”

“Of course,” Namjoon said with a matching grin. “And how much would that cost me, theoretically speaking?”

Suho hummed as he thought.

“Well, theoretically, it would cost you around this much-” He held up his open hand to imply five thousand “-but there could be added fees for difficulty and danger levels. Theoretically.”

“I see,” Namjoon said, more to himself than anyone else. “Well, I suppose then that we have a deal, in theory.”

“Sounds perfect. I assume you need to discuss this with your friends before we theoretically set anything in stone?” Suho said with a subtle raise of his brows.

“Oh of course,” Namjoon nodded sagely. “I couldn't theoretically make a decision like that and exclude them from it.”

“Well then, I guess it might be a good idea for you to keep the tablet just a little bit longer. When you come to a decision - theoretically - just contact us and then we can discuss the terms of this theoretical contract, okay?”

Namjoon smiled. “Sounds perfect. Of course, this is only theoretical and there's no way of actually proving that this conversation ever actually occurred, right?”

“Of course not, who do you take me for?” Suho grinned and shook Namjoon's hand firmly

Perhaps it was possible for the two of them to become friends after all. Theoretically.

Chapter Text

Taehyung sat in his room, smiling to himself. It had been a few days since he had spoken with his brother, but they had discussed so much more than just his friends and their admittedly hilarious antics. Over the few hours that they had spent talking, Taehyung managed to explain his current situation to Heechul and the two of them even had the beginnings of an escape plan laid out.

The plan, in Taehyung's humble opinion, was decently good for something they had come up with at three in the morning without any kind of rest. While it wasn't anywhere near as dangerous as running through a flaming trash tunnel (Heechul had a weird imagination - they didn't even have anything like that in the palace and Taehyung still had no clue where or how the idea even occurred to him), there were still risks involved with it.

He laid back on his bed with a sigh, staring up at the blank ceiling for minutes on end, just willing the boredom to evaporate into thin air. Due to the increased amount of both patrolling and stationary guards now that the wedding was only four days away, Taehyung knew that there wouldn't be another chance to sneak out of his room and see his brother again. He was stuck in his bedroom for the foreseeable future because frankly, he wasn't sure that he would even have a future once the wedding was over.

Sure, he would have a future, but it wasn't the future that he secretly yearned for. For even the slimmest chance of freedom to be within reach, Taehyung had to place his trust in his brother's ability to figure out the rest of the plan and he had to trust that the others would come for him. That Jeongguk would come for him.

Preferably riding on Tyr's back because god knows that Seoul deserved a bit of terrorizing every once in a while. It would do them some good.

In short, there wasn't much Taehyung could do to pass the time while he waited for everything to come to an end. There weren't any kinds of books in his room since there had never been any point when he could just go to the library and read there. He didn't have ink or paper to journal his last few days as the Prince of Seoul, because either he'd become a consort of Jeju, or if he was rescued, he'd either be disowned by his father or he'd renounce his title - whatever came first. What even was there to do other than eat and sleep?

Apparently, there was plenty. Taehyung began counting all the little imperfections on the stone walls of his room (there were 267 on one column alone!), he reorganized all his clothes by colour and then several hours later redid it by style, he experimented with different hairstyles even though he would never be caught dead outside with all his hair split off into little tufts that stuck out in all directions like some kind of mutant dandelion.

Taehyung had tried meditating for about two minutes before he ached to do something, and so he gave up on that and instead began to tell himself very vivid stories to pass the time. He had gotten halfway through a story where he, Hoseok, Jeongguk, Namjoon, Yoongi, Seokjin and Jimin had all been bards that were recognized across all the kingdoms for their moving lyrics and songs that could pull out emotion from even the most stubborn listener when he stopped to contemplate. Maybe Jeongguk was actually as good of a singer as Taehyung imagined he would be.

That would definitely be something he had to ask when they reunited. If he was right, then Taehyung already knew that he would ask for Jeongguk to sing to him every day. The sorcerer's voice was already incredibly calming and soothing, and Taehyung was certain that it would only become more so when put to song.

He hoped that everyone was doing well and that they weren't worrying too much about him. It wouldn't be a surprise if they were, though. The circumstances of his… retrieval… had been fairly troubling for them and Taehyung couldn't help the sigh that escaped his mouth. He had no doubt that they were preparing to infiltrate the capital on the day of the tournament and he could have vibrated from excitement. They were going to come for him, they would come and they would take him back to where he actually wanted to be instead of being locked up in a gilded cage disguised as a palace.

He was confident that everything would turn out okay, he just had to stay calm and play his part without slipping up. He trusted Heechul unconditionally, and he trusted Jeongguk just as much. It wouldn't be too much longer now.

Chapter Text

Today was the day. The day of truth, their one and only chance. Jeongguk knew that if they messed this up, then their options to get Taehyung back would be severely limited and the danger level would increase exponentially.

Today was the day that they would find out if all their planning and preparations were all for naught. Today was the day of the contest of skill and the group of villains were on their way to the capital. Tensions were high as they walked out of the stronghold and readied themselves for what would probably be the biggest heist of their careers.

Not just anyone was willing to storm the palace, after all, and even fewer would dare to crash a royal wedding.

Jeongguk glanced over at Yoongi who seemed slightly concerned. Of course, that worried everyone else but Jeongguk knew that Yoongi was feeling the pressure most of all. They were relying on him to guide them through the winding cobblestone streets of the capital that wound around the hill in the center, on top of which the palace was located.

It was due to this pressure that Yoongi had been up all night stressing over maps of the capital city instead of getting the dreams that could guarantee their success. Jeongguk already knew that if anything at all went wrong, that Yoongi would blame himself for being unprepared.

He glanced over at Hoseok, who was speaking with Jimin softly - probably trying to help rid Jimin of his anxiety. The mind-wiper had been almost as stressed as Yoongi in the past few days, making them all worry about him. Hoseok had basically been their light in the darkness during the week leading up to the present moment, making jokes and doing his best to keep their spirits up with stories. His bright personality was infectious and Jeongguk knew full well that without him, they wouldn't have been able to handle everything as well as they had.

Out of everyone, though, Namjoon and Seokjin had remained the same people they had always been. Glancing at them now, Jeongguk restrained the urge to laugh. Even at a time like this, the two of them were bickering like a married couple over something.

“No, Namjoon, I am not touching your flying death trap again!” Seokjin shrieked with an accusing finger pointed at the strange machine that Namjoon held in his hands.

“But-” Namjoon began until Seokjin slammed his palms over his ears and started speaking complete gibberish to drown him out. Namjoon pursed his lips and frowned, but Seokjin only returned it with a glare.

“So how are you going to get to the capital?” Namjoon asked with a deadpan expression. “We discussed this last night and you didn't have any protests then.”

“I was paying more attention to making sure Jeongguk didn't pass out in his food, sorry. I'll be travelling on Tyr,” Seokjin answered with a scoff. Jeongguk at least had the dignity to flush, remembering how he had almost ended up with a faceful of dessert after several nights without sleep.

“Tyr is already carrying Jeongguk and Yoongi,” Namjoon argued. “He can only carry two people.”

“Then with Jimin and Hoseok-”

“I can only carry one other person than me, and since he's the smallest, he'll put the least amount of strain on me,” Hoseok cut in with a regretful looking Jimin hovering nervously behind him. Jeongguk heard Seokjin mutter something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'traitor’.

Seokjin turned back to Namjoon with a glare that Jeongguk thought could definitely be fueled by the power of several suns.

“Fine,” he grumbled, stepping onto the board and holding Namjoon's arm in a death grip. “ but, I get to hit you once when we get there as retribution.”

Namjoon shrugged. “Fine with me. Is everyone ready?”

Jeongguk helped Yoongi up onto Tyr's back and he clambered up behind him. Hoseok created two small circles from his blood that solidified under his and Jimin's feet and fastened around them. Namjoon nodded and passed Seokjin a pair of goggles that would protect his eyes during the trip before pulling down his own.

With a final check, they were off. Arriving near the capital took a few hours of travel, Seokjin screaming expletives the entire way until his voice was too hoarse to continue. Vaguely, Jeongguk thought he heard Namjoon's boisterous laugh in response. It made him smile, the scientist had been incredibly busy double and triple checking their plans. He deserved some time to just enjoy himself and Jeongguk felt that Seokjin knew it too. If it really came down to it, Yoongi probably would have switched with him.

When they touched down, Seokjin made true on his promise and punched Namjoon in the arm hard enough that the scientist winced and rubbed the spot with a grimace.

“I guess this isn't a good time to remind you about the return trip,” he muttered, only to receive another glare from Seokjin.

“Now, all we have to do is get inside,” Jimin reminded them all, though luckily the guards weren't checking identification at the gates that day due to the influx of people arriving from around the kingdom for the competition and the wedding.

In no time at all, the group of villains had successfully infiltrated the capital city.

Chapter Text

The king of Seoul sat in his study, frowning at the candle that was a bit more melted than it should have been. Part of him wanted to suspect that someone had broken in, and yet nothing was out of place and the list of people who had a key to that door was extremely short and only listed those that he trusted above all others. Of course, no matter how much he trusted them, there were still secrets that he would never tell.

The curse was one of them.

Not a soul knew of the mistake his great-great-grandfather had made all those years ago. Not a single person knew that he had made a deal with a creature of the underworld, trading his humanity for power. Everyone knew how the king had come to power, ruling with kindness and compassion, but no one knew the price he paid.

It was that creature, that demon, that plagued his family with its curse. With every year, the afflicted would lose a bit more humanity and become more and more like it. Until now, no one had figured out a way to halt the progression, let alone end it completely.

And yet he had.

Making sure the door was locked, he pulled out his journal, a quill and some black ink. Dipping the quill in the ink, the king began to write. Everything was going according to the plan, but deep inside he knew that he could have ended things years ago. It was only his sentimentality that had stopped him.

The king knew deep inside that he would have to end it soon; before he could succumb to the power that beckoned him to go somewhere from which he could never return, before his eldest son would have to bear the burden of the curse, before his youngest learned the truth.

He was maintaining a delicate balance, one where even the slightest upset would certainly send everything he had built crashing to the ground. No, they would never find out. Not if he could prevent it.

If he thought of his plans as a carefully constructed machine, his son, his Taehyung was both the catalyst that would set it off and the reverse switch. The coin that was balanced so precariously on its edge could fall to either side.

In the end, everything came back to the demon. Everything came back to Taehyung.

His son would hopefully never have to know what it was that was inside of him, what had been inside of him since he was only a baby. He would never have to know what his presence did to his father, he would never have to know just how destructive his power could be. While the demon kept the family in power, it was devious and would easily trade sides if given the chance. In fact, the king supposed that it would gladly destroy the entire kingdom for fun.

His hand stilled above the page, ink slowly dripping off the quill and falling onto the paper like the tears that threatened to fall down his face. Setting the quill down, he buried his face in his hands and allowed himself to cry. Being king meant making difficult decisions. It meant making painful ones, heartbreaking ones. It meant making decisions that would leave him devastated and only a shell of the man he had once been. In the end, those decisions were necessary and it was his duty to shoulder the weight of the consequences.

His father had told him that this curse would destroy their family one day, just as his father's father had years before, but it wasn't until Taehyung that he realized just how true that statement was. Once everything was over he would weep and look back at this time, a time when he could pretend to dream that they would all have futures where they were happy. Instead, he would be left without a curse, with an heir who was blind to the truth, a son who would surely despise him and Taehyung.

Taehyung, his youngest son, who would be left to bear the weight of his sins. Taehyung, who didn't know what was in his future. Taehyung, who didn't know how big his role in all of this actually was.

Taehyung who was the key to everything.

He knew that sending him away to Jeju was cruel, he knew that Taehyung didn't agree, but he did it anyway because he was a coward. He didn't want to have to face the music just yet, he didn't want to have to do what must be done. He wanted his son to live in beautiful ignorance for just a little longer - it was the least he could do. Taehyung would live the best life he could in the time that remained for him.

After all, Taehyung's life and the demon's were intrinsically, irreversibly tied together.

To break the curse, his son would have to die.

Chapter Text

Once inside the city of Seoul for which the kingdom was named, the group of patchwork villains found themselves actually attempting to enjoy the festival. The competition of skill wouldn't be until that afternoon, and they had decided that it would be for the best if they were seen walking around instead of only showing up at the competition.

Hoseok grabbed Jeongguk's arm and dragged the surprised sorcerer behind him as he marched off toward a food stand, boisterously exclaiming his intentions to try every single type of food available. For his part, Jeongguk just sighed and went along with it, knowing full well that it wouldn't stop Hoseok even if he protested.

“This looks delicious!” He exclaimed, clapping his hands together in joy after stopping in front of one stand where a man was flipping something that slightly resembled pancakes. “Jeongguk, you have to try this with me.”

Before Jeongguk could even formulate a response, Hoseok had already gone ahead, bought two, and handed one to him with a grin. He took it and smiled before remembering something important.

“Ah, I'll pay you back later-”

“Banish the thought,” Hoseok scoffed, “all day today it's my treat. I know you're stressed so just take some time to relax and let me handle things. It'll do you good, I promise.”

Jeongguk pursed his lips. “If you say so.”

Hoseok nodded once before biting into the fluffy pastry and letting out a moan of satisfaction. “Gods, this is just as good as it looks - no, it's better!”

He turned and pointed a finger at the sorcerer with a sly grin.

“If you don't eat yours, you just might find it gone.”

Jeongguk let out a giggle in response and shoved much more of the pastry than he probably should have into his mouth. Hoseok snorted and started laughing at him, but no matter how much he wanted to come back with a sassy retort, his mouth was much too full to get out anything other than muffled grunts.

“Oh my god, you look like a hamster,” Hoseok wheezed through his laughter. Jeongguk huffed, but inside he was smiling. Hoseok had been stressed too - keeping all of their spirits up was tough work and he knew that. It didn't matter if he was making a bit of a fool out of himself, as long as his friend could smile and laugh like that.

Yoongi found himself walking at a leisurely pace next to Jimin who simply seemed more in awe of the overall atmosphere than any of the specific events or stands that lined the curving streets. He wasn't sure what compelled him to follow the younger man, but he figured that it would be better and quieter than if he had stayed with Namjoon and Seokjin. Jimin was a fairly quiet person and he was sure that if he asked, the mind-wiper would let him sleep in peace. God, he was tired.

“Yoongi?” Jimin asked, breaking Yoongi out of his thoughts. He blinked his eyes blearily and yawned, covering his mouth with a hand.

“Yeah?” Another yawn. “What is it?”

Jimin shuffled nervously. “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to try any of the games but I realized that I never actually asked you if you wanted to come with me. Sorry about that.”

“Don't worry,” Yoongi told him, “If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be.”

Jimin seemed to relax a bit, the amount of fidgeting decreasing exponentially, but he still seemed somewhat nervous. Yoongi didn't know why he had to be, it wasn't like he was going to bite his head off for stepping wrong or anything.

“You seem really tired though…” Jimin said quietly. Yoongi frowned a bit in response.

“I'm fine, don't worry about me.”

Jimin seemed to hesitate but relented soon enough. They walked around and played a few games, ate some food and Jimin had somehow convinced Yoongi to get his face painted with the challenger's colours. Eventually, Jimin stretched his arms high above his head and sat down beneath a tree to escape the sun that had been beating down on them all day. Yoongi sat down next to him tiredly and he couldn't help shooting Jimin the tiniest of glares when he giggled.

