Warning: Angst, triggar-warning, heart-shattering sadness. What have I done to this story?

Seeing as none of the members had gotten a sufficient amount of sleep last night, it was safe to say that nobody was excited when the manager was shaking everyone (except Jungkook) awake. 

"Come on, Taehyung-ah, get up" the manager said, trying to pull V away from the Maknae as gentely as he could.

"No~!" V whined childishly, still not fully awake and latching onto Jungkook like a giant koala. "I don't wanna~!"

"Taehyung," Jin chidded softly, but firmly, "get up now."

Reluctantly, the second youngest untangled himself from the smothered makane and joined the other members who were not too far off.

"Now," the manager stated as he searched through his phone calander "PD was very nice to let you rest through some unnecessary schedules [vocal + dance practice] but unfortunantly, you cannot miss the fansign. I'm sorry, but there are just too many fans. It would cause outrage."

The members nodded sullenly in understanding. With more fame came more fans, which meant tighter schedules and larger events. 

"But what about Jungkook?" J-Hope asked suddenly, concern evident in his voice. 

"Jungkook will stay at the hospital. The doctors want to keep him here for at least another 24 hours. He had a pretty high fever. " the manager answered. 

J-Hope let out a held breath, shoulders sagging in relief. The others showed their own way of solace at the news, though none knew why J-Hope was particularly grateful.

"Does that mean he'll be working by tomorrow then?" Jimin questioned worrily.

"Depending on how well Jungkook recovers, he might be." Manager-nim replied. "It will be up to him though."

'Aish, kid. You better be fine if you say you are.' Suga thought.

"Boss-nim has been informed of this, though, and sends his support. He actually sent something for you guys-hold on" The manager tapped his phone a few times trying to find what he was looking for. Fianlly, he turned the phone screne to show the group members.

"Hello, Bangtang." Bang Sihyuk's appeared on the screen "I know that it's been a stressful 24 hours for you guys. Thank you for being such responsible and well behaved hyungs for the Maknae. I'm sure that your manager-hyung has already informed you of your schedule arangements for today. I apologize, but it's the only one for today, so please bare with it. I expect you to still act professionaly, though. Please take care of our Jeon Jungkookie. I am stuck in a meeting in ShangHai for the company but please pass on this message for Maknae: as Bangtang says: 'Safety first, safety seccond, coolness third.' Stay bulletproof, boys. Bangtang, fighting!"

The screen faded to black and the manager put down the phone. "Big Hit has already released a statement saying that Jungkook is sick and will not participate in events for an undetermined period of time starting today, May 11. Everything will go according to schedule. Song-nim [BTS choreographer] will adjust the choreography in FIRE and Save ME. It will be up to you to determine who will cover his vocals."

The members nodded their heads comprehensively.

"The fan sign is in 2 hours. Everyone go back to the dorms and wash up. We leave in 1 hour and 30 minutes, okay?"

Again, everyone nodded and put their hands in the center of the circle.

"Bangtang, fighting!" they whisper-shouted, keeping in mind that Jungkook was still sleeping.

It was around 7:00 and the rest of Bangtang had not yet returned from their fansign event. The old nurse was checking back on Jungkook after her hourly rounds. She recorded his temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Although she was fairly sure that the blood pressure and heart rate monitoring wasn't necessary, it was standard procedure in the hospital. She wrote in the information onto the wooden clipboard that was hanging from a hook at the foot of his bed. Everything seemed to be very normal and healthy for a child his age (except his temperature, which was still a bit warm).

As she went to leave for her final patient's check up, she heard mumbling from Jungkook. 

"Hyungs? Is that you?" He muttered to the air.

Haven been there when the young man was in hysterics a couple hours previous, the kind nurse decided to stay and make sure everything was alright before she saw her last patient. 

'It could be nothing.' The old woman mused, taking the chair closest to Jungkook's bedside. 'But I should stay just in case.'

"Hyungs? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, hyungs." He muttered some more as he started to toss and turn in his sleep. He was starting to sweat again, despite being in an air conditioned room for over 12 hours. His hands clenched and unclenched as his nightmare took its hold. The beeping on the heart monitor started to accelerate with quick, fast-paced beeping that concerned to nurse greatly.

