It took no more than ten minutes for Jungkook to make it back to his bed. His feelings, mind, own heart had become numb, and in that moment he cared for nothing more than escape. Resting his hand upon his face, a long, shaky sigh escaped his lips as he gazed up at the pale, white ceiling veiled from the shadows of night. Disgust wormed in and out of the pit of his stomach as the past actions of that night replayed over and over again in his brain. He lay frozen, unable to make himself move or even speak. His morals had been stepped on, spit on, thrown away in a billion pieces and all he could do was watch. What he had become was despicable.

    “Kookie?” Tae’s voice whispered across the room.

    He paused, opening his eyes briefly, “Yeah?”

    “How was it?” the question hung in the air cautiously.

    Turning on his side, Jungkook stared blankly at the wall, “Don’t remember her face.”

    Tae swallowed, “Hey, Kookie?”

    “Yeah?”

    Tae stared up at the ceiling sadly, “I know it’s selfish of me to say this… but I’m glad you’re here with me.”

    Jungkook glanced back at his friend sprawled across the thin blankets of their beds, “Yeah…”

    “I- I understand if you hate me,” Tae tilted his head slightly to face him.

    “I don’t hate you,” a tiny smile played across his lips.

    A sigh of relief slipped through Tae’s parted mouth, “Good… do you think we’ll ever meet someone like Yoongi and Jin did?”

    “I don’t know,” Jungkook exhaled quietly, “Maybe.”

    “Someday… someday do you think we could run away?”

    “From here?”

    “I don’t want to live like this…” Tae’s voice broke, “I can’t live like this…”

    “We’ll be free one day,” Jungkook shut his eyes, “I promise.”

***

    “Okay class, everyone line up against the wall,” Mr. Taikaswami ordered the class. Much to Jungkook’s dismay, the original gym teacher had just been transferred to a different barrak and now the old general had to fill in. Oh the horrors. “We will start out with fifty squats, fifty crunches, and fifty pushups-”

    “Ugh,” someone groaned.

    “Make that one hundred squats, one hundred crunches, and one hundred goddamn pushups you bastards,” Taikaswami spat, “And after all you twits finish that, run around the building ten times. Meet back here in fifteen minutes and no more.”

    “,” Yoongi muttered under his breath as he bent down to begin the push ups.

    Frida scoffed in between each push up, “This is so damn stupid, that f-”

    “Language,” Jin grunted under the strain of his muscles.

    Eun Sung whimpered, “How am I supposed to do a hundred?! I can’t even do ten!”

    Jimin smiled weakly, “When he’s not looking, just move on to something else.”

    “He’s scary though…”

    “I’ve got you,” Rose winked, “Besides, we’re probably faster than him, right?”

    “I don’t like running either,” Eunnie pouted, arms shaking from exertion.

“You don’t like anything active,” Yoongi rolled his eyes.

“You’re one to talk,” Eunnie shot him a glare.

“Hey, do you think if I sat on you back while you did push ups the old bat would notice?” Tae asked Jungkook excitedly.

Pausing, Jungkook flashed a toothy grin, “Want to find out?”

“You two have a death wish,” Namjoon groaned.

“Hey, I’ll stand look out,” JHope grinned, “Okay… now! He’s not looking!”

Tae scrambled on top of Jungkook, wrapping his arms and legs around his friends body, “I’m ready!”

“One,” Jungkook sunk to the ground, then rose back up, “Two… three…”

“Oh my god,” Namjoon stared at them, “I’m surrounded by idiots.”

“Handsome and strong idiots,” JHope waggled his eyebrows.

“Ten… eleven…”

“I give up!” Eunnie collapsed to the ground in a heap, “I can’t do anymore!”

“You only did five,” Frida raised an eyebrow.

“I beat my record,” Eun Sung mumbled.

“Fifteen… sixteen… seventeen…”

“Rose, what are you on?” Frida sighed, turning to look at the brunette.

“Um… twenty-three?” Rose laughed nervously.

    “What?!” Eunnie whipped around to stare at her, “How?!”

    Rolling her eyes, Frida turned back to her own push ups, “Get back to work.”