“You know, if you're tired, you can just sleep. Thanks for keeping me company so far, but I'm not going to hold you back all day.”

Yoongi wanted to protest but they both knew that he was completely exhausted. He let his eyes fall shut and if he was imagining Jimin shifting him so his head was in his lap, Yoongi didn't mention it. He also didn't feel like protesting when the younger man gently brushed his bangs off his face. It was oddly soothing in a way, and Yoongi drifted off with a smile.

Namjoon, on the other hand, groaned and held his head in his hand. The endless bickering with Seokjin, though both of them knew it wasn't malicious in the least, was beginning to give him a headache. He had known that Seokjin wouldn't be pleased with using the Voliter but he hadn't been prepared for this.

“Namjoon,” Seokjin said after a moment of brief silence. “I'm sorry.”

“What for?” Namjoon asked, blinking his eyes rapidly in surprise. It wasn't exactly something he was accustomed to, after all.

“For punching you. That wasn't really fair of me.” Seokjin looked slightly ashamed and it took the scientist off guard. “I'll just suck it up on the return trip, I promise.”

“Really, it's fine,” Namjoon tried to protest but Seokjin shook his head.

“That wasn't nice of me, especially after everything you've done for all of us.” Seokjin glanced away.

Namjoon couldn't help but sigh. “If I accept your apology, will you let it go? I have something I need to do before the competition.”

Though Seokjin seemed to look slightly confused, he nodded his acceptance nonetheless. Good. He could work with that.

The two of them wormed their way through the dense crowds that filled up the streets, making sure to stop for a snack or two (... Or three, or four, or ten). Eventually, Namjoon grinned as he saw a specific shop and he led Seokjin toward it by the hand. He heard Seokjin's sharp intake of breath as he realized just who was standing outside and he could feel Seokjin grow tense.

“Namjoon, he's-”

“I know,” Namjoon cut him off. Seokjin pulled him to a stop and stared at him incredulously.

“That's one of the guys who took Taehyung!” He raged. “You aren't going to attack him?”

“Don't worry, just trust me. Okay?” Namjoon smiled softly and he watched as Seokjin huffed but relented. With a smile, he approached Suho and greeted the man with a firm handshake.

“Good to see that you made it,” Suho said. “I guess it's time to start getting this show on the road.

Chapter Text

Taehyung knew that there wasn't much more he could do once he had been fetched from his room to join his father and fiancé for lunch. Usually, he would have been brought down for dinner, but due to the king and prince's mandatory attendance at the competition of skill that would be held that afternoon, they wouldn't be returning until after the dinner hour. Taehyung didn't mind that at all, it would give him a few more moments to be himself before everything inevitably went to hell.

He suspected that his friends had already made their way into the city and were likely preparing themselves for the competition. He would be watching - or more accurately, listening - from his room and internally cheering them on. He knew they would win whatever challenge was placed in front of them. If there was anything he had confidence in, it was his friends’ abilities to adapt and strategize.

While they would surely be gearing up for the challenges, it was Taehyung's turn to face his own. He followed behind the guards that led him down to the grand hall where their lunch would be served in just under an hour. Of course, they had to have time enough for polite conversation and politics before the meal would be placed on the table.

With every step that he took, he felt as if he were standing in a room with walls that were slowly closing in on him, ready to crush him into nothing more than a pancake. The pressure was so overwhelming that he could feel his heart beating out of his skin and his head grew fuzzy with the stress. The guards pushed open the large doors that led to the great hall and Taehyung stepped in with confidence that he didn't feel.

He saw his father already seated at the head of the table, his vaguely disappointed expression frozen like stone on his face, and his fiancé, a plain looking man who didn't appear to have any distinctive characteristics to the point where not a soul would notice him if it weren't for his titles and wealth. Yes, Taehyung thought to himself, this was the man he was supposed to marry against his will.

Keeping his emotions under lock and key, Taehyung took the seat that was pulled out specifically for him and sat silently, waiting for one of the others to speak first. His father stared at him impassively for several moments before breaking the silence.

“Your Highness,” he said, addressing the prince, “I would like you to be officially introduced to my third son, his Royal Highness, Prince Kim Taehyung of Seoul.”

The prince turned to look at him with a deceptive smile and Taehyung fought the urge to shudder under the scrutiny from both of them.

“It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Taehyung responded quietly with a bow of his head. He kept his eyes locked on the floor, refusing to lift them lest he make eye contact inappropriately.

“Indeed it is,” the prince said. “It will be wonderful to have someone of such considerable beauty around to brighten the atmosphere back in Jeju. I can already say with certainty that my Queen Mother and the public will adore you.”

While Taehyung subconsciously knew that he should have been flattered, he didn't think so. That wasn't all it was. That was never all it was. There were surely ulterior motives from both sides, though he was only aware of one. What the Jejun prince had in store for him was a complete mystery.

Thankfully, the food arrived shortly thereafter, sparing him from any further awkward conversation. As he chewed his food daintily, his mind running through the etiquette rules that had been drilled into him since his childhood (place your napkin on your lap before you begin your meal, never put too much in your mouth at once, always eat with sophistication and grace, always leave a small amount of food behind to show that you ate your fill), Taehyung looked down at the drinks contemplatively.

It would be wonderful if he could only slip some of his nightshade berry juice into them, a treacherous part of his mind whispered. Another part reluctantly agreed that if he hadn't had the knowledge that his friends were coming for him, then he probably would have done it. While poison wasn't how he ever expected to go, it probably wouldn't be the worst end possible. Of course, he hoped that everyone would be successful and that he would be freed from his gilded prison within the next twenty-four hours.

“Is the food to your liking?” The prince inquired, breaking Taehyung out of his reverie. It seemed like the man was actually trying to seem personable and he was doing his best to make an effort to get to know him.

“It is,” he agreed, banishing any remaining vestiges of those thoughts from his mind and focusing instead on his mask that was threatening to crack under the pressure it had been put under. He had one last act to go, and he'd be damned if he didn't play his role well.

Chapter Text

The signups for the contest of skill had opened only a few minutes before and Namjoon had made sure to round up the rest of his wayward villain posse as quickly as possible. After meeting with Suho, explaining the situation to Seokjin, and ironing out the final details of the plan, they were ready to get the ball rolling. With a flourish, Namjoon signed them up one by one on the sheet.

“Alright, since nothing will happen until tomorrow, we have to at least give a good showing that would explain why we're here while also not giving too much away,” Namjoon explained once he had pulled the others off to the side. “Why would that be?”

Of course, while they were doing this as an alibi and to have fun, it didn't mean he couldn't sneak a lesson in.

“We don't want them to be able to counter our abilities,” Seokjin answered easily, earning an approving nod from Namjoon.

“Exactly!” He continued. “We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves either. In other words, reign in your competitive spirits and make sure to lose sometimes. If we win too many it will just make us seem more suspicious.”

Jeongguk frowned and Namjoon sent him a questioning glance.

“I wanted to win though…”

“Namjoon's right, you know,” Yoongi cut in. “We have to pass under the radar if we can.”

Hoseok hummed and nodded his head in understanding. “In other words, we have to intentionally sign up for events that we know we can lose.”

Namjoon smiled and nodded before gesturing for them to take a look at what was available and to put their names down on the lists. He, himself, went and did the same. This would surely be one interesting afternoon.

.

Hoseok stood ready with a bow in his hands, smiling at the familiarity of the weight in his hands. He had already nocked the arrow and held the bowstring ready to draw, the arrow facing down as a safety measure.

“Draw!”

He lifted the bow up and pulled the bowstring back to his ear with three fingers, lining up his shot according to the wind. His eyes narrowed and he focused intently on the target, letting everything else melt away except for himself, the bow, and his target.

“Fire!”

He released the bowstring, sending the arrow hurtling through the air and he watched with a small smile as the wind pushed the arrow to exactly where he wanted it to be. A perfect ten points.

.

Jeongguk stood facing his opponent, both of them silent and still as they waited for the call. When they were told to start, then it would be war. He stared into his adversary's eyes as if trying to pry their secrets from their head.

“Begin!”

He lifted his fist and brought it down three times.

“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”

He stared down blankly at their hands. At his scissors, and at the rock that crushed it.

“Nooooo!” He wailed, falling to his knees and staring longingly at his beautiful scissors. “How could you have betrayed me like this!?”

If he needed to be dragged off the playing field by a slightly embarrassed referee, he made sure to not mention that simple fact to anyone later.

.

Namjoon sat calmly at a table with a piece of parchment in front of him and an ink-dipped quill in his hands.

“The questions will now begin. Please write all your responses down on the parchment and we will say the answers at the end.”

Namjoon smiled unassumingly and prepared his mind. He would not lose this one.

“We hurt without moving. We poison without touching. We bear the truth and the lies. We are not to be judged by our size. What are we?”

He scrawled the answer down without a second thought. Simple.

“I’m always there, some distance away. Somewhere between land or sea and sky, I lay. You may move towards me, yet distant I stay.”

Another easy one.

“You start with 1000 then add 40 add another 1000 then add 30 add another 1000 then add 20 add one more 1000 then add 10 what is your answer?”

Ah, some basic math. Namjoon grinned to himself. This competition was barely more than child's play and yet some of his competition seemed to be struggling. All the better for him.

“The final question!” The voice boomed after several more minutes of riddles.

“There is a word in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?”

This question made Namjoon smile. It was only fitting, he supposed, since most of his competitors were men and likely were not as much of a feminist as he, himself was. It was unlikely that they would know that answer. With a satisfied feeling inside, Namjoon placed down his quill and waited with the knowledge that he had answered every single question correctly.

.

Yoongi stared down at the pie in front of him with a sigh. How Jimin had managed to talk him into entering an eating competition was anybody’s guess. They had all expected Jeongguk to jump at the opportunity to eat even more food, but he had instead stormed off toward a different sign-up sheet.

It didn't matter. He would try this, though he wasn't expecting to win. His main goal was to finish the competition without throwing up because he would much rather have his food stay digested, thank you very much. As the announcer called for them to begin, Yoongi took his first few bites.

Oh well, at least it was a flavour he enjoyed.

.

Seokjin had somehow allowed himself to be roped into participating in a team game with people he had never met. While he would have loved to compete with all his friends, Namjoon had reminded him that if they did do that, their team would be much too stacked and they wouldn't be able to keep the attention off of them for too long. He had played tug-of-war once or twice before but never had he felt actual bloodlust in the process. He sighed and gripped the rope between his hands.

It was just a game, why were people getting so worked up about it? He readied himself as the second one from the anchor - who was a large man that had all but claimed the position by force and refused to take no for an answer - and pulled with all his might once the game had begun.

He might not be the best at these sorts of games, but he'd be damned if he just let his team lose.

.

Jimin pursed his lips and exhaled heavily. Sure, he enjoyed dancing and simply letting his body flow along to the music, but that didn't mean he knew all the dances in the world.

“Stupid Namjoon,” he grumbled to himself as he changed into the required outfit. Sure, he was born and raised in the kingdom of Seoul, but his childhood was spent learning the rules of villainy instead of the normal activities that most children would have participated in.

As a result, Jimin was panicking slightly. He knew full well that he wouldn't do well in this competition, and maybe that was the intention, but it still bothered him that he couldn't simply dance the way he wanted.

No, Namjoon had signed him up for a competition for Seoul's traditional dances.

Of which he knew a grand total of zero.

This was definitely going to end well.

Chapter Text

Taehyung sat on the floor of his gilded prison, leaning back against the wall. He could hear the cheers and celebration from the city as the citizens rejoiced and encouraged the competitors of the afternoon. The noises were still faint and barely managed to make their way up the hill to the palace, but somehow the whispers of euphoria found their way to him.

He allowed a smile to find its way onto his face as he imagined his friends completely decimating the competition with their abilities. Of course, he knew that it wasn't as likely for them to go all out just for a competition, but he couldn't even see them to disprove it. He might as well imagine anything he wanted and picture them all smiling, happy and safe.

Taehyung imagined Jimin's smile as he came first place in a race, leaving all his opponents in the dust behind him. He imagined Seokjin grinning widely and Hoseok smirking as the two of them obliterated the others at a team game, even going so far as to have a complicated handshake after the fact. He pictured Yoongi lightly dozing off beneath a tree, sheltered by the massive branches and the shade it provided. He watched as Jeongguk took a huge bite out of one of Seoul's many delicacies and beamed as he savoured the taste. He saw Namjoon watching over them all with a satisfied look on his face, one that said that he did not - not even for a single moment - regret taking them on as students.

Even though he knew it was simply his imagination, Taehyung wanted nothing more than to be right there with them; playing the games, tasting the food, enjoying himself, and, above all else, he wanted to be there without the worry that he would soon have to return and face the reality that he so desperately wanted to ignore.

A glance over at his locked door made him sigh again. The guards stationed outside his door were meant to protect him, and yet he knew that they were also intended to keep him locked inside. There was nothing to do other than imagine and he realized quickly that it wouldn't be good to get too caught up in those fantasies and forget entirely about what was to come.

He knew it was hopeless to try anything now, not at this point in the game. His best chance would be to wait until the next morning, to have confidence in his friends, to trust Heechul, and to trust Jeongguk. Above all, he trusted Jeongguk with his heart and his life.

Until then, all he could do was sit quietly in his room and hope that everything would go according to their hastily thrown together plan. He had to believe that it would succeed because if he didn't, then all would already be lost.

The wedding was to be held in less than twenty-four hours with only three meals separating him from his wedding supper - not that he would actually be in attendance. Taehyung hugged his knees close to his body and let his head hang as he tried to forget just how monumental their adversary was. Not only were they opposing the King of Seoul, but they were also making enemies of Jeju as well. If even a single thing went wrong, it could ruin everything.

Taehyung's eyes narrowed. Above all, though, it was himself that he was most worried about. His birthmark - no, not a birthmark - his lock was feeling warm again. He was the lock, the jail, and the jailer all in one, and his prisoner was his family's demon.

If, by some horrible stroke of misfortune, the proper key was used, it could break free and do whatever it so chose. The creature had tried to communicate with him several times, though he had never let it get as far as the previous time. He had no desire to revisit that world of melting colours and the overwhelmingly oppressive feelings that slammed into him as the demon used them to communicate. Once was bad enough.

With a sigh, he tilted his head back until it rested on the cool stone and let go of his legs to stretch them out. Being a prisoner in one's own home didn't exactly offer many opportunities for exercise. He desperately needed to take a walk and get some fresh air but there was no way his guards would allow him out.

No, the next opportunity would come at the ceremony that he dreaded so much, and so he would sit quietly and unassumingly until the time came. When it did… Well...

Taehyung couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips. They would never know what had hit them.

Chapter Text

The final stages of the competition were fast approaching and everyone had gathered together to recount how they had done. True to their plan, they had each made sure to fail an equal number of challenges to the ones that they did well in. Seokjin watched with barely concealed amusement as Jeongguk told everyone, in an extremely animated fashion, about his victory in a trivial art competition and his subsequent defeat in rock paper scissors.

None of them were exactly surprised by the fact that he had lost - they had all won against him countless times, after all. When he had asked Jeongguk weeks ago about his strange strategy, the sorcerer had simply puffed out his chest and had told him, rather proudly, might he add, that paper was wimpy, rock was cowardly, and only the truly brave use scissors.

