Jeon Jungkook had no idea when he boarded the train; the last thing he knew, he was in a hosptial bed, surrounded by family and his other BTS members. He remembered how sore and tired he felt, but he was also at peace. For some reason, everyone around him was crying. Even Namjoon and Yoongi, his two strongest hyungs, were in tears. He tried to comfort them, but he was just too tired. His eyes reluctantly fluttered closed, and when they opened, he was seated in a passanger train cart in the back, no-one around him.

Jungkook leaned back in his seat and rested his head against the back wall. His mind went back to his hyungs, the ache in his chest and a growing, painful sense of lonliness. He longed to see them again to the point where it just hurt. He could see their faces, hear their voices.

When did we get so old?

He let out a sigh and turned to look out the window. Outside, a vast expansion of snowy fields passed by with only a few tufts of long, dead grass peeking through like lint balls on a worn sweater. The sun shone brightly and only seemed to accentuate the barren landscape before him. Jungkook was about to turn away from the morose scene, but something caught his eye and he froze with a loud gasp.

It was his reflection.

Jungkook patted his smooth, unblemished face and ran a hand through his gold-brown hair. The reflection was of a person he almost didn't reconize, but it was him all the same. It was the Jungkook of early 2017, when he was nineteen and part of BTS. But he had gotten much older, right? BTS retired years ago, right? He finally broke his gaze from the train's window, confused. Then he looked down at himself. His body appeared lean and healthy, dressed in a white turtleneck sweater under a navy blue coat and matching pants. He lifted a hand and felt both of his ears; two earrings in each ear with his gauges. Jungkook's brow knitted in confusion. How long ago did he have gauges; better yet, when was the last time he even wore earrings?

He stood up and began to walk down the isle while his eyes searched each seat he passed.

Where is everyone?

His hand grasped the door leading to the train car ahead, he pulled on the handle three times to find it was locked. He turned and run to the other end of the car and tried the other one, but to no avail. Jungkook backed away from the door, wide-eyed and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

"WAE?!" He cried out.

Defeated, he sat back down in the seat he woke in. Jungkook turned back to the window and peered out, but everything looked different.

He saw himself as a child, happy and bright, with his mother, father, and hyung. Then, there was 15-year-old Jungkook, meeting his hyungs, the ones who he would spends years with as BTS. Their debut, touring, video filming and just spending time together. Then he was married, had children of his own, after that, grandchildren . . . and then it happened. A sickness he couldn't recover from. On the last day, the other members of BTS and his family gathered around him to say goodbye and he closed his eyes . . .

Ah, that's it . . . I died. Tears pricked Jungkook's eyes.

Something called for him to look out the window again, and with a heavy sigh, he did. The train had begun to pass through a dark tunnel and Jungkook began to remember a time when he and his hyungs had snuck out of their dorm to explore an abandoned train station. They had found one tunnel on their journey but had to stop and hide from a train passing through. Just as he thought of it, a light shone from the side he was seated on. Curious, his eyes locked onto the opening as it quickly passed.

In the subtunnel's mouth were a group of young men with brightly-coloured hair stopped and staring at the train. When Jungkook's car passed, he instantly reconized the boys, especially the one in the middle.

It was him.

Jungkook jolted in his seat and his eyes met his younger self's as they passed each other. The younger him. The sweet, naive idol who wanted to please his hyungs and ARMYs, the boy who sometimes forgot about himself and practiced and performed too hard, but didn't care, as long as he made others happy. The young man who wanted to love and be loved.

His hyungs.

Namjoon, Jin, Yoongi, Jimin, Taehyung and Hobi. He heart ached for them, wanted to be with him. Tears began to pulse into his eyes and slowly drip down his cheeks. Jungkook pressed the end of a sweater sleeve to an eye and began to sob. Soon, he spent his energy crying and fell asleep.

 

While he slept, something flashed through his mind; more of a mental .gif than an actual, full-lenth dream. 

