"How big is this labyrinth?" Hoseok asked Jimin.
Both of them had been walking for a while along the stone paths of the labyrinth, and it seemed like they weren't really getting anywhere.
"Dunno," Jimin replied, "Taehyung is always expanding or changing it."
"Taehyung?" Hoseok repeated, curiously looking at Jimin who was fiddling with a rock, extracting a shiny gem from the rough stone.
"The Goblin King," Jimin said, "although, don't say his name-"
"Why?" Hoseok interrupted, "it's just a name."
"Just a name?" Jimin hissed, "names have power. If he hears you say his name, especially in here, he'll know exactly where you are!"
Hoseok stared at Jimin, "really?" He asked, "then, won't he come to find us since you said his name?"
Jimin shrugged, "we'll have to see," he murmured, continuing to walk through the paths, but came to a stop before a large clearing.
"What is it?" Hoseok asked, peeking over Jimin's head.
He looked through the large arch to see a tall man hunched over himself. He must have been at least 10 feet tall, and he was sobbing into his hands.
"It's just a giant," Jimin hissed, "let's leave! Giants are known to be nasty fucks." He grabbed Hoseok's arm and tugged on it, but Hoseok didn't move.
"He looks so sad though," he said, "can't I ask him what's wrong?"
Jimin's face twisted into a grimace again, "if you want to, you can. But it's your funeral."
Hoseok scoffed a little and turned away, rushing to the large man who was still sobbing.
"Hey," he said gently, holding out his hands and touching the man's bare arm. The man paused his crying and tilted his head up, sniffling wetly.
His eyes were large and soulful and soaked with tears. He messily wiped his nose, snot trailing on his knuckles.
"Y...Yeah?" He mumbled.
Hoseok kindly smiled, "are you alright? I could hear you crying and came to see what was wrong."
The large man shook his head, "I'm just kinda sad," he whimpered, "those mean Goblins took my things."
"Your things?" Hoseok repeated, "what things?"
The giant wiped his nose again, sniffling loudly. "My glasses," the giant said, "I can't see without them."
"Do you want me to go find them?" Hoseok asked, "I'm sure they can't have gone far!"
The giant nodded, "t-that's okay," he said, "but what can I do for you in return?" He asked.
"Well, do you know the way to the castle?" Hoseok asked, "you can come and help us find it?"
The giant nodded, wiping his eyes again. "I think I know where it is. Just find my glasses and I'll help you."
Hoseok grinned and nodded, "I'll find them!" He said, turning around to see Jimin poking out from behind a wall, his eyes narrowed a little.
"Come on, Jimin!" He called, "we have to go find his glasses!"
"What?" Jimin snapped, "why? We don't need to help him! If we wanna get to the castle, we don't have time to help everyone we see."
Hoseok pouted, "come on, he just needs his glasses. Please, let me help him."
Jimin rolled his eyes, scoffing and shaking his head. "Fine. But make this quick."
Hoseok nodded and ran off into the labyrinth, where he could already hear some voices. He slowed his run to a jog and peeked from out behind a wall.
He could see four small goblins, they were crouched around a leather bag, and wearing the giant's glasses was one of the goblins.
Hoseok bit his lower lip, trying to think about how to get the glasses back from him.
Suddenly, something knocked against his ankle. He looked to the side to see a small rock. He picked it up, looking to the Goblins again.
Could he do it?
He reared back, squinting a little, and then threw the rock at one of the Goblins. It hit the Goblin in the back of the head, causing the metal helmet that he was wearing to ring like a bell and twist around.
"Huh?!" The Goblin screeched, "what?! Who turned off the lights?!" He ran around in circles, running into one of the other Goblins who screeched in anger and shoved him.
"Watch where you're going!" He growled, smacking another one of the Goblins's on his arm hard enough for the Goblin to let out a screech of pain.
Hoseok muffled a laugh behind his hand and leant down again to grab another rock that rolled nearby him. He reeled back again and tossed the rock at another one of the Goblins.
