Warning: Attempted and some violence in this chapter.

He started off moving quickly, trying to get Jimin to the hospital as fast as demonly possible, but Jimin was in too much pain. He let out another cry as he wrapped his other arm around Taehyung and buried his face in his fiancés shoulder. They needed to get to the hospital fast, so Taehyung tried his teleportation magic. He didn’t know if he could teleport with Jimin in his arms, but he had to take that chance. 

A puff of black smoke surrounded them, and Jimin felt as if his body had been changed into heat waves to travel through the air. Another cloud of black smoke engulfed them, and he could see the familiar examination table when it cleared. 

With a glance around, Hoseok was nowhere to be seen. On a second look, however, he appeared next to the hospital bed, probably on Taehyung’s summon, and he was already in his lab coat.

Taehyung carefully placed Jimin on the bed. “Help,” He said, and Hoseok instantly grabbed a small, ball-like object from a drawer and made his way to Jimin. 

He put the ball to the boy’s mouth, telling him to take it. “This will ease some of the pain,” Hoseok said, and Jimin opened his mouth and bit down on the object. 

It didn’t do much for easing Jimin’s pain, but it at least muffled his cries enough so that Hoseok and Taehyung could talk to each other. 

“What’s wrong?” Hoseok asked. 

“I don’t know,” Taehyung said. “He came to me, complaining because his friend on the surface got killed, and then he’s suddenly in a lot of pain.”

“Do you know where it’s coming from?” Hoseok needed to know. 

“His stomach?” Taehyung guessed. 

The more time that went on, the worse the burning sensation got. Even with the pain-relieving gag in his mouth, Jimin was in an immense amount of pain, and tears were falling from his eyes. He was in too much pain to effectively communicate, but he nodded to affirm Taehyung’s guess. 

Hoseok whipped out the needles and a spatula-like object. “I’m going to need Yoongi here,” Before he could say anything else, Yoongi appeared in the room. “And I’m going to need you to take his pants off.”

This wasn’t the time for jokes and giggles, so Taehyung unfastened Jimin’s trousers, and he got them off. While he was doing that, the burning pit in his stomach distracted Jimin from the needle being shoved in his arm so Hoseok could take a blood sample or two. Once that was done, Hoseok used the spatula to take a sample from Jimin’s bum. He then ordered for Yoongi to go and run tests on the samples he just took. 

“Does it hurt that bad, my love?” Taehyung held one of Jimin's hands in one of his own, and he wiped Jimin’s tears away with the other. 

Jimin just nodded, not feeling like saying anything else. 

“I’m sorry,” Taehyung whispered, and he kissed Jimin’s cheek. “Just please hang in there.”

Hoseok was explaining what he was doing, but Jimin wasn’t fully listening. He believes he said something about extracting the potion from Jimin’s bloodstream to get his magic flowing properly again, and the doctor demon put an IV-type thing into Jimin’s arm, except he called it an EV. 

“This will get the potion out of your bloodstream,” Hoseok explained. “It should increase your magic strength to nearly full capacity, and I’m hoping that will allow your demonic pain tolerance to kick in until Yoongi gets back.”

Jimin could feel the potion being extracted from his blood stream. It didn’t hurt, but it felt very uncomfortable. As the potion was drained from him, he could feel his overall temperature dropping to colder levels, and the pain in his stomach waning. He stopped whimpering against the ball in his mouth, so Taehyung removed it. 

“How are you feeling?” Taehyung asked, brushing his fingers through Jimin’s hair. 

Jimin opened his mouth to respond, but it snapped shut when Namjoon’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind. He was speaking the primordial tongue of the deities, but Jimin had picked up on some of it from sessions with Seokjin. He couldn’t understand the complete thought, but he heard Taehyung’s ancient name being used and something about important work. 

Taehyung’s voice echoed next, and he said something about Jimin, but his name was the only thing he could understand. It sounded out of place with the ancient tongue. 

“You can go back,” Jimin said with a frown, assuming that he must have somehow caught a glimpse of a telepathic conversation between Taehyung and his father. Namjoon sounded pissed. 

“What?” Taehyung looked at him confused. 

“To work,” Jimin clarified. “Namjoon sounded pretty angry.”

The conversation sounded very real and clear to Jimin, so he hoped that it was. He didn’t want Taehyung to think that he had gone crazy.