Seokjin really didn't care all that much, but it was a surefire way to ensure that he could always pass off his chores to the younger boy. Oh well. At least he stuck to his ideal and didn't let something as petty as defeat make him waver from it. Honestly, in the villain business sometimes conviction was the most important thing to have - even more so than power or intelligence.

Speaking of power, Seokjin tuned back into the conversation, listening as Namjoon reminded them about their limitations during the combat section. In only the most dire of circumstances would they be able to use their full power, and while showing off was fine, they couldn't overdo it.

The last thing they wanted was to draw too much attention to themselves.

“I'll probably sit this one out,” Seokjin admitted. When the others looked at him curiously, he elaborated.

“I'm not really a combat-type in the first place anyway, and I don't want to end up injured before tomorrow. I'll cheer you on, though!”

He noticed Yoongi glance at the others before shrugging. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I need to get some rest too. Have fun and don't die.”

Namjoon nodded. “I'm not going to fight either. I don't want to use too many of the things I have hidden up my sleeve before I have to.”

“So it's just the three of us then?” Jimin asked, glancing at Hoseok and Jeongguk. Hoseok nodded and Seokjin couldn't help but smile when Jeongguk let out an exuberant yell of agreement.

Jimin grinned. “Then we'd better give a decent showing, right?”

“Right,” Namjoon agreed. “If you feel like your opponent is pushing you toward using more power, don't hesitate to forfeit. Sure, it can be a blow to your pride, but the element of surprise is much more important. Understand?”

“Got it,” Hoseok replied. “Make sure to have some victory snacks ready for us when we get back.”

He glanced over at Seokjin and he nodded. He heard the message loud and clear.

“I wonder how this is going to work,” Jeongguk mused with a glance over his shoulder in the direction of the arena.

“Probably just one-on-one matches,” Jimin told him. Jeongguk huffed.

“Where's the fun in that? It doesn't get interesting until you're fighting on a rooftop, waiting to see who will make a mistake and plummet to their death. Or on the edge of a cliff!”

“You've been daydreaming too much,” Seokjin said with an exasperated shake of his head.

Jeongguk glared. “Have not.”

“Have too,” Seokjin countered with a grin. “Don't think I haven't seen you regaling Tyr with all your fantasies.”

Jeongguk's face quickly flushed red and he sputtered helplessly for a few moments, causing Seokjin to want to tease him more.

“You- you have no proof!” He retorted and if the others were starting to pay more attention to them, well, that was fine.

“No proof, you say?” He challenged, raising an eyebrow. “You really want to test that theory?”

“What-”

“Oh Tyr,” Seokjin began, changing his voice just enough to tease the sorcerer. “Do you think that Taehyung would be pleased if we flew in and swept him off his feet? Do you think he'd let me kiss him?”

Jeongguk took a step back. “I never said that.”

“You did,” Hoseok coughed under his breath and Seokjin just had to let out a wheeze and start laughing. He couldn't help it!

“I- what- no!” Jeongguk protested in vain.

“Give it up,” Hoseok chuckled. “I heard it too.”

“You guys suck,” he muttered and Seokjin reached out to ruffle his hair.

“For what it's worth, I think it's adorable. I'm positive Taehyung will be thrilled to see you again.” He drew the sorcerer into a hug and gave him a tight squeeze. He leaned in close and then whispered into Jeongguk's ear.

“I'm sure you'll get to kiss him too.”

Jeongguk pushed him away out of embarrassment, but there was no hiding the small smile on his face. As he walked away to go prepare for the upcoming matches, Seokjin heard him whisper with a wistful sigh.

“I hope so.”

Chapter Text

The tournament style battles were set to begin in a few minutes, and Namjoon was just going over some last-minute tips and encouragements before he, alongside Yoongi and Seokjin, had to leave. Jimin puffed his bangs out of his eyes and glanced over toward Hoseok, who seemed just as amused as he was. Jeongguk, on the other hand, was listening intently to Namjoon and seemed to be soaking in all the information that he could.

Though the other three wouldn't be competing in the battles, Jimin was sure that they would be cheering them on. Of course, Yoongi might sleep through the whole thing, but Jimin wanted to believe that the eternally tired man would be there supporting them. With some quick goodbyes and wishes of good luck, Namjoon, Seokjin and Yoongi left the competitors’ area. Jeongguk seemed to be almost vibrating in excitement as he looked around at the people who could end up being their opponents. Hoseok excused himself to go get some water and left Jimin alone to try and seem as unassuming and unthreatening as possible. It would be simpler later if he didn't stand out or draw attention to himself.

Maybe it was just his instincts and training kicking in, but Jimin was confident that he would do well enough before purposefully failing near the middle of the competition. While he was sure he could easily eke out a win against almost everyone in the room, he didn't want to paint a target on his back. On the other hand, completely losing would be much easier, but he had too much pride to allow himself to fail in his very first match.

A murmur washed over the crowd as the brackets were posted and Jimin scanned it for just long enough to know that neither Jeongguk nor Hoseok were in a bracket with each other. In other words, unless they didn't stick to the plan and drop out, they wouldn't ever have to face each other. That was a good thing. Namjoon had mourned the loss of his roses many a time after their training sessions.

The first few matches passed without much fuss - some of them evenly matched and some so unfairly onesided that Jimin had to feel at least a bit of pity for the loser. He watched as Hoseok danced gracefully around his opponent with a smile and a laugh that only served to infuriate the other man more. Though it was obvious to anyone who knew him that Hoseok was toying with him, he still managed to make it seem like the loser posed a bit of a challenge. He stormed out of the ring - the very picture of a sore loser - and Jimin had to hold back his laughter. That guy really had no idea just how lucky he was to even be alive. When Hoseok returned, he made sure to give him a high five and a hug.

“You did great out there!” He said, smiling kindly.

“Thanks, pretending to be weaker than you actually are is harder than it looks,” Hoseok replied, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Jimin shook his head.

“I would have fallen for it if I didn't know you so well. Don't stress it, I knew you'd be able to do it.”

Hoseok grinned and glanced off to his left. “Jeongguk on the other hand… does that boy even know the meaning of restraint?”

Jimin sighed and shrugged, conveying his message perfectly. Hoseok sighed as well, but they both returned their attention to the ring, watching more extras fight amongst themselves.

Jeongguk's match happened soon after, the first in the second bracket, in fact. Hoseok clapped a hand down on his shoulder before be went out and whispered in his ear.

“Remember, don't go overboard.”

“Please,” Jeongguk drawled with a teasing grin, “have some faith in me.”

Jimin chuckled. “Good luck.”

Jeongguk only shot them a grateful smile before heading out for his match. That battle didn't last long, and it wasn't even because of Jeongguk's skill. No, his opponent just sucked that badly. All the sorcerer had to do to secure victory was sneak up behind him and hit him over the head with his staff. That was it. Not a drop of magic required.

Admittedly, it was quite underwhelming and sure enough, Jeongguk came back pouting that he hadn't even gotten to use his genius plan to win.

“Just save it for a later match,” Hoseok suggested. “What is your plan anyway?”

Jeongguk smiled a bit before pointing over at a column located in the corner of the field.

“If I make them hit that just right, it will fall on them. I'd make sure it doesn't kill them, of course - this is just a silly competition, not a single person here is worth killing anyway - but it would definitely put them out of commission.”

“That's dumb, but it's so dumb that it's practically foolproof,” Jimin remarked in surprise. “I'm shocked.”

“Told you that you needed to have more faith in me,” Jeongguk huffed. Hoseok only laughed and ruffled his hair endearingly.

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

They waited through the rest of the second bracket, the third, and a bit of the fourth before Jimin was up. With words of encouragement and luck from his friends and, after glancing up at the stands, support from the others, Jimin was ready. He stared down his opponent and smiled as he tightened the knot on his headband that he had tied around his head a few moments earlier to keep his bangs out of his eyes. It was showtime.

Chapter Text

Taehyung inhaled deeply when he woke up the next morning. It was doomsday. If things didn't go according to plan, in less than twelve hours he'd be a married man. Of course, he had faith in his brother and friends. They would get him out of here, he knew that they would.

However, that was not what he had to focus on now. He sat up in bed once he heard the click of a key in the lock and the sound of the door opening. The same servant girl from before stepped in hesitantly and bowed her head.

“Your Highness, I have brought your breakfast,” she said without lifting her head.

“Thank you,” he answered honestly. “I'm sure I'll enjoy it.”

She placed it down on a small side table next to him and stepped back, fidgeting slightly as if she wanted to say something more, but wasn't sure if she could.

“Yes?” He asked, smiling softly at her. “If you have something you need to say, don't be afraid to.”

Her eyes widened and her head whipped up in surprise before squeaking in embarrassment and looking away again.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Your Highne-”

“Taehyung.”

“P-pardon?” She stuttered, seeming dumbfounded as the prince grinned at her.

“Please, just call me Taehyung. I won't exactly be the prince of Seoul by the end of the day, so I might as well start getting used to it, right?” His eyes twinkled with mirth and he almost felt bad since she seemed so shocked that he was actually afraid she'd pass out.

“I… I suppose,” she finally said. “But, um, I wanted to ask if the chef's special meal was to your liking.”

“Oh, it was wonderful!” Taehyung replied immediately because it truly had been. Even that little bit of freedom that they had given him was so meaningful. His eyes narrowed slyly as he smiled.

“In fact, it was so wonderful that I'd like to have it again. Do you think you could pass the message to the chef to be expecting a rather large order later today?”

Her eyes widened imperceptibly as she realized what he was insinuating and she grinned in return.

“Of course, it would be my pleasure. How many plates should he be expected to make?”

“Oh, at least six,” Taehyung replied. Good. There wasn't much he could do, but at the very least he could inform the servants that were on his side to be expecting company. “Make sure that the places are set up at the wedding.”

With a small curtsey and a wink, she left to go pass on the message. Taehyung ate his breakfast in silence, enjoying it while it lasted. Knowing how royal weddings usually went, he was well aware that the entire morning would be a frenzy of getting him ready.

Not for the first time, Taehyung really hoped that their half-baked, convoluted plan would actually work. That plan that he and Heechul had come up with early in the morning was simple - almost infuriatingly so - but it should serve its purpose. Their part was the easy one, it was his friends who would have to go through much more trouble to succeed.

Taehyung knew that with their plan, he couldn't get away. He knew that. But that wasn't the intention anyway.

No, their plan was simply to buy time for the others’ plan to work.

Until then, he had to play the perfect prince. He had to let old ladies fuss over the state of his hair, exactly what shade of green would bring out his eyes the most, ensuring that his makeup was subtle (but not so subtle that it was offensive), and reminding him that his lunch had to be virtually nonexistent so nothing would ruin all their hard work. In short, he had to let others push him around all day as he waited for the actual ceremony to happen.

Of course, in most cases it would be the bride going through all of this and the husband wouldn't have to bother until a few hours in advance, but not him. For all intents and purposes, Taehyung was the bride. After all, he was being given away to another kingdom.

It didn't matter. Soon enough he would be free.

The door creaked open again and the servant girl returned to take away his dishes.

“The chef says he will gladly make those extra meals for you and that he is honoured to be entrusted with such an… important… task. Anything for the prince on his wedding day,” she said with a smile.

Taehyung couldn't help the smile on his face either. Slowly but surely, things were clicking into place, and even though he couldn't make any huge differences in how the day would go, he hoped his subtle manipulations of things from the background would turn the tide, ever so slightly, more in their favour.

Chapter Text

Namjoon had called them to his room early in the morning and Jeongguk knew then and there that this was real. It was happening. Their one and only chance to retrieve Taehyung from his unpleasant fate. While he would usually have been dead on his feet and barely able to walk in a straight line, the anticipation had kept him from sleeping all that well the night before. Instead, Jeongguk was pretty much the most awake member of their little villain club.

“So,” Jimin began with a yawn, “are we just going over last-minute corrections to the plan or what?”

Namjoon exchanged a glance with Seokjin - which was most definitely suspicious by Jeongguk standards - before shrugging.

“In a sense. I just wanted to make sure you were all aware of some… Complications.”

Hoseok narrowed his eyes. “What kinds of complications, Namjoon?”

He sighed and leaned back against the wall, legs crossed on the bed.

“Nothing bad, well, nothing that bad. Promise.”

He fell silent, almost as if he were contemplating, until Seokjin groaned.

“Namjoon, the more you put it off, the worse it becomes. Just blurt it out and be done with it.”

Jeongguk found himself nodding in agreement. He really wanted to know what the deal was, dammit, and every moment they wasted was another moment keeping him from Taehyung's side. Just ignore the fact that they wouldn't even be able to get to him until the ceremony. It was the principle of the thing.

“I've hired some people to help us distract the guards while we take Taehyung and run,” Namjoon told them and Jeongguk felt the distinctive sensation of being incredibly underwhelmed.

“That's it?” He asked while narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “That doesn't sound like much of a complication to me, so what's the catch?”

At that, Namjoon stiffened and Seokjin rolled his eyes.

“What he's struggling to say is that he's recruited those mercenaries to help us out. They're a neutral party with no actual loyalty to the King, and they feel kind of bad for crushing your hopes and dreams so they gave us a discount. Happy now?”

Jeongguk's world screeched to a halt.

What did he just say?

His magic began writhing within him, barely containable with the amount of emotional turmoil he was currently in. Even the mention of those people elicited such a response as all.his mind was filled with was the image of Taehyung's limp body being carried by a strange man before disappearing in front of him as if he had never existed in the first place. And now Namjoon - Namjoon of all people! - wanted him to work with the people who took everything from him.

The pressure built up and compressed and compressed and compressed more until a single drop could probably explode with the force of a cannon. He was so angry, so lost and broken and then and then and then-

And then all was silent.

Jeongguk blinked and looked around the room curiously. Several of his friends were plastered up against the wall in awkward and even slightly painful looking positions while the others looked at him warily. Jimin stood in front of him, however, completely unfazed. He tossed up one of his stones and let it spin in the air before catching it again.

“Alright, so now that you're calm and not trying to murder anyone, let's have a peaceful discussion. Okay?” he drawled. Hoseok sighed loudly from his seat on the floor.

“Great, now we have to re-explain everything.”

Jimin turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “What do you prefer, a bit more talking or a rogue sorcerer, dead friends and thousands in property damage?”

Hoseok shut up but Jimin's words confused Jeongguk. He didn't want to murder anyone, but why did everyone look so nervous? He shook his head to get the thought out of his mind and focused back on the conversation.

“You said something about a complication?”

Seokjin groaned and threw his hands up in the air before walking out of the room, declaring that he was going to go eat something and that it was someone else's turn to deal with this.

“So basically, if they're wearing the uniform of the royal guard, don't trust them. If they look like they're from Jeju, don't trust them. If anyone is fighting them, don't interfere. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. You got that?” Yoongi asked dryly. It made enough sense to him, so he nodded in agreement.

“Yep! If they attack me, they're the enemy. Ignore everyone else.” Jeongguk grinned confidently, quite proud of himself.

“There,” Yoongi muttered. “Done. That wasn't so hard. Honestly, can't people just trust that everything will turn out fine in the end?”

Jeongguk simply smiled in blissful ignorance.

Chapter Text

Taehyung stood nervously in his room with a veritable horde of old women tutting and fussing with his hair, moving each strand this way and that, arguing over which way was better. Honestly, he couldn't care less. It was one hair. No one would notice if he had a single, solitary hair out of place.

