The touch of freezing air caressed her skin as the wind picked up again. The weather had changed drastically over the last couple of hours, the once clear blue sky now a threatening grey. The clouds appeared like a compact darkness ready to explode and let go of all its fluids and build-up pressure. Eunha wasn't too thrilled with that idea.
Call her a crybaby, but she absolutely hated thunderstorms. No matter how many times people told her that the storm wouldn't harm her, that it was just some loud noises and flashy lights, nothing to be scared of, she just couldn't help the fear taking over the body. Her muscles stiffened, her heart pounded in her chest, hands all clammy and breath uneven.
She just hated it.
"Looks like we've reached our destination."
Namjoon's low voice distracted the girl from her worries.
After Taehyung had gotten his ass beaten by a furious mint-haired Yoongi, the group decided it was a waste of time to go back to sleep. It had taken them the remaining of the day, but now that evening had arrived they found themselves in front of supposedly the soul-keeper's workplace.
"Well that looks...nice?"
Hoseok spoke with uncertainty as he observed the scene in front of him.
After breaking through the line of trees, the ground had gradually changed from a somewhat softer underground to a rocky landscape. Cutting through the middle of it was a huge river, the inky dark water moving about wildly. Stretched along the edge stood some tiny cottages made of branches: places for fishing. The thing that really caught his eye though, was a group of huge, historical looking temples build on the other side of the river. The black wooden buildings dominated the area, being even bigger than the trees surrounding them.
It truly was a sight to behold, especially with the few rays of moonlight that managed to break through the wall of clouds and illuminate the shining temples in an eerie blue colour.
"Wow." Jimin muttered, eyes wide as he took in the view.
"Wow indeed." Hoseok agreed with the younger. Being an angel he had seen drawings and heard stories about the soul-keepers, but to finally be there and actually see the temples himself, it was quite the experience.
"So what do we do now?" Taehyung asked, his gaze darting around the place. He was not too thrilled to be there after his past encounter with a soul-keeper, the awful feeling of being paralyzed engraved in his mind, but of course he did not show the others that. His face remained blank, voice sounding neutral.
"We have to find someone and explain why we have come." Namjoon casually stated. He himself did not really have a plan, he just hoped asking them for a favour would do, if not he would think of something on the spot. With an IQ of 148, how hard could it be right?
"What about them?" Eunha pointed at a hooded figure standing close to one of the cottages. They were putting away the fishing rods that stood outside, probably a precaution for the upcoming storm.
The others looked at the figure in surprise, not having noticed them before. The black cloak and intense aura made it quite clear that this person was a soul-keeper. Exactly who they needed.
The six shared a glance before quietly walking up to a real life version of the Death itself.
Knowing that the person in front of them had guided the souls of a ridiculous amount of people after their passing, made the girl extremely nervous for some reason. One day, hopefully as an old lady, it would be her turn for the examination. A soul-keeper would analyze her heart, dividing good and evil before placing their judgement. An innocent soul is lead somewhere else than a sinful one, but where exactly she did not know.
Guess I will find out when I die.
To lessen her nerves the girl found herself reaching for the person closest to her, which happened to be Hoseok. She grabbed the angel's hand in silence, eyes focused on the hooded figure now directly in front of them. Hoseok said nothing but did caress the back of her hand with his thumb, reassuringly drawing circles as to calm her down.
"Good evening." Namjoon spoke up, grabbing the attention of the soul-keeper.
They turned around slowly, a sigh escaping their cracked lips as they took in the view in front of them. Their voice was gruff yet definitely female as they spoke, obviously not amused that yet another group of people had visited them to ask for some stupid request.
"No, I can't bring back those who have passed, and no, I will not kill you. You'll have to wait for your time to come, so scurry along will you."
"Hm. You must never get those questions, the enthusiasm could be heard from a mile away. Now tell me, what is it like living with a voice that sounds like you've been eating sandpaper all of your life?" The sarcasm dripped off of Taehyung's voice as he lazily raised an eyebrow.
