Minho helped Jonghyun sit up and it was one of most painfully slow processes Minho was ever put through, and he wasn’t even the one injured.

Easier, Minho, jeez.

  “Doing my best,” Minho groaned, trying to pull up Jonghyun from his right side.

Jonghyun chuckled a bit as he situated against the wall again, “That’s creepy, dude.”

  “You try having two people inside you,” Minho sighed, sitting on the floor, “I want to scream.”

Jonghyun hit his head on the wall with a smile, “Don’t say it like that, please.”

Minho’s head shot up quickly, hitting the wall to prevent from hitting him, “I hate you so much. Why am I taking care of you, again?”

Because if you don’t, I’ll kill you.

  “Because deep down inside, you love me.”

  “. . . Right.”

Minho spent the last couple days settling into this new room with Jonghyun and trying to keep the dog from making any sudden movements because, lately, he’s been really jumpy. But Minho couldn’t blame him; after being beat so many times, he’d be afraid if a fly touched him.

Don’t insult him.

  “You know, I wish Bom could just waltz in here,” Minho emphasized gruffly, “Then you’d be as good as new.”

Jonghyun shrugged his right shoulder, “It feels like a sprain by now,” he lifted his left arm slowly, “It’s not so bad.”

The three of them had been exchanging information from each of their ends with each other and the plan was slowly coming to assurance—just without Luna and Onew’s part.

Somehow, out of Jonghyun’s misfortune, he found out the security system shuts down approximately five PM because SangJung likes to switch out power sources and technologies of sorts. So that meant by five, they had enough time to get to where they needed without the alarm going of instantly.

Bom was being brought to Kapsoo multiple times within the days, asking her about her condition and why it was important of Minho to bond with her. Of course, she said nothing about it. But she’s seeing Kapsoo’s health degrading quickly—he seems like he could give out any day by now, so she especially felt no need to share.

  “All we need is Taemin and Onew,” Jonghyun sighed.

  “I know that,” Minho leaned against the wall, “Luna needs to find us first.”

Jonghyun scratched his head, “But Bom told her about us a few hours ago. . .”

Minho furrowed his brows, “I would think you of all people know this place is huge. We could be anywhere.”

Jonghyun hadn’t even known where this wing of the prison is, and most likely Luna hadn’t known either. It could even take days before she could pinpoint them.

  “By the way,” Minho looked at the door, as if waiting for Luna to barge through, “How did you two even meet? By Onew, I’m guessing?”

Jonghyun nodded, pressing a few fingers to his yellow-patched cheek to asses some damage, “Luna resented me. Let me emphasize resent a lot.”

  “Resentment?” Minho was surprised; she could be hard headed, but she seemed so sweet as long as someone was pretty kind to her back. That’s what he assumed after first meeting her, “Why?”

  “The reason she’s here is because a pack of Taerants invaded her family. She had to run,” Jonghyun looked at the door, too, “They almost killed her and Sungmin if SangJung hadn’t found them in time.”

  “So, like everyone else, she was convinced you were a pawn of Satan.”

Jonghyun nodded, “Of course. When Onew came to meet me, he’d have Luna to tag along because he really wanted to prove to her not everyone here was bad. I mean, Sungmin warmed up to me pretty quickly. But she just wanted to bash my skull in.”

  “How long did it take?” Minho asked.

Jonghyun scrunched his mouth sideways and rubbed his cheek a little, “Maybe . . . a year or two?”

Minho’s brows shot up, “That long?”

  “Of course,” Jonghyun shrugged, “She wasn’t going to forgive my kind so easily and it included me. When I opened up to her about Kibum she sort of just . . . saw the light, I guess? She didn’t believe me at first, but I showed her like I did you. She stopped and got to realizing we’re all not the same.”

Minho scoffed, crossing his arms, “Oh, so she knows the rest of the story about Kibum, but you don’t tell me?”

  “Not yet!” he whined, “It’s not time!”

  “What, waiting for a full moon?”

  “I hate you.”

Check his leg for me. It should be healed by now.

Minho sighed, pointing his chin up, “Bom says to move your leg. It should be good.”

Jonghyun scoffed, “I already know,” he lifted it high in the air and bent it.

Minho rolled his eyes.

It was getting boring inside these walls and time was being wasted just waiting around for Luna to show up. Bom was trying to do her best to entertain Minho; she tried to find the memories she remembered that had humor in them, but it was ancient humor, so Minho couldn’t understand.

It seemed like hours when it was only minutes and Minho could feel himself wanting to bash his head into the wall. It was way too quiet and Jonghyun fell asleep way too quickly to help out.

