Jungkook rocked his daughter without any other thoughts. He was tired, he was angry, and he was hungry. Everyone started avoiding him with the exception of Eunjin and Yoongi, and they only interacted with him because of Hyerin.
He did his best not to think about Nari, and that pained him more than her leaving. When he did think of her, he ran through every possible scenario of whatever elaborate plan she had created. Between her and her brother, all of them were bound to get killed by strong lack of communication.
He felt wounded that she didn't trust him enough to share. They were destined, and he told her everything.
Namjoon took a seat next to Jungkook, and he gently pried Hyerin away from him. "You need to eat," he said. "Hyerin will be fine with me for a few moments."
Jungkook just stared at Namjoon skeptically, and Namjoon shrugged. "I won't stand up with her if that helps."
It did, but Jungkook had a lot of things he wanted to say. Emotions bubbled in his throat, and he knew Namjoon needed to be the one to hear them since they were practically family.
"I am going to marry your sister." Those were not the words he wanted to say first, but they were out in the world before he could bite them back. "I was going to tell her, but Amarian stopped me to tell me she was in labor. I didn't think bringing up marriage when Hyerin was coming was a good idea."
Namjoon rolled his tongue around in his mouth as he considered that. "I know you're going to marry her."
"Also, the two of you running off with your stupid plans really pisses me off, and now Taehyung has run off. I'm really tired of this shit."
Namjoon cracked a small smile. "It runs in our blood. Nari was our parents best kept secret and plan. Daliania had her secretive plans, and so did Dalianus."
"And all of them are dead," Jungkook said flatly. "That's a theme the two of you shouldn't repeat."
Despite the sting of the words, Namjoon barked out a laugh that startled Hyerin. He slammed his mouth shut when she cried out, but humor still swam in his eyes. He took his time soothing her, not missing the distrustful looks Jungkook shot him.
"Do you think Daliania knew about eternal souls and planned to become a wraith?" He held back small chuckles as he asked.
"I wouldn't put it past her." Jungkook didn't see the humor. He only saw that looming reality.
"Well, if she did, it didn't do much good." Namjoon calmed himself and leaned back. He curled Hyerin on his chest and smiled as she fell back asleep.
"What if it did? How many times did you watch our deaths, Namjoon? How many different ways did you and Nari witness Taehyung answer her call?" Jungkook slouched back in the seat. "She was terrible, and she had us fooled for so long. But Taehyung... He deserved so much more."
"You're talking about him like he's dead." Seokjin startled both of them when he made himself known.
"He might as well be. The last time one of us ran off with one of the twins, she almost died."
Namjoon flinched, but he didn't say anything. Seokjin regarded him for a moment before turning back to Jungkook. "Nari is smarter than Namjoon."
"But she's just as foolish."
No one could argue that point.
"She's more powerful," Namjoon quietly added. "It doesn't take much to be a weapon, but it takes so much more to be a savior. The things I see her do in every version of the future I see... she's incredible."
"What have the two of you seen recently?" Seokjin asked. He leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees as if eager for a good war story that their grandfathers shared when they were children.
"Red snow." Hyerin stirred slightly at the slight choke in Namjoon's voice, but she eased herself back to sleep quickly.
As Namjoon started going back through all of his dreams, pieces began fitting into the puzzle of Nari's plan that he hadn't noticed before. Obviously he should have been the one to figure it all out first, but Taehyung had beat him to it.
"She didn't tell us so we'd stay here. The manor is important. It's why when we were remodeling she didn't adjust the layout." His words came out fast and breathy. Anxiety began gripping at his throat, and he squeezed his eyes shut to try and block out all the images flooding his mind. "We need the maze."
"So they'll get in. Whatever barriers we will create, they will breach." Jungkook also began seeing the same puzzle that was Kim Nari. "There were traps my brother used to... oh my god." He sat up straight and looked between Seokjin and Namjoon. Both of them were urging him to speak. "She's going to find him."
