A/N: Before we begin our last ride, I was wondering... Who do you picture Chae as? (Like, do you have anyone in mind when her character appears?) For me, I use Blackpink's Rosé as inspiration. I even use her real name lol.. IDK she just feels so powerful to me and her voice is so cute but imagine how scary it is when a sweet voice hides such a dark motive... #weirdconfession

Alright! Let's not waste any more time. Note: this chapter is 5.3k long, you might want to get comfy now.

As always, enjoy reading~

"No, you're not." Yoongi wipes his face clean and pulls Jimin back. There's a strain in his voice, as though he is already tired or close to crying. "You're not staying with her."

"Get your things, guys. You're leaving here." Jimin calls out without paying attention to what Yoongi has just said. "Jungkook, Jin, take Yoongi and leave. Now."

"No." That's all Jungkook says. 

Jimin's jaw tightens but he tries again. "Jin?"

"She took Namjoon." Jin mutters. "She's not taking you too."

"Jin, come on."

"We're not leaving you!" Yoongi almost whines. He clings onto Jimin's arm and pulls at it. "We go together. Please, don't do this."

"Yoongi,"

"No!" Yoongi protests again. "She wants me? Fine! She can have me!"

"You are not doing this to me!" Jimin yells back, his face red and his eyes watery. "How do you expect me to go on knowing you're stuck here?"

"And you think I'll be fine leaving you?"

Jimin reaches out and cups Yoongi's cheeks. He looks at the other boy with every emotion he has ever felt for him laid bare on his face. He wants to do everything, he will do everything in his power to get Yoongi out of here in one piece.

Even if that means he'll suffer himself.

"Yoongi, please…" they both end up sobbing into each other's face. 

Chaeyong turns to Hoseok again. There's inferno of jealousy and anger in her gaze that betrays her calm expression. She watches her brother for a moment before she nods. Hoseok releases one hand and Taehyung comes to view. Jungkook gasps and it makes Yoongi look up. 

He stares, disbelieved to see what's in front of him. Taehyung, in flesh and bone. 

His Taehyung. 

"Leave Jimin here," Chae speaks. "And you can take Taehyung with you."

"You want me." Yoongi spits. "Or at least that's what you made everyone believe. Start acting like it. I'll stay, Chae. I will."

"Please get over yourself, Yoongi." Chae lets out a sound close to laughing. "From the very beginning, you always think everything revolves around you."

Jimin cuts in, wanting things to just end immediately. "Go. Take Taehyung and everybody." He starts pushing Yoongi toward the door. "Go!"

Hoseok opens the front door as if everything isn't tempting enough. He leads Taehyung outside first. Chae gestures for them to follow. At this point, Jimin just ups and grabs Yoongi and forces him outside. Yoongi struggles but Jimin easily overpowers him. In the end, he ends up outside. 

"Go!" Jimin says for the nth times. His tone gets tougher each time. He eyes Jin up and down. "What are you waiting for? Hurry!"

Jin returns a colder look but says nothing and just stays where he is. Jimin wants to pull all his own hair out. What is this? They have no survival instinct at all. Would they rather they all stuck together here?

"This is fun," Chae speak up after a while. "Did I forget to mention Joonie? He's here, too. As soon as you're outside the gate, he'll follow shortly."

Jin perks up, confused. "…what?"

"Right here." Chae gestures to where Namjoon is. "You can't see him. But he's here. He tells me he wants to leave. Yoongi, don't let him down."

"You're lying, Namjoon is dead." Jin whispers. Chae's response is a simple shake of her head.

Yoongi exhales a shaky breath, his palm cold and sticky. Maybe Chae's right. Maybe he always thought everything revolves around him. But what about her? She is no different. From her flesh to her bone, she is exactly like him. She has no right to put everything on his shoulders while she runs around killing innocent people.

Yoongi grips his fists tight. How dare she.

"You cruel monster." He said lowly, almost a whisper. "You heartless, manipulative monster. What did I ever do to you? Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, sweetheart," Chae chuckles. "I just want a family."

"You have Hoseok! And you have our parents for years! And all those years Jimin and I lived all alone. Is that not enough?"

"Enough questioning. If you won't leave, I'm taking Taehyung and Namjoon for good."

"You're bluffing."

"What makes you think so?"

"If you could, you'd have taken them since the beginning."

Chae smiles a smile that does not reach her eyes. Her pupils split and there are lines from her cheeks to her hairlines, lights reflecting off her skin. "Who do you think took them away in the first place?"

Jimin shuts his eyes. Yoongi isn't ready for this. 