  “Hey, Bom,” Minho whispered.

Hmm?

  “Question,” he said, “Why do you still want to live? Daesung died; don’t you want to be with him?”

Bom said nothing and Minho sighed again at the quiet. He realized it was a touchy subject, but hell, he’d figure he was going to ask sooner or later.

I told you, I want to restore the Daegrent Empire’s former glory. It’s not just for Daesung or the Royals, but it’s for me. For all the other creatures out there that understand what happened. Rebuilding the old architecture will bring us all together again because you’ll be inside; living proof that you demolished solitude for us.

Minho, this is the only place where creatures are held captive. Millions of creatures are in here and either you set them free or kill them off.

As much as I want to be with Daesung, I don’t mind sticking around here and guiding our King to restore the former glory. It’s what Daesung would want. It’s what I want. I didn’t want to bond with you just to die.

  “But isn’t Daesung inside me? Won’t he guide me?”

He may have a big part of you now, but when you bestow his wings, he’ll only remain as a fragment of you. He’ll be able to finally pass on because you’ve awoken.

  “He didn’t pass on?”

He was staying for you. As much as he wanted to see Minji, restoring our names are important to him.

Minho sighed again, bringing his hair back into a ponytail. Daesung was only staying for him. To make this prison’s wrongs into rights.

Minho was learning to fight past the guilt, but if he’d known sooner that Daesung was with him all along, he could’ve done something by now. He would’ve planned faster, with or without Onew.

But then again, he would’ve never met Onew, or Luna, or Jonghyun, or even Bom—the reason why Daesung woke up—, and he’d feel a lot more lonely in the world. And he may never had gotten Taemin back.

He was still unsure about Taemin, but he was always sure he was going to get him out.

Minho didn’t want the crown. He didn’t want a superior title. Yes, he learned even as King, all creatures remain equal, but to still have this highness to him made him feel awful. He didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t even a-hundred yet. He was way too young and had too little history lessons to realize what it was like to be a King and how everything went. Others deserved the crown, not himself.

But how would he avoid it?

In order to set fire to the Prophecy, he had to bestow Daesung’s wings. . .

It was tearing him apart.

Minho jumped when the large door opened hastily, yet slowly, revealing a familiar blonde head as it shut.

Jonghyun jumped and fell on his left side, hissing as he sprang himself back up and held his arm.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry. . .” Luna apologized, making her way to Jonghyun, a bag in her hand now to the floor as she ped it and took out materials, “Let’s just get this support on you. . .” she hung material around his neck and put his arm in the hanging, make-shift cast.

Jonghyun yawned, “It’ll be healed by tonight.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she mumbled, hastily getting a look at his face, “Oh my god. . .”

Jonghyun muttered, “Shut up. . .”

Luna pulled out a few more things to put on the bruises and scratches, trying to get Jonghyun done as quick as she could, “Did they get Jessica out on you?”

Jonghyun sighed and nodded, “She was pissed it wasn’t Minho.”

Minho shrank a little.

  “Well at least her scratches only last for a little,” Luna nodded, almost out of breath with the way she moved.

  “Slow down, you’re making me dizzy,” Jonghyun complained, his head hitting the wall.

Luna paused and finally—reluctantly—sat down on the floor, hitting her head on Jonghyun’s mattress and keeping herself there. She yawned and shook her head, keeping quiet.

Jonghyun and Minho looked at each other, unsure whether to be super concerned or laugh.

She took a breather, covering the sides of her face with her arms. The boys would only watch her, anxiously exchanging looks, not knowing what they should do.

  “Uh, Luna. . .” Minho asked.

  “I can’t find Onew anywhere,” she sniffed, her hand hit the mattress, “I can’t find him at all. . .”

Jonghyun chewed his bottom lip, sitting up and grabbing Luna’s arm with his better arm. When Minho told Jonghyun about Onew’s disappearance right after his own, Jonghyun hadn’t handled it well. He couldn’t bring himself to be angry and transform, but he broke down and sobbed. Minho didn’t understand why it was such a big reaction, but Jonghyun knew more than he did. Jonghyun knew the possible dangers Onew could be put through at the very moment.

But Jonghyun refused to think Onew was dead. That he was sure of.

  “Luna,” Jonghyun quietly called her as she lifted her up with on hand, bringing her on to the bed with him and holding her close for as much comfort as he could give, “Luna, it’s okay,” he mumbled through her hair.

She clasped herself on to Jonghyun and cried. Minho’s heart broke instantly.