    “Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven…”

    “We’re going to get caught…” Namjoon muttered, “We are so going to get caught…”

    “Oh lighten up,” JHope nudged him, “Have you no faith?”

    “No.”

    “Will you all just shut up?” Yoongi groaned.

    “Crunches. Are. So. Lame,” Eunnie grumbled as she curled up and down.

    “Shut up!” Frida hissed at them, “We’re getting stares.”

    Almost at that precise moment, all ten heads whipped around to meet the stares of the other students in the class. From the bickering between Namjoon and JHope, to Tae clinging to Jungkook’s back, the group held the crowd’s attention… sadly.

    “Oh god,” Namjoon glared at JHope, “I told you.”

    “Pssh… he hasn’t noticed yet-” JHope flinched as the sudden thundering of footsteps resonated before them.

    “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!” Taikaswami growled.

    Tae slipped off of Jungkook’s back rather reluctantly, muttering under his breath, “We were almost at forty…”

    “THIS IS NOT A TIME FOR YOU BASTARDS TO AROUND!”

   Jin flinched at the word, but remained silent.

    “NOW GET THE HELL BACK TO WORK OR I’LL HAVE YOUR HEADS ON MY DESK BEFORE THE END OF THIS GODDAMN PERIOD.”

    Scoffing Yoongi finished his push ups, “Whatever you say, general.”

    “WHAT WAS THAT BASTARD?” Taikaswami loomed over the turquoise haired boy.

    “Yoongi-” Frida started, but Yoongi cut her off.

    Shrugging, Yoongi rose to his feet and brushed off his pants, “What’s the punishment? Running? Pullups? Holding my breath?”

    “THINK YOU’RE SO COOL NOW, HUH BASTARD? FOLLOW ME, YOU SON OF A .”

    Casting a smirk over his shoulder, Yoongi stuffed his fists in his pockets and sauntered after the growling, old bat. Silence held the words of every student sitting upon the grounds of the camp, all dumbfounded at the sight just displayed before them. The door leading inside swung shut, and the figures of both men disappeared once more.

    Frida stared in horror at the door, “What. The. Actual. F-”

    “OMG THAT WAS SO COOL!” a group of girls surrounded both Jem and Tae, “YOU TWO ARE SO STRONG!”

    “I’m beginning to regret this,” Tae groaned, rubbing his temples.

    Jungkook smiled weakly, “Almost forty though!”

    “True,” Tae leaned back, tilting his head to the side curiously, “It’s my turn next though.”

    “Are they ignoring us?” a girl whispered, poking Jungkook’s shoulder hesitantly.

    “You won’t even make it to twenty,” Jungkook smirked.

    “Pfft, I’ll make it to fifty,” Tae scoffed, “And if I don’t, that’s just because you’re fat.”

    “I’m not fat!” Jungkook retorted, “You’re just weak!”

    “Hey!”

    “They are totally ignoring us,” the group of girls gaped for a few seconds before erupting in squeals, “They’re new, right? Oh my god they’re so hot-”

    Frida groaned, “Can you leave?”

    The girls grumbled, glaring at her as they released the two boys and crawled back to their own places. Jungkook and Tae shot one glance at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. Much to everyone’s surprise, the pair’s reaction to the attack of piranhas happened to be quite… unexpected. Yet this was Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung for pity’s sake. When did the two ever take anything seriously?

    “Oh my god,” Jungkook curled up, shaking from laughs.

    Tae slapped him on the back, “They’re faces!”

    “Priceless!”

    “Well,” Namjoon coughed awkwardly, “This is new.”

    “Um…” JHope frowned, clearly confused, “Are you guys high on something?”

    “High, pfft,” Tae snorted.

    “We already passed that,” Jungkook waved it off.

    “Yep,” JHope sat back, “They’re definitely high.”

    “We’re drawing more attention,” Frida muttered, glancing at the girls swooning over Jungkook and Tae. Much to the everyone’s dismay, the girls seemed to hang onto every word, every action from Jungkook and Tae.

    “Okay…” Jin glanced at the piranhas anxiously, “Class is probably over… should we make a run for it?”

    Frida nodded, “Good idea.”

    “Great,” Eunnie stretched her arms out, “I didn’t want to be here anyway.”