“Did you hear him just now?” Taehyung asked, a puzzled look on his face. 

He probably thought Jimin was crazy. “A-And you,” Jimin admitted. “I didn’t understand much because-“

“We were speaking primordial,” Taehyung finished for him.

So he knew. 

Hoseok came back over to Jimin with a thermometer to put under his tongue. “Now that’s interesting,” Hoseok noted, “It’s no surprise that you would learn telepathic communication during this transformation. But, if Namjoon was directing his message to Taehyung alone, there’s no reason you should have heard it.”

“Really?” Jimin asked, words slightly muffled by the thermometer. He was still confused about what was going on. 

Namjoon’s voice chimed in again, still angry, and Jimin frowned. He wished he could understand their language. 

“Is he angry because you are here with me?” Jimin asked, looking at his fiancé. 

“Not at all,” Taehyung said. “It’s just...there’s a lot of stuff going on today, and it’s not a good time for me to be missing work.”

At that time, Yoongi was walking back into the room. “Well, the good news is, Jimin is okay,” He said. “This is just the final steps of his transformation, meaning he is a full demon now.”

“Then why is he in so much pain?” Taehyung asked. 

Yoongi looked at Jimin, who was much more relaxed now than he was when they brought him here. “He doesn’t look like he’s in pain to me,” He pointed out. “It’s likely his body is trying to adjust to everything. Without the potion, he should be fine.”

Hoseok removed the thermometer and looked at it. 

“So am I free to go?” Jimin asked. 

Yoongi looked panicked all of a sudden, and he was about to say something, but Hoseok spoke before he could. “We should probably keep an eye on you just to make sure,” The doctor said. 

“Then I don’t want to go anywhere,” Taehyung said. “If there’s a chance that Jimin might not be okay, I don’t want to be away if something happens.”

“Taehyung, do you remember what you said just before bringing me here?” Jimin asked, and Taehyung just looked at him. “You can’t play favorites in your work. I’m okay. As long as Hoseok and Yoongi are here, I’m going to be okay. Don’t let me be the reason you forget about your duties. I wouldn’t want that.”

Taehyung frowned, but he brushed Jimin’s bangs out of his face, and he pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Okay,” He said, and he looked at their two friends. “But if anything happens, I expect to be notified immediately.”

“Will do,” Hoseok nodded. 

Taehyung slowly walked out of the room. He waited until he was outside of the room, probably wanting to be in Jimin’s presence for as long as possible, and then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

“Okay, so there is something else,” Yoongi slowly made his way to the bed, and he handed Jimin the papers. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted Taehyung to know this right away,” He pointed to a particular spot on the paper, but Jimin could only understand the word that meant something along the lines of “affirmative.”

Hoseok walked over to look at the paper as well. 

“I don’t-“

“You’re pregnant,” Hoseok said as if he couldn’t believe it, and Jimin could feel his now non existent stomach drop. “So then that pain was because of the baby?”

“Strange, right?” Yoongi chimed in. “I thought so, too, so I did a few more scans to see what was going on.” He took the pages from Jimin and shuffled through them before placing them in his hands again. “It turns out that the baby is a fire demon, and the potion, although not completely draining Jimin’s magic, was still weakening it to prevent him from combating that.”

“That does worry me, though,” Hoseok said with a frown. “There’s no telling what will happen as the baby grows and its flame intensifies.” He removed all of the equipment from Jimin as he spoke. “I’m going to ask that you come see me on a regular basis so I can monitor everything. And come here immediately if you’re in pain like you were today.”

“Also,” Yoongi said as Hoseok helped Jimin up off the bed, “You don’t have to tell Taehyung right away, but I wouldn’t wait too long. He can sense the presence of humans and demons alike, and a pregnancy is eventually detectable. Since our test is already showing, it won’t be long until he can sense it, too. You probably don’t want him to find out that way.”

Jimin was thankful for the tip, but he wouldn’t be needing it. He planned to tell Taehyung right away.

*

After being released from the hospital, Jimin was hoping to be given some slack and the rest of the day off. The door to Seokjin’s office was closed when he returned, and Jimin thought about knocking on the door to see if the demon was inside. As he raised his fist, another thought raced into his mind. If he didn’t want to go back to work and study, he could just pretend that he was exhausted and forgot to come back. He’d be lying, but no one would ever know, right?