To see how Luna could hold on to Jonghyun like it was nothing was what started giving Minho some hope even though it seemed wrong. To hate Jonghyun’s guts for years, but then be able to use him as a shoulder to cry on was a miracle.

Shouldn’t Taemin be the same?

Minho drew his knees to his chest as he listened to Jonghyun whisper to Luna comforting words to calm down her daunting cries. She’d shake her head and bury her face away and produce more sounds of a worried, broken heart.

Minho looked down.

He wasn’t going to lose hope again. Minho knew Onew was okay.

And even though he barely had any experience in this prison rather than Luna and Jonghyun did, he was willing to be the one out of the trio to keep up the optimism and see the greater side of it. Even if the pessimistic side was the truth, maybe a lie was better for now.

  “What if it’s worse than you, Jjong?” her cries were muffled by his chest, “He can’t handle what you’ve gone through. He’s not a creature. He’s not even close to pain-tolerant.”

Jonghyun hushed her, rocking them back and forth, “Stop thinking about it, Luna. You’ll go mad.”

  “But I can’t lose him, too,” Luna cried.

After a considerable amount of time, Luna settled down. Her hysteria passed, finally, and she was thinking just as rationally as before, but sometimes stumped by the mention of Onew.

  “We have the route down . . .” Luna put her chin between her knees, “We just need to find the latch that isn’t a real one to get down there. . .”

Even with your bond, I still can’t feel where Daesung’s wings are. It’s frustrating.

  “Like Jonghyun said, it’s deep down, nonetheless,” Minho rubbed his face tiredly, “And we’ve got to start up around five. It could take hours to get down there even if there’s stairs and whatnot.”

Jonghyun pet Luna’s head, “But with your speed, we could get there in no time.”

  “If the passageway is small, I’m not risking someone’s head getting stuck in the dirt and never getting out.”

Luna looked at Minho, “What’s this whole wing deal, anyway?”

  “It’s the power of the King,” Jonghyun answered instead, “Daesung left his power above the Prophecy for the future heir to take. Daesung and Minji were the only Daegrents who could initiate the Prophecy’s power. Minho needs to take that for himself in order to even try blowing anything up.”

Luna furrowed her brows, watching Minho as he shifted uncomfortably.

He still didn’t like talking about taking a King’s power. He still never wanted it and it would stay that way.

  “You don’t want his power?” Luna asked.

Minho pursed his lips, his face grimacing from his lack of comfort being returning his gaze to Luna, “No. I don’t want the title.”

Luna said nothing after that, chewing the inside of her cheek instead.

Bom tried to make her contributions by showing Minho the empire at its greatest, leading him through halls and halls of creatures, going lower and lower into the ground, and skipped all the way to a dark place with barely any light.

Whenever Daesung entered, the dark, dirt area would light and before him would be what looked like a pond until everything cut short. Bom’s memory still hadn’t returned to its fullest to get further.

Jonghyun often kept trying to make his contribution. When Onew comes back, he would say, he could possibly gather his friends who have the same ideals as his own and be on guard duty around their route, instead on the lookout for anyone who could cause destruction to their plan.

After a while of inevitable silence, Luna piped up again. Her voice was scratchy and she had to clear a couple times, but spoke up.

  “I went to Taemin,” she announced.

Minho perked his head up.

  “He saw the video I gave him,” she breathed, scrunching her lips, “He told me that he doesn’t know, yet. He wants to give you another chance, but then again, the memory still pounces on him. I’m positive if we even just grab him and go, he’ll deal with it okay.”

Minho said nothing about it. Luna already said the truth. Minho would rather grab him and go then sort everything out after this place is absolutely desolate.

  “Good enough,” Minho finally agreed.

Night had fallen over the prison once more and both Jonghyun and Luna were sleeping . . . and Bom was snoring.

Minho was still in the same spot on the floor, staring at the wall.

There was nothing more he had to think about. For once, he had nothing to contemplate.

Everything was falling into place, and once the last problems were solved, it was all going to be over. It was all or nothing at this point.

Minho felt anxious over it. After months of planning and getting used to the place, it felt weird to actually start doing it. He wasn’t going to miss this wreck of a place at all once he was through.

And by this point, he didn’t want to think about Taemin. That would bring him back down under the water. He had to be optimistic. He had to keep himself up.

Minho jumped when the door of the room opened and tensed. The only person he’d wait for is Onew, and it would be a dream come true if it was really the man.

When the figure peeked through the space of the door, Minho jumped to his feet, face hard yet alarming. He wanted to growl, but nothing came.

Trinity didn’t hesitate to slowly enter the room, closing the door slightly as she held her ground.