The Goblin wearing the glasses squealed and dropped them and then ran off as his friends stumbled around.
"Retreat!" One of them screeched, "enemy attacking! Retreat !"
Hoseok watched them flee and quickly ran into the clearing and picked up the glasses. He blew on them gently and dusted them off, thankfully they weren't scratched.
He grinned. The giant would be so happy!
As he turned around, he bumped into a chest.
When he looked up, the Goblin King was in front of him.
"Oh, Taehyung," he gasped, and then covered his mouth. He wasn't supposed to say that!
Taehyung's eyes danced with mirth and he cocked his head to the side. "Ah," he murmured, "so you know my name? How precious ."
Hoseok couldn't speak, taking a step away from Taehyung only to stop when he realized that there was a stone wall behind him.
"Don't try to run from me, Hosoek," Taehyung said, placing his hand on Hoseok's side and leaning in, "you won't get very far."
"You can't trap me here," Hoseok said, keeping his face straight, "I'm going to escape."
Taehyung chuckled, "how curious," he purred, leaning in and brushing their noses together, "I've never had a human so determined. Perhaps a Goblin King before me did," he hummed, nuzzling his nose over Hoseok's cheek.
Hoseok suppressed a shudder and clenched his fists tight. Taehyung pulled away and snorted, smirking.
"Are you not afraid of me?" He asked snarkily, "oh, how adorable." He coyly stroked the tips of his fingers up Hoseok's arm and then pulled away, crossing his arms.
"I shall see you when the thirteenth hour is up," he said, still smirking, "or would you rather give up? It only gets harder from here."
"Hard?" Hoseok scoffed before he could stop himself, "you call this hard? I could solve this labyrinth with my eyes closed!"
"Oh, is that so?" Taehyung's voice took a darker tone, and Hoseok immediately regretted being so snarky. He was just about to take back his words when Taehyung lifted his hand, a glass ball appearing at his fingertips.
"Then perhaps I shall up the difficulty," he snarled, waving his fingers. Suddenly, the bright sunny labyrinth around them turned dark and Hoseok screamed as he fell into pitch blackness.
Taehyung fell with him, seemingly calm as they rocketed down into the void. Hosoek scrambled, shooting out his legs and arms to try to gain some sort of purchase on the walls but to no avail.
There was a horrible wailing sound, and as he turned his head he saw horrible monsters and beasts writhing in the void. They screamed, reaching out to him with horrible claws, their mouths open with sharp teeth covered in blood and saliva.
He felt their claws all over his body, felt teeth dig into his neck and spill his blood. The monsters and beasts screamed and wailed as he tore at his body in an animalistic manner.
He screamed, finding himself spinning uncontrollably as he fell. He heard Taehyung start to laugh, and just as he thought he was about to go mad from fear...
He stopped falling. He landed on something warm and slightly soft with a yelp and found that he had landed on the giant's head.
"Oh!" The giant yelped, his hands coming up and patting at his head until he felt Hoseok. He took him into his hand and helped him down from his head, blinking owlishly at the human.
"How did you get there?" the giant asked, blinking wide brown eyes at him. He looked genuinely confused like he had no idea where Hoseok had come from or what he had witnessed.
Hoseok panted, his eyes wide with fear as adrenaline pounded through his veins. Finally, he caught his breath and with a sob of relief, he slouched in the giant's hands.
"Hoseok? What's wrong?" Jimin's worried voice came from below. Hoseok didn't remove his hands from his face, still trembling.
He had been so scared that he was going to die. Or be trapped in a forever-falling limbo that never stopped.
He let out another sob and grabbed the giant in a hug as best he could, even though his hands only just went around his torso.
Jimin's hand came to rest on his arm as he pulled himself up to the giant and sat on his arm, looking down at the crying human in concern.
"Hoseok? What happened to you?" Jimin asked, his voice soft with worry. His hands came onto Hoseok's head, gently running small fingers through his hair until he looked up at the goblin, tears streaming down his cheeks and huffing for breath.
