𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 ~ 𝓥𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓴𝓸𝓸𝓴

㈦ | Stigma

World n°2

It was against the rules and Jimin knew he'd be in trouble if any of the guards noticed him but he still decided to sneak to the dungeons to see Taehyung. He didn't know how he felt it long before this happened but he did anyways.

He knew that him suddenly moving worlds wasn't a good sign, that it was rather a sign of doom only getting worse with time. He couldn't see anything because of the pitch black darkness, but he could recognize that the walls were made out of hideous stones, and the ground of dirt.

Every fiber of him was chilling and freezing to the bone for it was very cold inside, the walls moist and the air humid and he felt very worried for Taehyung. He believed that he must've been thrown somewhere in a random cell, wrists chained together and body crying out of cold.

The air had the smell of stench and it had unwillingly engulfed his every sense, the smell of rotting bodies suffocating him and he felt as if he was going to vomit. The smell was horrid, salty and acidic and it smelt like suffering, it smelt like disease and death, smelt like everything wrong with the world.

Rarely anyone thrown in those cells had ever gotten out, only begged for scraps of food and barely got any at all until dead of starvation, cold or executed by the king's orders, and Jimin couldn't bring himself to think of how many people had faced the same fate, but he couldn't let Taehyung face it.

He had to save him, even if it meant that he'd have to beg for Jungkook to get him out of there. He didn't know what he could do to save his lover but there was nothing he wouldn't do to save him.

After a few minutes of looking around with frantic eyes, not being able to see even a meter further ahead of him, Jimin's gaze had finally landed on Taehyung. His back was against the wall, and his wrists chained together painfully to the wall.

There was a little torch in the cell which allowed a bit of visibility and at the very sight, Jimin couldn't help but clamber at the barred door to his dungeon room, fingers grabbing desperately at the metal bars.

“Taehyung!” Jimin said but Taehyung didn't seem to hear him. Eyes closed and he only squeezed them shut rather than opening them. Taehyung thought the voice was inside his head, for whenever he closed his eyes, he heard Jimin's sweet voice. Nobody but Jimin could say it so softly, could make him feel safe with nothing but a simple word.

“Taehyung!” Jimin said louder, and this time, Taehyung opened his eyes, thinking he was dreaming at the sight of Jimin. He still could see him clearly, every strand of hair, the light in his eyes and his button nose.

He was breathtaking even in the darkness, ethereal even in the dim light. He couldn't help but smile until he noticed the worried look on Jimin's face. It made his chest grow tight, and he wanted to make him feel better. “What happened Tae? Why did I overhear the maidens saying you were doomed?”

“I attacked the king, barely got to scathe him though. My offense isn't grave, they'll let me out soon.” Taehyung lied through his teeth. He knew that at best, he'd be imprisoned down there until he dies and rots with the rest of them, or be let out mutilated, that Jungkook did it on purpose and indeed meant harm but he didn't want Jimin to worry, didn't want him to wail as if he was already sentenced to death.

“Why did they even take you to the throne room?” Jimin asked, almost sobbing, his voice cracking with raw emotions, with fear. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was more to the story, Jungkook wouldn't just call for Taehyung without a reason and Taehyung wouldn't attack the latter without a reason too. He knew also that something terrible would happen if he didn't interfere somehow.

He felt it, for even in the other world, Jungkook and Taehyung seemed to not like each other much. He just never knew it went this far, so far that it had transported also to the other world, engraved in every piece of their souls and minds and Jimin couldn't understand why it was this way. He needed to know the problem to fix it, he needed to save Taehyung.

“I'm accused of stealing the Queen’s neckless.” Taehyung said bitterly looking down at his feet in shame. “But I didn't do it Jimin. It isn't me.” Jimin was hit by a rush of affection at Taehyung's state.

Jimin wanted to get closer, look into his eyes, kiss him and embrace him and say that it'll be fine, that he was terribly sorry he couldn't get him out of that stinky cell and that he'd do anything to prove his innocence. But he knew the guards would soon patrol the place so he'd have to sneak out before getting caught.

“You wouldn't do it Taehyung, I believe you and I'll prove it.”

He kissed him through the bars then left the dungeons without having any particular plan but he decided that the best bet was to find the neckless and return it. He didn't know how to find it but the time of him changing worlds was coming soon and it was a restriction.

He didn't want to leave Taehyung in the dungeon room, hungry and cold for more couple of hours but he hoped that he would figure something out there. It was already getting dark and he knew that karma would come back to bite servant Jungkook in the back in the other world. The king did a mistake, but servant Jungkook was so innocent and didn't deserve whatever the world had in stock for him.

He was worried and felt the need to make sure Jungkook was fine. Yet, at least there, he was the Royal advisor and he had power and could change things, but he was afraid that what just happened was already the karma collecting its debt.

He didn't want to assume that Taehyung did hurt Jungkook behind his back but he knew it was also another possibility. There was a reason and unless he figured it out on time, Taehyung may possibly die, and he didn't know what consequence it could entail but he didn't want to think of it.

As soon as he reached the servants’ sleeping chambers, where there was practically no space for him to lay down at all, bodies piled one above the other. He just sat on a chair and as soon as he closed his eyes, he must've fallen asleep because he heard tapping on the door.

He opened them to see his own beautifully furnitured room, juice on the night table and light shining from the half-closed window, signalling the first hours of the morning. But again, someone was knocking inpatiently and he made his way to the door.

“Yeah?” Jimin asked as he swung the door open, and there in front of him stood Jungkook, with dark bags under his eyes and hair sticking in every direction possible. He looked as if he hadn't had any sleep at all. Jungkook wasn't fine for the entire past couple of weeks, always looking as if sick, and the maidens told him that he wasn't eating what they serve him and that his food always came back untouched.

Jimin wished to know what was wrong with him but Jungkook had always insisted that he was perfectly fine. “Don't tell me you've been up the entire night Ggukie. I don't like how you are lately. Just what's the matter, Jungkook?”

“You.”

Jimin didn't say anything, thinking Jungkook hadn't finished speaking. But when nothing else left Jungkook's lips, he understood that ‘You’ was all the answer Jungkook had given and it was confusing.

“What do you mean with ‘You’, Ggukie?”

“The butterflies hurt, the idea of you hurts, the idea of him hurts too, the feelings are too much to bear but they wouldn't leave. I cannot force this feeling to leave. I need to tell you.” Jimin was wide-eyed, just hearing without anything registring in his mind. “The reason I can't sleep is you, the reason I can't study is you, the reason I can't eat is you. I should've known that everything that falls break.”

“ But I fell for you.”

27.03.19