"…what now?" Yoongi looks between her and Hoseok. Neither answers him. He turns to Jimin who is now looking away. he slumps in his stance. That can't be...

"Oh my," Chae opens her eyes bigger than usual and exaggerates her blinking. "You thought what happened to your Taehyung was an accident." 

She then turns to Hoseok and signals him to release Tae. Once Hoseok lets go, Tae disappears into thin air. She jerks her chin,

"Show them how you did it, Hobi." 

Without a word, Hoseok pulls out a handgun from his jacket and aims forward. His hand shakes a little thinking back to when he aimed at Taehyung. 

He holds his breath as he pulls the trigger.

Someone cries out. 

-

Yoongi's hair stands on its end and his face hot. He does not want to look. He knows who gets shot. There are only two people who would make him ache this bad in light of danger, as though he was in their place. He feels the pain in his chest threatening to swallow him whole, there's a big lump in his throat and already, he wants to just yell. Yoongi places a hand to where his heart is. Taehyung made me feel this once.

He does not need to look. He knows it's Jungkook.

He hears Jin screams a name. Turning, he finds his boy on the ground, hands pressing hard against his own stomach, a puddle of blood beneath him. Jungkook looks so pale already. Where was he hit? Blood seems to be from his tummy, or his abdomen. Wherever it is, nothing should happen to Jungkook. Nothing.

Yoongi realizes he's been staring and catching his breath but doing nothing to help at all. How useless, he thinks to himself. He couldn't help before, and now he can't help again.

Jimin is already by Jungkook's side, checking—just like last time with Tae. He presses hard against Jungkook's bleeding wound, his hands stain red and sticky.

"Everybody go back inside the house!!" Jimin yells.

But Yoongi can't do that. Not after he has just witnessed Jungkook bleed. The image of Taehyung bleeding and laying still on the ground was just too new for him to have to witness yet another one in the same situation. He can't lose another one. He grabs the nearest object and he doesn't care what it is, he swings it hard to where he thinks Hoseok is.

But Hoseok is gone, and so is Chae. 

-

Jimin has quite a hard time hoisting Jungkook up at first, but as soon as he's on his shoulder he doesn't know where all the strength came from. He just starts running, back inside the house. It feels safer there. 

"My backpack," Jimin points. Jin brings it to him a moment shortly. He has packed a lot of things in there—clothes, canned food, necessities, some painkillers, bandages, and a few more. He is always ready for a long journey. 

"I have it here," He murmurs to no one in particular as he's rummaging through his own backpack. Midway, he pauses. He almost forgets about this one thing. He pulls it up and Yoongi hitches his breath. 

The talon dagger. 

Yoongi reaches for it but Jimin pulls back and shoves the dagger back into the bag. He then pulls out the bandage. He rips the bandages and folds it multiple times. And then he places it on the open wound. Jungkook screams through gritted teeth, his hands clench tight. 

"Swallow this," Jimin pushes two pills down Jungkook's mouth. "And do not get up, no matter what."

He uses the remaining bandage to wrap him up as nicely as he can. The pain seems to subside as Jungkook is able to breathe steadily again, but they cannot take any chances. The gun wound is still bleeding.

"Jungkook, do you hear me?" Jimin lightly taps his shoulder. "Do not get up no matter what. Understand?"

"And let you march to death alone?" His voice is soft and barely audible but the concern is felt and well-received. 

Jimin holds Jungkook's hand by one hand and Yoongi's hand by another. He looks to Jin, and the latter reaches to hold Jungkook's another hand. He then grabs Yoongi's hand. 

Jimin squeezes the two hands he's holding as if trying to reassure them, somehow, that everything will turn out just okay. Because if it's not okay, then it's not the end yet. 

"If I do this, I die. If I don't, we all die."

"We all die anyway so let's do this altogether." Jin announces but Jimin only shakes his head.

"You all have so much to experience. Jungkook is too young, there's a life ahead he has yet to live. And you, Jin. You deserve happiness after Eden." Jimin then looks to Yoongi, his eyes soft. "You need to live and explore, and love and love. You haven't lived at all, Yoongi. The world has so much to offer you."

"Jimin-"

"I can't let you go with me."

"Jimin." Yoongi hardens his tone. "You are important, too. To me."

Jimin smiles, "Just give me 15 minutes. If I don't come back by then-"

"Jimin-"

"After 15 minutes, leave with or without me. Understand?"

"Jimin!"

"Yoongi, do you understand?" Jimin sounds desperate now. He needs Yoongi to accept his decision. He knows Chaeyong doesn't want Yoongi. For whatever purpose it is, she wants him. She has always wanted him. Her friendly antics were all to manipulate them. 

