T/N: VOCABULARY LESSON!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Here are the new words we used this chapter!
l Jagiya: (Korean) 'honey', 'sweetie', 'love', or 'darling'. This term is used between couples (normally younger couples as the older generations do not use this phrase) in a relationship to address each other. These couples can be either married or unmarried and the term can be used to address both women and men. This has a lesser meaning than Chagiyah.
l Chagiyah: (Korean) literally means "self". With this term you are literally calling the other person as yourself, therefore, implying that the other person is your self, your other half, your soulmate, etc. It is a much deeper term to refer to someone as than Jagiya.
l Hai: (Japanese) 'yes'
l Chingu: (Korean) 'friend'
l Meohano: (Busan dialect) 'what are you doing'
~oooOooo~
This monster that Jimin was standing next to was their only way out of this hell. It was true that he was trading one prison for another, but he had been promised that their new cage would be lined in luxury. That they would be well cared for and would not suffer as they had before. It wasn't freedom, but it was freedom from this hell that they lived in now. If he must endure their hatred, then it was a price he was willing to pay, though it would wound him forever.
"Jimin-ssi, you do believe me, don't you?"
Jimin looked into the face of the monster who now owned him and was asking him this question. Did he believe the man? His soul screamed at him to rage and fight, to hurl a loud 'no' back at him. But his mind flashed on his last sight of his family when they had tried to escape, Jin hanging limp over some stranger's shoulder; Hoseok lying on the ground in pain; Jungkook in Carl's clutches; Taehyung and Yoongi kneeling on the cold hard earth; and their leader standing there broken.
Taking a deep breath, Jimin pulled the sable tighter around his body, looked into the monster's face, and let himself fall back into that foggy state of mind where he could protect his heart and soul.
Jimin cocked his head and smiled.
"Of course... jagiya."
Smiling at his private dancer, Sven nodded for the guard to open the door. They were met with a blast of cold air. The Russian was happy that he had not let Jimin remove his coat when they came in from their daily walk. Tucking the Korean man's hand in his elbow and thinking that he was going to have some words with Dorian, Sven entered BTS' cell.
Jimin's palms were sweating inside the pockets of the sable. He longed to clasp his hands together and rub them but Sven didn't care for fidgeting. He had to be good, but he was so nervous. It was worse than he felt before shows - worse than when he had auditioned even. Because now he had to perform perfectly before the people who knew him best... he had to convince them or they would die.
Back straight, be disinterested, look at their foreheads - not into their eyes. Smile, but only a little, not too wide, don't smile too wide or you'll cry. Don't cry or they'll die. They'll die and it will be your fault. Jungkook, Taehyung - they'll die, they'll d-
Sven pushed the door open as Jimin exhaled a shuddering breath and prepared for the most important stage of his life.
Jimin gasped at the chill and the sight of his family piled in the middle of the room, pulling his coat around him tighter and curling in to Sven's side in show.
"It's so cold in here, jagiya," Jimin whispered as he tugged gently on Sven's arm. "Can you do something?"
Sven smirked at how well Jimin was doing, quickly ordering his guard to bring heaters and summon Dorian. He then tipped his private dancer's face to his and lightly kissed his lips, further pleased when Jimin acquiesced.
The boys watched in shock at the exchange, Jungkook frozen by what he was seeing as he tried - and slowly failed - to remain strong.
Yoongi stood from where he was to walk over to where his brother stood.
"Jagiya?" he asked, his voice low...dangerous. "Jagiya?"
Yoongi looked at the Russian man in contempt.
"What have you done to him?" he practically spat as he looked Jimin up and down, almost disgusted by what he saw. Jimin looked like a doll - like something out of Dracula - a piece of art hung on a wall for all to admire but none to touch. "Look how pretty he is. That's our little Jiminie, isn't it? The real Jimin come to show his face, all dressed up and kept, just like the pampered pet he is."
Within the fog of his mind, Jimin felt Yoongi's contempt like a blow to his body, but he had a part to play, and play it he would, even as a piece of his soul died.
"Min Yoongi!" Jimin scolded, purposely dropping the honorifics and terms of endearment in the hopes that his brother would truly hear. "This is our angel. He is going to take us out of here and take care of us," he said, wrapping both of his fur covered arms around Sven's arm, laying his head against the man as he followed the script he had been given. Giving Yoongi a cold look, Jimin forced himself to strike a blow which he knew would save their lives while destroying everything he ever had with these six men. "I am with someone who will give me anything I want, so I don't end up a fuck toy for a couple of lowly guards."