They would, however, notice the look of complete and utter distaste on his face as he was made to wear a horrid combination of Seoul and Jeju's colours. Normally, they wouldn't look so bad together, it was just that he didn't particularly want to wear them. But no, his father had decreed it so he said bye bye to his own opinions.

The wedding would start in only a few minutes, and Taehyung was desperately hoping that everything was going according to plan so far. The last thing that they needed was for something, anything, to go wrong. He wished he could have checked to see if the chef had found his friends and helped them sneak inside just as he had requested, but had he done that, he could have drawn attention to them and ruined everything.

So instead, he stood nervously waiting for his cue to go out and face the music. To face the crowds and the cheers. To face his fiancé, and to face his father. At the very least, Heechul would be there as a friendly and reassuring presence, subtly reminding him that they still had a chance.

Anticipation.

The feeling ricocheted around inside his head and Taehyung struggled to stamp it down. He didn't need the demon to make an appearance now. He took a deep breath and did his best to relax. He had to stay in control.

He could hear the music as it swelled and the muted cheers of the people as the procession began. Just arriving would be a spectacle, but leaving would be even more of one, not that anyone knew how Taehyung was planning to leave in the first place.

When the stylists finally left him alone, he was led by a guard to the carriage that would bring him to the sacred field upon which he was supposed to get married. He stepped up into it, taking care to not sully any of his clothes (the stylists would have his head, prince or not) and sat down on the cushioned seat.

Playing the part for the last time, Taehyung plastered a smile on his face that he hoped didn't seem too fake and waved to the citizens of Seoul who had gathered on the street just to see him for a split-second. Mounted guards from Seoul were joined by a group from Jeju as they continued through the city and despite his overall dissatisfaction, Taehyung had to admit that they were quite the sight.

Not even his eldest brother's marriage to a noble girl from a neighbouring kingdom had been this intricate or grand. If he wasn't such an integral part of it, he would probably have found it quite impressive.

Amidst the cheering and festivities that happened as the procession neared, Taehyung caught sight of some strange people moving within the crowds. They weren't close enough or obvious enough for him to identify them - though he could tell that they weren't any of his friends - but he knew that they definitely had something planned. Under normal circumstances, he would probably have reported it to his guard and let them deal with it, but at this point he couldn't be sure if they were allies from within the servant staff, if they were favours that Namjoon had called in, or if they were simply just common criminals who were hellbent on making trouble.

Just in case this situation happened to fall within the first two, Taehyung turned a blind eye and hoped that he was making the right choice. The sacred field was within view now, and it was then that Taehyung's resolve began to waver.

What if they weren't coming for him? What if they did and failed or were caught? He wasn't sure which one was worse. To know that you were forgotten and left to your fate, or to have had a chance and been forced to watch it slip through your fingers like water.

It didn't matter. He had to hold his head high and endure no matter what came his way.

As the first riders of the procession reached the field, Taehyung heard a roar of applause come from the people there, nobility and commoners alike.

It was the final act and he just had to follow the script until the play was derailed. The carriage drew to a halt and Taehyung took a deep breath and gathered his wits as he took the first step onto the stage.

Chapter Text

On trembling legs, Taehyung walked down the walkway toward the altar. Every moment, every step, felt like an eternity. His heartbeat pounded in his head, his breath came in short gasps, and all he wanted to do was turn on his heel and run away.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't because it would ruin everything that they had done up until now. It would destroy the months of planning, all their hard work, and it could ruin any chance he had at freedom. He had to endure.

His eyes scanned the crowd warily as he instinctively fixed his posture to stand up straighter.

'You are a prince,’ he told himself, 'act like it.’

Amusement.

'Oh shut up', Taehyung thought, knowing that the demon could hear him. He didn't want to chance that thing deciding to come out and deciding to amuse itself by toying with the people present at the ceremony. He might not want to get married, but not at the expense of so many lives.

Step by step he approached the altar and his skin crawled with so many eyes trained on him. Up ahead he could see his fiancé waiting eagerly for him, barely hiding a smile, and he could see his father staring him down with an emotion that Taehyung seriously doubted was approval. Pulling his mask over his face, Taehyung felt himself smile in a way that he truly didn't feel as he feigned happiness.

In a way, he felt somewhat guilty for ruining what could have been the happiest day of the Jeju Prince's life just so he could be happy, but on the other hand, was it really a crime for him to have a chance at happiness?

Realistically, he knew that the other prince was actually quite a pleasant person and seemed to genuinely like him for who he was and appeared to be more invested in this whole thing than someone who is only getting married for political gain should be.

In another world under different circumstances, perhaps they could have been happy together. Maybe it wouldn't be love right off the bat, but Taehyung was sure it would come with time. In that world, though, he had to only be His Royal Highness, Third Prince Kim Taehyung of Seoul, and not Kim Taehyung, the only thing standing between the world of the living and a demon. In that world, he must have never met Jeongguk, else he would never have fallen for someone else.

It didn't matter how many worlds they went through, how many lives they lived, Taehyung knew that he would fall for Jeongguk every time they met.

He reached the altar and paused, bowing deeply to the high priest of Seoul and turned slightly before doing the same for Jeju's. They were to be joined together under the eyes of both gods; a union of nations, beliefs, and political might. Due to both sets of traditions being followed, the ceremony would likely take much, much longer than any other that the two kingdoms had ever seen before. Taehyung proceeded to stand where he was directed to and faced his fiancé nervously.

Without wasting even a single second, Seoul's priest began the ceremony as they always did, recounting the mythology of their people.

“Ages ago, before we were even a kingdom, Seoul was born from a tribe blessed by the sun. The light always shone brightly down upon us, blessing us with bountiful harvests every year and peace that lasted for generations. Even when we were forced to fight, we had the power of the blazing sun at our backs that protected us and returned our people safely to their homes..." Taehyung had to restrain the urge to sigh deeply, this was tedious on a good day and now it was nigh unbearable with just how long he would take. As the priest continued with the tale, weaving together truth and legends, Taehyung took the opportunity to zone out and ignore everything around him. They would be there for a while.

Eventually, though, the story wound down and Taehyung tuned in once more.

"... The suns have always bonded to their own, and yet today, the tradition will be broken.”

The priest of Jeju took over from there, thankfully keeping his portion brief. “Our people are those of the moon, opposite of Seoul. Two polar ends constantly rotating around each other and yet never coming together. Until now.”

The priest gave meaningful looks at both of them.

“Our newest Moon warrior, our very own heir to the throne, has come here, to this sacred field to join in a union with the Sun prince.”

Knowing that the next part was coming, Taehyung held out both of his hands palm-up, hoping desperately that they weren't too clammy. Following Seoul's ancient traditions, the high priest painted a sun on his right hand using a pot of red ink and then switched with Jeju's priest, who painted a moon on his left in black. The priest then reached into a bowl of pigment and rubbed it onto his fingers before drawing a crescent on Taehyung's forehead - a plea for a blessing from the Moon.

The ceremony continued in that fashion for a long time, tradition after tradition for hours. Eventually, it came to a part that made Taehyung's heart race.

“Now it is time for the guests to give their blessings,” said Seoul's priest. One by one, they would come and give a blessing for the future. Jeju's King went first, in a show of respect from his father, and blessed them with fortune. His father went next, wishing for health and fortitude. Then, Taehyung began to smile as Heechul came up to deliver his blessing.

“To the prince,” Heechul said with a nod at the prince of Jeju, “I wish you luck with your future endeavours.”

He turned to face Taehyung and barely managed to keep the snarky grin off his face. “To my dearest younger brother, the third Prince of Seoul. The Sun Prince. Taehyung. I bless you with a blessing so grand that it took me ages to come up with it - I'm completely serious, I've been deliberating for a month already - and now I finally have it. A blessing so wonderful that you will not know how you managed to live without it before.”

He took a deep breath and Taehyung, too, had to hold back a grin. Their plan had come to them at three in the morning, it was stupidly simple, and it was nearly unstoppable. And now they were putting it into action.

In short, Heechul was extremely long-winded and could easily talk in circles for hours without once getting a point across. Their plan was to stall for as long as necessary, and it would work. The blessings were a sacred tradition and it was forbidden to interfere with the bestowing of one. The only thing that could stop a blessing was death itself.

In other words, Heechul could extend the ceremony for as long as it took for his rescuers to arrive.

"So you see, brother of mine, the jewel of Seoul, the one the gods spoke of when they created the perfect embodiment of light, your blessing is a special one. Never before has so much time and effort gone into a blessing, never before has there been a blessed as lucky as you, for you see that only a being of such purity and grace is worthy of a blessing that will surely be spoken of for generations. My dearest brother, just as the sun shines and the birds sing, just as the tide rises and falls with the moon, you too shall inevitably rise above all that challenge you. The world itself bends to your will and the laws of nature are yours to command, for so long as you shine with the intensity of all the stars in the universe-"

Out of the corner of his eye, as Heechul continued his bloviating, Taehyung noticed the chef arriving with tables of food and beginning to set them up behind all the guests where they couldn't see. Not a soul was looking in that direction other than Taehyung.

And so, he was the only one who saw the great wings of a wyvern beating in the air, and he was the only one who watched a figure drop from the sky to land in the middle of the crowd with an expression of glee.

Hoseok looked up and grinned.

“It's showtime.”

Chapter Text

In less than twenty seconds, the once peaceful (if not tedious) ceremony erupted into nothing short of pandemonium. The roar of screams and confusion spread through the crowd as Hoseok and Jimin effortlessly weaved through the rows of guests, supported aerially by Jeongguk who was grinning widely as he commanded the magic from his place on Tyr's back.

The guards were stunned for several moments before remembering their duties and rushing toward the intruders with an encouraging Jejun battle cry. Several of them were swiftly dispatched by the two expert fighters as they made their way toward the altar, but others soon found themselves face-to-face with the members of the mercenary group that spilled from the sidelines. The field was full of pure chaos; screaming civilians, fainting nobility, the sound of metal-on-metal as swords clashed and the crackle of lightning as it careened down to the ground and easily knocked away several guards.

When a guard fighting a mercenary tried to slip away and head toward the two villains who were rapidly approaching the royal family, he soon found himself enclosed in an arena made from stone that seemed to have risen from the earth itself.

“I'm sorry,” the mercenary said politely, “but I can't let you go any further. Our record is spotless and it would be a shame if I was careless enough to let it happen.”

The guard snarled and readied himself to strike. “Why would you interrupt such a sacred occasion? The gods will surely have their revenge!”

The mercenary shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “It's our policy to do what we're hired to do without asking any questions.”

The guard narrowed his eyes and prepared to ask further questions when he suddenly found himself trapped in the earth with only his head left above ground.

“It's also not in our policy to leave loose ends. No hard feelings, okay?” The mercenary said sweetly as he turned and walked away, leaving destruction in his wake.

As Jimin and Hoseok approached the altar, they could see Taehyung standing there in awe. To the others though, they surely appeared to be quite fearsome; two close-combat specialists tearing through their opponents like paper, EXO who seemed to have appeared from virtually nowhere (which they quite literally had, thanks to their member capable of teleportation), and the fury that rained down from above at Jeongguk's command. Yoongi, Seokjin, and Namjoon, though not physically present at the fight, were hiding further in town, preparing their getaway routes and providing more detailed instructions when necessary.

The King stood up from his seat with a frown on his face that was quite obvious and his booming voice seemed to halt the fighting in a split-second.

“Stop this immediately!”

The air itself seemed to still as the King of Seoul fearlessly faced down the villains and mercenaries and Taehyung felt a shiver run down his spine. His fear from before returned tenfold (the bell, it rings, and the axe falls, and as the heads roll away) and he wanted to scream at all his friends to run away as fast as they could, and yet his voice felt stuck in his throat. Not a single word came out.

“Why have you come here?” The King demanded and Taehyung watched - half in a mute horror and half in rapt fascination - as Hoseok seemed to gain confidence before his very eyes and straightened with a grin.

“Well, your majesty,” he said a tone that was much too amused, “as you have probably guessed, we are villains and we have come to steal the royal family's most precious jewel.”

Whispers of speculation were muttered under many people's breaths, ranging from the King's crown to a delicate and yet one of a kind ring that had been gifted to Seoul's high priest generations ago that was said to have been blessed.

“If it is money that you want, I'm sure an agreement can be reached,” The King said diplomatically. Hoseok shook his head with a smile.

“No can do, your majesty. No amount of money could ever match the worth of this jewel.”

His eyes narrowed. “No jewel is priceless.”

“Ah, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. What is worthless to you may be priceless to us, and believe me when I say that we will stop at nothing to get it. You can try to hide it, you can try to run away with it, but we will find it and we will take it from you.”

He chuckled.

“The negotiation is really just a superfluous formality at this point. We'll get it one way or another, I'm just giving you an easier option.”

The King stiffened but held his ground nevertheless.

“Pray tell, what is this “'precious jewel’ you speak of? It couldn't be worth all that much if you have to keep justifying its value,” the King laughed. “Just more petty thieves trying to appear more important than they actually are.”

“I wouldn't be so sure,” Hoseok laughed, causing Jimin to chuckle too.

“It really shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Besides,” he said, extending his arms to the sides as a shadow darkened the sky, “you really should pay more attention to your surroundings even when you're laughing or your opponent is monologuing. You never know when they have something up their sleeve.”

The King gasped and looked up, seeing a wyvern with the infuriating sorcerer sat on its back, and his son held protectively in the sorcerer's arms.

Hoseok smiled brightly. “Consider this your refresher course on lesson twenty.”

Chapter Text

For a moment, everything stood still. Hoseok and Jimin laughed quietly to themselves at the joke they had made, Jeongguk carefully cradled Taehyung to his chest, and the guards temporarily ceased their fights as they watched in mute horror. On Tyr's back, Taehyung clung to Jeongguk as he watched what was going on below them. On one hand, he so desperately wanted - no, needed - to feel the warmth of Jeongguk's body next to his, to feel his arms carefully encircling his waist, to know that this was real. That he was free.

That Jeongguk wouldn't let him go again.

On the other hand, he glanced down worriedly, his father seemed to be growing more and more furious with every moment that passed. While before he found out about, well, about everything, royalty getting mad would be seen as little more than a small child throwing a tantrum (albeit, a small child with the power of a nation behind their backs), knowing what he did now meant that for the first time Taehyung truly understood how much danger they were actually in.

Empowered by the demon's curse, his father had become much more strong than any normal human. His senses were sharpened, his speed and stamina increased, but so did his madness. He lost a bit of himself to the curse every time he called upon its power.

And this was the sort of situation where he would likely set it free.

Taehyung's fears were not unfounded as his father let out a gut-wrenching scream that seemed to echo in the minds of all who heard it. The nails on his hands sharpened into claws, his eyes darkened and his stance fell from the royally perfect posture he always held into a slouch, slumped forward slightly.

"Jeongguk," Taehyung hissed as the anxiety grew. "Jeongguk we need to move. Now."

Taehyung knew that the sorcerer trusted him without hesitation and moved without a second to spare as a blast of pure energy rushed past them. At this, the uncanny feeling of discomfort rose within him as the demon cackled within his mind. Forcing himself to stamp it down, he looked down upon his father again with barely veiled concern.

Logically he knew that there wasn't much he could do to stop this save giving himself up, and call him selfish, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice the freedom he had only just regained.

