“I’m sorry, I don’t have tea to offer you right now..” Jin smiled as he placed a glass of orange juice in front of you. He had taken you to what you assume to be the only small room in the palace, a small study that overlooked the city. Instinctively you knew Jin spent a lot of time here, reading. “You’d be surprised how much of a monopoly Suga really has on tea, even though I am the king.” There was something sad in his smile.

You reached out and picked up the juice, then gazed over at Jin. He wasn’t looking at you. Sighing you placed the glass down once more and reached over, taking Jin’s hand in yours. Look at me, you willed but couldn’t speak the words. Slowly Jin raised his head, locking his gaze with yours. There were a lot of things that he wasn’t telling you. But what were they?

“What’s going on Jin? What’s really happening? Why are we all here?” As you asked that, the memories started coming back. They came in fragments of children’s laughter. Your own laughter and that of the boys. You used to play games together a lot. Always the same story, because Jungkook loved it.

“This was his favorite game when we were young. Jungkook loved Alice in Wonderland.” Jin spoke. As he talked, you remembered. “We played together every day. We always had to take care of him. I know that you got bored of that sometimes but Jungkook adored you, so you were always kind to him. Do you remember? He used to say he was going to marry you.”

Jungkook wasn’t that tall back then. You’d been taller than him, but Jungkook didn’t care about any of these things. Whenever someone tried to pick on you, Jungkook had always been there and that was something that hadn’t gone unnoticed. At first Namjoon, Yoongi and Hoseok had thought it was funny, but then soon found themselves drawn to the boy.

Seokjin had appointed himself as a guardian of sorts over the group, always watching over you all since he was the oldest. Since they were older than Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung had dedicated themselves to taking care of him. When he would let them, that was. He was a stubborn kid, but never a bad one.

“One day we were playing the game, as we always did. We were exploring around the school, going to places where we weren’t supposed to. We went to the attic..” Jin’s voice trailed off, but you remembered that day now. The worst day of your lives.

Jimin was jumping as he usually was, ever enthusiastic. Jungkook was crawling behind him. He was always the cat. Everyone had just accepted this, and really he was good at playing the part. Although the incessant meowing was a bit annoying. In the corner Taehyung and Seokjin were busy constructing a throne for the latter. Yoongi and Namjoon were pretending to have a tea party, because they were too lazy to build anything.

“Noona! Do you want to see where I live?” Jungkook half purred as he pulled on your arm. Despite your best efforts you were finding it very cute, although Hoseok was insisting you came to his ‘majestic castle’ first. The two had a small argument about it, but it resolved itself when Hoseok offered to take both you and Jungkook to his ‘magic castle’. It was a pile of boxes with an old chair in the middle.

“It’s not done yet.” Hoseok huffed when Jungkook laughed. You offered to help him out, whilst Jungkook went back to work on his own hole, with Jimin. Everyone was having fun. Hoseok climbed onto his pile of boxes, trying to measure if it was higher than Jinseoks throne.

Then it all came to an end. First you heard soft creaking, barely loud enough to be heard between everyone’s happy cheers. Then louder cracking. The sound of wood breaking. The floor was collapsing, and it was collapsing right where Jimin and Jungkook were playing. Seokjin screamed, scrambling to reach them, but he couldn’t reach them in time. Everyone else ran, but Jimin and Jungkook had disappeared through the hole in the floor.

“I blamed myself for it. I was the oldest. I was supposed to look after all of you.” Jin’s voice pulled you out of your memories. His hands were shaking, and you noticed you were holding both of them. Trying to give him more courage, you squeezed his hands softly. Jin smiled meekly up at you and squeezed back. “It was so cruel to all of us. I remember their parents. They yelled at me, begging me to bring their children back. I bore that guilt with me as I went to middle school. I was so alone there without all of you, but I didn’t dare to contact you because I thought I would endanger you. Then there came a day where I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to the rooftop to throw myself off it.”

Jin stopped talking for a moment, and you knew the memories were choking him up. Biting your tongue, you moved a little closer to him and held his arm, but you couldn’t break the silence. It wasn’t his fault, you wanted to say. He’d only been nine years old when the accident happened. But Jin wasn’t done talking. You wished he was, but knew he couldn’t stop here.

“I was going to, really.. But just as I was about to step over the fence, I heard their voices behind me. You know how strange it was? I thought I was hallucinating, but when I looked they were older. They aged. I was so confused, but seeing them made me so happy that I ran to them and embraced them. The next moment I was here.”

You sighed, leaning your head on Jin’s shoulder shortly. You could vaguely remember hearing news about Jin’s disappearance, but it was a long time ago. Things were starting to change back then. That was when you had all slowly started to forget about the past. You’d stayed close friends with Hoseok, Taehyung and Namjoon. Taehyung had even managed to skip a grade and land in your class, but Yoongi had gone to a different middle school at the orders of his parents. Yoongi must have disappeared soon after, you realized as you tried to puzzle the timeline together.