Namjoon quickly interrupted him before he could offend the soul-keeper even more,
"We are not here for any of that, we need help."
The soul-keeper opened their mouth to say something, but Eunha beat them to it.
"There is someone messing with my mother's fate."
Soul-keepers were strong believers of fate. Asking them for help wouldn't work, they'd get irritated and refuse to even listen to them. Eunha knew this, which is why she decided to explain her problem in a way that would interest the female in front of them.
"Someone under the use of the bird-signature has kidnapped her. We are on our way to find her, but we need your help to detect her location. To save her. She shouldn't die this way, it would be someone interfering with fate. Please do tell if I'm wrong, but isn't it your job to make sure everyone goes when the time is right?"
She waited for the woman to nod before continuing, "Well this person is expediting my mother's passing. T-That is if they haven't already." Eunha's voice trembled slightly with the last sentence. She did not know if her mum was still alive, if she was too late. She needed the soul-keepers to find out.
Hoseok tightened his grip on her small hand softly, hoping it would bring the girl some kind of comfort. And it did, it reminded her that she wasn't alone in this and she was grateful for that.
"Bird-signature you said?"
In response Eunha let go of Hoseok's hand to grab the note out of the pocket of her dress. Without saying another word she handed the paper to the soul-keeper, silently cursing at how badly her hand was shaking. It wasn't just because of nerves, the biting wind was chilling her to the bone. She couldn't wait to go somewhere inside, bundled up in a cocoon of blankets with something warm to drink as she slowly drifted of to sleep.
"How long ago was this?"
Eunha silently counted the days they had traveled. One day for Eyvenor, five days with Jimin, one day when Taehyung tagged along, four days since meeting Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi joining on day one and three. She quietly did the math, but was beaten to it by the smart vampire.
"Eleven days ago."
The soul-keeper slowly nodded, "We haven't gotten any warnings of an evil-god trying to harm a human which means your mother should be alive still. This is however very serious. Such a creature roaming around the earth, it means a huge threat for everyone..." She trailed off, probably contemplating her options. Then she nodded again.
"Alright," Slowly yet swiftly, the soul-keeper reached for the hood that had been covering most of her face this whole time, gripping the black material in her olive toned hand and pulling it down. Eunha was surprised by how normal the female looked.
She must have been in her late fifties, her shoulder-length hair partly grey and black. She had a slim face, some wrinkles here and there, thin lips and a pointy nose. Her piercing green eyes, though she kept her facial expression blank, sparkled with so much emotion and knowledge that it made her mysterious. Like she could see right through you and had access to your deepest fears and wishes.
"We will help you, I'm actually one of the head soul-keepers, so you're lucky you've found me. It must have been fate." The woman quickly put away the fishing rods she had been struggling with previously and nodded her head. She seemed to be doing that a lot.
"Us soul-keepers have a busy schedule, I actually can't afford missing too much of our workers. As we are talking about the bird-signature however, I will send our strongest, most skilled member. He will take you to our main center where you can track your mother, afterwards he will join you in your fight, you need all the power you can get."
The woman closed her eyes for a second, muttering something incoherently. Then she opened them again, green orbs observing the sky above. "I'm afraid your journey will have to wait till tomorrow, though. The storm can start any minute now and most-likely will last the whole night."
She let out a soft sigh and pointed at a little building behind the six. "You see that shrine over there? I contacted Jungkook and explained the situation to him, he will be waiting for you guys. You can stay the night in his apartment and leave early in the morning. This is all I can do for you, I wish you good luck and let's hope that I won't be seeing any of you any time soon."
Eunha nodded her head gratefully, "Thank you so much!"
Some of the others followed the girl's suit, thanking the woman in front of them and wishing her a good evening. Then the group turned around, making their way towards the little shrine.
"What did she mean 'I contacted Junglebook -or whatever that guy's name is- and explained the situation'? She didn't even leave us." Jimin spoke in confusion, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to comprehend the situation.
