Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

--

"I don't think it's working." Taehyung was laying on his bed with his eyes closed while the rest of his members were standing beside him.

"Well it's not going to work if you keep talking!" Jimin argued. "In order to Astral Project you have to remain completely still and quiet. It's like meditation only...better...or something. You have to be calm, quiet and relaxed. Something that is apparently impossible for you to do."

"Okay, okay, okay. Shh, I am trying to relax, Jimin," Taehyung shot back.

Jimin looked at the other members with an expression of disbelief. He didn't know where Taehyung got his audacity from but clearly he wasn't afraid to express it.

"You have to visualize your soul leaving your body too. Be aware of your body and senses and imagine stepping out of it," Namjoon informed.

"Mhm," Taehyung replied. It was evident that Taehyung was now finally starting to fall into a deeply relaxed state. His body twitched, and then his head slumped sideways in his pillow.

"Tae?" Yoongi poked at Taehyung's cheek. "Taehyung?"

"Did it work?!" Jin got closer to Taehyung's face and stared down at his dongsaeng. "Taehyung, can you hear me?"

Nothing from Taehyung.

"I think it worked!" Jungkook screamed. "I wonder how long it will take!"

"No way this is working!" Hobi cheered. "No freaking way!"

In their excitement, all of the members took a seat around Taehyung's room to stare in wonder at him as they assumed his soul was wandering around in some other dimension.

--

Taehyung flinched as he felt his body drop. It felt as though he had just been free falling from the sky before he landed on a hard surface which knocked the wind out of him. It happened so quickly, he didn't even have time to blink.

Once he opened his eyes he immediately realized he did not know where the hell he was. This was not his bedroom. This wasn't any room he'd ever seen before. It was a giant room made of concrete walls. That's all there was. Concrete walls. No doors, no windows, nothing. What the hell?

He noticed other people lingering around in the room and saw they all had on pink jumpsuits, each person's jumpsuit had a different color patch on it. He looked down at himself to see he was also wearing one of these pink jumpsuits, and he had-at some point in time-been given a purple patch to wear.

He slowly stood up and continued to look around at the others. He wasn't sure how many people there were. Dozens, hundreds maybe? He noticed that there were no children. Only adult men and women. He ran over to a man he saw standing nearby and grabbed the man's shoulders. "Hey! Hey! Where am I? I don't think I'm supposed to be here! I think something got messed up!" The man wasn't responding to him, his gaze lingering into some unknown world. "Hello?! Can't you hear me?!"

"He can't hear you." A voice from behind him caught Taehyung's attention. He turned to see someone dressed as some kind of guard. He had a red suit and red mask covering his face.

"What do you mean he can't hear me? Where the hell am I?" Taehyung asked. The tone in his voice emphasized his growing panic and concern.

"You're in the Soul Games. Welcome, Player Purple."

"Soul Games?! What does that mean?! Who the hell is Player Purple?!"

"You are Player Purple." The guard pointed to the purple patch that had been sewn onto Taehyung's jumpsuit. He had no idea how that was done. He'd only been here for a few minutes.

"No. Listen, listen. I think you have the wrong person. My name is Taehyung. Kim Taehyung. I live in Seoul with my brothers and we were all just in my room. You have to listen to me, this is a mistake. I want to go home." Tears slowly crept down Taehyung's cheeks. His fingers were clenched around the guard's uniform. He looked around at the others and noticed nobody was talking or acknowledging one another. "Please. This has to be a mistake."

"No mistake. You know exactly how you got here," the guard replied.

"I don't understand."

"Let me remind you." The guard took his hand and placed it on Taehyung's shoulder, causing him to flinch. "You and your friends got curious, didn't you? Does 'Astral Projection' ring a bell? Perhaps you tried it?"

Taehyung's eyes went wide. He remembered doing exactly that.

The guard continued, "And perhaps it worked. Congratulations, you got your answer. When you mess with things you don't know. Things you can never comprehend. A world you haven't seen. This is where you are sent. You see the rest of these souls?" The guard pointed to the others wandering around the room as he spoke. "They have all experimented with something that is not to be experimented with."

"Souls?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow as he wiped the tears that were spreading across his face. He looked down at himself and he looked quite normal, at least to his own standards. "Are you saying I am a soul?"

"Yes. You were sent here, to us. To me. This is where the lost souls are sent."

Taehyung frantically backed away. "No, you're wrong! I don't belong here! I was just-I was just messing around and playing. This wasn't supposed to-to actually work! I can't be here! I have to get home!" Taehyung turned in circles as he gripped at his hair, hyperventilating as fear consumed him. He stared at all of the other souls and wondered how long they'd been here. Were they trapped forever? Have they been here for long?

"Please. How do I get home?" Taehyung asked.

"You have to play the games. The rules are simple. If you win all three games, your soul will be sent back to your body."

Taehyung felt his entire body tremble. "A-and if I l-l-ose...?"

"If you lose, your soul will be exterminated."

"Exterminated?! No! No! This is a mistake! It was an accident! Please! Please Mr.! Please send me home! I swear I will never do this again. I promise! I promise!"

"The only one who can send you home is yourself."

Suddenly, a loud bell rang. The bell caught everyone's attention. Taehyung didn't understand why they could hear the bell, but not each other. Maybe some kind of trance?

"Ah, yes. There it is," the guard said. The guard turned to walk away towards one side of the room. The same side where the noise of the bell was coming from.

"Wait! What do you mean only I can send myself home?! What are the games?! How do I-" Taehyung stopped speaking when he realized the guard was no longer listening. He saw everyone making their way to where the guard was standing and made his way along with them. A woman stood beside him with black long hair and deep brown eyes. Taehyung guessed she was around her mid 40s. "Ma'am, do you know what is going on? What games is this guard talking about?" The woman didn't even look in his direction as she continued to walk towards the guard.