The others fully expected Yoongi to hit Jimin, braced for it knowing they would be unable to stop him. What they did not expect was for Yoongi to stand stock still as he did, no life to his voice when he spoke.
"Is that really all I am to you?" he asked, not even enough emotion left to sound broken. "Just...just a toy?"
Jimin wanted to scream and his body began to tremble. The monster must have sensed something because he stepped in front of Jimin putting himself in Yoongi's field of vision.
"I would suggest you keep a polite tone when speaking to my jewel. Perhaps you would like to watch those men pay a visit to Taehyung-ssi or Seokjin-ssi or even Jungkook-ssi?"
Yoongi hung his head as he deflated.
"Sorry Jimin-ah," he said softly. "I shouldn't speak. It's..."
Taehyung stood at that and walked to stand before Jimin, who looked so different, so cold. Taehyung stared, not caring what anyone thought in that moment, needing to see his Jimin - the man who had been his lover once, would be his best friend always - needing to know for sure.
"Jimin-ah," he said softly, trying to keep his voice even. His eyes searched the man before him. A man until just now he thought he had known better than most. "Wha- what is this, Jimin?"
Taehyung looked Jimin up and down, taking in not the clothes he was wearing or hearing the words he had just used to cut into Yoongi, but seeing the way he was standing, the way he held his body. He was softer somehow, delicate. His shoulders were rounded - he seemed smaller than usual. His jawline seemed less prominent because of the way he had tilted his head. He was ... pretty, just like Yoongi had said. This wasn't their Jimin - their Jimin would never have wanted this.
"Meohano?" he said, slipping into satoori as he often did when he needed it most. "What are you doing?"
The man before him now only looked like a shell of the Jimin he had loved. Gone was the manly exterior - svelte, strong, sturdy. Stood before him now was something pretty and painted, fragile, put together in a stylist's chair for the rich to play with at night - a mindless drone made to answer to every beck and call of those who could afford the services of a diamond doll.
Jimin gave Taehyung the coldest smile he had ever seen, his eyes seeming to soften for a moment, then to grow empty again. It seemed to Taehyung as if Jimin was seeing him for the first time and not liking the view.
"Are you confused, Taehyung-ssi?" he asked as he tilted his head just so, painting a perfect picture of revulsion for the man who held him in his razor-sharp claws. He only wished he could shelter Taehyung from the accuracy of his performance. "This is reality." Jimin hoped Taehyung could hear the desperation in his voice - hoped he understood what he was trying to say. Reality, unreality, it was all the same now, but the only thing that was truly real was them - the seven of them gathered now in this room for what Jimin knew would be the last time ever.
"Why are you doing this?" Taehyung asked, his heart refusing to believe any of this was real even when his mind told him otherwise. "Jimin... chingu, what are you doing?" Taehyung continued, ignoring the pleading quality his voice had taken on.
Everything in Jimin screamed out for Taehyung to see the truth. To know that it was all a lie, an act. Maybe he was the actor, but Jimin was putting on the performance of his life. He wanted Taehyung to drag him away from this monster and protect him even though he knew he shouldn't. He wanted Jungkook to stand up and wrestle Sven to the floor but he didn't dare show that. Jimin had to do this - he needed to protect his lovers and his brothers.
Damn it.
He felt his anger rising within him even though he knew it shouldn't - there was no place for it now. But when Taehyung, one of only two who should know him well enough to see past his facade, asked such simple-minded questions, questions no one living through the hell that they had so far should need to ask, Jimin felt another piece of his soul die.
"Ar-are you h-happy, Jimin?" Taehyung's eyes begged Jimin to hear the underlying question, to answer his heart instead of words.
'Don't do this, brother', he ached to say, but wondered now if doing so would cause Jimin further harm.
Taehyung begged his friend with dry eyes that he wouldn't allow to shed tears. He couldn't be responsible for Jimin being hurt, but still he had to try to get him to understand... for his sake, for Jungkook's sake... for them all. But Taehyung couldn't find his words... couldn't find anything to say that would let Jimin know that he would rather die than let this happen.
"Ye," Jimin said, sounding off somehow - wistful, maybe? Nostalgic? Somewhere very far away. "I am."
Did Taehyung hear regret in his tone too? Maybe even anger? He was so confused, so defeated. This couldn't be true - couldn't be real. Jimin loved Jungkook - Taehyung knew that with every fiber of his being. He was not superficial - this man Sven couldn't have wooed him with clothes and jewelry. If that was what Jimin wanted, Taehyung knew that Jungkook would dedicate his life to making sure he had all of those things and more, but he wasn't that superficial. Yet he stood preening before them, looking very much kept.