"Telepathy." Yoongi answered. This was the first word he had spoken since they'd reached this place. The sudden sound of his voice startled Taehyung. He turned his head to look at the older male nervously, the hand on his chest unconsciously showing his surprise.
After making the doll angry the demon had been on his tiptoes around him, not wanting to feel his wrath again.
Yoongi smirked at the alarmed boy, satisfied with his reaction. No one would dare to bother his sleep again.
"Soul-keepers are so empathic that they can speak to others mentally. She probably told him to listen to our explanation." Hoseok filled in.
"Wait so can they talk to us as well then?"
The angels shrugged, "Probably, though you would most-likely freak out. Hearing voices inside your head, it's awful. Like you don't know if it's your imagination, if you're going insane, if it's just your own thoughts or actually another person talking to you telepathically."
Jimin slowly nodded his head, that made sense. He would freak out for sure if he suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice talk in his mind.
When the six reached the shrine Taehyung stopped and looked at the entrance doubtfully.
"Do you think I can enter?" He was a demon after all, sacred places were a no-go for him.
"I mean, it's a shrine for both life and death, I guess you're good to go?" Eunha offered casually.
Hoseok was the first to enter, then Taehyung, followed by Yoongi and lastly Jimin. Just as Eunha wanted to enter, she felt a big hand softly patting the top of her head. The girl raised her eyebrows in question and turned around, head tilted upwards to look at the tall vampire.
Namjoon wore a slight smile on his face as he nodded at her approvingly. "Good job back there. Mentioning fate was a smart move, even I didn't think of that."
Eunha's eyes widened slightly as she stared up at the man in awe. Did he just praise her?
Her heart felt warm as a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. Then she smiled at him proudly.
She had done a good job and earned a praising, teehee.
Namjoon let out a soft chuckle at the expression on her face. He could hear her heart beat faster at his words and it amused him. His hand that had previously been patting her hair, now softly caressed the skin of her cheek. This only lasted for one second however, before the man pulled away completely. "Let's go inside, the others must be waiting."
Eunha quickly nodded her head in realization, eagerly running inside. She wanted to meet the man who would be accompanying them. She wondered if he was nice.
Once inside a beautiful statue caught the girl's eye. Two people were standing back to back, the one on the left with their arm outstretched, a small tree growing out of their palm. The one on the right had their arms crossed over their chest, eyes closed and face expressionless as if in a deep sleep. Death, Eunha realized after noticing the skull at figure's feet.
A statue in honour of life and death, offerings and lit candles spread around the room to show gratitude.
Other than the glossy statue, the room was kind of small. Walls painted a dark red while the ceiling and floor was made of wood.
Eunha realized that the six of them took in almost all of the space, but that's not all she noticed. Standing directly next to the statue was a tall figure. His build was broad, obvious even through his black cloak. The hood covered his face, not yet revealing who they were dealing with, but the confidence in his stance told her enough. This person was not intimidated by others.
This must be Jungkook.
BOOM!
A soft gasp left Eunha's lips as she quickly turned around to see that the door had been slammed shut most-likely because of the wind. The room was now a lot darker, the couple of candles being the only sources of light.
Taking in a deep breath to calm down her heart, the girl focused on the soul-keeper again.
As if feeling that all the attention was on him, the male slowly reached up his hand, grabbing the black material and pulling off the hood to reveal his face.
Wow.
How?
As the female soul-keeper had stated she would be sending the most skilled and strongest member of all, Eunha kind of expected a middle-aged person full of life-experience. The soul-keeper in front of her however, looked to be around her age. And he was just wow.
His black hair messily covered his face, partly concealing his big dark eyes.
The dark of the night-sky, makes stars shine more prominently; with his eyes it was the same. The dark brown, almost black orbs seemed to intensify the shimmers of light created by the candles. His skin was dewy, lips pink, jaw sharp.