“Why are you just standing out here?”

The combination of the creaking door and Seokjin’s sudden voice made Jimin jump in surprise just as he was about to walk away.

“I-I wasn’t?” Jimin stuttered. “I just came back to see if there was anything else I needed to study for today.”

“Right,” Seokjin was suspicious. “Well, I have nothing else planned for you today. Unless you're just desperate for more demonic history lessons.”

Without much deliberation, Jimin opened his mouth to say no. He was exhausted and needed to get some rest. “Actually, there is something I want to know about,” Was what came out instead.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Seokjin asked, and he opened the door further to allow Jimin into the office.

Jimin walked inside and took a seat in front of the desk while Seokjin walked to the other side. “So, Namjoon contacted Taehyung earlier. Telepathically,” Jimin explained, “And, well, I heard him. Taehyung and Hoseok both said that it was weird—”

The puzzled, yet serious expression on Seokjin’s face made Jimin stop in the middle of his thought.

“You heard what was being directed to Taehyung?” Seokjin asked.

Jimin nodded.

“That is odd,” Seokjin said.

“So you don’t know what it means?” Jimin frowned. There were still so many things that he didn’t have the answers to, and he just wanted to know what was going on.

“Oh, I know what it means, but it doesn’t make sense.” Seokjin told him.

“Why’s that?” Jimin cocked his head in genuine curiosity.

“It’s no surprise that you would be able to communicate telepathically after your transformation,” Seokjin started, “All daimons are capable of telepathic communications, and some regular demons are, too. However, the only way you should ever hear what’s being directed to a specific demon is if you and that demon are soulmates.”

“Soulmates?” Jimin asked. “Like we were destined to be together?”

“Something like that,” Seokjin affirmed with a nod. “But it’s much more, too. Soulmates exist in every realm, be it Underland, Skyloft, or the surface. When a daimon or a god has a soulmate, they know right away because they are created together and are supposed to work together. It’s the same on the surface, except humans don’t have specific roles in the way gods and daimons do.”

“So, do you have a soulmate?” Jimin wanted to know if Seokjin and Namjoon were soulmates, or if it didn’t work like that.

“Of course,” Seokjin told him. “It’s Namjoon. His role for the demons is seeing over underland, but his role as a Daimon is keeping the spirits. I rule over the rotting corpses, so that’s why we go together and are collectively the parents of the Daimon of Death.” He puffed his cheeks in thought. “The strange thing is, your spirits have to be made at the same time for you two to be soulmates.”

“So my spirit is a few thousand years old?” Jimin asked.

“It would have to be, but that doesn’t make sense,” Seokjin mumbled. “Spirits are immediately placed into a vessel after creation, and you—” He looked Jimin up and down. “You aren’t a few thousand years old, are you?”

“Maybe I’ve been reborn many times?” Jimin suggested.

Seokjin shook his head and waved his hand. “That’s not possible,” He said, “If you lived and died before, your soul would have passed through here before, and we would have known about it.” A look of realization dawned on his face, and he stood up and poofed from the office. Within seconds, he returned in a puff of smoke and a book in his hands. He placed it on the desk and flipped through a bunch of pages before settling on one. “On the day Taehyung was born, Boreas’s omega was supposed to have given birth to their baby, but a soul never came down from the heavens to give the vessel life. It was a stillborn.” Seokjin turned the book toward Jimin so that he could see the information written on the page. “The stillborn corpse was brought down here to be kept safe, and it was for thousands of years. Until around twenty-five years ago when it went missing.”

“Around the time that I was born,” Jimin could feel his head spinning with all this information.

“I accused the gods of stealing it, and a war nearly broke out. Namjoon investigated and found nothing,” Seokjin continued with his story, “I didn’t piece it together until now, but it makes sense. It stands to reason that you look more like Boreas than you do your human parents. We also wouldn’t have found the corpse in Skyloft or Thrace if it was placed in a human on the surface. It also explains why you became an ice demon. Taehyung wasn’t turning you. He was activating your celestial DNA.”

