CHAPTER 9: The Books

Once the sun was up both Hoseok and Yoongi got ready and headed out to there next  their next location. While they walked Taehyung held to Yoongi’s hand. “Tae really likes you.” Hoseok said from the back with a smile on his face. “It’s the first time since he had held someone’s hand or cling to them.”

Yoongi then looked down at the small child and could only nod. He did not understand why the little creature liked him. It was really confusing to him since kids did not get anywhere near him, he was told he scare them with his face, but he could not do anything about that. He was born with the face he had.

“It’s probably because I was the one to find him in his daycare.” Yoongi said nodding to himself. “That must be it.”

“Maybe.” Hoseok added “But I think there is more to it than that. Anyway what is the plan?” Hoseok asked.

“We get Hades book first.” He said. “They seem to be close to each other since both of the books where under that star, but I feel like the book that belongs to Persephone might be further away.” Yoongi then continued. “We can go for Hades book first and then go look for Persephone's.”

“Got it.” Hoseok said nodding.

They ended up walking for a few hours before Taehyung decided to stop in his tracks and not walk anymore. Hoseok knowing what was going on pick the child up and smiled at him before he handed him a bottle with juice in it with a little bag with snacks before he placed him on his back. “It’s almost time for his nap.” Hoseok said while Yoongi walked back to them.

“Should we stop? We can rest for a while.” Yoongi said.

“Let’s walk until we get to the next city, it shouldn’t take that long.” He said smiling. “Once we are there we can go ahead and rest.”

“Are you sure?” Yoongi asked. “We can rest right now.”

“I’m sure, Taehyung can rest on my back just like yesterday so don’t worry.” Hoseok smiled placing his hand gently over Yoongi’s head. “Lets go, we are losing sunlight.”

Once they got to the main part of the city the boys froze in their spot. Not a single part of the city could be recognized it was as if the whole city had been destroyed. Yoongi taking a deep breath looked at Hoseok.

“Last time, you can leave if you want.” Yoongi said to him almost hoping he other would actually leave. He did not want Taehyung to go through anything anymore and kings only seemed to be getting worse.

Shaking his head Hoseok looked at Yoongi and said “I’m not leaving you all alone. So stop asking okay? I know you’re worried about Taehyung but in any place it’s going to be the same if not worse.”

Yoongi looked at Hoseok and sighed before nodding “don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He breathed out before they continued to walk.

While they walked they could see a few buildings standing but those buildings were still somewhat unrecognizable. Yoongi, as they got deeper into the city, started to lose hope in finding the book in one piece.

“You’re thoughts are showing in your face Yoongi.” Hoseok said making Yoongi snap out of his thoughts before looking over at Hoseok who was now walking with Taehyung next to him.

“My what?” Yoongi asked.

“Your thoughts. You look worried, don’t worry about the book I’m sure we’ll find it.” He smiled reassuringly before Taehyung nodded in response to Hoseok’s words. “Besides I’m sure Persephone’s is also near so if we can find one maybe it’ll lead us to the other one.”

Hearing Hoseok’s words actually made Yoongi relax a little. Hoseok was right, and Yoongi appreciated him looking at everything in the positive way he always did. He smiled at Yoongi and Taehyung ran to his legs hugging them tightly.

Yoongi was still not used to the little creature clinging to him everything he did was something that Yoongi did not expect. Yoongi on impulse places his hand gently over Taehyung’s head and smiled, a smile that Hoseok had never seen, a genuine one.

“You’re right.” Yoongi said catching Hoseok off guard. “Let’s keep going, we’re almost there.”

Yoongi then continued to walk along with Taehyung and Hoseok followed right behind them. The still had a long way to go to get to the library but they continued on since Taehyung seemed to be enjoying the walk.

F“Taehyung you’re not tired?” Yoongi asked the two year old. Who shook his head as an answer. “Really?” Yoongi asked and was answered by a cute nod from Taehyung who clapped a few time seeing Holy doing some tricks.

Taehyung then opened his arms and Holy jumped into them making Taehyung giggle hugging Holy closer to him. Hoseok smiled seeing that Holy was entertaining the two year old from everything that was happening around them.

“It looks like it might rain.” Hoseok said looking up at the sky. “Maybe we should find a place where we can have shelter just in case.”

“Yeah sounds like a plan.” Yoongi said. “There should be a huge building a little further up. If it’s still there we can use it as our shelter.” Yoongi informed.

“Wow you know this place very well.” Hoseok chuckled. “You’re like a walking map.”

“I use to practically live here.” Yoongi said. “I loved visiting the museum and the historical library here. Plus my parent’s work was displayed in this city so I would come here a lot. Also the parties they were invited to or the meetings. So I guess you can say that this place is like my second home.” Yoongi nodded. “I enjoyed it a lot to be honest.”

At that point Yoongi wondered why he was talking so much. He was usually not the kind to talk a lot, let alone look at a child with hearts in his eyes. He just felt calm and felt like he could relax around Hoseok, something he wasn’t able to do with his own parents. And he liked it it gave him a sense of belonging somewhere.

“There it is.” Yoongi states pointing at a building that was half standing and half on the floor.

“Wow that’s huge, well would have been huge.” He corrected as they walked close to it.

“This is where parties would be held, it was like a hotel but business hotel only.” Yoongi informed. “It was one of the best secured buildings out there and a lot of people wanted to set foot inside but only a few were able to actually step inside.” Yoongi smiled. “But nothing is really stopping us right now.”