Namjoon stood in the isle of another car, to his right, the windows of the train and to his left were the door to sleeper rooms, He stood with his eyes closed and face tilted towards the floor below him. He stood there in a red-orange and white hoodie under a blue plaid coat and jeans with messy, light gold hair. Despite the movement of the train, he stood perfectilly still, as if he was a living manniquin someone left behind. But before Jungkook's mind could process what was going on, Namjoon's eyes snapped open and his gaze lifted to lock with Jungkook's before they closed again and he resumed his original position.

 

Somewhere in South Korea, a heart monitor's job came to a close.

Beep-beep . . . beep-beep . . . beeep-beeep . . . .

BEEEEEEEEEEP.

 

Jungkook's eyes snapped open and he frantically looked around the train car. "Hyung? Namjoon-hyung?!"

The silence of the car was the only answer.

It's no use, I'm still alone. Jungkook leaned back with a sigh and scooted to the window. He perched an elbow onto the sill of the window and used his folded arm as a pillow while he gazed out at the still snow-covered landscape. When will I see my hyungs, or anyone, again? Will I ever be able to get off of this train?

His eyes flutter closed, and again he drifted off to sleep.

 

By the time he opened his eyes again, he realized he wasn't alone. In the seat in front of him, two very familiar figures were seated. Namjoon sat next to the isle, just as he saw him in the mini-dream. Next to him, Taehyung stared out the window, his hair fluffy and a pastel blonde above the collar of a white button-down shirt. Jungkook blinked at him, not sure whether or not he was dreaming again. He turned to across the isle to find one of the seats had changed to face him instead of the front of the car. In it, Yoongi sat with a foot clad in a white tennish shoe on the seat, a knee peeking out from the hole in his faded jeans below a bright pink sweater. Yoongi's forehead rested on his knee and he could only see his blue-black hair. Beside Yoongi, Hobi leaned on the back of the next seat with his head resting on his arm, a white choker around his neck. And for some reason, despite the snow outside and the sweater, he wore white shorts. Jungkook couldn't help but smile at his pink hair.

With a start it dawn on him; they look very young. All of them, included himself, appeared as they did back in 2017, when they were only in their twenties. He blinked in confusion at this. They were practically kids back then, far from his age when he . . .

Jungkook didn't want to think of that yet.

"You're awake."

Jungkook gasped. I know that voice!

He looked foreward, past Namjoon and Taehyung, to find Soekjin seated to face him hands resting on white jeans. He had a warm smile on his now-young face under light brown hair.

"We didn't want to wake you, you looked so cute sleeping, like you did when we were younger." He laughed at Jungkook's gaping face, looked down at himself and pulled at the sleeves of his grey and blue turtleneck sweater. "Crazy, isn't it? We look like idols again!"

"I . . .I." Tears began to blur his vision and spill down his cheeks, his breath rhythmically caught in his chest. His mind felt like it was tye-dyed in bright colours and he couldn't pick out a single one to focus on.

Jungkook hid his face behind his hands and sobbed. It was too much; joy, grief, confusion, and somewhere in there, relief he wasn't alone. Before he could say anything, strong arms enveloped him and a hand with long fingers began to his hair. He felt a calming blanket-like feeling of warmth fold over him and the tears began to cease.

"I know." Namjoon said with a sniffle and Jungkook felt a tear sink through his hair onto his scalp. "We waited for you, too."

Namjoon pulled back and Junkook wiped his cheeks. In front of him, Taehyung had turned around in his seat and had reached out of pat his head. Beside him, Jin kneeled over the back of the seat Namjoon had been sitting in.

"Wait, where is Jimin?" Jungkook asked.

"He'll be here soon, Kookie." Jin replied with a knowing smile and guestured to the other side of Hobi.

In the once empty seat now sat an old man on a hospital gown and robe, head down so Jungkook couldn't see his face, just the top of his head of thin, white hair. He didn't appear to be breathing, as there was a lack of movement in his chest and shoulders. Jungkook bit his lip at the sight and turned back to Jin.

Jin gazed at the man, a smile still on his face, but tears in his eyes.