The crowd of souls stopped, surrounding the guard as he began to speak.

"Welcome, everyone. You will all see you have been given your own colored patch. That is how you will be identified, as your real identities do not exist on this plane of existence."

Taehyung looked down at his patch. Player Purple.

"I am sure you are all wondering how you got here. Perhaps an accident, or some kind of mistake, either way, this is not where you belong. However, consider this your consequence. The rules are simple. You play the games, and you try to win the games. If you win, you will be returned to your rightful place. If you lose," the guard snapped his fingers as he said the next sentence, "then poof. Exterminated."

Taehyung looked around to see the other souls trembling just as much as he was. He could hear collective groaning, but there was still no immediate communication between any of the souls.

Taehyung frantically stepped forward. With a shaky breath he asked, "How are we supposed to play the games if we can't even communicate with each other?!"

"That will be up to you to figure out. Now, time is ticking and we have absolutely none to waste. Now that the new batch of players have all arrived-

-Let the games begin."

Chapter Text

Taehyung spun around in a panic. "Games?! What are the games? New batch of players?!" He ran around to the other souls in the room and saw them crying, but they were not able to communicate with him as he asked them if they knew what was going on.

A loud voice came over the room. It wasn't the guards voice and it didn't seem to be coming from any visible intercom. It was as if the concrete walls themselves were the ones speaking.

"Game one will now commence," the voice said. It sounded robotic and demonic all in one. Taehyung didn't want to know who was responsible for this, all he wanted was to go home and pretend it never happened.

The eerie voice continued, "For this game, you will be playing one most of you will be familiar with. A game that you may recognize from your childhood."

Taehyung froze as he intently listened. Childhood games? I'm good at those. The members and I play childhood games together all the time.

"The game of Ring Around the Rosie."

Taehyung burst into laughter. "Seriously?! That's it?! Ring Around the Rosie?! I've been playing that game since I was like three!" He turned to the rest of the souls who seemed to be reacting in their own ways. "Guys, we can all win this one! This is the easiest game ever! I mean all we even have to do is just-"

Taehyung was cut off by the voice speaking once again. "In this game, the rules are simple. You will listen to a children's tune while you hold hands. You will rotate in a circle, and when the words get to "fall down," that is when you drop."

Taehyung thought this had to be some kind of joke. He figured maybe everything that was going on wasn't so bad. He thought he would have to fight monsters, bears, or maybe even aliens. Hell, in this realm nothing seemed unrealistic anymore. But...Ring Around the Rosie?

All I have to do is spin in a damn circle and fall down. How is that even a game? How do you even win tha-

The song started immediately. Panic ensued as everyone raced to form a circle and hold hands with one another. The souls of these strangers worked together to start rotating in a clockwise direction.

The song blared through the room. It seemed to be sung by a chorus of children.

Ring around the Rosie
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down

As soon as the word "fall" came on everyone dropped to the floor as fast as they could. Taehyung looked around to see that it appeared everyone had passed round one.

He didn't understand what was happening when he suddenly heard explosions, and saw souls burst apart right in front of him. He fully expected to see blood start painting the floor and walls, however there was none.

The souls were gone, along with any indication that they had ever existed at all. There was no trace of something that once was. Nothing for them to even be remembered by.

Exterminated.

Forgotten.

Erased.

"Wait, what?!" Taehyung shrieked. He turned to the one guard who was standing in the room. The guard was not even holding a weapon. It would appear that the souls exploded from the inside out, with no external force causing them to shatter into nothing. "They sat in time! What the hell is going on?! Those people beat that round! Where did they go?!"

Every other soul was too distraught to pay Taehyung any mind, and the singer knew nobody could communicate anyway. Not even the guard answered him. However, the voice that seemed to be coming from the walls did.

"The rules are simple. The last ones to fall, lose."

"The last ones?! That was never in the rules before!" Taehyung was frantically turning in circles, trying to find the source of the voice that appeared to be in charge of these rules. "That's cheating! The rules said that all you had to do was fall at the right time, not that you lose if you're one of the last ones to fall! That's not fair!"

"In death, nothing is fair," the voice replied. "We play by our own rules here."

Taehyung gritted his teeth as he scanned the room for the source of who was making up these rules, but he didn't see anyone. He turned back to the guard. "Who is in charge? Who is it that is making up all these rules? Where the hell is that voice coming from?"

"The voice?" The guard finally acknowledged Taehyung. "The voice is everywhere. It is not here nor there, but it is all around."

"Yes I know that! I mean who is it?!"

The guard stepped towards Taehyung and then tapped him on the head with his finger. "It's here."

"What the hell does that mean?! Where did those souls go?!"

The guard stepped backwards to his original spot, and before getting an answer, the song started again.

Ring around the Rosie...

Pocket full of posies...

Taehyung felt his heart leap into his throat as he sprinted to get back in the circle with the others as they began to move. He could see the faces of everyone else drenched in tears. He didn't recognize any of them, but knew each of them was here by mistake. Whether it be the same mistake as him or by something else, he knew that nobody deserved this. He didn't believe any of these people deserved to be wiped from existence over something he felt was so mundane.

A simple mistake. A simple error. Something born out of slight curiosity, and this is what it had cost him. He broke from his thoughts when he heard the next line begin to play.

Ashes, ashes...

He looked to see people already beginning to drop to the ground before the words even got to "fall down".

Is that too early? Or will waiting until the right words be too late?

He decided to wait.

We all fall down.

Taehyung dropped as quickly as he could. He saw others, who had already been sitting on the ground, shouting and crying yet no noise was actually coming from their mouths. Silent souls, destined to a room full of others but trapped in their own solitude. Their own form of a personal Hell.

He watched as one by one, everyone else began dropping. It became easy to pick out who the last ones to have dropped to the floor were, and the terror was evident in their expressions as he made eye contact with them.