"Was it the Goblin King?" The giant whispered, "did he do something to you?"
Jimin sucked in an enraged breath, "he better not have!" He hissed, "o-or else I'll-"
"You'll do what , Jimin?"
Hoseok's heart leapt into his throat and without looking at Taehyung, he buried his face into the giant's neck. He continued to cry, not caring that he sounded like a scared little baby and just wept. God, he had been so scared!
Being in that void, in the darkness with Taehyung still smirking at him, unable to get purchase and hearing those horrible noises... He could feel the teeth and claws all over his body, scraping and tearing him apart.
It made his skin crawl.
"What the fuck did you do, you bastard?!" Jimin was yelling. He heard Taehyung shout something, but he couldn't hear it over the roar of blood in his ears. The yelling, the violence, reminded him of his boyfriend.
It was like he was back home, back in his apartment. Waiting for something to hurt. His eyes went wide and his back arched and his fingers clawed into the Giant's arm and let out a strangled whimpering noise.
He didn't like this! He was scared!
He felt his body being picked up, and a cool wind began to rush by him as the giant lept to his feet and took off bounding into the labyrinth.
Hoseok kept his eyes closed, just holding onto the giant's neck as he ran. He lost himself in the feeling of the giant running, soothed by the constant warmth and heartbeat that thudded consistently.
As the giant slowly came to a stop, Hoseok's tears had dried as well. He felt the giant sit down and huff quietly as he panted. He felt a smaller body shove beside him, feeling it to be Jimin and relaxed when the Goblin wrapped his arm around Hoseok's middle.
"Hobi?" Jimin's voice was soft. Almost vulnerable. He sounded frightened. Hoseok pulled his head a little out of the giant's neck, sniffling quietly as he looked at the Goblin.
Jimin was slightly hunched over as he looked up at Hoseok. His eyes were scared and wide and gleaming.
"Did he hurt you?" He whispered, "please, Hoseok, please tell me what happened so I can help you."
Hoseok swallowed, the feeling of nausea welling up when he tried to think of it. "I don't know," he whispered after a moment of trying to gather his mind together.
"It was dark," he said, grabbing Jimin's hand and squeezing it tight. "It was so dark. I couldn't see and I was falling and Taehyung-" he swallowed down a sob, "he just laughed! He watched me scream and he-he didn't do anything-"
A sob formed behind his tongue and this time he couldn't stop it. It forced its way out of him in a gut-wrenching and violent display of agony and sadness and suffering.
Jimin and the giant didn't say anything, just curled around Hoseok. They shielded him from the outside world, from a world that he had read and seen before. It was a familiar world, but at the same time, he didn't know it at all.
It was completely foreign to him. He didn't know how to react to it or how to deal with it at all. So, he sat there with his new friends holding him tight and he cried.
He wanted out. This wasn't just a fairytale any more, and he needed to escape. Now.
He voiced this to Jimin and watched the Goblin's face twist in pity.
"If we can get to Taehyung before the thirteenth hour is up," he said quietly, "there's a chance you'll be able to leave."
"How long do I have left?" Hoseok asked through hiccups. He looked up at the giant who was adjusting his glasses on his face.
"I would say," the giant murmured, "nine hours?" He looked up at the sky. The sky was still bright, the midday sun streaming down on them through the thick trees.
Wait, where were they?
Hoseok popped his head out, looking around curiously. They were in a densely forested area, and the Giant-wait, what was his name?
"Um, this is kind of late, but what is your name?" He asked, looking back to the giant.
The giant blinked, his long lashes fluttering against his cheeks. "Namjoon," he replied, "did I not tell you?"
When Hoseok shook his head, Namjoon's cheeks went pink. He shrugged a little, "well," he said, "my name is Namjoon. Sorry that I didn't tell you earlier."
"It's fine," Jimin interrupted, "we can't sit around all day! We only have nine hours left, and the castle is-"
He looked around, his face pinched in irritation, "where the hell are we?" He asked Namjoon.
Namjoon looked around, keeping a large hand covering the two of them as he peered at the forest around them.
