GLAMOUR, GLITTER, GLORY //JIKOOK

CHAPTER 4/EXTRA: BLOOD AND VELVET

"stay. by. my. side," seokjin pushes him on the ground, as a arrow shoots past above them. jungkook recovers quickly, stumbling 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 a little.

"you stay away from me!" jungkook pulls his bow taut, it's difficult to aim when the enemies are so close, so many, and 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. "your scent-blockers are wearing off," he picks a bent arrow on the ground, and snaps it into two halves. jungkook pulls his sword at the last second, slicing the man's chest- as seokjin stabs a man's neck rushing towards him like a madman with a lance. "i can smell you!"

"where's your sword?" jungkook screams, pushing 𝘩𝘪𝘴- the family sword, towards seokjin. he looks at his stash, and their are four arrows. "it got stuck in someone's rib," jungkook slouches and drags himself towards a limp body, pulling out two arrows. heart. leg. "they attacked me before i could recover it!"

jungkook's sword clangs as seokjin feet start losing friction. jungkook mostly loses his eyesight. the sun blinds him, the sky looks like water. he aims for the man, but fears it might hit seokjin.

fuck it.

he sprints at the man with the arrow, screaming, stabbing him in the arm. the man growls, pushing him as he falls to the ground. "holy shit, jungkook, your scent," seokjin's face morphs rigid, but he doesn't miss the outing and plunges the sword straight into the man's neck.

seokjin pulls it out, before kicking the man so he falls on the ground. he drops to his knees, gasping for air. jungkook gulps, panting heavily. the scent of blood, murder, everything disgusts him and makes him want to vomit. seokjin leans closer, holding his shoulder. "fuck, leaving your scent is dangerous- but i really needed a fresh breath." he collapses a bit on the corpse in front of him: a man he just took the life of, and searches for whatever cloth his hands land on. he tears it off.

it's blue. velvet.

they both look at each other. he hands the cloth to jungkook, motioning to his neck. jungkook dips it in the pool of blood next to the man, and puts it over his scent gland. "did we really reach kim's royal guards?"

"look around," seokjin says, finally getting up with the help of the sword. "the civilisation is visible."

"heavens," jungkook exclaims, before the civilisation comes the view of soldiers killing each other. but it's true, the civilisation is visible. the huts are on fire, catching even some of the corpses. he winces- this is bad. you kill, get killed, light fire, burn, innocent, innocent people. "that man," jungkook groans, pulling out his numbered arrow. the soldier pulls his blade back, and plunges it back into their soldier. blood comes out of the soldier's mouth, and lands on the man's face. in a quick moment of jungkook's shot- the guy is down, but the soldier stands just a bit more to throw a grateful eye at the crown prince.

"don't waste your bows," seokjin reprimands, moving towards the duo to retrieve the arrow. probably steal the man's sword. one by one, we all fall down. jungkook wipes the sweat, blood, of his brows, finally getting up.

"aren't you the crown prince of busan?" jungkook's eyes widen. he turns back quick enough for the sword to cling to his bow. he reaches for his sword. his hand grabs air. "seokjin!" he kicks the man in the guts, pulling out two of his remaining arrows. he doesn't have time to aim– he has to fight with them. where's seokjin? "seokjin! sword, my sword!"

"jungkook," he hears seokjin groan, and his mind mildly registers another clang of swords. or probably an axe. spade.

arrows. one clang, left, one clang, right: the right it cracks. he darts to the man's right eye, before the man can take advantage of the opening. as he falls to the ground, grabbing his eye, jungkook turns to aim his left arrow at whosoever seokjin is fighting.

𝘸𝘢𝘴 fighting. "seok–"

"turning your back on the enemy, so foolish of you," he looks down to see the man still holding his eye, afraid of pulling the arrow out, crying. it's someone else. above him. milk. 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘵 milk. "gotta say, i like the scent," as he pulls out the blade, fraction away from his spine. jungkook bleeds at the mouth, knees week. his vision blurs. "bitter litchi: wouldn't it go well with spoilt milk?"

jungkook's hands touch the ground, trying to stabilize himself. is this the end? getting engulfed in blood, sun, corpses and- and burnt milk? he involuntarily laughs at the thought. what a scent. 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘮. didn't he have that silly dance battle today?

the blade lands pointedly at jungkook scent gland, right on the juncture of his neck. once. twice. he shivers. the blade's cold, but the blood's warm. "look up, alpha."

he's blind. "no, don't turn around. i know you know me. and i know who 𝘺𝘰𝘶 are. look at the man who was fighting for you."

seokjin.

he can't see him. his vision's red, among the blue of the bodies.

"he's there, somewhere, probably dead. you have to fight for him- king to a king. you will fight for him, right? true alpha."

jungkook gulps. seokjin is not dead. he removes the blood soaked cloth from his neck, let's the sharpness graze at his bare spot. he arches his neck, breathless. "i'm not a king yet."

taehyung laughs. "that is true. i apologize," he muses. "let me ask again: what will you do for the people who are fighting for you, 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦?"

breathe in. it's so easy that it's never easy. "become a king."

the blade fully rests on jungkook's neck, digging just a bit. if he could taste the milk, it would taste like tofu. with salt. and rust. the edge removes, and the scent disappears. "king to a king," he whispers, as he drops his bow, grabs his last arrow and crawls.