He knew and they knew what was to come.

Exterminated.

Exterminated.

Exterminated.

More souls vanished into the air.

Shockingly, even souls he saw drop to the ground before him were exterminated.

"No! No!" Taehyung screamed. He thought this meant that he, too, would be among those to be taken out, as surely he must have sat down too late if people who sat before he even did were gone.

He squeezed his eyes shut and didn't bother to wipe the tears that were streaming down his face. He awaited what he felt was the inevitable...the erasing of his entire existence. That never came.

The exterminations ended, and there were only a handful of players left sitting on the floor.

Taehyung was too busy hyperventilating, whether from absolute fear or the adrenaline of knowing he had passed another round, he wasn't sure.

"B-but...w-why..."

The voice spoke. "The rules state that you must fall when the words "fall down" are sung. Failure to do so will result in extermination. Falling too late will result in extermination. Falling too early will result in extermination."

Taehyung threw his head back. This bastard keeps adding their own rules and only saying them after the rounds are over. How is anyone supposed to beat this game?!

He didn't think a simple game of Ring Around the Rosie could turn into such a treacherous feat, but he realized he had clearly been mistaking.

This realm of existence played by its own rules.

And this was only game one.

Chapter Text

"Taehyung?" Jungkook was sitting next to Taehyung's seemingly lifeless body. He looked so peaceful in his 'trance' as Namjoon had called it.

The problem was it had already been almost two hours, and Taehyung still had not woken up from his initial departure into his astral projectile state. The members had started to get worried about an hour into it and decided to look up how long someone could safely astral project. The only thing they could find was that it varied and depended on individual circumstances.

"I swear, the internet is useless." Yoongi was sitting at the foot of the bed with his hand resting on Taehyung's leg. Every now and then he would gently shake him to try and wake his dongsaeng up, but got no response.

At one point Taehyung's breathing had gotten pretty rapid, and Jungkook had placed his hand on his hyung's chest to try and calm him only to feel that his hyung's heart was also racing. Taehyung had twitched a little bit and the members had been hopeful that it was him waking up, but it turned out that he wasn't.

"People can't get like...stuck like this, can they?" Jimin asked. "Oh God, what if he's stuck?! What do we do?!" Jimin began pacing around the room as he was on the brink of a panic attack simply thinking that Taehyung might be in danger. "There has to be a way to wake him up!"

Namjoon used his phone to look up whether a person can get stuck in astral projection, and just like before, they were met with the half-assed answer of "it depends". The leader threw his phone onto the ground. "I don't know what to do."

All of the members gathered around Taehyung's body and watched his chest slowly rise and fall. They were thankful for having some kind of sign that he was at least alive and breathing.

Hobi repeatedly snapped his fingers in Taehyung's face. "Taehyung-ah, time to wake up. I bet you're having all the fun in the world, or should I say...all the fun out of the world? But it's been a while so if you could come back and wake up please, we would really appreciate it."

They stood there waiting, staring.

Nothing.

Hobi gulped and furrowed his brows as he put his hand on Taehyung's shoulder and shook him a little bit. "Tae, please. If you don't wake up right now we...well actually I don't know. You just have to wake up. You're scaring us."

Jin leaned over Taehyung's face and screamed right in it. "Taehyung! This is Jin hyung! As your elder, I demand you to wake up now!" He took a step back and waited a moment, still receiving no response. 

Jimin was a mess of tears. "Something is wrong. I am telling you he's stuck. Something happened. Something had to have gone wrong. He's not waking up. Why isn't he waking up?!"

Jungkook took a step back and leaned against Jimin, the two of them linking arms for comfort. Jungkook agreed with his Jimin hyung, it was time to admit that something was seriously wrong.

"What are the chances he's doing this on purpose and pranking us?" Hobi asked. He knew deep down that Taehyung wouldn't do something like that, but at the same time he was hoping that was exactly what Taehyung was doing. Please be pranking us...

"Slim to none," Yoongi answered. "We all know he couldn't pull something like this off for so long."

Hobi slumped his shoulders while sighing. "I know."

Taehyung suddenly started to slightly twitch on the bed again, giving the members hope that maybe this time he was waking up.

He started to hyperventilate and his body began to convulse a little bit. Jimin and Hobi both started yelling at Taehyung for him to wake up, hoping that maybe the boy would hear him while he was like this.

Unfortunately, Taehyung's eyes never opened while his body continued to convulse and his chest rose and fell too quickly for comfort.

"Is he having some kind of seizure?!" Jimin jumped onto the bed and tried holding Taehyung's head in his arms, but it was too difficult with how much Taehyung was moving. "Taehyungie, please. Please wake up!" 

"Taehyung doesn't have seizures!" Yoongi knew this was way too out of the ordinary for his dongsaeng. "We have to call an ambulance. At this point, he needs to go to the damn hospital! For all we know we could have already waited too long to call for help!" He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and called for an ambulance. He talked to the operator on the other line while watching the rest of his members trying to get Taehyung's body to stop doing- whatever it was that it was doing. They had absolutely no idea.

"I don't know. We don't know." It was evident in Yoongi's tone that he was getting impatient having to answer all the questions the operator was asking. "No, that isn't normal for him. No that's never happened. No he isn't being responsive. No, he didn't hit his head." He couldn't help but feel a bit odd admitting what was really going on, but he knew the only way for Taehyung to get real help was to just tell the truth. "He was trying to astral project and fell into some kind of trance." After that, the operator only replied saying that help was on its way.

An ambulance had arrived about eight minutes later, and by the time paramedics got inside, Taehyung's body had already stopped convulsing and his breathing had gone back to normal. Actually, not normal. Now it seemed like he was breathing much too slowly.