"We seem to be near the swamp of Eternal Stench," he said, his nose scrunching up. Hosoek mirrored his face. He knew just how disgusting the swamp of Eternal Stench was, and he wasn't looking forward to smelling it.
"Ugh," Jimin groaned, wriggling in Namjoon's hold, "that means that we're just on the outskirts of the castle."
Hoseok rubbed his face a little, wiping the tears away from his face. "We should go, then," he said, "we don't have a lot of time left."
Namjoon nodded, "if I try, I can carry you over closer to the castle?" He offered.
Hoseok nodded, holding onto Namjoon's arm tightly. "That's a good plan, is that okay, Jimin?" He asked.
Jimin bit his lip, looking up at the sky. His eyes narrowed in nervousness. "It's getting dark, if we keep going on there's some pretty scary stuff going around at night. We should hunker down for a bit."
"Won't we run out of time?" Hoseok asked, "we only have a few hours left!"
"We have time," Jimin said, "I'll let you sleep for two hours, and we'll have enough time to get to the castle."
Hosoek watched him for a few seconds, looking at his face. Jimin's face was open, he wasn't lying to him.
"Okay," he said hesitantly, looking up at Namjoon, "do you wanna find a spot to lay down?"
Namjoon hummed, climbing to his feet out of his sitting position and carefully picking through the trees. He kneeled down beside a large tree and after patting the ground into a flat soft surface, he set Hoseok and Jimin down.
Hoseok followed Namjoon as the giant laid down on the grass. As he settled down beside the giant, tucked under his arm and close to his chest, he drifted off into a slow slumber with the warmth of Namjoon around him.
Jimin quietly watched as Namjoon and Hoseok fell asleep, fumbling nervously with his fingers. As soon as both of them were asleep, he turned and wandered into the forest.
As he got further into the forest, the sounds of monsters around him got louder and louder. He ignored them and continued until he walked into a large clearing.
And in the clearing, there was Taehyung.
Jimin inhaled a deep breath, bowing to Taehyung deeply. "Hello, my king," he said softly.
"Jimin," Taehyung said gruffly, starting to pace around the clearing. "Do you realize what you have done?"
Jimin looked up, his teeth were bared in fury and made the Goblin start to sweat nervously.
"I don't want him to end up like the rest," Jimin forced out, "I know that you don't either, Tae."
Taehyung hissed, "I don't think you are in the place to be calling me that name," he growled lowly.
Jimin huffed, "I remember when you used to love it when I called you that," he said, "I was your best friend, Taetae."
"You still are," Taehyung said quietly, "but I am your king, and you are my servant. So, I want you to do this for me."
He produced a small peach from his shirt. It glimmered softly with light, and when he handed it out to Jimin the Goblin could feel the power.
"What is this?" Jimin asked, looking at the fruit with frightened eyes, "you're not gonna hurt him, are you?"
Taehyung chuckled softly, "no," he said, "it won't hurt as much as it could. But, he will not remember you well."
"You're wiping his memory?!" Jimin cried, now wanting to throw the peach away out of both disgust and fear.
"Not at all," Taehyung said, "he'll simply be asleep for a while."
Jimin looked at his friend, his jaw clenched before he nodded. "You owe me," he said, "you owe me big time."
Taehyung simply smiled and then vanished in a cloud of dust and sparkles.
Jimin moved back from the clearing and close to where Hoseok and Namjoon were still sleeping. He looked up at the sky, to the moon, and sat down next to his friends.
He only had a little bit of time before they woke up, and then Hoseok had to eat. He looked at the peach, rubbing at his nose.
He didn't want to do this, but he had to. He leant against Hoseok, pressing a small kiss against Hoseok's forehead and then Namjoon's.
"I'm sorry," he whispered softly, "I'm so, so sorry. I don't wanna do this to you." He gently pushed Hoseok's hair away from his forehead and looked at him. He really was a beautiful human, and it was going to be a shame to see Hoseok be trapped here for the rest of his life.