She tried to sooth the poor child with gentle pets to the head. But the nightmare persisted and Jungkook was now on the verge of tears. 

"You don't mean that, right, Hyung? Please say you don't mean it. Hyung? Hy-ung?" His voice broke and so did his tears. They started to flow again from his eyes, large and filled with dispare. His body twisted and wrenched itself over the railing of the bed, trying to curl in on itself into a fetal position.

The nurse just watched the suffering Maknae in shock.

His hands tried to go to his ears, to make the screaming that only he could hear stop, if only just for a moment, though it was impossible. His right hand, however, had caught itself on the IV tube that was still inserted in his hand and was threatening to be ripped out any second now.

This snaped the nurse out of her stupor and she quickly took action.

She grabbed onto Jungkook's hand and squeezed. Her palm was pressed against the back of Jungkook's hand firmly, effectively securing the IV from pulling out any more than it already had. With her other hand, she continued to brush the hair from his face.

Jungkook was full out sobbing now, tear tracks evident and painfully clear to the nurse. 

"Please, hyung, I'm sorry. I'll do better, I promise! Stop! Don't, please! I promise!" the poor boy cried out to the lone nurse in his room. Yes, he wasn't a man, he was a boy. Barely of age and just starting life. He was successfull and handsome and talented, yes, but under all that was an innocent child, scarecly an adult still learning and accepting the harsh realities of this world. He still believed in faries and magic and fantacies and all the wonderfull, innocent things in life, just like any other child would, perhapse even more so, but he was growing up, becoming exposed to this world's cruelty in the most painfull way possible.

 The nurse could see it happen before her eyes. With every hitch, every tear, every sob.

All she could do was sooth him as best she could.

"I'm sorry." Jungkook sobbed quietly. his arms were no longer moving. Quite on the contrary, his body was still and his arms hung helplessly as he softy cried, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry....."

After a while, his breathing regulated and his body relaxed. He was gently lulled from his land of dreams and into his reality, the old nurse still by his side, too scared to leave him alone.

His nose twitched a few times, sniffing; then his large, brown eyes fluttered open.

 'Where am I?' Jungkook thought as he walked about nothingness. All around him was black, pitch darkness, with pearlesque fog curling everywhere, surrounding him. His footsteps resounded through the emptiness and he soon realized that he was wearing dark wash pants, a white shirt, and a pair of boots. He kept walking.

He started to hear whispers. Too far away to tell who exactly was speaking, but close enough to notice that they were, indeed, real and that they were familiar voices. 

"Hyungs? Is that you?" He asked out, slightly afraid of the lack of vision. 

Slowly, the voices became clearer and his surroundings had taken shape. The thick fog around him had morphed into the Bangtang practice room, brightly light and all. And there, in the center, were his hyungs. 

Jin-Hyung, Suga-Hyung, Leader-Hyung, Hopie-Hyung, Jimin-Hyung, and V-Hyung. They were all there, wearing their preformance outfits. Their makeup was already set and their hair styled to perfection. 

"Oh good, he's finally here." J-Hope sneered with a frightening smile. 

"What's going on?" Jungkook asked the group, slightly anxious at the sight of his sunshine-hyung's sickening smile. 

"Well, to say it nicely," Suga drawled, "you're out of Bangtang."

And at that moment, Jungkook could swear that he heard his heart shatter. He looked around his so-called brothers for denial, just waiting for someone to blow their cover and start laughing, the other members annoyed with their failed prank. "Gotchya!" Someone would scream with a peal of laughter, and all would be right again. But everything was not alright. Because no one was laughing, no one was jokingly smiling, and everyone was just watching. 

"You don't mean that, right, hyung? Please say you don't mean it." Jungkook pleaded while staring into rolling eyes. "Hyungs? Hy-ung?" He begged, desperately trying to stop his hiccups and tears while searching for someone, anyone, who would console him. 

"As if we'd be lying." Rap Monster said, harshly glaring at the Ex-Maknae. "We're not as mean as you, Jungkook."