All of the members had tear-soaked eyes when the paramedics made their way inside. Jin grabbed them and escorted them to Taehyung's room. The paramedics wheeled in a stretcher, all prepped and ready to place Taehyung on it. First, one of the paramedics took the singer's vital signs and mentioned that his pulse was extremely weak. They asked for a little more information and Yoongi repeated what he had told the operator on the phone about astral projection. "He was just messing around with it. We don't know what happened...we don't know why he won't wake up."

"Please help him," Jimin begged. "You have to help him. You have to help Taehyungie. Please."

Jungkook was clinging to Jimin's back, burying his face into the back of his hyung's neck as a source of comfort. His mind was racing as the worst thing he could have ever imagined was happening right in front of him. Taehyung was being placed on a stretcher, unconscious.

"Hy-y-yungie..." Jungkook was in such a panic that he could barely get any words out. "Ta-a-aehyungie."

Jin grabbed Jungkook and pulled him into a hug, placing light kisses on his maknae's head. "He's going to be okay. He's getting help." Jin didn't know if things really would turn out okay, but he was going to speak it into existence, especially if it would help calm Jungkook down.

The members watched as Taehyung was wheeled out and into the ambulance. Hobi grabbed their car keys and they piled into the car, racing to the hospital behind the ambulance. He swerved into the nearest parking space available right next to the ER entrance, making the car screech as it came to a halt. They rushed out of the car and met right back up with the paramedics who were taking Taehyung inside. Hobi asked if Taehyung's vitals were better yet and the answer was, unfortunately, no.

Namjoon was gripping his hair and pulling on it out of frustration. "What the fuck is wrong with the kid?!"

The paramedics didn't acknowledge them any longer after that. They were too busy rushing Taehyung into the hospital to start immediate testing and scans to try and figure out what was wrong with the boy.

The members paraded into the ER department and ran to the first receptionist they saw, asking if they could get updates on Taehyung as soon as possible.

"Any information on what room he was taken to? Can we go in there with him?" Jin asked.

The receptionist said he must still be in the process of being officially admitted if he had gotten there literally less than five minutes ago. "You can't go to his room, please find a seat in the waiting room and we will have a doctor speak with you as soon as there is an update."

"Ugh! I don't want to wait, I want answers now," Namjoon said. He was the first to step away from the receptionists desk and make his way over to the nearest waiting area. The rest of the members followed him, taking the seats and arranging them all close to each other. Everyone was huddling together and rubbing each other's backs as they anxiously waited for any kind of news.

"What if we messed up? What if it was too late?" Hobi curled up into his chair, curling his knees up against his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "If he doesn't get better, I will never be able to forgive myself."

Yoongi continued to rub his fellow rapper's back. "He's here now. That's what is important." His heart was heavy with worry, but he was too afraid to show it. He knew the members usually counted on him to be the strength of the group and he didn't want to let them down right now. If he fell apart in front of them, it would only make things worse for everyone. It was a weight he was willing to bear. The rest of them remained silent, not knowing what else to say. There was no more verbal comfort from any of them that could be given.

They surprisingly were met by a doctor rather quickly, by ER standards anyway. The doctor approached, asking if the members were the ones who came in for Taehyung.

"Yes, yes! That is us! Is he okay?" Jimin stared at the doctor with wide, hopeful eyes.

The doctor stood silent for a moment before continuing. "We just ran a bunch of vital tests and imaging on him."

"What did you find out?" asked Yoongi.

The doctor looked back and forth between all of them. "Well, you see, it's not something I have ever seen...

It's actually quite odd." 

Chapter Text

Taehyung was still staring at the horrors around him. Souls were disappearing one by one. It felt like there was no real way to win this. He wondered if his soul was destined to be exterminated despite the outcome of any of these games. Could anyone really even win?

Maybe this was just to pass time. Maybe the spirits controlling the entire system were just bored.

He tried screaming into what felt like a void again. "You can't do this! Those souls deserve to live! They beat the round! You can't say they lost before even giving us all of the rules!"

The guard walked over and put his hand on Taehyung's shoulder. "Would you like to stop playing the games?"

Taehyung's eyes lit up. "What? Stop? I can choose to stop playing?"

The guard nodded.

"What happens if I do that?" Taehyung's heart felt light at the hope of making it out of there without having to continue being tortured in this personal Hell. He was also a bit angry that he was unaware of that being an option. "And why didn't you say something sooner?" However, he also knew this place wasn't the place to receive any kind of crucial information up front.

"If you end the game on your own terms, you will be exterminated."

Taehyung felt his tears restart. "That's...not...fair...I either play and lose and get exterminated, or don't play and still get exterminated?"

"Or you win."

"Win?! How the hell is anyone supposed to win?! I think you're full of shit! There is no real way out of here, is there?!" Taehyung couldn't control his anger and ended up shoving the guard. He felt like this man- or thing- didn't deserve any of his respect if they were going to idly stand by and watch people be erased from existence. Him and that damn voice that keeps changing all the damn rules.

The guard didn't retaliate after Taehyung shoved him. All he did was take a step backwards. Taehyung couldn't tell what their face looked like, or if they even had one, because of the mask they had been wearing. There was no way to see this apparition's facial expressions, or any indication that there was any humanity left within him at all. It made Taehyung curious about who this guard was and why he was here. What was his story? Was he a trapped soul? Someone who had failed the games but had somehow bargained? Or was he a demonic presence who was only created to destine these lost souls to an unforgiving fate?

There were a lot of questions he had, but he didn't bother to ask them.

Even if he wanted to ask he wouldn't have the opportunity to, because he was suddenly standing in an empty concrete room. He seemed to have teleported as soon as the guard had backed away.

He frantically looked around to see nothing but the same concrete walls that the game room had. Did I move? Or did everyone else disappear?

"Hello?" At first he whispered, silently waiting for a response.

Nothing.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

"What the hell is going on?! Where am I?! Hello?!" He began screaming, not knowing if it felt worse to be surrounded by other tortured souls, or to be completely on his own.