    “Why go inside?” Tae pouted.

    “It’s such a nice day!” Jungkook yawned.

    Rose whispered to the rest of the group, “I’ll take care of them. You get the door, okay?”    

    “One…” Frida muttered, shifting towards the door just as the group of piranhas slowly began to inch towards Jungkook and Tae once more, “Two…” her hand reached the door’s handle, “Three!” she swung the door open and ushered everyone inside.    

    Grabbing hold of the boys’ collars, Rose dragged Jungkook and Tae inside just as the piranhas had just leapt for their ankles. Frida slammed the door shut behind the nine friends, each emitting a breath of relief.

    Jungkook groaned, sinking against the wall, “That was exhausting!”

    “What the hell was that?” JHope rose an eyebrow, gaze flitting between both boys.

    Tae shrugged, “It’s called acting.”

    “We used to get that sort of attention back home,” Jungkook smiled weakly, “We came up with different strategies to get rid of them-”

    “Not that this one worked, but oh well,” Tae ruffled his hair, “We’ve got a whole bunch more up our sleeves.”

    “Ladies and gentlemen,” Namjoon drawled, “The biggest idiots in the world are in our presence.”

    Jimin laughed lightly, “I thought it was funny.”

    “Want to join us?” Tae looked up excitedly.

    Jungkook grinned, “We have so many more methods to try!”

    “And test,” Tae nodded.

    “This is scary,” Eunnie whispered to WooJin.

    Jin nodded, “Agreed.”

***

    Almost seven hours had past since he had last seen his turquoise haired roommate. It was growing late and all residents of the camp had already turned in for the night, yet both he and Tae sat at the edge of their beds in anticipation. Glancing out the tiny window, Jungkook shook his head in disdain. Darkness had crept over the vast grounds of the camp once more, and the moon that had once hung as a silver pearl in the midst of a sea of diamond was veiled by a mask of clouds.

“Should we go ahead?” Tae spoke quietly, fidgeting with the hem of his night shirt.

Biting his lip, Jungkook stared at the door anxiously, “I don’t know…”

“We shouldn’t have gone that far…” Tae mumbled, “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Jungkook pursed his lips, “I hope so… but this is the old bat we’re dealing with here…”

Staring at the tiny digital clock in the wall, Tae rose to his feet, “It’s already one in the morning.”

Jungkook nodded, “I don’t think we should leave him though…”

“The others could help, right?” Tae reached up to unscrew the bolts out of the air vent, “I don’t think we’d be able to find him on our own.”

Setting his jaw, Jungkook gave a curt nod, “We have to hurry though. We’re already late as it is.”

Tae hoisted himself into the endless tunnels in the ceiling and moved out of the way hastily for Jungkook to pull himself through as well. Groaning, he began crawling in quiet haste, “Frida’s going to kill us…”

Smiling weakly, Jungkook shuffled after his friend, “It’s been nice knowing you.”

“Promise you’ll be at my funeral?”

“Sorry,” he shook his head, “I’ll have my own funeral to attend.”

“Tch,” Tae grumbled, “What a great friend you turned out to be.”

Jungkook slapped his leg, “I’m the best friend you could ever have and you know it.”

“True,” Tae laughed softly, turning a sharp corner and sliding slightly against the slick metal of the tunnel.

Pausing shortly, Jungkook asked quietly, “Have you and JHope come up with any good pranks?”

“Lots!” Tae exclaimed excitedly, accidentally ramming his head against the ceiling. Cursing under his breath and rubbing the knot swelling at the back of his head, he added, “He’s brilliant at coming up with stuff! The prank we pulled on Ms. Ives yesterday was hilarious!”

Jungkook nodded slightly, “It was.”

“What about you,” Tae glanced back him, “You and Jimin seem to be talking a lot.”

A smile crossed Jem’s lips, “Yeah. We have the same dance instructor here-”

“I wish I took dance instead of art,” Tae grumbled, “The teacher is a .”

“You can still change,” Jungkook laughed, “I can see why he spends most of his time in the practice room. It’s pretty fun.”

“Look at you,” Tae grinned, “All grown up-”

“Shut up,” Jungkook rolled his eyes as the pair reached the opening in the ceiling.

