RINEI
Again tonight.
Only a few hours after we'd gone to sleep, I feel him slip out of bed. He doesn't respond no matter how loudly I call him— doesn't make any move that he'd heard me at all.
He almost seems possessed.
He leaves the room. Makes his way out the side door of the Palace, like the past nights. Stands from a quiet moment in front of the City, before leaping upwards onto the thick branch of the oak.
But this time, I'd brought someone with me.
Jimin breathes in awe and confusion.
"He doesn't hear you at all."
I nod, keeping my gaze on Taehyung as his eyes skirt over the line of the horizon. Then his gaze turns to the Elven Forests.
His body tenses, in the light of the moon.
"He's about to leave."
Jimin's expression is unreadable as he scoops me into his arms and leaps up into the tree after Taehyung. And I grip his shoulders, completely breathless.
The chase begins, after that.
Taehyung is unbelievably fast. He crosses the entire City within seconds, his silhouette flickering through the trees interwoven with each other.
He never looks back. His attention is only fixed in what is front of him.
Jimin curses softly as a branch whips across his cheek, in his rush to keep up.
"...ow, dammit."
"Here," I murmur, my words strained as I try not to focus on the fact that we're at least sixty feet above ground.
I throw my hands out in front of me, to try and block out any sharp, stray branches in the way.
Jimin quickly pushes down my flailing hands.
"Rinei, that is not ideal. Taehyung will flip if he finds even a single scratch on you the next day."
We get deeper.
Every time I feel that Taehyung would finally stop, he doesn't. He just keeps on going, set on someplace I have not the slightest clue where.
Then I hear Jimin's sharpened tone.
"This...This is the way to my cottage."
"The where?"
"Cottage." He repeats, his golden hair whipping from how fast he moves. "I don't understand. Why would he..."
But he's right.
Ahead of us, Taehyung's faint silhouette drops to the Forest ground next to a familiar, tiny cottage. The place is beautiful at night— I can see his outline even clearer with the moon surrounding him.
He enters through the door.
What in the world...?
Jimin lands softly on the grass after him. And I climb out of his hold, my eyes fixed at the door Taehyung had closed behind him.
This was where he'd been coming? Every night?
Why?
I walk towards the cottage door, almost spellbound with the curiosity. There is something in the air— something magical that I can almost feel against my fingertips.
Then someone pulls me back.
Jimin.
"I—I'll enter first, Rinei." He says, his expression deep with alert. "Something doesn't feel right about this entire situation. Stay behind me, please."
I hush my voice, my eyes narrowing.
"...okay."
And the both of us fall silent as Jimin carefully clicks the door open. The inside of the small
cottage is dark and quiet, making every single one of my nerves stand up on its ends.
Where is he?
Where is—
"Tae."
His name tumbles out of my lips before I even realize.
Taehyung is motionless on the bed. He looks asleep, the sheets flat under his body and one hand placed on his chest. His eyes are closed, lips pursed.
Jimin frowns.
"What the he—"
His eyes fly open.
And my body moves by itself the moment I see the look in Taehyung's deep, dark eyes. It's the look I'd seen before— twice now, including both times.
Soulless.
Incomplete.
I shove myself between the two of them at the same moment Taehyung throws himself at Jimin, his hand outstretched towards Jimin's throat.
Both my hands wrap around his wrist just in time. And even with two hands, I still stumble backwards from the sheer strength rippling off of the dark-haired elf in front of me.
Jimin is stunned to silence, his body frozen at the emptiness in his best friend's gaze.
"Tae...?"
Not this again.
Please.
Come on, please.
Taehyung tilts his head at me. His eyes search my face, roaming across my features as if he was taking in the first impression of a stranger he had never met before.
He looks at me like he doesn't know me at all.
"You."
"Who are you?"
It feels like everything is crumbling. Like everything we'd built up to this point is slowly crashing down, all around us.
"Who am I?"
My voice is low.
Everything is falling apart.
"I'm Rinei, you stupid idiot."
The silence that follows is almost suffocating. He stares at me, his eyes hollow with the shadows. I can see the dark magic brew all across the lines of his figure.
All this time.
Had he been struggling? By himself, all alone?
But then I remember the way he had looked at me with pure confusion when I'd asked him about this before.
He doesn't know.
He doesn't know either, that he does this every night.
I feel Jimin shift behind me. His voice is tight, as he places his hands on my shoulders and tries to move me back and away from Taehyung. He senses that he is dangerous— uncontrollable, right now.
"Rinei, come be—"
"Do not move, elf."
"Do not speak."
Taehyung's eyes are still fixed on me as he hisses under his breath. It sends chills up my spine, the way he looks at me.
But I'd been through this before.
Jimin's jaw flexes.
"Tae, you're not yourself. You're going to end up hurting her—"
"Look."
And I hear Jimin suck in a sharp breath as I grip Taehyung's chin and force his head further downwards, to meet my eyes. I don't blink, and neither does he— even when his gaze narrows to slits.
Hella intimidating, but I'd gotten used to it.
"You know me." I growl, tightening my grip. "So this is what we're exactly going to do. You're going to walk back— nicely, without attacking Jimin— to the City, and then we're going to figure out the what the hell we're going to do to solve this problem."
My teeth grinds together.
"Understand?"
I can feel Jimin staring at my back like I'd finally gone insane.
A devilish smile snakes up Taehyung's lips.
"Fun."
"Do you have seven lives, human, or are you just out for a death sentence?"
I meet his eyes coldly.
"You and me are going to have a long, long talk when this is over."
He laughs, a silken sound that dissipates into the night.
"I should just kill you."
"Try me. You're the one who's going to regret it."
"Am I?"
Then I gasp in surprise as his arms suddenly wrap around my waist and sweeps me off the floor. And in just a blink of an eye the cozy beige walls of the cottage has changed to the darkness of the Elven Forests.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!"
All I glimpse is Taehyung's smirk as he takes me higher into the trees, deeper into the Forests. Opposite the direction of the Elven City.
I yelp as I twist backwards at the silhouette of the cottage growing smaller. "Jimin—"
"Him?"
I glare back at him as he smiles.
"Trust me. He won't be able to catch up."
"No one can save you now, love. So hold on tight."