Hoseok had a plan to escape the cell. At first he thought he needed Mi-Cha, but out of sheer luck Mira had to be here this specific week.
But before the escape was started, the King came to have a chat with Hoseok.
"Uncuff him."
Hoseok heard a rough voice, obviously belonging to the king. And in moments, he had his cell and cuffs being unlocked by a guard. But that didn't mean he could use his hands, because the cuffs were replaced by rope just in case he tried to run away.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, semi-dragging him to a place. And that hand also belonged to the King.
It all happened too fast for Hoseok because the next second he was sitting in a red velvet chair in front of an unusually large desk.
"Tell me what you know about my son," Ordered the King, and he observed the young man in front of him. He didn't seem like much
"I know plenty about your son," Hoseok said in response.
"Well then, tell me," Juseon gave him a dark glare, "I'm not in the mood for your games."
Hoseok sighed and dared to cross his legs, which would usually appear disrespectful, "What do you want to know, sir?"
"I want to know where he is," Questioned the king.
"If you didn't hear my story being explained by your guard, I said I was looking for him. So how would I know?" Shrugged Hoseok before hearing a groan.
"One more wrong answer, and you're going to get tortured," Threatened Juseon, "You wouldn't want that, would you?"
The wizard already learned plenty about the King, now all he needed to do was to trick him.
"What's that book on top of your desk, sir?" Asked Hoseok as he stared the open book, the spell of the black feather being the topic. One of his longest speculations were answered.
The King immediately shut the book, "That's none of your concern. I want to know where my son is."
Hoseok smirked and let out a breath, "If you want to know about your son, you should know that he's a hell of a brat. I was using that poor kid for my own good, but he was too idiotic to figure it out."
"What are you trying to explain here? I always knew he was idiotic," Scoffed the King, "You don't seem even a bit intimidated by the fact that you're going to get killed."
Hoseok ignored the threat, "I'd tell you more about him if you get rid of the ropes."
The wizard knew he needed to speak the King's language in order to trick him, and hence, escape.
"Fair enough."
***
"Jungkook, how are we so sure this is where Hoseok is!" Yoongi asked in the midst of semi-crawling through the pipes underneath the castle, "I feel suffocated."
"This leads us right to the prisons! Well kind of close," Replied Jungkook, "We discussed this."
"He knows what he's doing, okay?" Added Taehyung.
"That's easy for you to say! You don't need to deal with all the filth on the ground, because he's carrying you on his back," Yoongi rolled his eyes.
"Don't act like you aren't doing the same with Jimin."
"His pretty face doesn't deserve an ounce of dirt on it," Yoongi answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, involuntarily making the younger's cheeks flush.
"Ugh."
***
"I think I finally understood why you want Jungkook so much," Added Hoseok while sighing sadly, "All this while I thought you loved your son-"
"Huh," Scoffed the King, "Listen to me," He glared deep at Hoseok, "I don't give a shit about what happens to him, the only reason I care about finding him is because he's-"
"The Chosen One," The wizard finished his words, an empty feeling growing inside his stomach.
Jungkook is such a good kid, but he had the burden of having a fucked up father.
Now how did Hoseok ease the King into explaining about the Black Feather? Because he told him Jungkook's coordinates, fake ones of course.
It's laughable how the Demon King was so easy to fool, a couple of pretty words and empty promises, and he had the man wrapped around his fingers like yarn.
Hoseok had also promised that he would help the King with the Black Feather mission.
"How am I so sure I could trust you?" The King eyed Hoseok from front to back for the fifth time, "You aren't hiding any tricks up your sleeve, are you? Because I believe you'll be a valuable asset otherwise," His lips formed a smirk.
The wizard shook his head, "Oh no Sir, I'm completely at your mercy," He bit his lip, "If I do one wrong thing, feel free to get rid of me."
"Execute you," Corrected Juseon, "I don't want you roaming the streets telling people information."
Hoseok gulped, he was walking on thin ropes, "That sounds fair."
Now how was he supposed to pull off an escape while also being at the so-called enemy's "mercy".
"Any more information you believe I should know?" The King asked for the last time.
"I have no other information to give," Hoseok announced, "But would it be okay if I borrowed your spell book?"
"I'm not as easy you think I am," Laughed the King as he shut the book, his look changed immediately, "Guards will be here to take you back to prison in a matter of minutes."
"Wh-What?" Hoseok tried to not let his nervousness show, "But I assumed we would be working side by side."
The King's laugh grew louder as he cuffed Hoseok back up, "Remember how you said you used Jungkook for your own benefit, and he was dumb enough to believe you?"
He finished cuffing Hoseok up with a click, "I did the same with you," He paused, "And don't bother using any of the information I told you about why I wanted the black feather. It was all lies."
Hoseok groaned as the annoying chuckle of the Demon King haunted him on his way back to prison.
He was back to square one.