"Yoongi?" Jimin calls again. Yoongi answers by extracting his hand and turning away to sulk alone. 

Jimin stands up and regards everyone one last time. Jungkook seems stable, Jin is okay, Yoongi is fine. Or he will be soon.

Good. 

He turns quickly before they can catch his tears. He knows just where to find Chaeyong. 

-

It hasn't been long since Jimin has walked out the door. If he runs after him now, he might be able to catch up. But he dares not. He doesn't want to be stubborn. Jimin would want him safe. 

But Yoongi bolts up anyway. 

That's all the reason we should go together! We keep each other safe.

Before he can reach the doorknob, someone comes in from the outside. 

"Chae!" Yoongi blurts. How dare she show up back here? And Jimin just went to find her! Was she already done with him? 

Yoongi shakes his head. He refuses to think like that.

"Where's Jimin?" Chaeyong asks rather disinterestedly. 

"You would know, wouldn't you? He went to find you."

"That's stupid of him." She sounds enraged, but she masks that quickly with another comment. "He should know I'll always be the one to come for him."

"That's romantically creepy." Jin manages to say. "Learn not to cross the line, little girl. They're still your brothers."

"I don't care what happens to you," Chae comments and looks straight at Yoongi. "I don't care about Mother's son."

"Like hell I want you to care about me."

"Oh, trust me, you do. If I had cared about you a fraction of how much I care about Jimin, things would all be different. I wouldn't want to separate you two like this, and we all would just live together happily."

"What makes you think we want to live with you? Look at yourself. You're obsessed, manipulative, murderous, you have no self-control, selfish. No one wants to live with a psychopath."

"You seem to know about me more than I know about myself." Chaeyong eyes Jungkook for a moment before she continues. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I get all those traits from your side of the family."

"Okay, so now you're acknowledging that we're family."

Chaeyong rolls her eyes. She notes Jungkook still bleeding and steps closer, which is a big mistake. Yoongi has the talon dagger with him and he does not hesitate when he drives it straight into her heart. She staggers back, both her hands come up to the hilt. She pulls at it and blood rushes out profusely. She stops and looks at Yoongi. She doesn't seem vengeful anymore, her glaring eyes aren't there. She doesn't even seem surprised. 

Yoongi has a feeling it was too easy. And when Chae falls, it all makes sense. It's not her. The skin withers away like burnt petals, her eyes color changes, hair gets shorts, body get taller. The person he has stabbed is not Chaeyong.

It's Hoseok. 

"I'm…" Yoongi can't find a word as he watches Hoseok gasping in pain. He never wants Hoseok harmed. "You… w-why… you were her…"

"Finally," Hoseok breathes. "I can put my ability to good use."

"What good, you got yourself hurt…" Yoongi rummages through Jimin's backpack for the remaining bandage and painkillers. "Stay still…"

"Yoongi,"

"Why do you keep helping her? She doesn't deserve any of it."

Hoseok tugs Yoongi to stop looking. The latter turns to him, his face red and his lips tremble. What has he done? 

"Don't cry."

"You could've come with us!" Yoongi presses his hands hard against the wound, his voice full of sorrow. The hotness of the blood actually burns his palms. But he doesn't pull away. "We all would have walked out of here together, alive!"

"You're a good person, Yoongi." Hoseok smiles but it does not reach his eyes. "But I can't go with you. My sister only has me. I've been alone before. I don't want her to experience that..."

"She doesn't need anyone. You're so stupid."

"Maybe you're right again." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny metal. He gives it to Yoongi, and only then that the dragon boy realizes it's a bullet.

"I shot Taehyung with this." There are remorse and shame in Hoseok's voice. "I shot him three times. I missed the first two on purpose."

Yoongi bursts into tears at that. 

"I know you will never forgive me. I just want to let you know. And Yoongi…"

"Hmm?"

Hoseok's last words are both heartbreaking and comforting.

Yoongi lays Hoseok on the floor and uses the white handkerchief he gets from Jimin's bag to cover his face. 

Jungkook pulls him close, nothing is said. Yoongi buries his face in the younger boy's chest, promises himself this is the last time he watches a friend die. 

-

The throne room has never felt so vast yet so empty. Jimin is facing his sister, neither is saying anything yet. Chaeyong has a look on her face as if she is so sure of her victory—as if she is so sure Jimin would never leave her after this. 

Jimin observes his surrounding while waiting for the unknown. This used to be his home? He remembers none of it. Everything is different. Maybe his father had rebuilt everything after he's gone, or maybe Chae is the one who had rebuilt it. She is the