"Yeah," Jimin said, arms crossed. "You always mess with your hyungs, Jungkook. That's rude. You always tease me about my height. That's no way to treat your elder. Some Maknae you were." He spat as he emphasized his use of past tense. 

"So disrespectful." J-Hope added, his face twitching upwards in annoyance as he looked down on the sniveling boy. And suddenly, Jungkook never felt so small.

He looked to V for any signs of a prank: a comforting smile, a stiffle of laughter, anything, but found only an indifferent face fiddling with a few hairs showing from his head. He walked right past Jungkook and to the large practice mirror behind him as if he wasn't in the room and fixed the minor imperfection. 

"Yeah right," the youngest hyung drone aloud, still fixing his hair, "as if you didn't know already, brat. We only put up with you from the start because the fans seemed to like it. But they don't, so we don't need you anymore. You're so weak, you're dragging us down. It's embarrassing. I can't believe you ever even got to debut."

The tears were flowing down so fast, Jungkook couldn't see. They were blurring his vision and streaming down his face, painfully obvious. He tried to cover his face with his sleeves before his hyungs saw, but he wasn't fast enough.

"Like Maknae said, brat: 'weak.'" Suga commented carelessly, fiddling with the shirt cuffs, using Jungkook's former title. "You never did any work. Useless. Golden Maknae? That must be a joke. You aren't good at anything, kid. Ever heard of 'jack of all trades yet master of none'? That's you. Just because you can do different things doesn't make you special. We can pick 1000 trainies with much more talent than you. Why did you even bother auditioning?"

Jungkook kept crying.

"Pathetic." Rap Monster sneered, then turned to address the other members "It's almost time. Let's go." He his heel and walked out of the room.

"W-what?" the former maknae whispered, confused.

"Yah!" J-Hope came forward and shoved him harshly, pushing Jungkook to the ground with a thud. "Do you seriously think this is a joke. No, you are the joke, Jeon Jungguk! You are so stupid and full of yourself. You're such a spoiled brat! Without you, Bangtang can become even more popular."

"Stop." Jungkook croaked out misserably. "Please stop." he whispered, hands covering his ears and shoulders hunched in like a wounded animal, protecting itself from its opressors. Except the oppressors were his brothers and he couldn't stop listening.

"This concert sold out when the fans found out that you weren't going to be there. Sold out, Jungkook. Sold out. Do you still think that you're so great?" And with that, he, too, left the crying boy on the ground.

Suga, Jimin, and V all left without spareing the poor boy a second glance. "Brat" "Jerk." "Ridiculous." they muttered under their breaths, just for Jungkook to hear.

Then, Jin walked up to him and knelt down.

Jungkook, grateful for his eldest hyung's kindness, reached out his hand, asking to be helped up. Instead, he received a harsh slap to his right hand. The sharp slap was painful, like a stabbing pinch on the back of his hand, but it didn't compare to the pain in his heart.

"Did you really think I would still bother to take care of you?" Jin said with scorn. "You're the weakest member. So ungratefull. One late night and you pass out? That's rediculous. Do you know how hard the other members work to pick up after your slack? Do you know how hard they work to cover your mistakes? How much Jimin and J-Hope dance after you say that you're just lazy, tired, and give up? How late Suga sleeps becaues you've bothered him all day? How much I work in the dorms alone because you're too childish to do your chores just becuse you're younger? What kind of maknae hurt his hyungs? You're such a pitiful excuse for an idol."

"Please, hyungs, I'm sorry. I'll do better, I promise! Stop! Don't, please! I promise!" Jungkook stuttered out, more tears obscuring his vision.

"Pathetic." Jin spat out in conempt before he made his way over to the door. "This is the real world, kid. Get used to it." And with that, he left as well

"I'm sorry." he had said, but the eldest still left him.

And Jungkook had never felt so alone in his life.

He had curled up in a ball on the floor and was sobbing uncontrolably. He felt so numb yet so much pain at the same time. His chest hurt, his eyes swam with tears, yet even though he still held onto the hope that they didn't mean what they said, they couldn't help but repeating the words. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry...." 

He didn't know how long he had laied there, still wraped in on himself, but when he looked up, he was back in the dark void with white fog.