Though his facial expression was blank, the man in front of her was absolutely beautiful. Just like every single other man standing in the small space, like seriously. Did their supernatural origin also give them supernatural looks?
She wasn't sure what she had done to deserve this, but she would gladly accept it.
I'm surrounded by six breathtakingly stunning pieces of art. How is that even possible? Like, fate was not messing around when creating these Greek gods. Ever heard of the words equal division? Not in fate's dictionary. Not that I'm complaining though.
Eunha's ramble of thoughts was interrupted as the handsome soul-keeper decided to introduce himself.
"My name is Jungkook. I will help you on your....mission, let's say. Nice to meet you."
His eyes scanned their faces, they were all so different, he wondered how they had met. The little human especially seemed to be the odd one out. Not just because she was the only girl in the room, or because she had no special powers unlike the others, more so because of her soul. It was completely pure. Full of kindness, good intentions and positive curiosity.
Pure souls were kind of a treasure to soul-keepers, their company calmed them down and gave them a chance to fully enjoy life through the other's experiences.
Even though he did not show it, Jungkook could already feel the girl's influence just by standing in the same room as her. It was nice.
"I'm Namjoon."
"Hi, I'm Jimin" The elf nodded in acknowledgment with a cute smile on his face.
"I am Hoseok! Nice to meet you!"
"Kim Taehyung."
"Hello, I'm Eunha, nice to meet you as well."
"Yoongi."
"Have you heard everything we just discussed with that lady outside?" Jimin looked at Jungkook with wide eyes, the amazement already showing on his face even though the latter hadn't even answered yet.
The soul-keeper nodded simply, face remaining blank.
"Wow, that's really cool! I wish I could use telepathy, that would be so convenient."
Taehyung scoffed loudly, "Convenient if you actually know people, who are you going to talk to? The family that hates you or your non-existent friends?"
Everyone expected another fight to start, but Jimin surprised them all when he smirked at the demon smugly. "Actually, I do have a friend."
Before she could react, Jimin had grabbed Eunha by the waist and pulled her into his side, arm casually curled around her figure. "Eunha is my friend."
"Walking around for days long with someone who you've been toying with doesn't make them your friend, scaredy-cat."
Eunha felt Jimin's grip on her waist slightly tighten, probably as he was still trying to hold in his anger from the earlier comment made about his family. She was proud that he was trying to be the better person.
"No Jimin's right actually. I asked him if he wanted to be friends a couple of days ago."
The demon frowned slightly as he watched the short girl smile up at the short elf. He didn't like how she was choosing Jimin's side. She ruined his food by making the boy feel both happy and smug. Besides, if a friendship with her meant that she would be taking your side, then he wanted it too. He wanted to be her friend. Get her attention as well.
"Yeah, uh, shall we go to my apartment? We have to wake up early if we want to reach the main-center in one day." Jungkook awkwardly interrupted them. He was obviously a bit shy around them, which was a huge difference compared to all the other people Eunha had met. It was very much adorable.
She smiled at him kindly, "Of course, lead the way!"
He nodded his head and immediately walked in front of the statue. With his hand he grabbed the handle of a wooden hatch in the floor that Eunha hadn't noticed before, and pulled it open to reveal a black staircase curling down deeper under the ground.
Jungkook grabbed one of the candles in his hand and slowly walked down the stairs, motioning the others to follow him. They did, surprised to see the staircase ending in a completely white hallway.
"We are currently under the river and will cross to the temples on the other side."
An underground tunnel to freely move from one side to the other. She was not expecting that.
As they followed Jungkook down the hall, Namjoon couldn't help but ask questions about the soul-keepers, the build of the tunnels and of course the historical looking temples.
It was actually quite interesting and Eunha would have loved to listen if it wasn't for the fact that the new stranger's good-looks were distracting her.
As the hall they were walking in was an immaculate kind of white, Jungkook's dark hair, eyes and black clothing -which underneath his cloak he was wearing a black shirt, black jeans and black boots- contrasted immensely. The funny thing was however, he didn't look out of place at all. The light of the room made his beauty even more out of the world.