"We have to prevent him from using that energy beam thing," Jeongguk muttered as he swung his staff down to point at the king and fired off a lightning strike from it. "Any bright ideas Tae?"

"None," he grimaced in return. For maybe the first time in his life, he was completely and utterly clueless. None of the lessons Namjoon had taught them had prepared them for something like this.

The beam ripped through the fray once more, instantly killing any living being it touched without regard to who or what it was - from  guards that had been loyal to the crown for ages to the grasses and flowers that grew from the ground. It was utter devastation.

For Jeongguk, Jimin and Hoseok, it was difficult to strategize attacking while being so far apart as well as keeping Taehyung away from trouble. While they had trained and practiced with scenario after scenario, they had never been faced with an enemy quite like this before. The uncertainty of being kept in the dark about the king's abilities was in complete contrast of their decently thorough knowledge of each other's strengths and weaknesses. To win, they would need to improvise and use their own powers to the best of their ability. All they could do was fight back while simultaneously calculating the probability of success and a multitude of escape routes that would get them out of the fight as soon as possible.

For Taehyung, though, the worst part was staring at the monster that used to be his father and seeing what little humanity he had left. His mind raced with possibilities as he tried to find even a single one that could tip the scales even a little bit more in their favour. He needed to find something… Something that could benefit them without killing his father. Above all, despite everything that Taehyung had been forced to go through since he was a mere child, the monster below him - the king - was still his father. He still remembered a vague memory of the whole family having a picnic in the gardens when Taehyung had only been six years old. His father then had been gentle and kind, loving, caring, and everything that an ideal father and king should be.

Taehyung knew - though he didn't know how - he knew that the man his father used to be was still in there somewhere.

It was up to him to find it and draw it out before it was too late.

Chapter Text

The sacred field had turned into nothing short of a battlefield as chaos reigned through the fighting that continued. Guards fell as the mercenaries did the job they were hired to do with terrifying precision, grass and dirt exploded into the air as Jeongguk continued his assault from above while Hoseok and Jimin carefully weaved through the attacks from the king. Taehyung could barely watch as his father was stripped of his humanity with every passing second, his features morphing from the ones he had known all his life into something more eldritch than anything else.

It took everything he had to keep looking, assigning himself the duty of surveying the battle. Though logically he knew that everyone on the field was quite a capable fighter, he still couldn't help the worry that permeated every inch of his body. After seeing the destruction that could easily be caused by his father's relentless attacks, he couldn't help but worry.

Inside of him, though, the demon was overjoyed as it watched its curse take effect. Taehyung could hear its raucous laughter as it reverberated within his mind and suppressed a shudder. His feelings of horror melded with its joy in a disgusting mixture of emotions that by all rights should never have been combined.

Another beam desecrated the field before yet another tore through the air where Tyr had been mere moments prior.

"Jeongguk, we have to land," Taehyung urged him, the panic leaking into his voice. "We can't keep avoiding him forever: Tyr will get too tired to dodge and if he gets hit at all then we're all dead!"

"I know," Jeongguk practically hissed as he stared down at the field with narrowed eyes. "I'm trying to find the safest spot."

Taehyung glanced down and shook his head. "There is no safe spot. This is a battlefield and what's safe now might not be in ten seconds. We just have to pick a spot and commit to it."

Jeongguk clenched his teeth in a grimace but tightened his hold on Taehyung nonetheless.

"Hold on tight. We're going to descend really quickly."

With only a nod as an acknowledgement, Tyr folded in his wings and they dropped from the sky like a stone, plummeting toward the ground at a velocity much quicker than Taehyung was truly comfortable with. Another beam passed mere centimetres above his head and Taehyung cringed as he felt the very tips of his hair frying from the heat and power.

Despite not being overly vain, Taehyung was still a prince and all his life he had been taught to take pride in his appearance. You didn't just ruin his hair and get away with it.

Not to mention, Jeongguk had once admitted in his sleep that after his eyes and personality, his hair was his favourite part of Taehyung. Even if Taehyung couldn't do anything at the moment, Jeongguk surely would.

Only a moment after they had landed, another beam shot toward them and Jeongguk raised his staff to pull up a counterspell but before he could even begin, it was blocked by a solid red disk that disintegrated after its job was done.

"You owe me one!" Hoseok yelled from somewhere to their left.

"I owe him nothing," Jeongguk griped with a shake of his head while Taehyung did his best to muffle a laugh.

"I don't know," Taehyung teased, "looks like he saved our lives to me."

"Oh shush, I had it covered."

Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."

He paid attention to the battlefield again as he watched Jimin struggle to fight through hordes of guards that were, for some reason, still guarding the king despite his monstrous transformation, in an attempt to erase his memories and stop the whole debacle. At the rate things were going though, Taehyung didn't expect that Jimin would be successful.

After parrying the sword of a guard that had quickly rushed at him, the sorcerer pushed against it and sent the blade flying from his hand before swinging his staff around and clocking the guard on the back of his head. He spun around and grabbed Taehyung's arms tightly.

"Tae, I need you to run. Yoongi sent Seokjin to meet up with you and get you to safety. I'll clear a path for you, so just trust me and run, okay?"

"And leave you three here? In this mess? I don't think so," he retorted. Jeongguk's frown deepened.

"Tae please, I need to know you're safe."

"And I will be!" Taehyung argued back. "But I'm not leaving without you."

"You have to," Jeongguk pleaded, "Tae please just go, I can't truly let loose and fight unless I know you're not going to be caught in the crossfire."

Taehyung hesitated, glancing down at the ground before looking back up and into Jeongguk's eyes. His sincerity shone clearly through them and Taehyung felt his resolve crack and break.

"Fine. I'll go," he said eventually. "Just promise me you'll come back - all of you - when this is over."

"I promise." Jeongguk pulled him in close, activating a small shield around them.

"Good."

Taehyung rested his head on the sorcerer's shoulder even as his heart thudded anxiously in his chest. Steeling his resolve, he stepped back and held Jeongguk's face between his hands. (He was holding his whole world without even knowing it)

"Tae?" Jeongguk asked, a small, confused frown on his face.

"For good luck," Taehyung said, and then he kissed him, their lips fitting together like they were made for each other. It was euphoria, it was bliss.

It was love.

Eventually, Taehyung broke the kiss and smiled at the slightly dazed expression on Jeongguk's face. He blinked and smiled, placing a kiss on Taehyung's forehead.

"Go."

So Taehyung turned on his heel and ran, following the path that Jeongguk opened for him. He was so close to escaping when he heard an inhuman screech that he knew belonged to his father. Daring a look over his shoulder, his heart stopped as he saw his father rush toward Jeongguk and without even meaning it he ran straight toward the fight.

The world moved in slow-motion as the energy beam charged up while Jeongguk's back was turned, occupied by fending off more guards. Taehyung watched the beam rocket across the field and it was only as his hands impacted Jeongguk's side did he realize that his feet had carried him right back to the heart of the battlefield. He saw Jeongguk's eyes widen in horror and he turned, seconds feeling more like minutes, seeing the beam heading straight for him.

Oh, he thought absently, so this is it.

And then the beam hit.

Chapter Text

Jeongguk stood there, staring down at the love of his life in horror, remembering the shove and how he had stumbled, turning around with choice words on his lips and then was forced to watch as Taehyung crumpled to the ground in a heap. He remembered screaming as his voice forced itself out, crying out until his throat was raw and it was physically painful to speak. That didn't matter, though. None of it did.

Taehyung was on the ground and he hadn't moved since, not even the slightest twitch of a finger. His skin was pale, paler than Jeongguk had ever seen it and it made his heart thud painfully inside his chest. Taehyung was okay, right? He had to be.

Despite feeling the pressure building up inside of him like a bomb about to blow, he knelt down next to Taehyung and took the prince's hand in his. It was cold. The battle raged around him but he couldn't hear a thing, instead, the world was muffled like someone had stuffed cotton in his ears. He squeezed Taehyung's hand tightly and his stomach dropped when he didn't get a squeeze in return. Jeongguk could feel a cold trail of tears start to make their way down his cheeks, though he never noticed his vision blurring or his breath hitching in his throat.

Vaguely his mind could recognize that someone was calling his name, but Jeongguk didn't care. A guard charged at him but the man was blasted away with a simple flick of his hand. It was of no consequence, it wasn't the priority.

Taehyung was lying in what was surely an uncomfortable position, and his priority was to fix that. Carefully, he shifted the prince to fit snugly in his arms, draped across his lap and cradled to his chest. Slowly, fearfully, he brought two fingers to rest on Taehyung's forearm just as Namjoon had taught them and waited to feel a pulse. One heartbeat. Two.

For the barest moment, Jeongguk allowed himself to have hope until he realized it was only his own heartbeat that seemed amplified. Taehyung did not have one.

"Hey, Tae?" Jeongguk whispered, his voice cracking in the middle, "I need you to wake up, okay? You'll be fine, right?"

There was no answer. (You didn't expect one, his traitorous mind sneered.)

With one hand, he brushed Taehyung's bangs off his forehead and leaned in to place a light kiss there before slowly climbing to his feet, Taehyung's body limp in his arms.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me," he said, looking down at Taehyung's face. "I won't let anything hurt you."

With those words, he removed the keystone and let the dam inside of himself burst open, releasing the floodwaters. His magic spilled out of him like never before, the sheer force and quantity of it rolled over the battlefield and made the others freeze, unable to move or breathe with just how saturated the air had become. Maybe he didn't notice, maybe he didn't care. Step by step he advanced toward the King, his eyes seeming to glow with the full force of his power unleashed.

The King stumbled forward, staring down at his hands in fascination before shuddering and falling to the ground with a cry as the full, overwhelming, pressure of Jeongguk's magic bore down on top of him. Struggling greatly, he managed to raise his head enough to look Jeongguk in the eye.

"What have you done," he asked. Jeongguk narrowed his eyes and held Taehyung even closer to his body.

"What have I done?" He responded mockingly, " You did this."

He could barely see, as blinded with grief and rage as he was. All he knew was that the person in front of him had hurt Taehyung, had made him collapse and all he wanted to do was crush and crumple and tear and all he wanted was revenge.

His magic stilled in the air momentarily before condensing and he knew when the person realized that this would be the last thing they would ever see. He was just so, so angry and it consumed him from the inside until he felt something touch the back of his head.

"Jeongguk, calm down."

The world snapped back into focus, the pressure vanished and Jeongguk wavered. Turning slightly, he saw all the others, all his friends standing there. He watched as Jimin stepped back and shoved another stone in his pouch, and he watched as Namjoon stepped forward and placed gentle hands on his shoulders.

"This isn't the time to be angry," Namjoon told him. Jeongguk's resolve wavered and his lip trembled as he realized that the scientist was right.

"He- he hurt Tae," he sobbed and Namjoon only nodded. "I had to- had to do something."

"Jeongguk, I want you to take a good look at him," Namjoon said with a gesture toward the king. Hesitantly, he agreed and glanced over.

The king no longer looked like a monster, but instead seemed to be completely back to normal. The king's gaze was fixed on him, or rather, the body held in his arms and his heart skipped another beat.

Gently, carefully, Jeongguk lowered Taehyung to the ground and placed him down. He moved him into a position that Taehyung often liked to sleep in, on his back, eyes closed delicately, and hands clasped across his abdomen.

"I know it's hard, but you need to say goodbye," Seokjin whispered, his voice as soothing as it usually was, and reached out to pull the sorcerer into a hug. Jeongguk looked down at Taehyung and all of a sudden something clicked inside his mind.

A book that he had read so many years ago, a spell that stood out among many. A price that was too great to be paid.

"I don't think so," Jeongguk said, a smile crossing his face in a move that surely confused his friends. Long ago he had been told that he would never learn magic, but he did. Then he had been told that he wouldn't be successful, but look at him now. Jeongguk had always had a knack for doing the impossible, after all.

Maybe it was time he did it again.

Placing one hand on Taehyung's forehead and the other on his chest over his heart, Jeongguk closed his eyes and focused on taming the raging sea of magic power inside of him. The earth around them seemed to fracture and crack in a perfect circle as the pressure returned.

"What are you doing?" Hoseok shouted at him, seeming almost like he was about to lunge forward until Yoongi held him back.

"Just leave him," Yoongi said and Jeongguk couldn't help the hope that rose within him at the seer's subtle approval. That was all the confirmation he needed to lean forward and capture Taehyung's cold lips with his own and letting the pull consume and drain him.

The pull intensified and it hurt but he didn't dare let go, he didn't stop even when a faint heartbeat returned beneath his fingers and when the warmth returned to Taehyung's skin. He didn't dare stop even though the Prince's eyelids fluttered as if he were only sleeping or as the pressure diminished as the magic within him dwindled to a mere trickle and then to nothing at all.

Jeongguk broke the kiss with a gasp, breathing heavily and wanting nothing more than to flop to the ground, exhausted. The others rushed to his side, supporting him and watching with bated breath as Taehyung's eyes opened.

Jeon Jeongguk had always been good at succeeding at the impossible, and this time was no different.

Chapter Text

The king stood, paralyzed, watching as his youngest son was saved from his fate by the very man who had taken him away. He wasn't sure how to feel.

On one hand, he could tell that with Taehyung's death, the curse upon his family had been lifted. They were finally free after so many years of anguish and torment.

On the other, this man had succeeded in something that no one had ever thought possible. The king himself had accepted long ago that he would lose a child for the greater good, he had forced himself to become numb to the pain that it would bring, and yet he tried to protect Taehyung from the inevitable for as long as possible.

Part of his heart broke at the knowledge that he had been the one to cause so much anguish to his own family, but internally he knew it was necessary. Sometimes there must be sacrifices to achieve the true end of the story, or so he had thought, but apparently, he had only just realized that there are always uncontrolled variables that would never be affected by anything he did. Apparently, the sorcerer had been one of them.

Maybe the universe itself had known that this would always be the outcome, maybe Taehyung had been kidnapped for the sole purpose of being revived later. It was impossible to say for sure why anything happened the way it did, but the King supposed that it was only fitting.

His son coughed and he seemed to almost squint into the bright light and shift uncomfortably on the ground before looking up at the sorcerer who was still delicately holding a hand to his cheek.

"... Gukkie?"

The King didn't know what that meant, though he assumed it was a term of endearment, a nickname, for the sorcerer.

"I'm here," he responded softly and the smile that broke out across Taehyung's face was like nothing he had ever seen before. Even with all the years that Taehyung had been living in the palace, there hadn't been a single time that the young prince had smiled like that in the presence of his father.

With help, Taehyung managed to sit up and all but flung himself into the sorcerer's open arms, trapping him within the strongest embrace he could manage. It didn't look like he needed anything else in the world at that moment and maybe, the King supposed, this is what true happiness looks like. Even when a minute or two passed, they never broke the embrace. The sorcerer was crying softly, gently caressing Taehyung's hair and whispering over and over that everything was okay now while the prince allowed himself to break down the facade and sobbed loudly into where his face was buried in the sorcerer's robes.

One by one, the other intruders came and joined into a large circular group hug as Taehyung opened his arms widely to invite them in. Even the giant, flying, reptilian creature curled around them all protectively and nuzzled its snout into Taehyung's hair while the mercenary group (those traitors) stood around chatting amongst themselves - though there were a few who were watching the scene fondly.

