JHope talked a big deal about sneaking you into the castle, but eventually admitted he would probably only be able to bring you to the castle and not exactly inside it. His reasoning was that his magic would draw the attention from anyone even near it, which you had to agree to. JHope was too obvious for anyone to miss.

After you washed up a little JHope took you outside his house, where a large carriage was waiting. In front of it were two creatures that looked mostly like tigers, except their skin was covered in blue scales and there were ridges sticking out of their spine. You did your best not to stare at them and got into the carriage. JHope didn’t seem to think it was worth explaining what they were.

“We’ll be at the castle in just a few hours.” JHope said as he stepped inside the carriage. You nodded, looking around the small seating area. Jimin had said it was hard to get to the duke’s house by land, but you were sure JHope would make it work somehow. You sat down near the right window and glanced outside. The vehicle started moving. Surprisingly the rhythm was quite smooth, as if the wagon wasn’t traveling over a rocky terrain. JHope smiled at you secretively and motioned with his hand, which shut the curtains.

“You can do this, Alice. I believe in you.” He said. His voice wasn’t quite as omnipresent here, but it was encouraging. You sighed and nodded, lowering your head. The ride was quiet. The duke didn’t speak a lot, it seemed like he had to concentrate hard on keeping the carriage going. You didn’t mind. There was a lot to think about.

Once you got in the castle you’d have to find the library and find the book. How were you supposed to get there again? You didn’t want to ask JHope about that for fear of him talking endlessly and you ending up with less knowledge than you’d had before, but you needed answers. Those answers could wait until after sleeping a little more, though. And so you closed your eyes.

“Alice, wake up.” Slightly grumpy you opened an eye. JHope was sitting in front of you and you noticed you were no longer in the carriage. The area was dark, but you could see the castle not too far away from you. JHope sighed and patted your shoulder.

“I have some bad news. I can’t come into the castle with you Alice. My magic sets of all kinds of alarms, and while I’m not on bad terms with the king this mission is meant to be a secret. But don’t worry, you can do this!” He squeezed your shoulders. You bit your tongue. Great.

“Can you tell me how I need to walk one more time?” You asked, already wondering how you were going to get into the castle. JHope nodded and helped you up, placing a hand on your shoulder as he gestured at the castle.

“You enter the castle and find your way to the main hall. It has golden chandeliers and there are the royal portraits in there. You can’t really miss it. Also the floor looks like a giant chess board.” Although he didn’t say it out loud, you could practically hear him thinking that his house was better. Which it was, you now agreed. Especially because you hadn’t had to sneak into his house.

JHope explained the route to you a couple of times in a row until you could repeat it back to him. Start from the hall, go to the stairs that lead to the west wing, then across the hallways and back down the stairs to the royal library. The castle looked so entirely lit up that you worried about being able to sneak around in there, but JHope argued it would work in your favour. It wasn’t like you weren’t welcome in the castle, you just had to make sure that no one told anyone about you being there. In other words, act natural.

“You’ve got this, dear. I know you do. And no matter if you succeed or not, just come back to me safely.” The duke told you, brushing your hair aside gently. He seemed almost more nervous than you were, for some reason. “I don’t like sending you off like this.. But you are strong, Alice.” He muttered. He pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before getting back into this carriage. With a slightly sad wave the curtains drew closed and the carriage left, soundlessly.

You were alone in the night in front of the castle. With a deep sigh you decided to just start approaching it. Once you got nearer you could decide on how to get inside, you thought. The bridge was down. That didn’t surprise you much, considering that this country was quite peaceful, but there were heavily armed guards standing in front of the gate. There was no way you could sneak in without being noticed. And then the king would know that you were there.

Maybe you should just talk to the king and pretend to be visiting. Then once you got the chance you could sneak into the library. Yes, that was a good plan. At any rate, it seemed to be your best shot of getting to the library. Just when you were about to head onto the bridge, something stopped you. There was something familiar in the air, though you weren’t sure what it was. Until it started speaking, of course.

“What are you doing Alice?” You knew that voice. It was so full of wild things that it really couldn’t be anyone else. You turned around and found Jungkook standing not even two inches from you and grinning broadly. It took a lot of strength not to fall backwards or scream in shock.

“Where did you come from?!” You hissed and glanced at the guards. They hadn’t seen you yet. Jungkook shrugged and yawned.

“It’s night, so I came out to play. But you didn’t tell me what you’re doing Alice. I want to know. Is it a game? Can I play too?” You could almost feel the purring that was coming from his chest. It was in his voice as well. In your dreams you had seen Jungkook this playful before, but it was usually reserved for especially fun games.