It wasn’t easy to wrap his head around this. The fact that he was born from a few thousand year old corpse of the ice demon king’s baby, nor the fact that the people he had thought of as his own parents weren’t even really his parents. It didn’t make dealing with Soojin’s death and his family’s actions any easier. It only confused him more, and it made him hate the gods more than he already did. He wouldn’t have had to have suffered those few years of life as a human if it wasn’t because of them.

“So I was already supposed to have been alive?” Jimin asked. “Why would the gods do something like that?”

“I don’t know,” Seokjin said, and he closed the book he had set in front of Jimin earlier. “Whoever did it must be stupid, though. You and Taehyung never would have wound up together if you were born when you were supposed to have been. Alone, fire and ice are two of the most destructive forces in the world. Together, they are unstoppable.”

Well, maybe Jimin didn’t hate the gods so much. If there was no chance for him and Taehyung to end up together having been born in their own separate worlds, he would rather have suffered those few years as a human. It’s better than having to survive an eternity without Taehyung.

“It’s getting late,” Seokjin said. “You should head back to your chambers and get some rest. We’re going to be busy starting tomorrow as we get ready for the wedding.”

Jimin nodded. He stood from the chair and turned to leave the office.

“By the way,” Seokjin said before Jimin could make it out. “Did Taehyung find out?”

“Find out?” Jimin asked, looking back at him.

“About the baby?” Seokjin had a soft smile on his face.

“Wha- I—” Jimin didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know Seokjin knew about the baby. He most certainly didn’t tell Seokjin, and, unless they communicated telepathically, he knows that Yoongi and Hoseok didn’t either. 

“I could sense it this morning,” Seokjin informed him. “When Taehyung told us he was taking you to the hospital, we already knew what was going on.”

Jimin didn’t know that Taehyung told them anything, so he assumed that it must have been a telepathic message. Now that he could communicate telepathically himself, and was apparently connected to Taehyung, there wouldn’t be any secret telepathic messages from him now.

“We? Namjoon knows, too?” Jimin asked.

“Of course,” Seokjin said with a small chuckle. “Why do you think he summoned Taehyung from the hospital? He wanted Hoseok to be able to tell you in private in case you didn’t want Taehyung to know just yet.”

It was hard to believe that Namjoon would do that for him. Demons didn’t seem to take other people’s feelings into consideration much, so it was hard for him to believe that Namjoon even cared if Jimin wanted Taehyung to know or not.

“Taehyung can’t sense it?” Jimin asked.

“He can,” Seokjin told him. “It’s just weak right now, and Taehyung’s never been around a pregnant demon. He doesn’t know what the beginning stages feel like. As far as he knows, the subtle hint of a fire demon coming from you is the result of your transformation.”

“I see,” Jimin said. “He doesn’t know yet.”

“It won’t be long before the baby’s presence is obvious to him.” Seokjin said. “Don’t wait too long.”

*

“Are you okay?”

Jimin nearly jumped off the bed when Taehyung’s voice startled him from his rest. He was going to have to get used to that telepathic thing.

“I’m fine.” He thought in response, hoping that Taehyung would get the message. He hadn’t tried this telepathic communication before, and he didn’t know how it worked.

“Jimin?”

It didn’t.

“I’m on my way back to our chambers. I hope you’re still up because we’re going over telepathy once I get there.”

Jimin just smiled fondly and shook his head.

It wasn’t long before Taehyung opened the chamber doors. Jimin was lying on the bed, facing the wall opposite from the door when he returned, and he saw Cerberus take his position in the corner of the room. “Jimin?” Taehyung said. “Are you resting?”

“I was trying to,” Jimin said, and he sat up on the mattress. “But your messages kept me up.”

“Well, if you knew how to respond, I wouldn’t have pestered you so much,” Taehyung snapped back, but there was a sweet smile on his face as he removed his cloak and dropped it on the floor. Jimin wished that he wouldn’t. He looked so attractive and powerful in that cloak, and it was rare that Jimin got a chance to see him in it. A sly smirk appeared on Taehyung’s face, and he picked the cloak up again. “See? Now that I heard.” He stepped toward Jimin, slipping it back around his shoulders and fastening it. “This really does it for you?”

Jimin in a breath. Why was it the thing that he didn’t want Taehyung to hear the thing that got sent to him? “I don’t know how I did that,” Jimin admitted. He bit his lip, looking at Taehyung who was in incredibly close proximity to him now. “But yes.”