——
Nari stood in the sunlight. The image in front of her was familiar; she'd seen it in a dream, but the rest of the dream wasn't present. Jungkook wasn't there with her, and she felt that absence.
"Nari, let's head inside." Pran stood off at the edge of the clearing doing her best to wait patiently for Nari. Pran knew Nari wanted time in the sun, and she was allowing it in small amounts each day.
But they needed to stay in hiding. They only moved at night made obvious by Taehyung's aversion to the sun, and Pran could also see best in the dark. They did some traveling in the human world when they came across other territories in their world, but they did their best to avoid needing to travel in the human world.
They'd already had to dodge the hunters association, and that was by sheer luck. They had traveled far enough that Taehyung wasn't immediately recognized, and Nari hadn't come out of the shadows. Her eyes would have given them away.
When Taehyung was recognized, they made a break for it by slipping through the veil. The hunters association hadn't been prepared to run into them, so they were unable to cross that barrier.
"We need to sleep," Pran added, urging Nari to leave the sunlight behind. "Your skin is also very red."
Nari finally budged, taking one last deep breath as if she could smell the light. "I'm coming," she said.
She joined Pran at the clearings edge, and Pran guided her through the trees. "Are we getting closer?" She asked.
"Yes, I am now able to start narrowing down his location. He hasn't moved, so I think they have a permanent home."
"But it's not exact," Pran finished for her. They had all been hoping that she could find the exact location so she could just transport there, but she didn't have a bond to Jungkook's brother. It was only a very faint and tattered familial tie that led her to him.
"Not yet."
They reached the small cabin hidden in the hollow of the woods, and Nari walked around the side towards the cellar doors. Taehyung was down there stating that it wasn't dark enough in the cabin itself.
She knocked twice in warning that the doors would open and sunlight would flood in before opening it up and heading down.
"Tae," she called out, clambering down the cracked wooden steps. She knew if they broke that she wouldn't be hurt, but she was still skeptical of the stairs all the same.
She found him curled up in a cot in the far corner of the cellar. He was sleeping, and she smiled in relief. Taehyung had been so tired for so long, and now that Daliania was a wraith back at the manor, he could finally rest peacefully.
Pran skidded to a halt behind her and also smiled at Taehyung's sleeping form. Her smile wasn't in relief but in a fondness she felt for him.
"This is the longest he's slept," she told Nari. "Yesterday he got in maybe three hours of sleep, but today it's been five. He was asleep before sunrise."
"That's good. Let's head up then so we don't wake him."
They both left Taehyung there sleeping the day away. There wasn't much to discuss with Taehyung outside of their travels, but Nari had questions for Pran. Questions she didn't want Taehyung overhearing.
When they were alone in the cabin, Nari gestured for Pran to sit down. Pran did so, raising a questioning brow at Nari. But Nari only smiled before leaving to make them some tea.
When she returned, tea in hand, she sat across from Pran and regarded her for a moment. Pran was very beautiful in a wild way. Her hair stayed wind-swept, and she was lean and muscular. It was her eyes though, a striking blue, that put her entire look into place.
Nari smiled again. "So..." she started slowly. "Taehyung, tell me about him."
Pran was taken aback by that. "You know him better than I do, Nari."
Nari shrugged and sipped her tea. She smacked her lips briefly before looking down at her teacup. "Hoseok makes this tea so much better than I do," she muttered. "Anyway, yes, I know Taehyung. But I want you to tell me about him from your perspective."
"You think I love him."
"Do you not?"
Pran sat silent for a moment. "We are not destined," she said as if that was the answer to the question.
"Who cares?" Nari set her cup down with no intentions of finishing her tea. "Everyone thinks destiny is stupid anyway."
Pran considered that for a moment. "I don't love him per-say. I could love him, but it's missing something. It just doesn't feel right."
"When I was younger, I had a crush on this boy. It was so stupid," Nari said laughing. "He was sweet, and he was the only person who really talked to me. It just wasn't right, like you said."
Pran frowned. "Destiny is stupid," she said. "Taehyung and I... we'd be great together. I'd make him happy. He deserves so much more than what he was given, and I could give him more."