'Did they really mean what they said?' Jungkook thought to himself. 
The subconscious part of his brain screamed at him that: 'Of course they didn't. Why would they mean all of those things if they haven't even said anything all these years? Maybe it's just stress. They didn't really mean it. They're just upset right now.' But the irrational part of him spoke to him. 'They did mean it. They hate you. They just needed a 7th member to get them popular. Face it, everything they said was true anyways. You're so useless and pathetic. The weakest link.'
More tears poured endlessly from the boy's eyes. And, in the wake of everything, despite his rational thoughts, Jungkook believed the irrational reasoning.  
"I'm sorry." He said to no one. "I'm sorry."
There was a pulling feeling at the pit of his stomach, and Jungkook curled in on himself even more. But this wasn't another horrible vision from his head. And as he heard the rigid beeping of an EKG machine, Jungkook realized that he'd been dreaming.

The maknae woke up a few moments later in an unfamiliar room. He was dressed in hospital clothes and had cold pads sticking to his chest, sending its measurements to the heart rate monitor. There was also an IV stuck into the back of his right hand and an old nurse looking over him worriedly. 
"Are you okay there, dearie?" She asked in her soothing voice, brushing his hair in a familiar way

"Where am I?" He mumbled with a sraspy voice.

"You're in the hospital, dear." the nurse answered. "You're really sick right now. You should rest some more." She said as she rubbed his cheek in a concerned maner.

"I don't wanna." he grumbled while still wearily blinking his eyes and pouting. Still remembering his dream, he was too afraid to go back to sleep. "Don't wanna...."

The old nurse sighed but kept petting his hair. "I know that you had a bad dream, dear, but you need the rest right now. And remember, it's not real. It's just a dream." She checked her small wristwatch and gasped. "I need to go checkup on another patient. Please get some more sleep, alright?" She left the boy and went across the hall.

"A dream...." He hummed aloud. And then he registered the words. "A dream!" he shot his head up and looked around wildly, whipping his head from side to side.

'I knew it.' he thought to himself with unrivaled relief 'I knew that they wouldn't leave me! I knew it! How could I even think that my hyungs would leave me! It was just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about.' 

But as he kept turning his head from left to right and right to left, he couldn't find them anywhere in sight. 

'That's fine.' he told himself 'They're probably just outside or something. Maybe they're getting a drink. Trust your hyungs, Jungkook. You're being so silly right now. You'll see. They'll come bursting through the door any second now and start scolding me for being so careless."

But seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned into an hour.

Finally, when the nurse came back, she found a sobbing (but conscious) Jungkook sitting with his feet dangling off the edge of the bed and his head in his hands.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?" she asked the crying boy. She tried to feel his forehead through his hands, it felt like his fever had returned in full force. He seemed to have calmed down when she was with him an hour ago. What had possibly happened?

"Where are my brothers?" He asked in a heartbreaking croak and lifted his head. His bloodshot red eyes contrasted the dark eye bags that he still had regardless of the last 12 hours of sleep he just had.

"They...They said that they were busy. They're not here right now, I'm sorry, Jungkook." 

Everything that he had said to himself before crumbled and was replaced with the whispers of his nightmares.

They're not here.

They left you.

Useless.

Pathetic.

Weak.

His greatest fears were comfirmed with that simple sentence.

He bowed his head again and started to sob once more.

"Jungkook. Jungkook! What's wrong?" the nurse questioned frantically, not realizing what was going through the irrational teen.

"They left me!" he screamed. "They left me. They left me alone." he whispered.

She sat at his left side and hungged him close, wincing as his fever continued to climb and climb.

"They left me." he scarcely murmured as sleep took him once more.

"They left me."

Sorry for the late update.  I know, very sad. I'm sorry if this is getting to depressing for you guys. I promise that there will be a good ending though! Please please please comment, though! I'd love to know your thoughts and anything that I can improve upon. Did everything make sence? Which parts were hard to understand? If you tell me, I will try to make it clearer.

Also, a little announcement that I'll be at a week long overnight camp next week so most likely will be a delayed update the following chapter. I'm really sorry about that. Anyways, please comment and let me know your thoughts on this chapter.