“Telepathic communication is more than just thinking of a message,” Taehyung told him, and he placed his warm hands on Jimin’s thighs. “If that was the case, everyone would hear every thought that ever entered your mind.”

“I wouldn’t want that,” Jimin said with a chuckle.

“No one would,” Taehyung agreed. “When you send a message telepathically, you have to imagine the presence of the demon you are wanting to communicate with and then think of the message. That’s probably why I heard you this time. You didn’t have to imagine my presence.” He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Try it again.” Taehyung’s voice chimed in Jimin’s mind.

Jimin tried it again. He imagined the powerful aura that Taehyung gave off, and he thought of what message he wanted to send to Taehyung. He wanted to use this as his opportunity to say that he was pregnant. It would have been easier than having to say it to Taehyung’s face, but he still couldn’t even do it like this. He was too scared. 

“When you come back, bring some water Gels.” Jimin thought in hopes that Taehyung would listen to him. It wasn’t what he needed to say, but hopefully it would get them on the right track. 

It wasn’t long before Taehyung appeared again, a sack of Gels in his hand. “You shouldn’t be indulging yourself in treats when you’re supposed to be resting,” Taehyung warned him. “But this is your reward for getting ahold of the telepathy so easily.”

“This isn’t a treat,” Jimin snatched the sack out of Taehyung’s grasp. “This is medicine.”

“It’s medicine if you need it,” Taehyung chided. “A treat when you’re being gluttonous about it.”

“I do need it,” Jimin popped one of the Gels into his mouth. “Ever since that stomach pain earlier, I’ve been craving these.”

“Yeah, how are you feeling by the way?” Taehyung asked, and he sat next to Jimin on the bed. “Yoongi said that it would have been much worse if they hadn’t extracted the potion as soon as they did. Does it still hurt?”

If Jimin was going to tell Taehyung, this was his chance. All he had to do was come right out and say it. 

He shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt much anymore,” Jimin said. 

Taehyung placed a hand on Jimin’s stomach and rested his chin on Jimin’s shoulder. “That’s good,” He said with a soft smile on his face. “So, you really like this cloak, huh?” He nuzzled his face into Jimin’s neck. 

Jimin giggled and tried to squirm away. “I really do,” Jimin nuzzled his nose against Taehyung’s. 

He never did get the chance to tell Taehyung that night. His mouth was too busy making other sounds. 

*

“Ah!”

Jimin shot up from his sleep when he felt that burning pain in his stomach again, worse this time. He didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep, and he didn’t even know that Taehyung had already left for work. It had been a few weeks, possibly even months, since Jimin was able to sleep, so this was strange. 

The pain was unbearable, and crystalline tears fell from Jimin’s eyes as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. He needed to get to Hoseok or Yoongi, but he didn’t want to bother Taehyung while he was at work. He also couldn’t move, so he decided to try and see if teleportation was a thing that he could do now. If it worked anything like telepathy, all he had to do was picture himself in the hospital bed, right?

The hospital was a comfortable and familiar place to Jimin. The exam table doubled as a bed, with a thick and plush mattress pad for him to lay on. It always smelled clean, and not like any hospital on the surface. Next to the castle, it was the place that felt the safest to Jimin. He allowed all of those sensations to wash over him, and he imagined himself there. His vision went dark momentarily. When it cleared, he saw himself in the hospital bed, but Hoseok was nowhere to be found.

Sending a telepathic message to Hoseok was the last thing Jimin wanted to do because Taehyung would hear it as well, so he had to think of a way to get Hoseok here, and he hoped like the doctor wasn’t busy with his daimon duties. He had never tried summoning one of the demons before, and he didn’t even know if he had the ability like Taehyung did. He tried the same method. He imagined Hoseok’s presence just as he would with telepathic communications, but instead of thinking of a message, he pictured him in the room.

Nothing.

Jimin bit into his lip so hard it almost broke the skin, and he decided that the pain wasn’t worth it. If Taehyung heard the message and stopped work to come to the hospital, it wouldn’t be Jimin’s fault. He imagined Hoseok’s presence in his mind, and—

almost jumped out of his skin when the hospital room door came open. 