Though they were blood relatives, the King had to admit that these people, whoever they truly were, had become Taehyung's true family. A family he had chosen for himself, one where he could be free to be the person he truly was inside. The king felt something welling up inside of him then and maybe it was pride.

A hand clasped onto his shoulder and he glanced over, seeing his second son, Heechul, standing there.

"Father, you owe me some explanations later."

"I am well aware," he responded, finally taking his eyes off of the scene before him. "There are many things of which you have not been made aware."

Heechul hummed in acknowledgment and smiled slowly.

"He'll be okay."

The king nodded. "I believe he will."

"He told me many stories about these friends of his, perhaps I should share a few with you. It might help ease your guilt a bit," Heechul said and the king glanced at him in surprise. He hadn't expected to be offered information on a silver platter like that, but he supposed it was only fair. An equal trade, information for information.

After all, he had missed out on months of his youngest son's life due to his own past mistakes and it was time that he got caught up.

"That sorcerer…" The king said, looking back at them again, "Taehyung loves him, doesn't he?"

"More than you can imagine," Heechul laughed. "His name is Jeongguk, by the way. Taehyung wouldn't be able to shut up about him if he'd tried."

The hollowness returned as Taehyung looked over in his direction and smiled at them before standing on unsteady feet and walking over to them despite the others watching nervously.

"Father," he said, and the King could already tell that he would say something serious.

"Taehyung."

Taehyung smiled subtly, almost too quick to notice, but it told him that he'd at least done something right.

"I told myself before everything that happened today that I would speak to you about one last thing." His voice didn't waver once and despite the situation, the king couldn't help the small spark of pride within him.

"I would like to renounce my title as Prince of Seoul. I do not wish to continue in this role when I have learned that I do not enjoy being Kim Taehyung, the Third Prince of Seoul when I can simply live my life as Kim Taehyung, without any additional titles."

His posture and expression screamed confidence but still his hands betrayed his nervousness, grasping onto the edges of his tunic. The king sighed and Taehyung stiffened but he took the time to stand up and adopt a regal posture.

"Very well, if that is what you wish. I apologize as well for everything that my mistakes have put you through. I forgot the most important thing -" he placed his hands on Taehyung's shoulders "- I forgot that you are my son, the only son I have who is Taehyung. I hope that one day you will be able to forgive m-"

He was cut off by Taehyung pulling him into a hug.

"I knew you were still in there somewhere. I forgive you. I forgive you for what you've done to me, but I will never forget that which has pushed us apart. You are aware that things between us will never be the same again, correct?"

"I am."

They shared a smile before Taehyung pulled him close again.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright. And thank you, for everything."

Chapter Text

After the battle had (luckily) calmed itself once the prince had fallen, it had all but dissipated as soon as he was miraculously revived. It was safe to say that not a single wedding guest knew what was happening anymore; they had been attacked, their king was suddenly a monster, the prince was dead and then he wasn't, and now it looked like they had come all this way for nothing since they were quite sure that the wedding wouldn't be proceeding anymore. Some of them glanced around at each other before slowly making their way out of the field. No point in sticking around at this point, after all.

The prince of Jeju just seemed to be in complete shock and wasn’t responding to anyone and had to be led away to safety by his frazzled guards.

Namjoon, on the other hand, watched from a short distance away with a small smile, Seokjin and Yoongi at his sides, as Jeongguk loudly declared that he would never let Taehyung out of his sight again. He could tell that Jeongguk was doing his absolute best to keep it together, especially he didn't want to show any weakness in front of the prince who he had only just reunited with. Taehyung was his greatest strength and, at the same time, his greatest weakness.

Namjoon remembered believing that the love they shared would one day be their downfall and one part of him whispered that that day had come. Despite everything, fate hadn't been able to tear them apart.

"I told you to trust me, didn't I?" Yoongi asked rhetorically, a sly smirk on his face. Seokjin's only response was to sigh and shake his head while Namjoon restrained a groan.

"I really didn't understand why you suddenly told us to get off our butts and run here, at first," Seokjin admitted, holding his head almost as if he felt an impending headache. "Especially since we were supposed to stay off the field as much as possible."

Yoongi only shrugged in response. "What can I say? You had to be there to calm Jeongguk down and make him think, but it wouldn't have worked if I had told you."

He very quickly found himself on the receiving end of a harsh glare, to Namjoon's neverending amusement. It made sense to him why Yoongi had rightfully chosen to keep quiet, but he still had to admit that it was terribly inconvenient. He liked having plans upon plans upon plans and he only ever went into something blind when he had no other choice, but Namjoon had to admit (albeit grudgingly) that things could have gone worse.

"Hey, Namjoon!" Hoseok called and waved from further away. "You ready to head back?"

"We should probably get going before Jeongguk says screw it and just marries Tae here and now," Jimin teased, gesturing toward the embracing couple with a wide grin.

Jeongguk, for his part, sputtered in indignation and loudly protested Jimin's accusation. "You've got to be kidding me! As if I'd marry Taehyung in the middle of a battlefield, he deserves so much better than that!"

"Only the best, right? He is a prince, after all," Hoseok said with a shrug and Taehyung giggled.

"Not anymore."

"What?" Namjoon asked, voicing the confusion they all surely felt. He hadn't seen any indication of- oh. Taehyung had gone to speak with his father, could he have done it then?

"I just renounced my title. A few minutes ago, in fact." Taehyung smiled, his teeth fully on display. "I'm finally free!"

"I don't care what you say, I'll still treat you the way you deserve to be treated," Jeongguk huffed, crossing his arms and obviously overexaggerating his actions for a comical effect.

Taehyung laughed and lightly slapped him on the arm. "I'm serious, it really isn't necessary."

"Too bad," Jeongguk said with a grin as he quickly reached out and hugged Taehyung closely, managing to surprise him. "I don't care about titles or whatever, those are stuffy and annoying, but you'll always be a prince in my heart."

"Aren't you just a charmer?" Taehyung giggled, lightly tapping the underside of Jeongguk's jaw before pinching his cheek.

"I'm your charmer," Jeongguk muttered and Namjoon could already feel his heart melting. In the beginning, he never would have guessed that this would occur. He had expected to be saddled with a bunch of useless wannabes who couldn't tell the hilt of a sword from a blade, but instead he had found himself in charge of five extremely talented individuals (and one equally impressive unexpected recruit) and he realized quickly enough that he was learning just as much from them as they were learning from him. Whether or not they had realized was another story.

Despite everything they had grown on him throughout their time together, but even he had to accept that they would inevitably part ways. Soon enough he would be out of lessons to teach them and they would be free to do whatever they wished with their lives but Namjoon wasn't worried. They were ready.

"No, but seriously," Taehyung deadpanned only a few moments later. "Can we leave now? This outfit is itchy and it's chafing in all the wrong places."

Chapter Text

Returning back to the stronghold felt almost weird after such a long time spent away from it. The air smelled different, the stone felt familiar, and somehow it felt like home. When Tyr landed in front of the doors to the stronghold, Taehyung slid off and immediately rushed over to his face and scratched the scales behind his eyes just as he knew the wyvern liked.

"It feels kind of weird being back," Taehyung admitted aloud, knowing that Jeongguk was right behind him. Jeongguk hummed in agreement before wrapping his arms around Taehyung's waist and resting his chin on Taehyung's shoulder.

"It's nice though. You're safe now and I can finally stop worrying."

He had to laugh a little bit at the vibrations from Jeongguk speaking against his neck. It tickled a bit but it was more soothing than anything.

"Yeah, I'm safe," he whispered back, twisting in Jeongguk's hold to hug him properly. "You saved me so don't fret anymore."

Jeongguk muffled a chuckle and squeezed Taehyung's waist in response.

"Now, you crashed the party before I could eat so I should probably go fix that before I pass out. Okay?"

Jeongguk sighed but released him reluctantly, following closely behind him as Taehyung walked inside and up the stairs to the room that was his.

"Gukkie, I have to get changed first," he teased, pushing the younger boy back by his forehead. "I'll meet you downstairs, alright?"

Jeongguk pouted but agreed, leaving Taehyung alone to peel off the uncomfortable outfit that he had been forced into wearing for the ceremony. He breathed a sigh of relief once he felt like he could finally breathe again and quickly found other, much comfier clothes to wear for the rest of the day. Looking at himself in the mirror, Taehyung stared at the last remaining vestiges of the prince.

The faint makeup and powder on his face, the crescent moon drawn onto his forehead, and the eyes that were enhanced with a dark lining so that they appeared larger and more innocent. All of these things were part of the third prince, but as he washed them off he felt that his true self was finally shining through again after so many months of being forced into hiding. With that makeup gone, so too was the prince.

Taehyung proceeded to make his way downstairs to the kitchen that seemed to be many times livelier than usual, with loud noises and the sound of many people talking amongst themselves. As he pushed the door open, he found himself face to face with all the others attempting to cook something to eat.

(Attempting is the key word here)

Jimin was balanced precariously on the back of a chair in order to reach a spice that Namjoon had placed on the top shelf several months ago, Yoongi cut vegetables with a knife at the table - though he was moving incredibly slowly - before placing it down to yawn, Jeongguk seemed to be trying to cook a chicken though the fire was never lit while at the same time Namjoon appeared to be struggling to keep his composure as the soup spontaneously combusted in front of him. Hoseok was making… well, Taehyung wasn't exactly sure what it was, just that the others seemed to be slowly and subtly moving away from it. As for Seokjin? Seokjin was in the corner, curled up in a ball, and Taehyung couldn't tell if he was sobbing or laughing so hard that he was crying.

"Oh, Tae!" Jeongguk exclaimed when he noticed him standing in the doorway. "Just sit tight, we'll be done in a few minutes."

A loud sob came from the corner.

Taehyung blinked before mustering up a grin (he would never admit it, but god, he had missed this barely-controlled chaos that seemed to exist whenever all of them were together) and gesturing awkwardly to the other room.

"I'll just… Sit over there then? I guess?"

On his way out, Taehyung made sure to drag Seokjin out of there before the older man lost all of his sanity.

"Whatever you do, don't touch that thing Hoseok is making," Seokjin stage whispered a few moments later. "I could have sworn I saw it move a few minutes ago. Do you think it's radioactive? Possessed? Some kind of dangerous chemical mixture?"

"What is it?" Taehyung asked and Seokjin seemed to turn a shade of green.

"I don't know but it's hazardous and should only be exposed to the air in the direst of circumstances."

"Fair enough," Taehyung agreed without another word. After a few more loud bangs and muffled swears, the others came out with their creations held proudly in their hands.

"I know it isn't anything compared to the royal chef-" now that was the understatement of the century "-but we wanted to make something to welcome you back personally," Jimin declared proudly.

"I mean, there were a few mishaps here and there, but nothing too serious," Hoseok shrugged and honestly, Taehyung wasn't too sure if he should trust that.

Even with the food that was anything but professional quality and the noise level in the room that he had grown unaccustomed to, the smile on his face was completely genuine.

He was home.

Chapter Text

Yoongi woke up and, for the first time in a while, he felt fully rested. Typically this would be unusual and he would feel as close to complete exhaustion as was humanly possible within an hour or two, but for some reason, that wasn't the case. Not a single premonition had come to him while he slept and he honestly had to admit that it felt nice to get a full night's sleep every once in a while.

Pulling himself out of bed, Yoongi plodded across the room to throw on whatever clothes he could find. It didn't matter if he was even remotely fashionable, all that truly mattered was comfort. Yoongi proceeded to make his way out of his room and headed down to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast.

When he arrived, Seokjin was already awake and was in the process of making his own food.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," he joked with a backwards glance thrown in Yoongi's direction.

"Ha ha, so funny. I just came here to get some food and I'm feeling so attacked right now," Yoongi responded in the flattest tone he could manage (which was, in fact, so flat that it was sharp) this early in the morning. "Is anyone else up yet?"

"Well," Seokjin hummed in thought, "I haven't seen anyone else but Jimin and Hoseok are probably awake but just haven't mustered up the willpower to actually move anywhere just yet. Namjoon… he's a wild card. He could be awake and in his inventing room-"

"Inventing room? Really?"

"-shut up it's too early to pick on me like this, but as I was saying, he could already be awake and doing his sciency stuff or he could be still sleeping and I'd be surprised if Taehyung isn't still sleeping, after everything he's been through."

"What about Jeongguk?" Yoongi asked and Seokjin just glanced over with a blank face.

"That kid is dead to the world and I'll bet that he won't be up until three hours from now, at the very least."

Yoongi raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"Not that I'm accepting that bet - because I'm not - but don't you think that betting with someone who can literally see the future is a bad idea?"

"Of course it is, but what do you take me for?" Seokjin shot back, seeming almost offended as he brandished the dirty spoon in his hand as if it were a weapon. "Like hell I'd ever back away from a challenge."

Yoongi only shrugged and walked past him to start getting his food together. He sat and ate peacefully while pretending to listen and pay attention to Seokjin's occasional quips until the moment when Jeongguk stumbled into the kitchen, pale and oddly jittery.

"Um, guys? Can you… Can you come with me please?"

Seokjin silently slid a few coins across the table.

"I never said I was doing the bet-" Yoongi hissed but Seokjin shut him up with only a look.

"Yeah, but I am and the last thing I'd ever let you call me is a coward. I'd give it to someone else but you're the only one here that knows," Seokjin whispered. "So just suck it up and take my money."

He turned back to face Jeongguk, who seemed to be even more confused than before, before plastering on a smile.

"Of course, we'll be right there as soon as Yoongi stops being an old man and eats his breakfast like he isn't geriatric."

Yoongi glared at him. "You are the literal worst."

"I'm well aware," Seokjin replied flippantly with a wave of his hand. "I'd be disappointed if I wasn't."

With some grumbling, Yoongi finished his food and left everything to the side to deal with later. Jeongguk wasn't the type to panic about things unnecessarily, at least most of the time, but he looked so genuinely concerned and stressed that Yoongi didn't want to take any chances. They followed Jeongguk up to his room and stood awkwardly in the corner as the sorcerer flopped down on his bed with a strained groan.

"So what's the problem?" Yoongi asked, trying to ignore the look Seokjin was shooting his way.

"I tried casting a protective spell on Tae last night, right? To make sure that he doesn't get hurt again," Jeongguk said with a voice slightly muffled by his sheets. Yoongi and Seokjin exchanged a somewhat confused glance before returning their attention to the sorcerer.

"Nothing happened and I thought that maybe I was just tired enough that I wasn't doing it right. I mean, yesterday was pretty exhausting, after all."

It all added up, that wasn't the problem, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of Yoongi's head. He was missing something and he didn't like it one bit.

"So I tried again this morning," Jeongguk said, his voice wavering more with every word. He sat up and fisted his hands in the sheets before taking a deep breath and staring Yoongi and Seokjin in the eyes.

"My magic, it's not working anymore."

Chapter Text

"Have you tried anything else?" Seokjin asked after a moment of tense silence. Jeongguk shook his head no; he had been too stressed and worried to try.

"Here, let's go outside and see if anything works, okay?" Yoongi suggested as he offered Jeongguk his hand. He took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet as he tried to ignore just how hollow and empty he felt inside. Jeongguk followed the older two until they stood just far enough away from the rose garden that it wouldn't get damaged in the case of an explosion or something equally destructive.

"Alright, let's try…" Seokjin hummed in thought, tapping his chin momentarily before brightening. "Do that lightning thing you did the other day!"