Pushing the grate out of the way, Tae exited the tunnel with Jungkook tailing closely behind and a wave of fresh, evening air enveloped the two friends. The night sky continued to don a mask of clouds and the crickets that had once chirped beneath the light of the silver moon had fallen silent. Brushing his pants off, Jungkook straightened up to face the look of worry and confusion crossing their friends’ faces.

“Where’s Yoongi?” Frida whispered.

“He hasn’t come back yet,” Tae shifted uncomfortably.

“We need to find him,” Jungkook bit his lip, “Could you help-”

Frida stormed over to the air vents, “I’m going to rip that Taika-what’s-his-face-”

“Taikaswami,” Jin corrected cautiously.

“I don’t give a damn,” she glared, “He’s dead.”

“Frida,” Eunnie called softly, “Please calm down-” but the long black hair of her roommate had already disappeared down the tunnel. Sighing, she nudged the rest of the guys forward, “Come on.”

Nodding curtly,Namjoon, JHope, and Jin descended into the tunnel after the blonde. Rose bit her lip, glancing at the three boys remaining, but said nothing as she lowered herself into the air vents. Jimin pursed his lips, staring at the shadows caving the walls of the passageway inwards. With a steady breath, he shot a glance at the two boys, “It’s now or never, right?”

Jungkook chewed his bottom lip, “Do you know where we’re going?”

A sour expression crossed Jimin’s face as he slid back into the metal tunnel, “There’s only one room he could be in.”

“Which is?” Tae landed softly beside him.

“The torture room.”

***

    Not a single lamp was lit against the overwhelming pull of shadows against the corners of the walls. Their footsteps echoed against the towering walls of the vast chamber, and every breath seemed to hiss to life in the midst of silence. An odd ringing hovered in their ears, slowly fading in and out of existence with the patterns of the sound. The faint breeze emitted from the air vents gently teased their clothes and ruffled their hair, and the squeaking of sneakers against the polished floor sent sharp cracks into the barrier of silence.

    “Can you see him?” JHope whispered harshly.

    “Shut up!” Frida hissed, “We’ll get caught!”

    “I can’t see anything!” Eunnie pouted, “It’s too dark-”

    “Quit talking!” Frida shot her a look of pure annoyance.

    “Do you think there’s a lamp we could use?” Namjoon mumbled.

    “I don’t know,” Jin his lips nervously, “That might draw too much attention to ourselves.”

    “We could create a diversion,” Tae suggested.

    “Yes!” JHope agreed rather quickly, “Tae and I could blow up the toilets or-”

    “And get the whole lot of us caught,” Namjoon scoffed, “No thanks.”

    “That’s why it’d be a diversion-”

    “For the love of god,” Frida stopped abruptly to glare at the lot of them, “Would it kill you to just keep quiet?”

    “Calm down, woman,” JHope muttered.

    “Aish,” Tae groaned, “Is she always this m-”

    “Is that-” Rose spoke quietly, staring at an odd shape at the middle of the room.

    “Yoongi!” Frida breathed, frozen in her place.

    Jungkook squinted at the figure, pushing past the group to examine his roommate’s body. His mouth parted in shock as Yoongi slowly came into view, and it took almost every ounce of strength and patience to keep him from retching in disgust.

    Yoongi’s turquoise head was now matted with thick, dark blood, and his pale face had faded in a shade of ghostly grey. His lips were cracked and bruised, yet the slight rising and falling of his chest signalled he was not completely gone. His arms and legs were broken against the harsh pull of gravity, and the bruises and scars masking his skin shone under the single flickering light above. A ratty, filthy rope held his arms up in suspension as his head hung low, unable to conjure enough energy to keep up right. Sweat clung to his hands, legs, body and seeped through the fabric of his ripped clothes. Whatever had happened before did not, could not, have been any reason under any authority for him to deserve such treatment.

    Frida sunk to her knees before his broken body, shaking from contained sobs, "Y-Yoongi? Can you hear me? Yoongi-”

    “Frida,” Jungkook whispered quietly, “We have to get him out of here.”

    She said nothing, only continued to stare in shock of horror at the sight now plastered in her mind.

