WINGS ARE MADE TO FLY ✓

Chapter 17

"Do you think the gates of Hell will open if I just, y'know, knock and ask nicely?" Taehyung asked the next morning, as he and the others followed Jungkook.

    "There are seven gates to Hell," Namjoon said. "The one we'll be taking is here, in the palace."

    "You have a gate to Hell inside Heaven?"

    Jungkook frowned at him. "Unless you want to take the one inside the Bermuda Triangle."

    "No thank you."

    Their incessant chattering continued as Jungkook led them down a flight of stairs and into a large white room, with a dark purple gate in the center. It was surrounded by a large amount of guards. The king was in there, too, but no one met his eyes.

    It was only when the king pulled Taehyung away from everyone that he made eye contact.

    "Make sure Jungkook isn't harmed," he said.

    Taehyung was almost filled with hope that the king really did care for Jungkook. But, just to be sure, he asked, "Why would you care?"

    The king hesitated.

    "He is the heir to the throne."

    Taehyung's selection of swear words kept coming back to him. How dare the king be so uncaring towards his son? A son who was going to lead an expedition to save Heaven and Earth? Did he even care that Jungkook could possibly be killed?

    Clenching his jaw, Taehyung spat, "That's all you care about, huh? Your damn throne? Do you realize how much you've hurt Jungkook all these years? And even after his mother, after your wife has died, you still haven't changed! Heaven doesn't want an uncaring, mean, selfish king, but they ended up with you anyways. Jungkook could never come back. Jungkook could die, but you don't give a shit, do you?"

    The king opened his mouth to speak, possibly to even order Taehyung to be killed if he really wanted, but Taehyung had to deliver the final blow.

    "You don't deserve a son like Jungkook, and Jungkook sure as hell doesn't deserve a father like you."

    With that, Taehyung turned around on his heel, leaving the king behind him. He had probably just won a life-time ban from Heaven, but he couldn't care less when he was this angry.

    As he walked back to the others, Jungkook frowned at him. "Hey, you okay? Your face is red."

    Taehyung had to force himself to calm down and take deep breaths before steadying his voice and answering, "Yeah. I'm fine."

    Averting his eyes from Jungkook's, he stared at the gate. It was then that he realized that there was nothing on the other side; it was all black.

    "A gate to nothing leads to Hell?"

    "Yes," Jungkook said flatly. He was still looking suspiciously at Taehyung, but then he ordered everyone to line up behind him. From the corner of his eye, Taehyung saw that the king had left the room. His previously tensed shoulders relaxed.

    Suddenly the ground shook. Taehyung fell backwards and the others stumbled. There were yells coming from upstairs.

    Regaining his balance, Jungkook asked, "What's going on?"

    As Taehyung got to his feet, an angel flew by him at full speed. "Heaven is under attack!" he cried.

    Jungkook's eyes widened and his sword appeared in his hand. Understanding what he was doing, Taehyung grabbed his arm and said, "What do you think you're doing? We can't fight! We've got to get to Hell so we can stop this!"