They both said nothing. Minho didn’t know what to do; whether to tell her to get out or whether to trap her inside so she wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t know the right answer.

She felt like an intruder, but at the same time, Minho wanted to doubt that.

  “You take too long,” she finally spoke, her voice grave.

Minho kept quiet.

  “You take any longer, he know more,” she shook her head.

  “What’re you talking about?” Minho played the innocent card once again.

She closed her eyes and faced the floor, a smile on her lips, “No play innocent. I see Luna. I know.”

Minho’s eye twitched, .

  “I told you what you needed,” she went on, looking back up again, “Why do you not see yet?”

  “Tell me what?”

A beep went off and Trinity looked down to her bare ankle; a black device was attached to her and blinking red that made Minho cautious.

Minho could see the panic on Trinity’s face as she started stumbling, not exactly sure what to do, “Ah. . . Uh . . .” she stuttered before giving Minho a last glace of her tired eyes and turned to the large door that never shut.

  “Two-one-nine,” she said, opening the door back up, “I only hint. That way I not lie to SangJung. Two. One. Nine, Minho. Please.”

Minho took a few steps, “Wait, Trinity—”

  “Onew okay,” she said lastly, hurrying back out the door, “Onew okay.”

Minho ran to the door, “Trinity!”

The door slammed shut and Minho tried to open it up, but it was locked again, “Trinity!”

  “Save us, Minho,” he could hear her from the other side, “Save us.”

  “Trinity!” he banged on the door urgently, hoping she’d open it back up to stop him from causing a ruckus. When there was silence from the other side continuing, Minho gave up from getting air’s attention.

Minho turned and slid to the floor, his face in his hands. He was confused again. After not having to think about anything, here she comes in and ruins all sense of calmness.

He didn’t understand. He thought she was in cahoots with SangJung. There was no way she had to be lying—the device on her ankle. It looked exactly like the probation anklet Minho learned in criminal justice.

SangJung was tracking her all the time. SangJung was keeping watch on her.

So, he didn’t actually have a relationship with her? She was just under him like everyone else?

Minho groaned. What was the truth?

And two-one-nine. Okay, he understood, if she didn’t give him all the information, she wouldn’t be lying to SangJung if he questioned her about telling him anything. He got that completely.

But it was so vague; as if she said nothing at all. Two-one-nine could mean absolutely anything or absolutely nothing. It could’ve even meant looking for a guard with their number branded as the two-hundredth-and-nineteen.

And ‘Onew okay’.

Onew was okay.

That’s what he wanted to think it as.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t injured. It could just mean that he was still alive. Maybe that meant he could come back soon even with whatever it was that happened to him.

Oh, but the mysteries. Now Minho was being driven mad.

  “Hey.”

Minho looked up to see Jonghyun with his eyes barely opened as he took his arm out of his makeshift cast, easily gathering Luna in his arms, “What was that? Who opened the door?”

Minho watched Luna stretch and bury herself to Jonghyun, mumbling a name other than Onew or Jonghyun before she was back in silence, “I’ll tell you in the morning.”

Jonghyun yawned and shrugged, settling back down, “Have it your way, then.”

  “Goodnight, Jjong. . .”

----Note~----

Hi guys.

Was gonna update Wednesday. Didn't do it.

BUT HERE IT IS.

It's been edited lightly, and I always know there's typos/repeats/etc, but please excuse it.

I HOPE IT WAS A GOOD ONE. 28 IS ALREADY WRITTEN.

GUESS WHAT THAT MEANS?

JUST ABOUT /SIX/ CHAPTERS AND ESCAPE TO REDEMPTION HAS COME TO A CLOSE!

(That doesn't mean BTS has ended, btw)

On one end, I'm so excited because it's my first full finish fic and the ending to me is gorgeous! Also excited because NOW I DON'T HAVE TO WRITE ANYMORE.

On the other hand, I love this story a lot even though it doesn't get portrayed well, but the ideas in my mind are still gorgeous to me.

I love you guys for sticking with me to this point and to the end. <3

I sound so happy when I'm actually pissed off to death. xD

Tip for me to like you: don't sell someone's stuff without permission. You never know if it means something to them.

ALRIGHT END HERE.

G'NIGHT!

LOVE ALL COMMENTS, SUBS, AND VIEWS!

(EXTRA EDIT. I don't like showing my face to people, especially if I don't know them, but hell, I've already done it by making an account on there. I'm only mentioning it here. I made a Kakao. You can find me at my username, FlaMinhoe. :DD )

~FlaMinhoe