Although even in the room full of others, nobody could communicate. It was being surrounded by people, knowing there would never be anyone you could reach out to.

That was the worst.

When nobody was answering him, his panic heightened to a new level as he wondered if instead of being exterminated or being given the chance to win the games, his soul was destined to be trapped in this concrete room forever instead.

A permanent purgatory of isolation.

As if this entire experience hadn't already had him panicking, he began to panic even worse than before. He wasn't one to ever be claustrophobic but now he felt like he was trapped in a box on his own, being left there to suffocate. He started looking around at all the walls seeing if there was any kind of door or window. He ran up to one of the concrete walls and ran his hands along the rough, cold surface of it looking for even the slightest crack to indicate a form of escape, but the concrete didn't exhibit any flaws.

He was running his hands along the rough surface so forcefully that it made his palms begin to bleed.

Which was interesting to him, because he didn't know anyone could bleed here. None of the lost souls had bled. Have I been transferred to yet a different universe, where one can bleed?

He stared at the palms of his hands, wincing at how badly they were beginning to sting. He let out a "Ssss" sound when he saw his raw skin peeling off. He knew he could no longer search the concrete walls with his hands, that was proving to be too painful.

He ran around the room, continuing to desperately scan for an exit. "Let me out! Someone, please, anyone! Let me out of here!"

How the hell did I even get here, and why?!

"Help!" He kicked the wall, forgetting how much that was absolutely going to hurt like hell once his foot collided with the concrete. "Ah! Son of a bitch!" He grabbed his foot as he stumbled around groaning in pain.

He could feel how terribly his eyes stung and how badly his head was starting to pound from a headache. At this point he figured he had quite literally been sent to Hell and was in some kind of waiting room, waiting for Lucifer and a parade of demons to come escort him to the flames by their own hands. If they even have hands!

"Help! Someone let me out of here! Guard! Guard, can you hear me?! Guard, it's Taehyung! It's me, Tae- It's Player Purple! If you're the one who put me here, please let me out! I-I-I didn't mean to shove you! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, guard! Please let me out! I-I-I have to finish playing the games so I don't-"

Taehyung froze as his heart seized in his chest. The games...how can I play if I am trapped in here?! That means I'll lose...I'll lose!

"Hey! Guard! Anyone! I have to get out! I have to get out of here! Help! I have to f-f-finish playing! I have to finish playing!" A loud sob left Taehyung's throat. "Let me out of here you fucker!" Taehyung lost his train of thought as he punched at the concrete wall, sending excruciating pain shooting through his hand and up his arm.

"Ah!" He cradled his hand to his chest and saw the immediate bruising. Blinking away his tears, he whispered to himself, "I have to get out of here..." He heard his own voice crack as he said it, an indication that his soul wanted to give up, but at the same time knew he couldn't.

He had to win this so he could get back to his members. He'd give anything to see them again. His bleeding palms, bruised foot, and bruised hand weren't nearly as painful as the thought of never returning home to the members.

Bangtan.

His family and his whole heart.

He wondered what they were up to and if they were okay. He had no concept of time, so he didn't know how long he'd been sucked into these cruel games.

How long had passed? Minutes? Hours? Days?

He placed his back against the wall and dropped down to the floor, still holding his hand to his chest as his tears flowed. He sat there and wondered what the members were doing, if they were panicking thinking he might be dead.

Please don't think I'm dead, guys.

The loneliness filled his heart, which was ironic because the more his heart filled with that loneliness, the emptier it felt.

I will find my way home. You just have to wait for me.

I miss you guys...

"Jungkookie...and Jimin-ah...Namjoonie hyung...Hobi hyung...Yoongi hyung...Jin hyung..." Taehyung was whispering to himself while rocking back and forth. He wondered if they would hear him if he said their names enough times.

"Jungkookie...Jimin-ah...Namjoonie..."

He sat there, repeating their names through his tears. Anyone else would have thought he was doing some kind of chant, but no, he was simply trying to communicate with his members the only way he knew how.

So he sat there. For minutes, or hours, or days. He didn't know. All he could do was repeat their names...

Again and again...and again.

Chapter Text

"What do you mean it's quite odd?" Namjoon asked. "What did you find? What is wrong with him?"

"That's just the thing," the doctor glanced at the chart on the clipboard he was holding and then back up at the members, "there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him. His vitals are weak, yes. However, we did blood tests and brain scans, and there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. His brain activity shows that his brain is fully functioning, which means he should be conscious and awake. It's actually the strangest thing I've ever seen. There seems to be absolutely no reason for him to even be unconscious."

The members stood there, silent. They weren't sure if that was supposed to be good or bad news. They were glad that Taehyung appeared to be well and healthy, on the other hand, there was still an unsolved question.

"Then...then how does he wake up?" Jungkook asked.

"That's the grand question. Considering there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him...there is nothing we need to do to help him. This is definitely a first in my career," the doctor replied.

Yoongi stepped forward and grabbed the doctor by his shirt. "You absolutely need to do something to help him! If his vitals are weak then something has to be wrong! Go do more tests, do more blood work, do something! A person doesn't just fall into a coma!"

"But hyung," Jimin whispered to Yoongi, "he's not in a coma...he's in a trance, or something."

The doctor raised his eyebrow at Jimin, hinting at his curiosity towards Jimin's statement.

Jimin noticed the doctor's stare. "We mentioned when we called for help about the astral projection thing...did anyone mention that to you?"

"Oh, yes, that." The doctor didn't want to be insensitive, but also wanted them to know that he didn't believe that was the issue. "What we are experiencing here is quite a peculiar thing, but I wouldn't chalk it down to him being stuck in some kind of out of body experience. Or some other realm."

"But if you can't explain what is going on, then maybe that can," Jin replied.