“Dammit,” Hoseok said, and he walked straight to his medicine cabinet and grabbed out a bottle of Gels. He walked over and handed one to Jimin. Unlike the water Gels, these were a light red in color.

Jimin popped it into his mouth without questioning it. It was almost scary how much he trusted these demons, but they hadn’t done anything to harm him so far. Once he swallowed the Gel, he could feel his insides warming up, which subdued the burning sensation a little.

“Did you tell Taehyung yet?” Hoseok asked, pulling his rolling chair up to Jimin’s side, and he sat down.

Jimin shook his head. “I tried to, but—”

“It’s okay,” Hoseok assured him. “I hate to say it, but this is only the beginning of the pregnancy. If it’s this bad, I can’t imagine what it will be like for you when the baby gets bigger. Our best option might be to end it before it kills you.”

It was hard to hear those words. Jimin didn’t know if Taehyung wanted to have kids now, but he was sure that he eventually wanted to have kids. If this one was going to kill him, it didn’t seem like there was much hope that he would ever be able to carry any baby made with Taehyung. There was always a chance that it would be a fire demon.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Jimin asked, tears forming in his eyes again. “There’s gotta be a potion or something that can help.”

Hoseok sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” He said. “We never thought that Taehyung would wind up with an ice demon, so it’s not like we’ve been working on a potion to help an ice demon carry a fire demon baby for the last thousand years.”

The tears fell from Jimin’s eyes, falling, crystallized, into his lap. “Yoongi can’t develop one?” He asked. He only found out about this baby last night, but the thought of losing it scared him more than the thought of having to tell Taehyung.

“Creating a potion for a human to survive down here, or even to keep you warm or cold is easy,” Hoseok said. “But a potion that has the perfect balance for you and the baby without harming either one of you — it might just be impossible.”

“So either we kill it or it kills me?” Jimin sobbed.

Hoseok didn’t say anything for a moment. He sat there quietly, hopefully trying to think of a better solution.

“Let me grab some samples from you,” He said. “It hasn’t even been a full day yet, but Yoongi can analyze the samples to see how things are progressing. Through that, we just might be able to come up with a solution. But you need to let Taehyung know what’s going on. Okay?”

Jimin nodded, promising that he would tell Taehyung as soon as he got back from work.

“I’m going to give you a prescription for these Gels,” Hoseok said, writing something down on a piece of paper. He handed the bottle of Gels, and the paper to Jimin. “I’m also giving these to you to hold you over for now. Have Taehyung go with you later to pick these up.”

Jimin took the items from Hosek and nodded. “Okay,” He said. “Thanks.”

*

Jimin didn’t want to wait and ask Taehyung to go with him. Ever since he had been down here — no telling how long it’s been now — he only had the chance to be alone when he was cooped up in his bed chambers. Taehyung never allowed him to walk around Underland alone because he said it was dangerous, so they always demanded that someone was with him. That made sense when he was human, much weaker than the average demon. Now that the transformation was complete, Jimin was much more powerful than the day he came down here. Even if he didn’t have a hold on his powers yet.

This was his first chance to really be alone outside of the castle, and he wasn’t going to ruin it by waiting until later to get the medicine. He shot Seokjin a telepathic message: “I’m picking up some medicine, so I might be running a little late.” He needed the demon to know where he was, that way Seokjin wouldn’t be expecting him to show up and worried when he didn’t.

The thing is, sending a telepathic message to Seokjin was like sending a group text to the whole family because Taehyung and Namjoon could both hear it as well. 

“Are you okay?” Taehyung was the first to respond. He didn’t say anything about Jimin going off by himself.

“I’m fine,” Jimin assured him. “Hoseok took care of me, so I’m okay.”

“Would you like to take a break for today?” Seokjin asked.

“No. I’m fine.” Jimin insisted. “I’m just going to pick up this medicine, and I’ll be back.”

No one questioned him any further, and Taehyung didn’t even demand for him to have someone go with him.

If Jimin was completely honest, he didn’t know his way around Underland all that well. He knew the usual spots that he visited with the other demons, but he didn’t know anything beyond that. So, naturally, he had no idea where the pharmacy was. He’d have to find a demon to ask. Which...shouldn’t be too hard.

When he looked around, there were many demons staring at him. He was used to the stares. He’s stood out here from day one — going from a human amongst a city of demons to a blue skinned demon in a city of demons with red skins. No matter what, Jimin was always going to stand out down here. 

