The Tail Of Taekook

Chapter 31 - Sneaking In

(Just quickly, I've published an intro for the book that will come after this one (not a sequel but the one that'll be updated and stuff afterwards) so if you're willing to, please go check it out if you haven't already!
Izzy)

Jungkook's POV

Tae and I set off for our part of this little mission together, holding hands as always. For the first time, our tails are much duller than usual. Everyone else in BTS was worried about them, until they realised that this was a gift from the ocean, to help us avoid getting caught.

And we aren't going to waste the chances we've been given.

"Ready, baby?" I ask him quietly, squeezing his hand gently, and he smiles at me.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he responds a little nervously, "but we can do this. Together."

I nod encouragingly, pressing my lips against the side of his head in an attempt to help lower his nerves a little. "That's the spirit, Tae. And nobody can control you, not now. That's the important thing. We're equals." He giggles a little, nodding in agreement and accepting that idea, before squeezing my hand once and slipping easily into the tiny hole that I persuaded a group of king shrimps to drill for us, breaking his hold on me in the process.

"This communication thing of yours really helps, you know," he comments brightly, his hand coming to scrape away some of the wall of the huge palace, eyes widening in surprise at how weak the material is. "Jeez, this place is falling apart."
"Just like the society," I say darkly, smirking a little at the inside joke, and he sends me an amused smile, beckoning me forward.

I slip through the drilled opening, doing my best to remain quiet. This place probably had guards everywhere, but they won't be expecting us to drill in like this. Merpeople aren't trained in it, and they know that we haven't learnt. We've spent too much time campaigning.

Despite our reputation and fame, the authorities don't know that each and every member of BTS has a special skill, a talent, a gift I suppose. They don't know about Yoongi's tail, or Hoseok's sense thing, or Sapphire's mind control. This also means that they don't know about Taehyung's weather control, or my communication. Both of which come in extremely handy now.

We come out into a hallway, carved out of what seems like a huge expanse of rock. This whole place is made up of various types of stone and mineral all put together, most likely to emphasise the wealth and power of our ancestors, and our current leaders. It was built a long time ago, back when the laws for this society were still being written, so there is a lot of damage to the walls, which have been chemically weathered away a little by the seawater that surround them.

It's quite bare, considering that. There are no paintings, no fancy lights, no drapery. No secret garden. But then again, the rules of showing off status work differently here. The seawater wouldn't allow a painting to be created, let alone maintained. It would be difficult to even plan out a garden here. Lights would just explode. Drapery would've been far too heavy. And the replacement for all of that finery is the way that the hallway itself has been carved.

There are various shapes that make themselves known as we travel down the corridor a little way, etched out in relief on the otherwise harsh surface. Various overhangs swing out of nowhere, adding to this impression, without any sort of warning.

At the sound of speech, we crowd ourselves behind an overhang of dark grey stone, watching nervously as a group of officials swim towards the opening that the shrimps drilled for us. If they see us, our whole plan is ruined, and we will be executed before we've even tried to sneak into the main archives, which hide below the sea floor in the only cellar of its kind in the ocean.