The doctor stood up a bit straighter and stiffened. "I will be sure to run more scans and tests and get to the bottom of this, as only science can do."

"What if you still have no answers? Then what? Assuming he really is stuck in some great astral plane, how would we get him back, hypothetically? He's still alive. He's still around," Jungkook slumped his shoulders, "somewhere." He started to wipe at the tears trickling down his cheeks.

"Then I guess we would somehow have to go find him and bring him back, wouldn't we? Or just wait for him to wake up." The doctor smiled, trying to hide the fact he was mocking them. He was very dedicated to his craft- which was science. Not astral projection. If he really couldn't find answers to why Taehyung was in some sort of coma, then all they could do in the end was wait and hope that one day he'd wake up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to work." He departed without waiting to hear another word from the members.

As soon as the doctor had exited the waiting room, the members frantically turned to each other.

"Find him! We have to go find him! If he's lost, we can bring him back!" Jimin's tone was quite hasty.

The members didn't even have time to stop and realize how bizarre the entire situation seemed. When they had called for help, they assumed something was wrong with Taehyung and they didn't know what, but that the astral projection might have something to do with it.

Now, they were all absolutely sure that the astral projection had everything to do with it. If the doctor didn't have the answers, it was because it had to do with something that a doctor couldn't find the answers to.

"He's absolutely lost," Yoongi agreed with Jimin. They had to find him.

"So what do we do? How do we find him?" Jungkook asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jin grabbed Jungkook's shoulder and lightly held it. "We have to astral project too. We have to go to where he is and help him find his way back."

Jungkook gulped. "What if we all end up lost?"

Namjoon interjected. "Only one of us will do it. Someone needs to stay in this realm."

"I'll do it. I'll try to find him," Yoongi offered.

Nobody objected. If Yoongi wanted to take one for the team, that was fine by them.

Considering they'd already messed around and watched how Taehyung sent himself into another realm, the members already knew how to do it. The question now was where, because Yoongi wasn't about to lay on the floor of a hospital waiting room while his soul went on it's own adventure.

"The least we can do is find me a comfortable bed," Yoongi mentioned.

They all decided to browse around the hospital for an unoccupied room where Yoongi could lay down. If they were lucky, they could get this over with quickly. Once they found a room, Yoongi hopped on the bed and immediately closed his eyes as he tried to force himself into a relaxed, sedated state.

The problem was that it wasn't working no matter how much he tried. Yoongi couldn't get himself to do it. This caused other members to try and astral project and it wasn't working for anyone else either.

Jimin completely broke down as he paced around the hospital room. "What the hell! This isn't fair!" His hands were clenched into fists as tears stung his eyes and threatened to pour down his face. "What does it take to just get our brother back?!"

Jin walked over and pulled Jimin into a hug, and soon all of them were embracing one another.

"I don't understand why it would only work for him," Namjoon sniffled as he leaned to the side and wiped his tears on Jimin's shirt.

Yoongi tried to hide his own disappointment. "Well, you know how he is...he's always been sensitive. Like he's always had some kind of sixth sense. Maybe he was just more susceptible to this working." He dropped his chin and rested it on Hobi's shoulder, who was wrapped up next to him. Hobi had remained pretty quiet the entire time, even back in the waiting room. He couldn't find any words to express his sorrow. His heart was too broken for him to have any coherent thoughts.

Jungkook had his face pressed into Jin's chest. "What do we d-d-o?" He stuttered as his sobs took full control of him. Everyone reached over to rub the maknae's back.

"I guess we do all we can do...like the doctor said...we just wait for him to wake up," Namjoon replied. As much as he hated the idea of that, they truly were at a loss. "This might be something he has to find his own way out of."

The members continued to cry and hold each other. Feeling absolutely helpless was the worst possible feeling, on top of not knowing when-or even if- Taehyung would wake back up or die right there in the hospital.

After spending a while hugging, they decided to make their way back to the waiting room in case the doctor came back with any kind of news. After about another two hours went by, the doctor reappeared, having brought a second doctor with him.

The members ran over to greet them.

"Well? Please tell us you were able to figure out what is wrong," Hobi begged. He couldn't believe it himself, but Hobi was actually somewhat desperate to hear that something was wrong with Taehyung, because that would mean that whatever was wrong could be made right, and it would help Taehyung wake up.

The problem was that still, not only one but two doctor's, had concluded that that there was nothing wrong.

The members, however, felt like absolutely nothing was right.

None of this was right.

"So then w-w-w-what do we do?" Jin asked while crying. "He can't be unconscious forever!"

Both of the doctor's looked at the boys with empathy.

"I'm sorry, but it seems all any of us can do is wait."

That's what they were told.

All they could do was sit idly by and wait. All they could do was hope that maybe, someday, somehow, Taehyung would just magically wake back up.

So, that's what they did.

With heavy, broken hearts...the members sat next to Taehyung's hospital bed constantly offering their affection whether by stroking his cheeks or running their fingers through his hair. They'd talk to him, sing to him, make noise in hopes that it would help Taehyung find his way back home.

They sat there waiting for days...

And days...

And days.

Chapter Text

"Have you made up your mind? Would you like to return to the games, or as asked before, exterminate yourself now?"

That loud, pounding, overhead voice thundered through the concrete room Taehyung still found himself to be trapped in. He had still been sitting there with his knees to his chest, arms wrapped around them as he cried. He lifted his head when he heard the voice, but as expected, there was no actual person standing there to talk to.

His vision remained blurry with tears. He stared at nothing in particular as he tried to make sense of his own thoughts. As much as he wanted this nightmare to be over, he couldn't imagine never seeing his members again. They were the only reason he was able to hold out for as long as he had. They were the only reason he had tried so hard to survive this cursed place.

Giving up now would mean death.

I'd never see them again.

I'd have fought this hard for nothing.

But I don't know how much more I can take...

All I have to do is win.