Jimin wanted to curse at Taehyung for missing everything he was trying to show him.
"Ye?" Jungkook hissed from where he stood, barely able to remain upright, his brain finally processing what his eyes were seeing, the reality of it finally sinking into his fever-addled mind. He fought to keep his anger from welling up, realizing it was irrational, a response brought on by the illness that threatened to consume him as he desperately reached for something to anchor him to his conscious state.
"Hai," Jimin said, answering Jungkook in the language they had endeavored to learn for their former lover's sake.
Taehyung loved the Japanese language, had spent countless hours studying it so that he would be more proficient on their travels there. Neither Jimin nor Jungkook knew much more than basic words in the language but Jimin knew that Jungkook would understand if he was paying attention. Taehyung was fluent, had tried to teach the both of them many times under the guise of preparing them for their Japanese releases, had cooed words of love and adoration in their ears in the language many times, but Jimin never really caught on. He hoped both of the men standing before him now would notice the shift that Jimin would never make under normal circumstances. He hoped that both of their minds were listening even if their hearts could not.
Jimin repeated the word as emphatically as he could, nodding calmly, never moving his eyes away from his lovers.
Someone noticed the change... the one person who wasn't supposed to.
Sven squeezed Jimin's shoulders in warning. Jimin visibly deflated but fought to keep his smile in place.
"How?" Jungkook wheezed in disbelief. "You...we. What...what about--"
"What about Jungkookie?" Taehyung tried. "You would turn your back on him?"
Taehyung didn't know what to do, what to say even, he just knew that he had to say something and so he had said the most obvious thing that came to mind, not realizing the trap he had just created for his maknae.
Jimin could only stare at him with wide eyes, fear overtaking him as he processed the words that Taehyung had said, understanding their meaning and how they would sound to the monster at his side.
"Would you, Jimin?" Taehyung asked when he didn't respond right away, missing the look of terror in Jimin's gaze - the way his posture stiffened as he fought to keep his emotions locked down. "I don't believe you would - I- I can't believe that. Why are you lying?"
Jimin could see the break before the others could. Something in Taehyung's eyes had drifted off center and was trying desperately to latch onto him for purchase. Taehyung was near tears, near passing out, utterly desperate. His emotions had blinded him. Jimin had hurt Taehyung so much already. His own heart wept knowing he had to inflict so much more pain before it was all said and done.
"I am not lying, Taehyung-ssi," Jimin said as he implored, trying to cut through the emotional haze one last time so that Taehyung could see the truth. "Jungkook-ssi...he is nothing to me," Jimin said with disinterest, trying to take the target off of the younger man. "I have turned my back on all of you already. My savior has come to take me away. I thought you understood."
'Please let me do this,' he begged Taehyung with his eyes. Jimin heard Jungkook grunt like he had been hit in the chest, but he forced himself not to look. 'Please let me save you. Let me save the one I love...my brothers...you...'
The break was real. Soon Taehyung would fall forward onto his knees, Jungkook would rush to his side. Jimin wouldn't be able to control himself and he might drop to his knees too, would want to with everything he was... but if he did that, he would be signing their death warrants.
He tried. Taehyung had tried so very hard to keep it together, but he was always so sensitive - the most sensitive among them... there was no way he could withstand this. And Jungkook, Jimin could tell something was wrong with him, something bad. He could hardly stand, he could barely breathe, yet there he was trying to make Jimin come back.
Jimin felt like he might die if he had to continue this for much longer.
He had to shut Taehyung up.
He had to stop Sven from noticing Jungkook and how he leaned in toward Jimin more than the others did, as if he was being drawn close by a magnet.
He had to get that bastard's attention away from Jungkook before his lover suffered, because Taehyung had said it and Jimin was sure Sven heard it.
"Jimin-ah," Taehyung said slowly, softly, as he considered the man before him incredulously. "Are we not good enough for you?"
Jimin hated himself for what he was about to do.
"Ani, Kim Taehyung-ssi."
