Cut the strings and set me free

Part 3- a puppet tied to countless strings

"What's wrong Jiminie?" I say rushing forward, finding my heart too weak to bear anymore grief and yet unable to hold back from moving to him.

But then he steps aside to reveal a dishevelled, tear-stained Jungkook hunched low on the armchair, hand fisted tight, clenching something but then he looks at me, eyes wide and glassy and bolts to his feet.

"Your Grace what..." I begin uncertainly, unsure as to what I've walked in, and trying to ignore the way my heartstrings tug at the sight of him looking so vulnerable, so raw.

So far from the polite composed prince I'd silently resented in my mind.

And I feel guilt snake into my chest when he looks at the two of us with imploring wide doe-eyes, tears clinging to his lashes.

"She...she knows!" he gasps out, hand trembling as he clutches at his fitted doublet and shirt, over his heart as if trying to claw it out.

"Knows what? Who knows what?" Jimin urges, voice carefully neutral but I detect the note of urgency.

His hand fisting around something, which I realise is a piece of paper trembles violently.

"(Y/N) knows. She knows about me and Jin hyung and she...she's gone. Gone to deal with it herself." He sobs out, body curving, looking utterly devastated and panicked.

Any politeness, restraint and manners fly out of my head as I grip his shoulders, clenching tightly onto him. Barely registering that Jin reminds me of her advisor, of the broad-shouldered handsome man who leads the cabinet of her counsel.

"Gone where? Jungkook where has she gone?" I demand, panic lacing my words, fear making it shake.

Jimin tugs the letter out his hand, a grounding hand on Jungkook's shoulder who looks as if his world is tearing apart.

"She, she said she absolves me of any responsibility and tie to her. And that hyung...hyung will free me. But where has she gone?" he demands, sounding hysterical as he sobs, genuinely concerned for her, her disappearance the priority.

I see as Jimin smoothens out the paper and I lean over his shoulder to read it, finding myself stumbling as the words sink in.

As her final words sink in.

No.

Not like this.

(Y/N) you reckless stupid girl.

Never like this.

Her words, haunting and starkly clear on the paper says it all.

I've learnt that duty is the death of love, but I won't let your love die. Break free and live life, don't be a doll, a puppet as I have been. Be brave and bold and know that the person you've given your heart to is someone I had entrusted my life to. Know that you were born to be a bird whose cage I opened. Fly from this Jungkookie. Fly from duty and live with happiness. And know I wish only good for you; in the short time I knew you- I find solace and comfort in the fact we were on the same boat.

Truth is my boat is far too rocky and unstable that should I dive off to survive, it would be to be tugged into merciless waters. My doom is confirmed. Your boat can be smooth-sailing, so take Jinnie and live life on unrippled waters. I'm destined for rockiness, for grief whatever path I choose.

But you, you brought me a glimpse of how life could be. And I cannot hold you from that, from this moment you are freed of every duty, every responsibility that binds us together. And I too have gone to free myself, to be unchained in the only way I know now, the only path I can take now.

Know that the brief time I knew you, I knew only kindness and support and maybe one day we could meet in a different life as friends. Friends because my heart has never been mine, had never belonged to me- and that as I leave I leave it in the possession of the two dearest to me.

I pray with every last remaining bit of me for your happiness to sail, that like swans the two of you remain joined for life.

May the winds be by your side and the earth welcoming wherever you tread. I free you so I alone can drown in my despair and free myself in the only way left.

Don't waste a single moment in grief, don't mourn for a life that never lived. And should the two captives of my heart ever wonder where I went, tell them that I went in search for that world where the three of us could exist together.

The paper flutters to the ground, stained with inkblots, letters blurring.

The letter sinks to the ground and rests there, sinking to the bottom and unable to go any further.

And with one piece of paper my life slips away, the noose around my throat gets tighter, and my lungs collapse. Suddenly failing to breathe, heart failing to beat.

And despite all the strength leaving my body, I remain standing- a statue.

The sobs that fill the silent air are full of grief and mourning and desperation. The door slams open and the sound of rushed footsteps fill it, cries for a figure who's not here.

Loud panicked, disbelieving yells for (Y/N).

And those yells drive me past the figures, a hand snagging mine as I rush out, unable to think past the roaring in my ears, past the unearthly scream as my soul begs for it to be false, heart thudding loudly.

I don't know where I'm going.

Don't know where to begin searching for her.

But knowing in that instant.

Knowing that life without her was worse than existing as a husk, an empty shell, and knowing that if I didn't life battling every obstacle, didn't fight my damned hardest to get to her- then I was the coward, then I was the one who let her go.

And there was no way I was willing to take that sacrifice. To let her go without letting her know.

And if she was leaving like this, thinking she could vanish without saying it to me directly, by leaving me behind with the words she'd poured her life into without she heard mine, then she was cruel.

"(Y/N)...you stupid fool. You can't leave me like this. Don't leave..." I sob as I rush to the stables, fingers tearing at the leather harness of the bridle, tugging it free.

The hand holding mine tightens in a bruising grip.

"She can't leave. I refuse to let that happen." Jimin echoes, voice shaking with anger and hurt and tears.

And in that second our minds connect, our souls merge with the common burning insistent desire.

That there was no cage in the world that we would allow her to remain trapped in. That to our final breath we'd fight for her, fight for each other. And fight for ourselves.

Because it wasn't a matter about duty anymore.

It was a matter of happiness, of love, of hope.

And nothing was getting in the way of that.

Not even her own ridiculous stubbornness.

(THERE WE GO! PART 3! AND OOPS- IT SOMEHOW GOT WRITTEN AS SUPER LONG BUT I WANT THE FEELS TO MAKE IT ACROSS. MY DARLING Midiiplier , IF YOU DIDN'T TEAR UP- I DIDN'T DO A GOOD JOB. FACTS. AND AHHH! WE HAVE REACHED THE CLIMAX!! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND REACTIONS! AND I HOPE THE ENDING WASN'T WEIRD- WRITTEN WISE...HMMM. I HAVE A FEW DOUBTS! BUT HERE YOU GO! ENJOY, TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE! AND MY DARLING...YOU BEAUTIFUL QUEEN FOR BRINGING THIS IDEA TO ME, I FOREVER REMAIN IN YOUR DEBT! LOVE YOU!)

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3