    “Rose,” Jungkook called softly.

    Rose appeared at his side, “Y-yes?” she too was shaking.

    “Get her to the roof,” he worked his jaw, “We don’t have much time.”

    Nodding curtly, she slung Frida’s arm around her neck and hoisted the girl to her feet, “Come on… he’s going to be fine… I promise.”

    Frida buried her face in Rose’s shoulder, choking from the string of cries struggling to escape all at once, “I’m so afraid.”

    “I’m here,” Rose whispered, “I’m here…”

    “Namjoon, Jin,” Jungkook fumbled with the knots in the rope, “Hold him up. I don’t want him to fall.”

   Jimin tugged at the knot on Yoongi’s other arm until the rope release and the limb fell to the boy’s side. Jungkook slipped the rope off Yoongi’s wrist and lifted his roommate upon his back. Tae and JHope held the grate of the air vents ajar as Jin scrambled inside. Hoisting Yoongi after him, Jin pulled the turquoise haired boy into the shelter of the metal tunnels. The five boys left in the chamber soon followed, easing their unconscious friend towards the roof. For an agonizing twenty minutes, the opening to the roof swerved into view.

    Frida’s arms reached down to hoist Yoongi up into the night, and he was soon resting against the cool cement of the roof. “Yoongi,” she called softly, brushing her thumb against his cheek, “Yoongi, please wake up.”

    Eunnie rested a hand upon her friend’s shoulder, unable to find the right words to say just at that moment.

    Jungkook’s shoulders relaxed considerably as he pulled away from the group to seat himself at the edge of the roof. Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a steady breath. His hand curled into tight fists in attempt to keep them from shaking- not that it actually helped. It was too much… It was all too much to handle at once…

    “Hey,” a voice whispered in his ear as a figure slid down to sit next to him.

    He turned to meet Rose’s gaze, “Hey,” was all he could manage to choke out.

    She swallowed hard, “Um… I’m sorry for all that has happened…”

    “It wasn’t your fault,” he averted her gaze, “You don’t have to apologize.”

    “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re still hurting,” she shook her head, “I’m hurting, and I don’t even know him all that well.”

    “I guess…”

    “He’s going to be okay,” a tiny smile formed across her lips, “What you did was pretty amazing.”

    “I didn’t do anything.”

    “You did a lot,” she brushed her fingers over his shoulder, “If it wasn’t for you, he’d probably still be down there right now.”

    “Someone else would have-”

    She raised an eyebrow, “Everyone else was too afraid to move.”

    His mouth opened in retort, yet nothing came to mind so he ended up closing his mouth once again.

    “You might think that you didn’t do much, but you did a great deal in my eyes,” her hand fell to her side, “And I want to thank you… for helping Frida.”

    The corners of his mouth curved upwards slightly, “How do you do that?”

    She furrowed her brow, “What?”

    He leaned back, gazing up at the sky masked in a blanket of dark clouds, “Just a minute ago, I was in the worst mood possible, and yet here I am smiling.”

    “Is that a bad thing?”

    He paused, “No. It’s not.”

    “Well, you should smile more then,” she took the corners of his mouth and forced them upwards with her fingers, “Like this!”

    He shook off her hands, laughing, “I know how to smile; I’m not stupid.”

    “Oh,” she leaned forward, “If you know how to do it, then you should do it more often.”

    He stared her straight in the eye, “There hasn’t been many reasons to smile lately.”

    Pursing her lips, she turned away, “There’s always a reason to smile.”

    “Which would be?”

    “Well, we’re outside and it’s pretty right now-”

    “So?”

    “And Yoongi is now safe-”

    “But he’s still hurt.”

    “And we have food-”

    “There’s always food.”

    “Not always,” she sighed, “Can’t you look on the bright side of things?”

    Shrugging, he gazed up at the sky, “If I always look on the brightside, I might become blind.”

    “Yet if you always look on the darkside, you won’t be able to see at all.”

    “I can see you.”

    Heat rose to her cheeks, “And how is that so, if you only see the darkness?”

    He tilted his head curiously, shooting at glance at her, “Because you’re so blindingly bright, how can I not see you?”