Jeongguk frowned as he looked down at his hands, at how they were trembling slightly from nervousness, before clenching them. "I'll try."

He closed his eyes and focused more than he had to in years, centring himself and reaching deep inside to pull on the thread of magic that had always been within him. It had always been there… Until today. That thread that he had always used, the little bit of freedom he had from his curse, was nowhere to be found.

"Why aren't you working?" He muttered though the other two could barely hear him. He had to give it another shot. He had to.

His frown morphed into a grimace as he tried to dig even deeper to find it. That pool of power that had been his comfort for so many years had simply vanished. He tried a different spell, then another and another with no result until he finally slumped over and gave up.

"Jeongguk?" Yoongi asked, reaching out hesitantly to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to try again? Just once more?"

Jeongguk shook his head. "There's no point."

"What do you mean?" Seokjin asked, voice quivering slightly. "It might just be too early in the morning, right? You're usually still asleep at this time-"

"It's gone, okay!?" Jeongguk snapped before falling silent and curling in on himself. "It's not there anymore."

"It's… Not there?" Yoongi said, confused. Jeongguk nodded his head and glanced away.

"Usually I can feel it there, like… um… like water, I guess? It's always just there and I just have to scoop some out to use?" He said nervously. "I hope that sort of makes sense…"

He bit down on his lip before the jolt of pain made him release it.

"It's not really hard to find, but I can't even feel it anymore."

Seokjin and Yoongi exchanged a look but Jeongguk wasn't even interested in it anymore. He just wanted to know what went wrong, what happened that would have done this.

"Wait a moment," Yoongi muttered as he drummed his fingers on his thigh, something he did occasionally when he was thinking hard about something.

"What is it, Yoongi?" Seokjin asked after a moment of waiting in vain for Jeongguk to speak up and ask.

"It stopped working after the battle, right?"

Jeongguk nodded, though he still wasn't sure what was going on.

"I only used my dream walking to see up until that point, so I can't say for sure or anything," Yoongi blurted out in what was probably the most anxious tone that any of them had ever heard from the normally calm man. "But could it have happened then ?"

Jeongguk's eyes widened as he remembered. The pull. The pressure. The exhaustion that settled deep into his bones and the drain that sucked out all he had to give.

The price.

Jeongguk sucked in a breath as the passage became clear in his mind. A life for a life, the page had read. To resurrect another was to play god and was not something that should have been possible under normal circumstances.

A life for a life.

Taehyung was his life, there was no doubt about that, but for years beforehand Jeongguk's life had revolved around his magic.

A life for a life.

The dwindling pressure, the pull growing weaker and weaker, the rush turning into barely a trickle. Jeongguk had given up his life to save Taehyung, but not the one that many would expect.

A lesser man would certainly have died, but his magical reserves were so vast that reviving Taehyung only depleted them permanently. A life for a life. Magic for love.

A small smile formed on his lips, confusing Seokjin who looked back and forth between Jeongguk and Yoongi.

"Ah man," he groaned with a huff, purposefully forcing himself to sound cheerier than he felt to make the other two stop worrying about him. "I guess I'm useless now. Without my magic, I don't really have the right to be here anymore, right?"

"It's not gone for good, is it?" Seokjin fretted, wringing his hands anxiously. "It's probably just temporary so take some time to rest-"

"It's gone for good. I'm sorry," Jeongguk replied. "But you know, now that I realize it, I don't really mind all that much."

"But-"

"It's fine, really," Jeongguk laughed, trying to avoid looking at the look of pity on Yoongi's face. "I should probably start packing my stuff since I can't exactly stay in training to be a villain, and I'll need to find a proper job…"

"No, that's not happening," Seokjin retorted with a glare. "You want to leave, you have to go through me first. We aren't going to kick you out for this, come on. Do you really think that little of us?"

"Well, no, but-" Jeongguk began, voice smaller than ever.

"No buts. You're part of the family and there's nothing you can say or do that will change that, so just suck it up and let us support you."

Jeongguk paused before getting a grin on his face. "Not even if I murdered someone?"

"Not even then," Seokjin sniffed.

"Not even if I ran away?"

"We'd find you, so no."

"What about if I ate all your jam?"

Seokjin grabbed the widely grinning boy and pulled him into a headlock. "Don't push your luck kiddo."

Jeongguk laughed loudly and smiled even as Seokjin released him and started pinching his cheeks, muttering about troublesome brats. Seokjin had definitely been right about one thing; they were his family and they always would be.

Chapter Text

Namjoon woke up and headed downstairs to the kitchen, another lesson already forming in his head. This exercise, in particular, would be right up Jeongguk's alley, especially with his tendency to unintentionally cause damage to his surroundings. Unfortunately though, what he saw when he entered the kitchen was not what he was expecting.

Jeongguk, to his surprise, was already awake and eating breakfast. Seokjin being awake was not a surprise whatsoever, but even Yoongi was there.

"So either I dreamed waking up and coming down here or you two are actually awake this early for once," Namjoon said with a meaningful glance over at the two who were usually the last to wake up.

"Unfortunately for you," Yoongi sighed, "you're not dreaming. It would have made things so much easier if you had been."

"What are you talking about?" Namjoon asked, moving toward the kitchen to make himself something before Seokjin grabbed his shoulders and forcefully sat him down at the table and placed a plate in front of him.

"You are not cooking again after that last attempt," he scolded with a small glare. "I don't want to have to put out another fire."

"But you didn't even-" Namjoon protested weakly but he was quickly shut up by Seokjin's glare. It took a few moments, but he softened and sighed.

"I'm sorry, this morning has just been… Challenging."

"That's an understatement," Jeongguk scoffed before taking another huge bite of his food.

"What happened?" Namjoon asked as he glanced between the other three before shaking his head and thinking better of it. "Actually, don't tell me. I don't think I want to know."

Jeongguk nervously looked at the other two - seriously, what was it with those secretive glances today? Did they make up some super-secret club or something? Namjoon honestly wouldn't be surprised if they had.

"Actually, I wanted to ask your opinions about something," he began, carefully watching their reactions just in case. They seemed curious, but nothing else betrayed how they felt. Not wanting to take too long, Namjoon continued.

"I know that the other day was a bit crazy even by our standards-"

"You're telling me," Yoongi scoffed.

"-but I thought that we could do a lesson this morning. How do you all feel about explosives?"

Jeongguk pursed his lips and his eyes flicked around nervously while the other two immediately glanced at him in concern. Alright, so whatever was going on definitely involved Jeongguk.

"Um, about that…" Jeongguk muttered, voice so quiet that Namjoon could barely hear him, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

Namjoon frowned and tilted his head slightly to the side. "And why not? I would have thought that you would be the most excited for this out of everyone."

Jeongguk fidgeted in his seat. "I mean, you're not wrong per se, but that was… That was before ."

"Before what?" Ok, this was just getting frustrating at this point. The kid needed to stop dodging the questions and just answer clearly for once.

"I… uh…"

He seemed to be struggling for words and Seokjin came up to gently rub his back.

"Are you not feeling well?" Namjoon asked, his voice suddenly turning more concerned. "I can push it back to tomorrow so we don't have you puking everywhere."

"What!? No!" Jeongguk screeched, physically recoiling from the very idea. "That's not-"

"Then what is it?" Namjoon asked with a huff.

"I can't use magic anymore. I can't… I can't do this anymore." The boy shifted anxiously in his seat and Namjoon sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose to center his thoughts.

"Jeongguk, you know that I can't use magic, right?"

"Yeah?" He answered, still confused.

"And I'm a villain, right?"

He frowned. "Well, yeah, but-"

"Then you can still be here without magic," Namjoon said with a note of finality in his voice. "Don't worry about it."

Jeongguk's eyes were wide and shocked for a moment before he smiled and looked down at his feet.

"That's… That's very nice of you to say, but I think I need to do something else."

"Pardon?" Namjoon asked and he noted that even the other two seemed shocked as well.

"It's just that I've used my magic for so long that it doesn't feel right being without it, but I already have some ideas for the future, so don't worry about that," Jeongguk explained with a shy smile. "That doesn't mean I'll just pack up and leave though, I still have some stuff to do, but I'll need your help for that. All of you."

The three villains exchanged a glance before grinning.

"We're listening."

.

When the lesson began later that day, Namjoon knew that the other three were shooting him confused looks even as he explained their task of breaking into rooms. He was expecting it, of course, since for the first time ever Jeongguk wasn't down in the practice room with them. Instead, he had appointed himself as a moral support cheer squad and was shouting encouragements down at the rest of them.

"What the-" Hoseok breathed with a strange expression of confusion on his face as Jeongguk screamed something along the lines of " Yeah! You can do it! Let's get this bread!"

Whatever the heck that was supposed to mean.

"Just ignore him," Namjoon responded dejectedly.

Chapter Text

"This will be our final lesson on escaping captivity," Namjoon said as he looked over the five villains in training that stood before him. Jeongguk, of course, was cheering from the sidelines (despite obvious favouritism) and was only occasionally detrimentally distracting. They did their best to avoid paying attention to his overzealous cheers but not even the iciest of them all could resist cracking a smile every once in a while.

"Remember that heroes generally think that their jobs are over the second you've been captured so unless you're unlucky and found yourself facing an extremely experienced hero who's been around the block a few times, you're typically off the hook the moment they leave," Namjoon explained with an expression that the others seemed to take as the face that he makes whenever he's speaking from personal experience.

He paced back and forth in front of them and remembered just how naive he had been back when he was still a wet behind the ears greenhorn. A simple mistake on his part had gotten him arrested (Of all things he was caught for, it was littering. Not illegal experimentation, not public endangerment, not even manslaughter. Littering. He had been cleaning up the litter too!) and it was then that he had lost all faith in law enforcement. It was only the lessons he had been taught that allowed him to escape and now it was his duty to pass them on to a new generation of villains.

The fact that the majority of them were around his age was beside the point.

"But on the off chance that you need to break out, remember that guards are generally pretty dumb and they rarely search you before throwing you in prison." He paused. "Now, what's something that could be useful in getting you out?"

The five in front of him seemed to be deep in thought as they attempted to figure out what the answer could possibly be.

"Explosives?" Jimin asked tentatively and Namjoon laughed but shook his head no.

"You could cause damage to yourselves, which is the last thing you want in this situation. Also while they don't usually search you thoroughly, they will still take away your weapons and anything that seems dangerous."

Hoseok swore under his breath and Namjoon regarded him with a raised brow.

"Ah, it's nothing," he said when he noticed Namjoon watching him. "I just realized that calling Jeongguk to fly in on Tyr and bust us out was out of the question."

"Most definitely out of the question," Namjoon confirmed with a slightly amused expression on his face. At least they could think out of the box, he supposed.

Their ideas were always amusing and unique and Namjoon already knew that they would without a doubt become feared and accomplished villains in their own right. Most lesser villains just recycled the same plans over and over and would always inevitably be defeated by someone who was good at seeing patterns. He was proud to say that all of his students were ridiculously unpredictable and that fact would surely save their lives one day.

"Assume they take away anything that could possibly be a threat," he told them, giving them a small hint that he hoped would help them along.

When no one else put forward any ideas, Namjoon sighed and reached into his coat. They looked at him anxiously but that quickly shifted to something that more closely resembled confusion when he pulled out a simple mirror and a ball of yarn.

"Every good villain always carries string and a mirror with them, especially when there is the risk of getting captured. Can any of you guess why they would be important?"

"Well, the mirror is obviously used to see if there is anyone behind you, right?" Seokjin said hesitantly, obviously hoping he was correct.

Namjoon smiled. "Yes, that is one use for it, but mirrors also reflect light. One of these could easily help you temporarily blind a guard with a torch or a mage using magic to shine a light on you."

"What's the yarn for then?" Taehyung wondered with a gesture in its direction. Namjoon nodded and held up the ball of yarn to start explaining.

"Sometimes there are windows just big enough to fit through that are too high up to reach, but you could possibly use the yarn to escape. Some types of weak restraints can also be cut with yarn, believe it or not. Of course, that doesn't work with the stuff you'll find in a proper cell, but it does well enough to escape from a temporary holding cell."

He glanced around at them again. "There's one more thing this can be used for, do any of you have any ideas?"

Yoongi sighed. "I mean, you could probably use it to asphyxiate someone if you really had to."

"Precisely!" Namjoon agreed. "While it wouldn't be my first choice, it's still a viable way to get out. By choking out a guard until they pass out, you could possibly get your hands on their keys and escape that way."

"That… Makes sense," Taehyung agreed. Namjoon smiled and nodded before handing out some pieces of yarn.

"Now, I'd like you to practice this but please , if your partner is tapping out, release them immediately."

They got to work and when Taehyung managed to force Jimin to tap out, all that could be heard was Jeongguk's screams of "That's my Taetae!"

They would be alright, Namjoon would make sure of it.

Chapter Text

When Hoseok went out for a walk in the forest during a break in the lessons, he hadn't been expecting to find himself face-to-face with a suspicious group of people who were, for some reason or another, digging a hole in the forest. What was it with this forest and random heroic parties happening to be passing through at the same time as him? Whatever, it wasn't important.

They hadn't noticed him yet which was honestly just really bad planning on their part - they really should know better -  so he decided to climb a tree nearby and observe for a while. Maybe they would clue in sooner or later.

This proved to be wishful thinking on his part. Not only had these people not appointed someone to keep watch, but they were also ridiculously oblivious. It was so bad that Hoseok decided that he had to amuse himself somehow, so he made it into a game - how much noise can I make before any of these blockheads realize I'm here .

It had begun with ruffling the leaves and shaking the branches, but there was no response. Next, he moved on to scratching on the bark with sticks and rocks. Still nothing. Bird calls, (terrible) animal impressions, and inhuman screeching followed but the group of people were so absorbed in their task that they didn't notice a thing.

He even cut down a tree near them to see if it would do anything. While it did garner some form of response, he still huffed in annoyance when they only sent one person out to check what had happened.

These people really had no idea what they were doing, did they?

Hoseok dropped down from the branch and tapped one of them on the shoulder.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to conceal his amusement as they barely paid him any attention.

"We're infiltrating a villain's hideout," one of them replied as the others continued their digging.

He hummed appreciatively. "Cool, cool. Sounds great."

"Indeed," a woman dressed head to toe in armour (on second glance, she was most likely a knight of some sort) said sternly from the other side of the hole. "It is our duty to free the citizens of the surrounding towns from oppression."

"Oppression, yes, I see. Sounds wonderful," he replied with a grin, "gotta get that justice and righteousness, right?"

The knight glared at him, obviously not enjoying his flippant attitude on the matter.

"Oh don't mind her," a shorter girl whispered from beside him as she hoisted the shovel over her shoulder. "Rose is always so uptight about everything."

He nodded in acknowledgment but returned his gaze to the hole in the ground.

"So, uh, pardon my cluelessness, but what does digging a hole have to do with righteousness?"

The knight - Rose, apparently - glared at him again. "Of course a blasphemous individual such as yourself could not understand the workings of justice."

Ah. So she was a paladin then. He had never particularly been on good terms with those people, especially not after they started calling him demon cursed for using blood magic. Man, they would have been surprised if they had ever met the king-

Oh, wait. They worked for him. Now isn't that just ironic?