Jimin found the usual café that Jungkook would always take him to, and he walked in.

“Well, well. Look what we have here,” The barista said, walking to the edge of the counter and leaning over the display case. “Jimin, out by himself, as I live and breathe. Does Taehyung know you’ve escaped the castle?”

The barista, Jaewook, had become a familiar demon to Jimin over the course of time that he’s been in Underland. He was always friendly toward Jimin.

“I didn’t escape,” Jimin said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not a prisoner.”

“Right,” Jaewook said, a small smile on his face. “But you and Taehyung don’t have a pact together yet. It’s dangerous for an omega without a pact to be wandering around by himself.”

“So I’ve been told,” Jimin hummed. “Do I look like I’m worried about it?”

“No,” Jaewook said, and he placed a lava cake on the surface of the display case. “But you should be. As long as there’s no pact protecting you, nothing is going to stop these guys from doing anything to you.”

He pushed the cake in Jimin’s direction, but Jimin shook his head.

“I can’t have lava cakes,” Jimin told him. It was rather unfortunate because those cakes were a delicacy of the demons, and Jimin wanted to try them. Being an ice demon, however, he couldn’t. “By the way, do you know where the pharmacy is?”

“Two blocks this way,” Jaewook pointed, “Down the alley you’ll see on your right. From there, take the first left and that path should bring you right to the front door.”

Jimin nodded. “Thanks!” He said to Jaewook and left from the café.

Those instructions should be easy enough to follow. Jimin walked the two blocks just like the barista told him, and he took the turn down the alley just like Jaewook said. That’s where it ended, though. Jimin couldn’t find the next turn he was supposed to take, and the alley seemed to go on forever. There was no turn. Not anywhere.

He turned around to head back, but the street he had come off of when he entered the alley was no longer in sight. He was just down an endless alley, and it seemed like there was no way out. He was beginning to think that Jaewook might have lied to him, but demons weren’t liars. Taehyung told him that all the time, and he’d like to think that Taehyung hadn’t been lying to him this whole time.

“I thought I smelled fresh meat.”

Jimin jumped at the sound of  some other demon down the alley with him, and he noticed that he could sense a few more with that one. He didn’t see any of them, though.

“The devil-to-be’s own ,” Another chuckled maniacally. “Must be our lucky day.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Jimin said as the three demons stepped into his view. He tried to sound more confident than he felt at that moment. He couldn’t let these demons know that he was scared. “You know what happens to those who piss the royal family off, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” The largest demon stepped forward, combing his fingers through Jimin hair and tracing along his jawline with his finger tip. “We lay a finger on Taehyung’s precious little toy, and he might make us dog food. But hey,” He grabbed Jimin’s chin. “At least we can say that we committed a crime bad enough to make it worth it.”

“You won’t even get the chance,” Jimin told him. “I can call Taehyung here right now.”

Another one of the three chuckled. “That’s where you’re wrong, Frosty,” He said, his words hissing from his mouth. “This is a Dark Alley. All signal is cut off here. There’s no way His Unholiness is going to hear you. We’ll have you beaten and bloodied by the time he even knows you’re missing, if you’re even still breathing by then.”

“Taehyung.” He still had to try.

The one holding onto Jimin’s chin pressed his thumb to Jimin’s bottom lip. “His Unholiness sure is lucky,” He said. “I’m willing to bet these unholy lips would feel like absolute sin around my .”

“You’ll only ever know in your imagination,” Jimin said, and he bit down on the demon’s thumb. The demon cried out in pain, jerking his hand away, and Jimin could see little frost crystals forming where one of his fangs had pierced the skin.

“You !” The demon shouted and backhanded Jimin in the face so hard that it made him tumble over, stumbling onto the ground. 

The rough, cobbled streets caused scrapes on Jimin’s arms and the palms of his hands, but his horns protected his head from hitting the ground at this angle. He still hadn’t gotten a reply from Taehyung, so he assumed that the demons weren’t wrong about the loss of signal out here. He had to fight this battle alone.

Jimin pushed himself up, but one of the demons turned him around before he had the chance to do it himself. When he was facing them again, there was a red, swollen being pressed to his cheek. Jimin glared up at the demon. “You saw what I just did to your thumb,” He pointed out. “Do you really want to shove that thing in my mouth?”