Jimin's gaze was cold and cruel as he gave the final shove to push Taehyung away, no longer trying to reach him... knowing he couldn't now. He had to hurt him then, had to make sure Taehyung recoiled from him, never tried to save Jimin again. Jimin prayed with everything he had inside that Taehyung would take Jungkook with him, that what he said and the way he said it would alienate them both, Jungkook as a lover and Taehyung as a friend. He breathed deeply but secretly, falling back on his vocal training that he had spent countless hours on, so that Taehyung didn't notice the intake of air. He couldn't show weakness now - the time for that had passed. Now it was time to break everybody's heart.
"You never were," he said, everything about him like ice. "Look at you - Yoongi's soul broken, Namjoon out of his mind. They probably can't write good music anymore. And what about Hobi and his ruined leg - he'll never dance again. And Jungkook," Jungkook wouldn't meet his eyes - couldn't bear to hear Jimin speak this way anymore. His heart hurt; his chest hurt. "The golden maknae... the sickly maknae, if you ask me. And what were you and Jin ever really good for anyway, Taehyung-ah? Just pretty boys, huh? The visuals of the group. Well, doesn't look like you're so much of a visual anymore, does it?"
The collective gasp at Jimin's cruel words was deafening. Jimin hoped to God he wasn't shaking visibly. He had to finish it for all of their sakes.
"Ani, Jimin," Hoseok said from another corner of the room weakly. "Jebal..."
"I was simply settling for you all until my prince came along," Jimin continued. "Now he is here and I shall never have need of something...someone...as plain as you..." Jimin let that sit for a moment before continuing, forcing his eyes to look at each of his brothers in turn, "... any of you."
Jimin's posture was so relaxed as he stood next to the Russian. His tone was so sure. Taehyung didn't know if he was alive or dead as he stood there on legs he could no longer feel beneath him.
Jungkook raised his arm to reach for Taehyung, but remembered the audience that would witness it, instantly afraid of what the ramifications might be for such an insignificant gesture. He sobbed audibly in frustration, unable to help either of the people he loved when they needed him.
Jimin didn't mean it, he couldn't mean it, it was impossible that Jimin really felt that way... right? He couldn't have just been waiting for something better. Jimin loved him. He was his forever... right?
"So, that's it -" Jimin started, but Jungkook cut in, his voice louder than he intended it to be.
"Please... Jimin-ah..." Jungkook panted, casting his pride aside to lay his emotions bare.
There were so many things he wanted to say. So much he desperately needed to voice. Most of all he wanted to tell Jimin that he would love him forever.
Jungkook would beg Jimin if that's what he wanted. He would drop to his knees and beg for him to stay, to be with him, to love him, but the look in Jimin's eyes told him it wouldn't work.
He was leaving. He was leaving them all behind.
Jungkook's face contorted as the different emotions assaulted him, vying for position. And then, my God, then Jimin laughed... again.
"Please, Jimin," Jimin mocked. "Listen to yourself!"
Jimin was saying something else, something foul leveled at Namjoon, but neither Jungkook nor Taehyung heard it. Jimin had succeeded. He had shut Taehyung's mouth and made Jungkook look unimportant. They both looked shell-shocked standing there, Taehyung's proud shoulders rolled into his chest as if they could disappear; Jungkook looking bewildered and disconcertingly young. Jimin couldn't let his eyes linger on them, couldn't allow himself to look at them much at all because if he did, he would never stop.
"Well," Jimin said after his diatribe that left a defeated group of men in its wake. He cast what he hoped was an appreciative glance over to Sven and said, "I'm done here, jagiya."
Sven smiled and squeezed Jimin's hand. "Alas," he said, addressing the members of Bangtan before him, "my jewel wants to take his leave, and so we shall. We bid you adieu-"
Jungkook's cough wracked his body, ripping through the room, all bass and phlegm coming from deep within his chest. He doubled over and gasped for air before the next round of coughing hit, this one pulling a yellowish discharge tinged with blood from his mouth to land on the floor.
Sven could see the ripple that moved through Jimin, the look on his face like that of someone waking from a dream as the men he called family rushed to Jungkook's side, every one of their faces etched with worry. Moving quickly, Sven grabbed Jimin's arm and ordered his guard to take the Korean man back to his private suite and keep him there before Jimin could see more. It wasn't lost on him that his jewel was whispering the boy's name as he was led out of the room.
It had been a mistake to let his jewel see the other six so soon and they him. Better to keep them apart for now.
~oooOooo~
As Jimin was led out, two of Sven's guards entered carrying large portable heaters. Following behind them was Dorian and his brother, Carl.
"I am not happy with you, Dorian," Sven snapped, his mind still on Jimin. There was obviously still some work he needed to do with his jewel to make sure his control was complete.