"Just wait for it." Jin said.

Jungkook turned his attention back to the old man. A light began to glow around him, a white aura that started from the center of his chest and grew to completely evelope him in soft light. As soon as the white light extended past his hands and feet the old man began to change. His hair began to fill out and darken to black, the age spots on his arms and legs faded to young, smooth skin, absent of any blemish. It was like watching someone's life in reverse time lapse. Even his clothing changed; the hospital gown and robe shifted to a pastel blue hoode, white t-shirt and, like with Hobi, white shorts. He shifted in his seat and brought up a knee to rest his forehead on.

Jin wiped a tear from his cheek. "We're all here now,"

Jungkook blinked at him. "What?"

Hobi reached over and shook the now young man's arm. "You can wake up now, Jimin. I'm sorry you had to wait so long. It must have been hard being asleep all that time."

"He had been in a coma awhile before I boarded." Jin told Jungkook with a sad now.

Jimin raised his head and opened his eyes, his face as young as the others. Hobi squeezed his arm and glance over at Jungkook.

"You were sleeping when we boarded, so you didn't see it with us." Hobi said.

"Hobi-hyung?" Jimin blinked up at him.

Hobi tightly embraced him. "Yeah, it's me."

Before anything else could be said, Jungkook heard the sound of the train's brakes and felt the pull of it slowing down and the seat bounce as Namjoon dropped next to him.

The train was finally coming to a stop.

"What's going on?" He asked out loud to no-one in paticular.

"It's over." Yoongi finally spoke. "We can leave now."

The second the train came to a full halt, Jungkook jumped out of his seat into the isle ran a few steps and turned to the other members. All of them stood; Jimin held onto Hobi's hand, a confused, but relaxed expression on his face. They stood up and Yoongi reached over to Namjoon and embraced him with an arm.

"We're here." Namjoon said with a smile and turned his gaze to Jungkook. "Let's get off this, already!"

Jungkook returned the smiled with a nod all they, all seven of them, ran down the isle to the front of the car and hopped out of the open door. They ran until they were a good distance from the train before they stopped in the middle of the feild and began to embrace each other with joy and tears. The happieness they felt together was breathtaking and they ran on and jumped with legs that were no longer sore, cried out and sang with losing their breath and played like kids again. Then Hobi decided to make a snowball and it turned into full-out war.

Jungkook was on his knees laughing when Taehyung stopped, turned and pointed off into the distance.

"When did that get here?" He asked.

Everyone stopped and looked to where Taehyung was pointing. Not too far from them, a tree stood in the middle of the feild. It wasn't very big, just barely older than a sapling, but stood tall with branches reaching out in oddly symmetrical angles. It's trunk and branches dark and barren of any leaves, as if it, too, was stuck in an eternal winter. Around it, in a perfect circle, there was no snow, only a ring of tall, tan grass.

"I want to get a closer look." Namjoon said and motioned for the others to follow.

As they approached the tree, the landscape around them began to change. Slowly at first, but the changes then began to speed up. The snow around them began to melt, then the remaining tufts of grass began to turn green, joined by new growth around the patches. Above, the light blue sky began to darken to a vived, sunny blue and bright white, fluffy clouds dotted the skyline. Even the tree in front of them began to change; the dark bark lightened to a white birch and thickened it branches quickly sprouted bright green leaves. It had gone from a dark, barren tree to a very alive birch tree surrounded by lush, knee-high grass.

"What is this?"Jungkook asked and rested a hand on the tree's trunk.

"I don't know." Jin answered and stared up into the branches. "It's beautiful, though." He turned to Namjoon. "What do you think?"

Namjoon shrugged. "Maybe it's a sign? We didn't see any trees on the train and it looks like this is the only one here. It didn't change until we started getting closer to it."

"Hey, check this out!" Jimin cheerfully announce and bent down into the grass.

He stood back up and in his hands were a white pair of tennis shoes.

"Where did those-"

Before Yoongi could finish asking, Jimin had finished tying the shoes' laces together and flung them up into the tree branches, only for one of the shoes to flip over and get stuck.