“I.. I’m trying to get into the castle without the red king finding out.” You muttered, crossing your arms. Jungkook was looking smug again, and you felt the urge to give him a nudge. Jungkook draped his arms over your shoulders and let some of his weight sink into your shoulders.

“I can help you with that Alice..” He mused, “can you pet me a little more first, though?” His head tilted slightly and strands of his hair seemed to spread out into even more of a mess than they had been before. You sighed and reached up, brushing your fingers through it. As soon as you touched his head he turned it more to let your hand rest on his cheek.

“Why do you want to help me now, Jungkook? I thought you didn’t..-”

“Ssh.. This is a fun game, Alice. I want to play this game.” Jungkook grinned broadly. Something flickered in his eyes. Something that you didn’t quite trust that looked wicked, bright and slightly dangerous. You tried to back away but Jungkook moved a lot faster than you could, crouching slightly to sweep you off your feet and hold you up. That wasn’t all, because Jungkook was once again crouching down.

You wanted to say something, anything, and stop him from whatever dangerous or mischievous thing he was probably going to do but there wasn’t time. With tremendous strength Jungkook launched himself, along with you, very high into the air. In the darkness you could only barely see the moat passing by underneath you.

The grace with which Jungkook landed would be surprising, if he wasn’t a cat. He stood on a tower, balancing himself on one of its battlements. You tried your best not to look down and hoped he would step onto more solid ground, but didn’t want to bring it up. Knowing him he’d probably jump off just for the fun of scaring you.

“We got in, now where should we go? Should we sneak up on the red king? I’m sure we can give him a big spook if we show up in his room in the middle of the night. Or we could go to the kitchen and commandeer some food.” Jungkook purred. His tail was swishing against your knees.

“Can you put me down first?” You asked. To you your voice sounded normal, but Jungkook’s eyes glistened with mischief before he lowered you down.

“Why are you sneaking into the palace anyway Alice? Are you planning a surprise for the king?” Goosebumps formed on your back when his tail hit against it. Jungkook somehow held your gaze in his and you wondered why you felt almost threatened by his piercing gaze. Was it wrong to sneak into the castle? Was he judging your actions?

“I.. I wanted to go to the library and find everyone’s real name..” You muttered. Jungkook’s tail stopped moving immediately and his eyes narrowed. He took a step closer to you, his face not inches from yours. As he spoke, you could feel his breath on your skin, but you could only barely make out his words.

“Why Alice.. That’s a really naughty thing to be doing.. You should definitely not let the king find out. Because he doesn’t like sneaky little girls..” You weren’t sure if you closed your eyes, but suddenly Jungkook was gone. He wasn’t behind you, either. Sighing you started making your way down from the castle wall to the main hall.

On the way to the library you came across a couple of chambermaids, but none of them were surprised to see you. There were no guards near the library entrance either. So why did Jungkook talk about it as if it was a taboo? Maybe it was just the book of names. You didn’t really want to think about that. You just wanted to bring your friends home.

The library was not as large as you had expected. It was large, but for a royal library it seemed rather manageable. Something felt strange about the place, though. You couldn’t remember coming here before in your dreams, but you knew exactly where to go. The book of names was in the back of a library where it was chained to a desk.

The castle had its own magic. When you sat down at the desk and opened the book of names, a large book bound in red leather, the pages flipped by themselves. On the yellowed paper appeared a list of names that were all familiar to you.

Jungkook                                ---------------------------------                                       Date of entry: April 22^nd 2006
Jimin                                      ---------------------------------                                       Date of entry: April 22^nd 2006
Jin                                        True name: Kim Seokjin                                      Date of entry: May 17^th 2010
Suga                                     True name: Min Yoongi                                       Date of entry: January 3^rd 2011
V                                          True name: Kim Taehyung                                  Date of entry: December 21^st 2013
Jhope                                   True name: Jung Hoseok                                    Date of entry: December 28^th 2013
Rap Monster                         True name: Kim Namjoon                                    Date of entry: September 23^rd 2015
Alice                                    True name: Cho Areum                                       Date of entry: September 30^th 2015

Your eyes widened at the names. Something was rushing through your head. Something you remembered from a long time ago. You had attended the same elementary school as all these people had. You remembered spending time with them, but then.. You knew there was something horrible that happened, but you couldn’t put your finger on it. You didn’t really want to, either.

“I’m so glad you could make it here, Alice. I will explain everything, I promise.” The voice that brought you to here. Now you remembered it clearly from a time in the more distant past. As you turned around you smiled and embraced the red king.

“Seokjin!”