Taehyung...just  win .

He shot up to his feet and wiped his tears, desperate to get this all over with. "I'll continue to play."

Before he had another second to think, he was already transported back into the main room where everyone else was. He realized how empty it felt now, with so many souls already having been exterminated. It made him physically sick to see so many of those poor people be wiped from the existence of earth, but there was a slightly more sinister realization that crept into the back of his mind.

The more souls lost, the closer I am to winning.

He hated to admit it, but he knew deep down that seeing others eliminated left and right would remain a good thing as long as it didn't happen to him.

His heart broke a bit when he realized something else...He wanted to see more souls die. For his own sake. The more people that vanished meant the closer he was to freedom. Another tear escaped his eye because he knew how fucked up it was to feel that way, but if he learned anything since being cast into this torturous hell it was that in here, it was every man for himself.

Nobody is going to help me. Nobody is going to save me. And it is me against them. A new wave of determination flushed through Taehyung's veins. He was going to end this, and win, no matter what it took.

He was so lost in his own head that he didn't hear the first initial announcement for the players to return back to their positions. He didn't know how long he'd been trapped inside that concrete room, but it appeared that the game Ring Around the Rosie was still the game being played as he saw multiple people forming in a circle to hold hands.

"Preparing for round three."

Taehyung heard the guard's voice echo through the room. He looked over to see the guard standing against the wall in the same place he always stood with his stupid mask on. Part of him felt bad for the guard, because it was obvious he'd been here a while and hadn't been able to leave, but then he started to wonder if the guard simply loved doing this and wouldn't have it any other way. Taehyung knew that either way, he hated the guard with a burning passion. For all he knew, the guard designed and owned this place. The master of Hell.

He felt both of his hands get grabbed by others and he stumbled as they started slowly walking in a circle. His heart rate quickly increased and he felt the sweat drip from his forehead as he tried to calculate the absolute best time to sit on the ground in perfect sync with the words to the game.

The problem was the damn rules were always changing without notice. The operators of this game were doing whatever they wanted.

And if they can cheat with these games...

Then why can't I?

I'll play their games, but I'll do it my own way.

As the words were spoken, everyone remained in sync. A perfect, steady moving circular motion.

Ring Around the Rosie

Pocket full of Posies

Taehyung's foot grazed the heel of the person holding his right hand, causing them to stumble. As they fell to the ground, he let go of their hand so he wouldn't collapse with them.

He tried to hide his smirk. Oops.

There was that loud voice again. "Exterminated."

The soul exploded into a vast nothingness before the next words of the game were even spoken.

Taehyung couldn't believe what he had done actually worked. He realized the more people he could make falter, the better chances he had of winning. He had no clue what game would come after this one, or if this was it - walking in circles over and over again until there was only one person left. What he did know, however, was that the more people he could get eliminated right now would only benefit him for whatever came next.

Ashes, Ashes...

He quickly tried to think of a way to get someone else, if not multiple people, to also fall too early, or even too late. He couldn't use any mode of verbal distraction because nobody paid attention to anyone else here. Nobody could communicate. He also didn't want to get caught. He knew he had to do something physically discrete once again. He figured since stepping on someone's heel worked the first time, doing it again was the safest option for now.

After the person he had been holding hands with was exterminated, he was quick to grab the hand of the next person in the circle to get back on track with everyone else. He kept his head low and his gaze to the floor, making sure to not look in the direction of the guard. He felt like looking over at him would bring too much attention to himself.

Once again, his foot scuffed the back of the person to his rights heel, causing them to fall. Taehyung stumbled for a split second before letting go of their hand. This time, three people all crashed to the floor due to the domino effect of falling.

"Exterminated."

"Exterminated."

"Exterminated."

All three people - gone in a heartbeat.

Once Taehyung realized how easy this was, he felt excitement begin to bubble up in his stomach. He cursed himself for not cheating sooner, because if he had used this tactic since round one, he could very easily be one of the last people still in the game, and that much closer to winning.

He quickly reformed the circle with the next person. His next victim.

We all...

Taehyung repeated his move. Making sure to remain extremely discreet about it, he took his foot and scraped the back of the next person's heel and they fell. This time around, he had to stifle a laugh because he was so amused by how this was turning out for him. Another soul gone.

Fall down.

The remaining players dropped to the ground, some sooner than others just like in the last rounds. Taehyung watched as the guard called out other players who were now going to be exterminated. He tried to keep a neutral facial expression as he saw his competition dwindling down. He knew he'd sat at the perfect time.

"Player Purple."

Taehyung's expression faltered when he heard that, because he knew he was Player Purple. He gulped. It can't be me. It can't be. I won this round. I sat at the perfect time. I beat all those people...people who sat earlier than me already lost, and people who sat after me were already taken out too. So it can't be m-

"Exterminated."

Chapter Text

"No!" 

The members were sitting in Taehyung's hospital room, completely caught off guard when they saw Taehyung's body fly up into a sitting position as he started screaming and clutching his chest. 

"No! No!" Taehyung repeatedly shrieked. He was hyperventilating and letting the tears splash down his face. He didn't know where he was or why everything suddenly seemed so bright, a stark contrast to the darkness he was in not even a second ago. 

"Taehyung! Taehyungie!" Jimin was the first to reach him, immediately trying to wrap his arms around him into a hug, but Taehyung shoved him away. 

"No! Get away from me! Don't touch me! Get the hell away!" 

Jimin looked at the others with concern, and immediately the rest of them were surrounding Taehyung, trying to comfort him. 

"Hey, Tae, it's okay. It's us," Yoongi said gently as he tried to caress Taehyung's cheek. 

All of them slightly jumped, startled at Taehyung's sudden and abrupt movements. He quickly scurried backwards to the top of the hospital bed until his back was against the wall. He felt trapped right back in that concrete room. "I said don't touch me! Leave me alone!" 