Hoseok was amazed at the building he had never seen such a huge building or fancy. To be really honest it had been the first time he had been paying attention to what was going on around them and that was only because his senses told him to guard up and look around to see if anything was suspicious or not.

In front of the building Yoongi turned to face the other two. “Let’s get ready, we don’t know what or who is inside, okay?” He said and Hoseok nodded picking up Taehyung holding him close to him.

“Let’s go.” Hoseok said before Yoongi started to walk towards the doors.

The building doors then welcomed them by opening on their own making Hoseok back away a little startled. Yoongi then stopped and made sure he did not see or hear anything that could hurt them before he slowly started to make his way inside.

Inside everything seem to be working, the lights were still on but it was eerily quiet. Yoongi not putting his guard down looked all over the place but found no soul anywhere. Taehyung not liking how quiet it was buried his face on the back of Hoseok’s back and held to him tightly.

“This place is empty.” Yoongi stated. “Maybe it won’t be too safe to stay here but we can try. What do you think Hoseok?” He asked facing Hoseok.

“I think we should not let our guard down.” Hoseok said as he looked around “I think it’s safe right now but if we hear or see something suspicious let’s have a plan and some exits.”

“There’s three exits on this floor.” Yoongi said as he pointed at them. “There’s also an exit right next to the stairs.” He added.

“Okay those sound good. Let’s rest here before heading out and hope that there’s no rain.” Hoseok smiled before he headed to the lobby area where he placed Taehyung down.

Taehyung on the other hand did not let go of Hoseok’s back. He did not want to be placed down which made Yoongi walk over to them. “Taehyung what’s wrong?” He asked and Taehyung peeked over to him.

“Don’t like…” Taehyung trailed off before hiding his face again.

“You don’t like it here Taehyung?” Yoongi asked.

Taehyung the nodded as an answer.

“Why not Taehyung?” Yoongi continued to ask. “Is there something wrong with this place?” He asked before Taehyung peeked once again and with his little finger pointed at a wall making Yoongi and Hoseok turn around to face the wall, but saw nothing.

“Tae, what do you see?” Hoseok asked making Taehyung hide his face once again. “Tae Tae?”

Yoongi then looked over at the wall as he started to walk slowly towards it making Taehyung shake his head and open and close his little hand looking at Hoseok begging him through his eyes to get Yoongi back. “Appa…” Taehyung whined before Hoseok stopped Yoongi.

“Let’s go.” Hoseok said to Yoongi. “Taehyung is getting irritated it’s better if we go.”

Hoseok then gathered everything and dragged Yoongi with him while Taehyung held tightly to Hoseok and Yoongi snapping Yoongi out of his thoughts and looked at Taehyung who had an extremely worried face and scared at the same time.

“I’m okay Taehyung, let’s go.” Yoongi smiled trying to reassure the two year old but then everything went black making Taehyung let out a yelp while Hoseok brought Yoongi closer to him.

“Shhhh…” Hoseok whispered “stay quiet.” He said as he started to move slowly towards the door. The room was pitch black nothing could be seen it was as if someone had covered their eyes.

Taehyung then started to getting scared as he heard things around them move. “Appa…” He said almost crying and Holy stood on his head patting him gently as it looked around.

“It’s okay Taehyung we’ll be leaving right now.” Yoongi said to Taehyung. “You’ll be okay.”

Hoseok on the other hand looked around but could not tell which way they had come from. Hoseok tried not to panic until he felt someone walking past him, that’s when he froze.

“Hoseok?” Yoongi called softly.

“Shhh.” Hoseok said holding in his breath feeling someone or something breathing in front of him. Holy then stood on top of Hoseok’s head and hissed before its little tail like a little lamp making Hoseok and Yoongi’s eyes grow wide when they saw what was in front of them.

The creature in front of them was completely black including his eyes and teeth blood was dripping from its mouth and it hissed when the light touched its black eyes.

“Run!” Hoseok yelled as he located the door and started to run followed by Yoongi. Taehyung by this time was crying and screaming in fear. Hoseok then looked back to see Yoongi lagged behind and the creature started following them. It had wings and the face of a bat, but the body of a k-9.

Hoseok then slowed down and took Yoongi’s hand into his own and started pulling him along. The creature then slammed in front of their exit making Hoseok turn to the left to go to the second exit.

“Yoongi take Taehyung.” He said handing him the two year old boy “take the other exit I’ll be out right after you two, okay?”

“I can’t…” yoongi stuttered.

“You can and you will. Tae Tae appa will be with you in a little okay?” Hoseok smiled before they separated and made sure the creature only followed him.

“Appa!” Taehyung screamed as he saw Hoseok going the opposite direction. “Appa.” Taehyung cried making Yoongi hold him closer to him.

“It’s okay Taehyung he’ll be right behind us.” Yoongi tried to reassure him and himself. He did not know what he was going to do if Hoseok ended up dead. Yoongi the shook his head trying to get rid of those negative thoughts.

Once they were outside Yoongi ran to a safe place and placed Taehyung down on the floor “stay here okay? You need to be a good boy and not let anyone see you. Can you do that?” He asked.

“Yes.” Taehyung answered quietly.

“Good boy.” He said with a smile before he peeked to see if Hoseok was coming out.

“Come on Hoseok, you have a kid to take care of.” Y