“We started to forget about it all after Yoongi disappeared.” You muttered, glancing down at Jin’s sleeves. They were made of what seemed to be silk. It was beautiful. Jin’s hands had stopped trembling by now. “Then there was a fire and Taehyung disappeared as well. Namjoon and I forgot but Hoseok couldn’t. Then he disappeared. And the dreams started...” You suddenly realized. The dreams had started after Taehyung disappeared, but he had been in them.

“Is.. Is Taehyung alive? Did we all die?” You asked, sitting up straight. What was this place, really? Were you all dead? What had you even been struggling to do if that was the case? You had to see Taehyung. Now that you remembered everything, you realized how much you had missed all of them, and how long it had been since you’d seen Taehyung. You wanted to apologize to him for forgetting.

“I don’t think we’re dead. I mean, I don’t remember it exactly but I don’t think I jumped. Jimin and Jungkook appeared before I could do that.” Jin said, leaning his head back. “They saved me. They saved Yoongi and Taehyung. I think they didn’t want to take the risk with the rest of us so they tried to bring you here before you could be in danger. That’s what this world is, a wish made by Jungkook and Jimin to live happily ever after with their friends. As well as I understand it, that is.”

Was it right for you to try and take Rap Monster out of this world? After all you had learned about this place? You thought back to the duke who had also asked you to bring him back his name. It seemed like everyone’s true names would be the key, but Jimin and Jungkook had no nicknames here. Did that mean they would be trapped in here forever? Could you really leave them here alone? Everyone in the real world seemed to have forgotten about you. No one would be too sad to see you go. What was the right thing to do?

“I will give you a potion to heal Rap Monster.” Jin said slowly. “I’ve had a lot of time to think it over Alice, and I’m not sure if I want to go home. I miss my parents, but I’m happy here. I already accepted this world. In the end it’s for you to decide what you want to do, but don’t decide too quickly. This isn’t an easy choice to make.”

You knew that. As Jin got up and went through one of his cabinets, you slumped down in his chair. JHope had offered you a place to live. A really good place to live. A place with no homework and everything your heart could ever desire. Everything about this place was good and comfortable, but it didn’t feel right.

“I’ll go see Rap Monster first. Decisions can be made after that.” You pushed the choice back. Jin nodded as he handed you a small vial. You understood why he wanted to stay here. You didn’t want to stay here, but you didn’t want to go home without Jungkook and Jimin. If only there was a way to bring them home with you.

“There might be a way to bring them home with us. You should try to find V. He was always very close to Jungkook and Jimin. His role was always the caterpillar. He is wise, but he’s also hot-tempered.” Jin warned you. You nodded, glancing out the window. With the memories of the past coming back, you were also remembering your dreams more. You knew where to find V.

“I’ll go then.” You said, turning to the door. Jin grabbed your arm and stopped you, making you look at him once more. There was conflict in his eyes. Part of him wanted to wish you good luck, you knew, but he still felt immensely guilty towards Jungkook and Jimin. They did deserve to have their wish of living happily ever after with their friends.

Without saying a word you bowed your head towards Jin and left the small study. As you remembered, V lived on the edge of the city, just inside the forest in one of the strangest houses you’d ever seen. Of course it was a caterpillar’s house, but V was a caterpillar in the same sense that Jungkook was an actual cat, or Jimin was a rabbit.

As you left the castle, you found yourself in darkness. The night had fallen. If you turned back you knew that Jin would offer you a place to sleep, but there wasn’t time. Rap Monster was ill, and he needed his medication. And you needed to find V and hopefully solve the problem you were facing. The night was quiet. You wondered if there even were any other people living in the city. Though there were lights burning here and there, you didn’t hear any voices.

The gates of the city were open, surprisingly. Even though it was night. You assumed it was because this wasn’t a country that had wars in it. If it had been created by the wishes of Jungkook and Jimin when they disappeared, it couldn’t have that many bad things in it. They didn’t have a bad bone in their bodies. Not back then at least.

“V?” You called out as you crossed a small stream, heading towards the forest. There was no answer, but that didn’t mean V was sleeping. “V, I know you’re here somewhere. I need to talk to you.” You bit your tongue. “I’m sorry Tae..-”

“It’s been so long.” His voice sounded like a yawn. Something was moving in a tree trunk. A door opened, and the caterpillar stepped out. You didn’t have to see him properly to know him. For a few seconds you debated on whether or not to hug him. Jin had said he could be moody.

“It’s been too long. Taehyung.” You said. The figure in front of you nodded and you thought you could discern a smile on his face. He extended a hand out to you, which you took, and lead you into the tree.

Just like JHope’s house it was much larger on the inside, but everything inside it seemed to be overgrown with plants or mushrooms. It had always been an odd place. V sat down on one of the larger mushrooms and motioned for you to do the same. Once you’d been seated, a blanket made of something plantlike lowered itself over you.

“Taehyung, I’m so sorry. Namjoon and I didn’t mean to forget about you. We should have-”

“I’m not mad, Areum. We have to look at the future. But first, you need to rest. Go to sleep.”