----------------
The King kept taunting him while he was waiting for a guard to arrive and usher him out. The fact that Hoseok would still get executed in two days didn't sound pleasing to his ears.
It was almost sunset.
Soon a man entered the office and grasped the chains attached to Hoseok's hands, roughly tugging him out of the room and into the main hall.
Time for action.
The King might've double crossed him, but he had a second plan. Hoseok was good at making plans.
You don't need to make him drink it, the spell is that powerful that it'll work even if you splash it on him. Play it safe.
Mira remembered Hoseok's advice and innocently walked out of her bedroom with a glass of 'water', pretending to take sips. No one would suspect her. Her room wasn't too far from the King's office. And some part of her felt excited because she was doing her first heist.
Because of her phreriphical vision, Mira could easily notice a guard walking out with Hoseok from the corner of her eye, and she smirked. But she needed to act quick and quiet, because the last thing she would want to do was to attract attention from the workers from another hallway.
Seconds later, the man holding Hoseok was drenched with the potion and fell directly on top of the marble floor, he was unconscious. All there was left was an impressed Hoseok, and a Princess with an empty glass. And this was a job well done.
Mira looked proud and smiled at herself as she quickly dragged Hoseok to her room, which wasn't that far away. After arriving in front of the doors she didn't hesitate to shove the wizard inside like a rag doll, and swiftly locking the doors with a click after she was inside.
"Couldn't you be bit more careful?" Hoseok said with a groan while he laid on Mira's bed.
"Do you want me to unlock that?" She asked as she pointed to the cuffs on his hands, not caring about the question.
"You don't need to-"
"Wait," Mira interrupted him, and she grimaced at her large gown, "I need to change out of these clothes."
"And?" Hoseok raised an eyebrow, "I could care less, we have about ten minutes until the guards underground get suspicious about me not being there. After that you can change."
"Bossy much?"
Hoseok sighed, "I'm not bossy, I'm careful," He then motioned to the blank spot besides him, "Sit."
That's it? Sit? Like I'm some kind of animal! Mira rolled her eyes, but followed his command and walked over to her bed, "Now what?"
"Alright, listen," Hoseok moved closer to Mira, and he didn't fail to notice the bits of pink on her cheeks right after he did that. Hoseok ignored it though, "You're not going to break me out tonight. Well you kind of are, but not in that scale."
"What about your talk with the King?" Mira brought up, "You were in that room for a while."
Hoseok chuckled, "It was shit, I got nowhere."
"What are you trying to get to?" She raised her eyebrow.
"I can't tell you."
Mira realized that she won't be getting a word out of Hoseok.
She sighed and she stared at her lap, "I still don't understand why I'm helping you when I barely know anything."
"Don't act blind," Hoseok couldn't keep quiet anymore, "You're doing it because you-" He bit his lip, ugh he shouldn't, "You're going it because you still trust me, even though you feel like you don't."
He wanted to say something else, but the latter sentence wasn't far from the truth.
There was silence, and Hoseok hated it.
"Going back to the topic," He said, earning Mira's attention again, "First, you need to steal a key from one of the workers in the castle, whether it's a maid, cook, or a guard, it doesn't matter. All of them have the same key."
Mira nodded silently, defeated, "What else?"
Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows and faced Mira, "Why do you sound disappointed?"
"I'm not disappointed.. I'm just confused," She admitted, "It's just that there's a chance you're just using me, but I won't run away because I.."
"You grew feelings for me," Hoseok finished her sentence with a sigh, closed his eyes and heard Mira gasp, this was an impossible situation, "Look, I'm not going to say anything about how you feel, even though it's sort of awkward. But I'm just telling you that I'll never use you, I'm not doing that. And everything you want to know will be revealed in only a matter of days."
"So you're saying you don't care that I have feelings for you?" Mira felt confused.
Hoseok thought for a while, "It's weird actually. But I'm just here to get the job done, and I shouldn't spend my time fussing about other things."
Just when Mira thought she could trust him, he had to let his guard down. Was she being used or not? Minjun did say he was only here to 'get the job done'.
"Are you single?" She suddenly blurted out.
"Yes?" Hoseok gave her a strange look, "I don't know how this is related to what we're discussing about though."
"Sure, let's move on," Mira felt embarrassed to the core for asking that out loud, "You can continue."
Hoseok nodded, "So after getting the key--"
---------------
"Are we not in the castle yet?" Asked Taehyung.
"We're not," Jungkook replied, "This is only the outside, but it's still the castle's property so we're sort of in."
"Jungkook we need to pick up our pace, do you know a faster way?" Suggested Namjoon.
"You know, we're running a tight ship here," Yoongi commented as he stared at Namjoon, "I don't know if you guys forgot, but we still didn't find one item."
"The third one? The one that said eyes of the dead?" Said the fairy like he was thinking about it for a long time, "I think I finally got the answer to that hint."