Nari nodded in agreement. "He used to be the life of the party from what I've heard and seen."
"What do you mean?"
"Before Daliania betrayed him and Dalianus killed his family, he was a delight. Same with Yoongi, actually. Destiny was not kind to them." She moved to stand but paused. "After this war is done, you should stay with us."
She left then, and she didn't look back at Pran.
When the sun set, Taehyung made his way up from the cellar. He felt refreshed and relaxed for once, and he walked through the cabin doors with a goofy grin on his face that had Pran looking concerned.
"You're in a good mood tonight," she said. "What's the occasion?"
"Good dreams," he told her. He surprised her by kissing her cheek before dancing off into the small kitchen connected to the living room.
He made enough tea for the three of them, and he placed the small tray on the table. He called out for Nari who stumbled out of one of the rooms with wild hair and bleary eyes, but she was delighted by the sight of tea.
It was much better than the tea she had made for herself and Pran.
"We should hunt soon," Taehyung said. "Maybe the next town we stop. I can go another week, but I don't want to push our limits."
Nari hummed in agreement.
"Pran?" Taehyung had been waiting for agreement from her, but she'd been lost in thought touching the spot he'd kissed.
"Right, yes, hunting," she said quickly. "Of course."
Realization dawned on Taehyung, and he groaned out in frustration at himself. "I'm sorry, Pran," he said. "I wasn't thinking."
"It's fine, Tae. It just caught me off guard." She flashed him a smile and waved away Nari's questions.
He doesn't love me, she told herself. We are not destined.
——
The manor was quiet when the alert came. Jungkook had been pulled from a deep sleep at the feeling that someone was in his territory, and he quickly woke the others.
"The sun has set," he said to Seokjin. "So whoever it is had the decency to wait."
"It could be our kind," Seokjin said as they raced through the halls.
"The sun just set."
Eunjin appeared beside them thrust a spear into Jungkook's hand and a bow in Seokjin's.
"I have a bad feeling about this," she told them.
They looked back to see Sare and Yoongi handing out weapons. If Eunjin had a bad feeling, that meant doom on the other side of the door.
Amarian joined them at the front, and Jungkook steeled himself before opening the door. The overwhelming feeling of another creature sent shockwaves through the manor, and fear struck Jungkook. He knew that feeling, all of them did.
He closed the door, turning in the process to call out for someone, anyone, to hide Hyerin. The Phoenix had come for her, and he'd be damned if he'd let his daughter get taken away.
Eunjin took off first followed closely by Sungjung and Jina. The three women clawed their way through the manor, desperate to reach Hyerin's nursery guarded closely by Sofia.
But they couldn't move fast enough. Sofia lied in the hall, her neck twisted and eyes glazed over. There were deep scratches on the floor from her fingernails, and they wondered how they hadn't heard it.
Eunjin opened the door first. She didn't know how the Phoenix did it, but Hyerin was already gone.
Standing in the middle of the room, however, was Darian. He was smiled as if he'd already won the war, and Eunjin felt sick.
"How?" She asked. "How did you get here without Jungkook knowing? How did the Phoenix break in?"
Darian laughed. "Kim Eunjin, it's so lovely to see you. I've been meaning to ask you about a little rumor I heard."
"You answer me first."
"Oh, no, Eunjin. You don't get to make those calls," he said. "I heard you killed my grandson." He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "What did he ever do to you?"
"How?" She asked again. She was on the verge of breaking, and she was afraid to turn around to have to face Jungkook.
She could hear the others coming down the hall along with the gasps at Sofia who was still on the floor. She heard Jungkook's firm footsteps coming to the door, but she could not turn around.
"Send my other two grandchildren my love," he said with a small wave before bright gold light enveloped the room.
He was gone, the Phoenix was gone, and so was Hyerin.
——
A/N:
Eternal Soul will be coming to an end in about 5 or 6 more chapters. Eternal War will be the final book, and I'm contemplating writing different spin offs of our favorite characters. Please let me know if this interests you at all ❤️