Hobi face palmed and laughed, Yoongi chuckled and threw an arm around Jimin's shoulders. "Why did you do that, Jimin?"

"Why not?"

This earned a round of laughter from the other members.

Before Jungkook could say anything, something white in the distance caught his eye. Further into the feild, a small, white cabin stood out. Something about the cabin called to him, invited him like it was telling him he belonged there. Like it was home.

"Hey, hyungs?" Jungkook called out to the others and pointed towards it.

"What is it, Kookie?" Namjoon back hugged him and turned his gaze to where he was pointing.

Jungkook stared at the cabin, eyes fixated, almost against his will and despite the distance between it and himself, he could make out smaller details of it. Two large windows with green shutters framed an out-of-place set of French doors above a small slab of grey granite. He didn't know what it was, but he had to control himself not to just walk towards it, and that feeling brought a strong apprehension into his chest and a hand out of firmly grab Namjoon's unconsciously.

"I think we need to go there." Jungkook answered. "I don't know, just something tells me we need to."

He felt Namjoon nodd on his shoulder. "I know what you mean, I can feel it, too."

Yoongi stood beside the pair and shrugged. "I don't see why not." He turned to the rest. "Anyone else up for it?"

They agreed and started off towards the cabin, Namjoon's hand still gripped onto Jungkook's. 

Jungkook looked down at his hand intertwined with Namjoon's and to his left to see Jin walking with Yoongi, his arm around the smaller man's waist. He shifted his gaze past Namjoon and found Jimin and Hobi walking with Hobi's arm slung over Jimin's shoulders. A hand found Jungkook's other one and he jumped, only to find Taehyung smiling at him before he turned his attention back to the cabin. They walked in silence, and with every step Jungkook could feel his anxiety build like steam in a tea kettle. He didn't realize tears were puslating in his eyes until they stopped in front of the cabin.

"Kookie, what's wrong?" Namjoon let go of his hand and turned to face him.

Jungkook stared at the cabin, his breath began to hitch and he shook his head, a single tear slipped from each eye. 

"I'm scared." Was all he said.

He let go of Namjoon's hand and Taehyung pulled him into a tight embrace. "It's okay, Jungkook, we're here, we're together."

"I don't want to go again!" Jungkook sobbed into his shoulder. "I don't want to know what's in there! What if we're seperated again? I don't want to lose my hyungs again!"

Taehyung sniffled. "We don't want to lose you, either. We love you. I love you."

"I love you, too." Jungkook hugged him tighter. "I love all of you."

He startled at the small, yet overwhelming click that sounded behind Taehyung. They broke away from their embrace to find the French doors had opened to nothing but bright, white light.

Namjoon reached out and grasped Jungkook's hand. "I think we need to go, Kookie." He looked down at their clasped hands. "Don't worry, I won't let go."

Jungkook wiped a tear away with a sleeve and nodded.

Taehyung grabbed ahold of his other hand, Yoongi grasped his free hand, then Jin onto Yoongi's. Jimin and Hobi joined and soon they were all holding onto each other, their collective gazes locked onto the open doors.

"What's in there?" Jungkook finally asked.

"I don't know, but I guess we're going to find out."

Hobi took a step forward to the entrance and looked back to everyone, his hand still grasped onto Jimin's. He smiled.

"Let's find out. Bagtan FIGHTING!"

"Fighting!" The other members returned the phrase.

Hobi stepped into the white light inside the cabin, then, one by one, the others followed. They never let go of each other, each still unsure of where they were going, or even if they would still be together. Yet, there was still a strong hope within each they would be. Jin took a step into the doorway behind Yoongi.

And then the doors closed.

 

Somewhere in America, a teenage girl cimbed up a ladder into her grandmother's attic. There she found a small trunk and keeled in front of it. She opened it to find photos and old-fashioned CDs of a group of cute Korean boys smiling and dressed in vintage clothing. On the inside of the trunk lid read two words.

BTS FIGHTING!