All of them halted.
"What is it?" Taehyung asked out of curiosity, they've been stuck on this item for the longest time.
"We need to go to the demon castle to find out," Namjoon muttered, "I'm certain this is the answer."
Yoongi's eyes darkened, "You're being vague."
The fairy looked unsure and turned to the angel, "I know I am, that's because it can be a variety of objects."
"Then explain what your thought process was."
"We don't have time for that," Jungkook stopped their conversation, "We need to stick with our plan, and we need to find Hoseok before he..." Jungkook didn't want to finish that sentence.
"Don't we need to distract them though?" Taehyung ushered to those four guards that looked like they were twice his size, he thought about Seokjin and his invisibility spell.
But the fairy was still regaining energy after keeping all of them invisible at the mountains, he only had energy for one person.
Jimin suddenly stepped up, "I think I might know what to do," He faced Namjoon, "Remember when we were in the weapon room? And everyone was making fun of you for-"
"Choosing literal lemons as a weapon?" Scoffed Yoongi, earning an annoyed groan out of Namjoon.
"But that wasn't such a bad choice," Jimin thought about it for a while to confirm his words, "If Jin can turn one of us invisible, then that person can go out and make the guards temporarily blind with the lemon powder. While.. the rest of us sneak in!"
Taehyung then asked the question that had been stuck on everyone's heads, "What if we still get caught?"
"I don't know," Shrugged Yoongi, "I just want to get Hoseok out and end this journey, I'm willing to do just about anything. We came too far to think about the cons."
Somehow his energy passed through onto the others, calming them down.
Seokjin tapped Namjoon making the younger fairy turn to him, and then Seokjin stared at Jimin.
A smile, unsure, but still a smile grew on his face, I know who's the one person that's going to go in.
Currently the six of them were stuck in the outside property of the castle, hiding behind a large and thick bush to cover themselves.
Thanks to Jungkook, the six boys were able to travel safely through a chain of old underground tunnels that the demon used for sneaking out from time to time. But that only brought them inside so much. If they looked back, they would see large gates surrounding the fields. Well it wasn't much of a field anymore, considering it hasn't been watered in months.
And if they looked straight forward, they would see an entry through the back of the actual castle. Their main goal.
Honestly their main goal changed all the time, none of them had a clue what they would do if they managed to enter. They were improvising the whole way, and it was only luck and trust holding them together. Luck worked in mysterious ways.
-----------------
Hoseok noticed a servant coming to his cell, but since they were not allowed a guard swiftly took over and grabbed what was on their hands.
He came over to Hoseok with a bland expression, "Here's your food," And passed the little bits of fruit over to the wizard through the bars.
The underground prison was always dark, but it didn't take a genius to know that it was late night. And that the guards were serving dinner.
One strange thing Hoseok noticed was that he was the only one receiving food while none of the other prisoners did. He became suspicious of the substances, and pushed it away from him. Who knows what was in there.
"I don't understand why you guys bother feeding me when I'm going to get killed in two days," Hoseok gave the guard a glare and let out a sad laugh, it would've been better if he had more than time to plan and escape.
"Not two days," The guard uttered out, his voice growing quiet, recalling something he overheard, "The King pushed up the date to tomorrow."
"What??" Hoseok's jaw clenched as he angrily hit one of his hands against the metal bars, creating a loud noise because of his hand cuffs, "Thank god I asked you, because I don't believe the king was planning to tell me."
"I wasn't supposed to tell you either," The guard's face showed pity for Hoseok, "But I suppose it would make it less painful if you knew earlier."
"Less painful? The damage has already been done!" Scoffed Hoseok and he looked up at the man telling him the news, he looked like he was in his early Twenties, rather young compared to the old guards he was used to. Which probably explained his softness.
Hoseok was done. He couldn't stay calm anymore. It didn't make a difference at all. Everything he had discussed with Mira was worth as much as the dirt in the prison walls. Nothing.
"I-I don't understand," His anger was now turned into tension, "What did I do wrong?"
The guard didn't answer Hoseok's pleas and just stood there, ignoring him.
Deep inside him, he knew the true reason about why the King wanted to get rid of him early.
To get rid of the witness.
That conversation Hoseok had with the King was a mistake, and he cursed himself in his mind for giving away the fact about Jungkook being in the Demon Kingdom. Not that Hoseok said it directly, but it was obvious in his lie. Turns out it wasn't really a lie at all, only partly.
Hoseok was a witness of what the King truly wanted to do, why he wanted his son back, and his deal with the black feather, though he never confirmed his true intentions with the spell.
And the Demon Kingdom was heartless, but not heartless enough to accept the fact that their King didn't actually care about their beloved Prince. If Hoseok gossiped the fact around, then the King's image would be ruined. Even more if he revealed information about the black feather.
For the first time in their mission, the wizard truly felt defeated.