"Yes, yes, blasphemous. That's cool and all but digging yourselves a small duck pond won't exactly do anything unless this villain of yours has a particular fondness for waterfowl and would be sufficiently distracted by this sort of thing," Hoseok replied cheerfully. A few subdued giggles came from the others but Rose, of course, seemed even more offended than before. Hey, that was a pretty amusing game too: how far can he push things before the paladin snaps and attempts to kill him?

"That's a ridiculous notion," she scoffed and Hoseok found himself agreeing. Of course it was, everyone knew that Namjoon preferred crabs much more than birds of any sort, though he was, on occasion, partial to peacocks.

"We're digging a tunnel into the villain's cellar so we can sneak in!" The girl beside him said, not that he knew her name and she had never introduced herself in the first place anyway.

"Dig tunnel. Sneak in via the cellar. Do whatever heroic stuff you've been hired to do. Get out." He nodded and hummed. "Sounds like a pretty straightforward plan to me."

Of course, the fact that the cellar was underneath the stronghold was beside the point.

Admittedly, the sewage outflow pipe was only about ten meters to their left, but nothing else was nearby.

"This kind of thing takes a while, doesn't it," he observed as he watched the hole barely increase in size even after several minutes.

"Oh yes, we know," the girl replied cheerfully. "We came prepared! Slow and steady wins the race, after all!"

This was one race that they wouldn't win, but what was the fun in telling them that?

"Well, I'll come back to check on you in three days, see how things are going. Good luck!"

As he walked away and heard the younger girl shout her thanks, he tried to hold back his laughter until he was out of earshot. They would need all the luck they could get, and Hoseok finally found something to amuse himself with for the foreseeable future.

Chapter Text

The people of the surrounding towns, who were decidedly not all that oppressed, knew that they had a villain in their area. How could they not?

It wasn't a secret that he had moved in several years ago while seeming, for all intents and purposes, like a perfectly normal and kind neighbour who simply had a fondness for living in foreboding and grand stone buildings in the woods. Yep. Perfectly normal.

So, it had come as a complete surprise when he had walked into the center of town dressed in an unusual outfit (who would have guessed that the strange man also had a passion for fashion?) and, in no uncertain terms, informed everyone that he was a villain and that as of that very moment he was now in charge, thank you very much. Of course, they wouldn't take that sitting down.

After several attempts at rebellion that only ended in failure, the townspeople eventually settled down and resigned themselves to their fate. All they could hope for was that the king's army would soon be sent to free them from the villain's tyranny.

He rarely came into town, but when he did, everyone would run and hide out of fear. For some reason, though, the villain never seemed to have any sort of interest in them. Instead, he spent most of his time inspecting the buildings and checking out places that none of the residents ever went. In short, he was a really strange sort of person (what villain wasn't though?) but he never made any attempt to hurt anyone.

So, imagine their surprise when one day he began bringing in some strange materials and plans for something or other. A few people tried to spy on him and find out what sort of evil scheme he was putting into play but who were they kidding? They couldn't read. Even if they had somehow managed to get their hands on the plans, they wouldn't have any way of understanding them anyway.

The local children thought it was some evil death ray of death or something equally destructive. The adults feared it was some kind of suppression system. At least one old grandma who had drunken some of her 'special' tea earlier that day flailed and shrieked that it prophesied the end of days.

Fortunately for them, it was none of those things.

No, it was simply that the villain had moved in, taken one look at their town, and decided to improve their infrastructure. Within a few months, the entire town had working plumbing and a small aqueduct that supplied the remote population with a constant stream of fresh water.

It was at that point that the townspeople decided that even if this villain was pretty terrifying, he was actually a decently nice guy. In less than half a year, he had managed to solve all the problems that the small town had - in less time than it would have taken for their letter of appeal to even reach the capital.  Perhaps that's why they agreed to his participation in the annual garden contest despite the fact that he was most definitely still a villain and really should be avoided at all costs.

Whatever they had imagined that his home would be when they went there was the complete opposite of what they found. Instead of death, destruction and terror, they found a perfectly manicured lawn, a beautiful rose garden with bushes that were laid out in the pattern of a maze and the villain excitedly explaining how and why he had arranged them all like that. He had also apparently apologized for the fact that the bushes were not yet very large since he had only just planted them, but it didn't matter in the long run.

The judges later admitted that he won solely on the intricacy of his flower design and the thought he had put into it and his status as their evil overlord had no effect on his score. It's not like someone's capacity for evil directly translated into their skill in the art of flower arranging. Or maybe it did, what did they know?

A few years passed with things going quite peacefully between the two sides, though the villain did occasionally send a list of demands to the leader of the small town. None of the residents knew what was on the lists save for its recipient, but at least nothing bad had happened to them yet.

One day though, a small group of strangers headed through the town in the direction of the so-called evil lair. (Only so-called because after years of annual garden parties and improvements no one was really sure if the villain actually had a single bad bone in his body.) When someone tried to warn them of where they were headed to, one of them just laughed and replied, "Thanks, it's good to know we're heading in the right direction."

They weren't sure what to say, but everyone knew that this meant the beginning of a new chapter in the story.

Chapter Text

When Jeongguk announced the fact that he was now no longer a sorcerer to the rest of residents of the stronghold, he expected there to be some kind of backlash, despite the fact that half of them already knew and there hadn't been any trouble yet. It would be fine, right?

"So you may be wondering why I've gathered you all here today," Jeongguk said seriously, causing the others to look over at him in confusion.

"Jeongguk, we're in the middle of a meal, can't this wait?" Jimin asked as he shoved another mouthful of food in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. "And you didn't call us here for anything."

Jeongguk huffed. "Well, sorry if I just wanted to have the opportunity to say that. I really do have something important to say, though."

"What thing?" Hoseok wondered, setting down his fork and paying the younger boy his full attention.

"Well, two things, actually." He paused. "Wait, no, it's three things."

"Three?" Namjoon asked with a bewildered look. "You only told us about two."

"You know about this?" Taehyung asked, looking over at Namjoon all of a sudden, who simply put his hands up to protect himself.

"Yes, three. It's really important so can you please listen for a few minutes?" Jeongguk asked, looking around the table at all his friends. When no one spoke up or interrupted, he began talking.

"I'm sure you've all been wondering why I haven't been participating in any of the activities or lessons lately," he said and took note of how Hoseok, Jimin and Taehyung seemed to be sitting up straighter to pay attention to what he was saying.

"As of a few days ago, I decided that I would no longer continue trying to be a villain."

With a shriek of "What!?" Jimin stood up and slammed his hands down onto the table. "What the heck are you talking about!?"

"I- I don't understand…" Hoseok muttered, looking very lost all of a sudden.

"Gukkie…" Taehyung said softly and placed a hand on his arm. "What's wrong? I can't imagine that you would just decide this, something has to have happened."

"I'd be lying if I said that I ever expected this to happen," he admitted as his voice got smaller and quieter. "There were just some unavoidable circumstances and consequences this time. There's nothing I can do about it anymore, what's done is done."

"What are you trying to tell us?" Jimin snapped. "Don't just go on about consequences and whatnot without elaborating-"

"I lost my magic," he blurted out, cutting Jimin off in his tirade. "I'm just a normal person now."

"But why?" Hoseok asked, glancing back and forth between everyone. "You're the last person I would have expected to just quit."

"Yeah, that's understandable. Magic was pretty much my life, after all," Jeongguk laughed but glanced over at Taehyung with a meaningful look. Hoseok's eyes widened when he noticed as things started clicking into place inside his mind.

"I realized that there are things more important than magic, that's all."

Taehyung's cheeks flushed red as soon as he realized what, exactly, Jeongguk was alluding to with that statement.

"How did you lose it though?" Taehyung asked once he calmed down enough to think. "I don't remember anything happening that could have taken it away."

The room fell into silence as they waited for him to realize, though Jeongguk took pity on him and eventually started explaining it in a way that everyone would understand.

"Taehyung, what's the last thing that you remember from the fight?"

"Umm…" He paused and thought, humming to himself. "I remember running at you and pushing you out of the way of something."

Jeongguk nodded. "You did. Do you remember anything else?"

He shook his head and still seemed visibly confused. "The next thing I remember is waking up next to you, so I assume I got knocked unconscious?"

The atmosphere was instantly even more tense than before as nervous and uncomfortable glances were traded across the room. Jeongguk eventually reached over and held Taehyung's hand tenderly.

"Tae… when you did that, you died. I gave up my magic to save your life and I don't regret it, not even for a single second so don't even try telling me that I shouldn't have done that, understand?"

Taehyung's eyes widened and his lip trembled from the effort it took to hold back his tears. What surprised Jeongguk was when Taehyung grabbed him and pulled him in close for a hug, whispering little 'thank you's over and over with a few 'I'm sorry's mixed in. When he was released a few minutes later, Jimin leaned across the table.

"So what are you planning on doing now?"

Jeongguk shrugged. "I guess I'm retiring from this life of villainy-"

"You're the youngest out of all of us though," Hoseok remarked, but Jeongguk ignored him and continued talking.

"-and I'll just go become a farmer or something. That's what old people do, right?"

"You aren't old, shut up," Seokjin griped. "If you're old, what am I?"

"Positively ancient!" Jeongguk laughed and just like that the tension was over. He had a few plans for the future, but most of all they depended on Taehyung, and he hoped that all of them would happen one day. Maybe he should ask sooner rather than later.

"Besides, don't you still have a protocol to complete?" Namjoon teased, grinning widely as Jeongguk blushed.

He was getting to that, dammit.

Chapter Text

Yugyeom of the Fareshire messengers had made a name for himself as the most fearless of them all after delivering to the forest stronghold all those months ago, so naturally when another request came in asking for yet another delivery to go there, sending him was the obvious choice. Glancing down at his parchment, he noticed that the instructions to arrive there were much the same as the last time.

He felt much the same as he had last time, albeit slightly less scared. After all, he hadn't been attacked once, everyone who he had spoken to seemed to be exceptionally kind and he had even gotten tipped - something that a lot of people seemed to be forgetting nowadays. So no, Yugyeom wasn't scared of returning to the forest stronghold for another delivery. Rather, he was excited to see what kinds of interesting tasks he would be given this time.

He passed through towns and forests (why there was an odd group of people digging a pit in the forest was anybody's guess) with grace and speed that only a messenger of Fareshire could possess, though he did occasionally have to take a break to get a drink and rest before continuing on. As he got closer and closer, his nervousness grew. Was it the prince who had hired him again? Or was it someone completely new who he had never met before?

Upon his arrival in the clearing that once again showed off the beautiful garden of roses in front of the building, Yugyeom fished the parchment out of his satchel and waited for the letters on its surface to rearrange themselves to form the instructions of where to meet his client. He grinned when it said once again to meet them in the center of the garden. It may have been a maze, however a requirement to join the esteemed ranks of the Fareshire messengers was an eidetic memory. They had to be able to perfectly remember even the most treacherous routes without making a single misstep so something like a maze was a piece of cake.

With a skip in his step, Yugyeom flawlessly made his way through the maze to the center where he had met with the prince before. Sure enough, Kim Taehyung was sitting at the table, but he was joined by the guy who, last time, had cast a wonderful protection spell on him for his journey home. That thing had worked so well that he had walked through the middle of a battlefield without garnering even a scratch.

"Oh, it's you again!" The boy exclaimed, excitedly pointing at him. "Thanks for getting here so fast, we really appreciate it."

Yugyeom nodded and smiled widely. "It is our pride to say that we have never once been late. What can I do for you today? Do you need me to fetch more potatoes, Your Highness?"

"Please, just call me Taehyung," the prince - no, Taehyung - said with a smile. "I've moved on from all that now. And how did you even remember the potato thing?"

"We remember every order so a customer can simply ask for the same as last time without placing it all over again. And of course! Please forgive my mistake," Yugyeom replied, feeling slightly embarrassed until the not-prince waved it off.

"Don't worry, I'm still getting used to it too. Anyway-" he glanced over at the other boy and smiled "-That's sort of what we needed you for."

Yugyeom was still kind of confused, but he smiled nonetheless and waited for more of an explanation.

"I'd like to introduce you to Jeongguk," Taehyung said. "He's pretty much the love of my life and he finally decided to grow the balls to complete the princess protocol. It's only been how many months?"

His tone grew teasing and Jeongguk rolled his eyes. "It's not like I haven't been trying. So basically, we need you to deliver these for us."

He passed over a stack of beautifully designed letters and Yugyeom nodded dutifully as they listed off the names of people they had to be delivered to.

"Oh, and before I forget," Taehyung said, reaching into his money pouch. "I'll pay you now so you don't have to come all the way back here once you finish. Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure!" Yugyeom replied, and it was very true. They always did tip well, and it was wonderful to see that Taehyung was doing well. With that, he bid them farewell and set off to deliver the letters to the many places required of him that, from what he was told, spanned across the entire kingdom. He would have to move with haste, but he could do it and he would do it in record time, even for a messenger. Tightening his bandanna around his forehead in determination, he set off running toward his first stop: the grand palace of Seoul.

Chapter Text

Jeongguk woke up in a good mood a few weeks or so after the invitations had been sent out. The stronghold had gradually been getting rowdier and rowdier as more people arrived - even though the reason for their coming wouldn't be for a few hours yet. As he rushed out of the room, he was practically vibrating from excitement.

After so long, after going through so much, the princess protocol would finally be fulfilled. Why would he be anything but excited?

Maybe he was too young to know any better, but he didn't care. Was it really so bad that he was happy? Ah yes, he was so happy that he was practically ecstatic.

Jeongguk all but skipped down the hall with a flourish to get to the kitchen for some food before he would inevitably be swept up in the day's plans, though he tiptoed quietly past the rooms of some of their more esteemed guests. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the others were already awake and were talking excitedly about what was to come. Of course, not even Hoseok and Jimin's combined glee could ever measure up to his. No one's could.

"Good morning!" He called cheerfully and without warning from directly behind Namjoon, surprising the man and causing him to nearly choke on his drink. He coughed loudly and managed to wheeze a quiet "good morning" in reply.

Yoongi, though, barely glanced up from his food. "Well someone's in a good mood this morning. I wonder why."

"Don't say that as if you don't know," Seokjin teased. "Taehyung's already come with just as much enthusiasm and then he went to be dragged off by some of his father's people with significantly less."

"So he's not here?" Jeongguk pouted and Yoongi only responded with a nod.

"You pout now but you forgot that you have to get ready too," Jimin responded and leaned over to flick him in the forehead. "Can't have you go out there and make a fool of yourself by showing up in your pyjamas."

Jeongguk looked down at himself with a strangled cry before quickly grabbing some food, shoving it in his mouth, and swallowing without even having the time to chew it. Without missing a beat, he ran out of the kitchen to start making himself presentable, leaving the others to chuckle quietly at his antics.

A few hours (and a lot of help from Seokjin and Jimin) later, Jeongguk looked in the mirror and admired himself. While his fashion sense wasn't bad , per se, it still wasn't anything in comparison to the older two. They took one look at him before immediately finding something that would look breathtaking - or at least that's what they said. Jeongguk had to admit, they weren't wrong.

Everything was artfully arranged, from his hair to the coloured powder that Seokjin had put on his face with care. When they had taken a final look at him and proclaimed that they were done, Jeongguk had barely been able to believe that he was looking at himself.

"I guarantee that Taehyung will lose his composure when he sees you," Jimin said with a confident grin. "And vice versa because they're undoubtedly working miracles with him right now."