Jungkook was repeatedly pressing a red button on the wall that sent an alarm to the nurse's station down the hall to let them know they needed help. 

Taehyung's vision hadn't completely cleared yet. He could only tell that he was sitting up against a wall, and it was way too bright. The voices. Whose voices? Who's talking now? The damn guard? The voice from before? 

"Taehyung, it's okay! It's okay!" Namjoon could clearly tell that his dongsaeng was in some kind of shock, he couldn't imagine from what, though. He stretched his arms out towards him, making sure not to touch him so he wouldn't panic again. He wanted nothing more than to scoop Taehyung up into his arms and hug him tightly, telling him how badly they've all missed him and how he was safe, but he knew he couldn't do that yet. "It's Joonie hyung." 

It was hard for Namjoon to speak over Taehyung's incredibly loud screaming and crying, so he made sure to speak louder so Taehyung could hear him and hopefully register what he was actually saying. "It's Joonie hyung! Listen to me! Taehyung, it's Namjoonie!"

"Yeah, and Jin hyung!" Jin added. 

All of the members started announcing themselves, hoping to pull Taehyung out of wherever his mind was stuck. 

A few nurses ran in and saw the members surrounding Taehyung, who was curled up in the bed against the wall, clutching his chest and screaming through his tears. 

"We don't know what's wrong with him!" Jungkook cried. "He just...woke up screaming like this!" 

Hobi gestured to Taehyung while looking at the nurses, " I think he's having trouble breathing, he's freaking out!" 

Taehyung was still hooked up to IV drips that were going into his arm, so one of the nurses immediately started to administer some sedatives into it while the other nurse grabbed an oxygen mask and tried to coax Taehyung into wearing it. 

Taehyung smacked the nurse's arm away. "Fuck off!" 

"Taehyung!" Jin shouted. Not out of anger, but out of surprise. 

"I need all of you to leave the room," the nurse commanded while looking at the members. Her tone was professional yet stern, and the members could tell that whatever was happening was not good. 

"Will he be o-okay?" Jimin asked as everyone started making their way to the door. He kept his eyes on his best friend, and his heart broke a million times over seeing him be in this state. He felt guilty for thinking it, but he couldn't help but feel like Taehyung was better off still being in a coma if it at least meant he was at peace. He hated seeing him suffering and knowing there was nothing he could do about it. 

"We need to get him stable, and then you can come back in," the nurse replied. The members were quickly escorted out into the hallway and the door slammed shut behind them. 

"What are they going to do to him?" Jungkook sniffled as he walked over and leaned his head into Jimin's chest. 

Jimin wrapped his arms around his maknae and rested his tear soaked cheek on the top of his head. "I don't know, Koo. I guess wait for him to calm down?" 

Yoongi walked over and pulled Jimin and Jungkook into a hug. "They're sedating him to help him relax. Hopefully after that, he will be calm enough to realize where he is and who we are."

"I don't understand," said Hobi. "What happened to him? I mean, where would he think he is? Who would he think we are if not his brothers? What is he so afraid of that he doesn't even want us going near him?" 

"Maybe he saw something in his head while he was in that coma, or maybe he's just confused from waking up in a place that wasn't home, considering that's where he first fell asleep?" Namjoon was also trying to make sense of it, but he hadn't the slightest clue. "I'm sure he will calm down and then we will be able to talk to him. He's awake, that's what really matters most, right?" 

"Yet, we still don't know what caused the coma in the first place," Jin slumped his shoulders. Despite how big those shoulders were, they couldn't bare the weight of knowing his little brother was hurting. 

Everyone wiped their tears and took a seat in the hallway just outside Taehyung's door. They didn't want to stroll any further, because they wanted to be right there and immediately back with him as soon as possible. 

They wanted to be there incase he needed them. 

And, once again, all they could do was sit around and wait. 

Meanwhile, inside the room, both nurses were still trying to help Taehyung get under control. They were used to patient outbursts, so it wasn't too hard. The sedative going into his IV was making his body tremble less as his tears slowed and his screaming stopped. At this point, he just felt exhausted. The oxygen mask was finally on his face, aiding in him being able to breathe better. 

He started to become aware that he was in some kind of medical room, and was aware of the two nurses in their nurse uniforms. He wondered why their uniforms looked different than all of the other players and the guards. He could see that nobody else was in the room with him, so he figured either something happened to him during the games or-

-Wait...I was exterminated...erased from existence...

Slowly, he turned his head and looked both of the nurses in the eyes. He suddenly felt very small, like despite all he'd just gone through, he still lost. All of that determination wasted. With wide, fearful eyes,  he whispered the question he was afraid to know the answer to. "Am I...am I really dead?"

His eyebrows furrowed as he felt his heart start to beat a bit faster, despite the drugs being pumped into him. 

"No, honey, you're not dead," the nurse who had put the oxygen mask on him replied, her tone sweet and comforting. 

The other nurse stepped over to him and chuckled a little bit. "Come to think of it, this is the most alive you've been in quite a while. Taehyung, do you know where you are or what happened to you?" 

Taehyung wasn't sure how to reply to that. He thought he knew, but this place looked nothing like before. He slowly shook his head back and forth. He was at quite a loss. 

"You fell into a coma, and you've been in the hospital being monitored. Doctors were trying hard to figure out what was wrong, and it's been tricky. However, miraculously, you just woke back up. And," the nurse pointed to the door, "you have some people who have been waiting a long time to see you awake. May I let them in?"

Taehyung stared at the door, his expression clearly showing his hesitation and nerves. 

"It's your members, Taehyung. Your family," the nurse informed. 

"M-My members? Like...Jungkookie and hyungs? Are they okay?" He instantly filled with worry, hoping they hadn't fallen victim to these games of hell. 

Both of the nurses nodded. "Of course they’re okay," one replied, "and they would love to see you."