Eunha wondered if soul-keepers were a delight to the eye on purpose. Them being the last people you see after you die, it would be more comforting to be analyzed by someone who doesn't scare you out of your wits.
"This is my room. It's supposed to be a workplace, but as I hardly have to do any paperwork, I transformed it to make it suitable for relaxation."
Jungkook opened the front door, revealing a neat and surprisingly quite spacey apartment.
He didn't own much, there was a couch, a carpet, a little table with some chairs, a small kitchen, a bedroom with a single bed, closet and a bathroom. As his apartment was on the top level of the temple, there was also a grand balcony that allowed you to look over the beautiful view of nature. He got quite lucky actually.
"As you can see, I only have one bed. I will grab some spare blankets and pillows for you, but you'll have to do with crashing on the ground and couch."
The boy walked into his bedroom, coming back with a pile of blankets and pillows just as promised.
"That's alright, it's only for one night. Besides, I also have a sleeping bag and some blankets. We'll manage. Thank you." Eunha spoke smiling at the soul-keeper in appreciation. He had just met them and was letting them stay in his apartment. It was very kind of him.
Jungkook seemed a bit hesitant as he stood in the door opening of his bedroom, he glanced at the others calling dibs on the couch and carpet, then at Eunha and lastly at his bed.
As he felt silly saying it out loud, he decided to use his ability, because why not.
"I would offer for you to share my bed with me, but as we've just met I kind of understand if it's too weird..Just know that you're welcome to join me."
Eunha's eyes widened as she suddenly heard the enchanting voice of the male in front of her in her head. She unconsciously shivered at the experience, it was like he was whispering inside of her ears, but at the same time he wasn't.
'Just know that you're welcome to join me'
The sentence made her cheeks redden as unholy thoughts entered her mind. She knew he didn't mean it like that at all, but it just sounded so invitingly wrong.
She shook her head to get rid of the images appearing in her mind and smiled at him innocently. Nodding her head that she'd understood, she acted as if his words had no affect on her whatsoever.
She thought she did a pretty damn good job at making it believable, but apparently not.
Jungkook, who until now had only looked at them with his cute blank face, raised his eyebrows in amusement. His dark eyes stared down at her playfully yet smugly as a breathtaking smirk spread on his face.
He had definitely noticed.
The boy then had the nerves to slowly lick his lips as he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. He let out a soft chuckle as he noticed her pink cheeks and then turned around, entering his bedroom for the night.
I take it back, he is definitely not shy.
Eunha thought as she tried to regain her posture after feeling so flustered by Jungkook's actions. She shook her head, turning around to find a spot comfortable enough to sleep, but frowned as she noticed Jimin snuggled up in her sleeping-bag.
"Excuse you, what do you think you're doing in my sleeping-bag, elf-boy?"
Jimin lazily smiled at her, already more asleep than awake. "We are friends remember? Ever heard of sharing? You had it yesterday, now it's mine."
Eunha opened her mouth ready to argue, but Hoseok beat her to it, "You can sleep here, sweetheart."
The angel patted a space on the carpet, there was a fuzzy blanket and a fluffy pillow as well. In the moment that looked more tempting than her sleeping-bag so she silently agreed.
She muttered a soft thanks as she laid down, blanket wrapped around her body and head resting on the pillow.
She only realized how tired she was now that she was lying comfortably. A soft yawn just escaped past her lips as she almost immediately after fell asleep, the hand calmly patting her back was helping a lot as well.
Though the night wouldn't be as peaceful as she might have hoped.
~~
Hi everyone! Thank you for reading this chapter! Man did it take me a long time to write it. I don't really know why I found it so hard, but I'm glad that I finished it.
Anyways, the golden maknae has arrived everyone.
I was wondering what's your favourite ship in this story? Do you want Eunha to end with someone in particular, or not? Please let me know in the comments!