"Why?" Dorian asked, insulted and angry at being chastised by someone young enough to be his child.
"Look at them," Sven sniffed, his face adopting a look of someone who had smelled something foul.
"What? They're still alive and in one piece, aren't they?" Dorian snarled back, angrier still that he had been summoned like some lackey and not the one running the show.
"Barely, Dorian. It feels like a meat locker in here and one of them caught a head cold." Sven waved a hand in Jungkook's direction. "They all look like death warmed over. I couldn't sell them on a street corner looking the way they do, much less expect one of my clients to pay a small fortune for their company."
Walking among the stunned members of BTS and stepping around Kookie's crouching form, Sven grabbed Jin's chin and pointed to his beaten face.
"What if Carl using this one as a punching bag leaves his face scarred, he won't be worth anything then!"
Suddenly there was a low growl from the doorway as a voice said, "WHY THE FUCK WAS CARL PUTTING HIS HANDS ON JIN?"
Mathan had raced back to the compound as quickly as he could, depositing Ryder at the cabin and bringing Pyro with him to introduce to his father, who had very recently been in search of a munitions specialist seeing as Mathan had ended the previous one. Now, his worst fears were confirmed. Seeing the condition Jin was in, Mathan wanted to kill someone and Carl seemed like the perfect choice.
"Where is Jimin?" Mathan asked, stepping into the room and looking around, freezing when he saw the Russian man. "Please tell me you're not that stupid," he deadpanned, looking at his father. "I know Carl is but..." "Tell me he isn't that stupid," he said, addressing Sven. "You morons can't possibly believe you'll get away with this..."
"Ah, the prodigal son returns." Sven released his hold on Jin's face and moved back to the front of the room. "You need not worry about the beautiful Park Jimin. I will take great care of my private dancer. As for the rest of this lot, I am very much thinking of asking your father for my money back."
Pausing at the door Sven clapped a hand on Mathan's shoulder, "I leave you to your family reunion. I have a lesson to teach," he said before he called his guards, laughing as he left.
Mathan looked around the room one last time, his eyes burning before he looked at his father. His cover was well and blown by now and judging by the looks on these men's faces he was back to square one.
"I need to see you in your office," Mathan growled, looking at his father, not waiting for him to reply as he left.
~oooOooo~
Once the room had cleared, the remaining members of BTS all looked at one another, their thoughts turning inwards as they tried, and failed to settle back down, Taehyung and Jin helping Jungkook up and back to the bed where they laid him down - propping him up the best they could so he could try to catch his breath while giving his body some rest. The heaters made the room a bit more tolerable, but the unease in their minds made it impossible for any of them to settle.
Yoongi was white-fisted once more as his mind replayed the words the monsters had said.
'The prodigal son returns...I leave you to your family reunion.'
Hoseok was sitting in numb disbelief about everything he had seen, his mind wondering exactly when things had gone so wrong, and how they had, in the blink of an eye, lost a brother that was most precious to them.
Taehyung and Jungkook clung to each other in disbelief. The others couldn't hear what they whispered to each other; they only knew that both of their shoulders quaked and the sounds of muffled crying hung in the air. They were holding onto each other for dear life and it broke each of the elders' hearts to see them in such a state. All of them considered touching them, guiding them over to the makeshift nest, rubbing their backs - but none of that would be enough. So they watched. They waited. They would be there to pick them up when their maknaes inevitably fell.
"He's one of them," Namjoon growled, the fissures in his mind slowly widening as he forced himself to consider more. More dangers. More responsibilities. More heartache. More loss.
"No he isn't!" Jin insisted, his own heart in pain from the evidence that was given to them all.
While it was true that this place was filled with monsters - children wearing grown up clothes, fighting over their favorite toys - the truth of the expensive man's words rang as clear as a bell in the way Mathan had not denied them. He couldn't even look at the men he had seemed so desperate to help before his departure when the truth was exposed. He never once looked at Jin.
"Bullshit," Yoongi spat. "You saw how he just... Namjoon is right. Mathan Foley is exactly like them. He and his family have had this planned all along."
"We--" Hoseok was desperately trying to stop himself from drowning. "When he comes back, we should-- Mathan-- He has the right to - to tell us...We can't just-"
"He lies," Namjoon said, cutting off Hoseok's disjointed words. "All of this is nothing more than one nightmare of a lie. We can't trust anything they say. Any of them."
No one could utter the words banging around traitorously in their minds, but each of them thought it and suffered for it.
'Even our sweet Jimin.'