The demon gripped a handful of Jimin’s hair, and Jimin winced at the pain, but he kept his mouth closed. “I’m not afraid of a little ice,” The demon chuckled. “You’re the one with the weakness here.”

We’ll just see about that, Jimin thought.

Another demon placed a hand on Jimin’s shoulder, searing hot and forcing Jimin to open his mouth to cry out. The larger demon took that opportunity to shove his into Jimin’s mouth. 

Jimin hated this, and he was beginning to wish that he would have listened to Taehyung. Underland was a dangerous place, especially for a possible daimon with no control over his own abilities. He should have just waited for Taehyung like Hoseok told him to. 

Unlike Taehyung, this demon tasted disgusting. He tasted like expired spices and stale skin, if that was even a thing. The demon’s slid in and out of his mouth, ramming the back of his throat, and Jimin focused all of his cold energy there. More and more steam rose up between them until the demon couldn’t take it anymore, and he gave Jimin another hard slap in the face to force him off of his . When Jimin hit the ground this time, he scraped his cheek. 

As he tried to push himself up, he could hear footsteps approaching him again. He just wanted these demons to leave him alone and let him go home. He wished that they would stay away from him. As if his prayers had been answered, he felt a strange wave of energy and the three demons were pushed away from him. He looked behind himself to see the three of them sitting on the ground.

“The harder you make this for us,” One of them said as he stood up, “The more fun we’re going to have with it. We like a challenge.”

Jimin got up and started running the way he thinks he came from. He didn’t know how to get himself out of here, but if he kept running in one direction, he had to get somewhere eventually.

Three sets of footsteps were trailing close behind him, until one caught up and shoved him into the wall. He was winded with a hard punch to his stomach, which caused the pain from this morning to flare up again. Jimin cried out, furious at the thought of these guys doing anything to harm his baby. This was no longer a fight to defend himself. 

Jimin focused the cold energy in his palms and shoved at the larger demon’s chest. The demon couldn’t move after that. Jimin didn’t know how, but he had managed to freeze him.

“Don’t let him touch you,” The frozen demon said, and the other two tackled Jimin to the ground. 

One climbed on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head and he started to pull Jimin’s pants off.

“Stop!” Jimin demanded, and he saw a massive, shadowy figure leap over him, knocking the demon off of his back. In front of him, he saw a familiar pair of shoes and cloak hem, and tears of relief filled his eyes. 

“Come on,” Taehyung said, and he pulled Jimin up off the ground. “Are you all right?” He looked Jimin over. He was a little scratched up, but he was okay. Jimin sure put up a good fight for them.

Jimin shook his head. “I have to find Hoseok,” He said, walking past Taehyung, “I have to make sure he’s okay.”

The pain in Jimin’s stomach kept getting weaker after flaring up earlier, and it scared the hell out of him.

“Hoseok? Jimin, Hoseok’s at work. He’s fine,” Taehyung told him.

“I’m not talking about Hoseok!” Jimin shouted tears falling from his eyes. “I’m talking about the baby.”

“The bab—Jimin, are you?” Taehyung looked like he hadn’t expected that confession at all, and then a strong expression of hate and anger appeared on his face as he turned around to three demons that were being crushed under Cerberus’s paw. “You know, I was just going to let Cerberus eat you and be done with it, but I’ve changed my mind. You’re going back to the pit.”

“Your Unholiness, please!” One of them cried. “We didn’t know!”

Jimin didn’t know what Taehyung meant by “back to the pit,” but it didn’t sound good since the demons seemed like they’d have rather been eaten by the dog. He just hoped that it was the worst possible punishment a demon could face.

“Cerberus, take them away,” Taehyung said, his voice still sounded like liquid anger. When he turned back to Jimin, his usual soft expression returned. “When were you planning on telling me?”

“Last night,” Jimin told him. “But we don’t have time to talk about this right now. Show me how the to get out of here so I can get to Hoseok.”

*

“Well, everything appears to be okay,” Hoseok said, looking at the notes on his clipboard. “The reason the burning sensation died down is because your magic power increased, but it didn’t harm the baby.”

“So, in a way, those demons attacking me made something good happen?” Jimin concluded.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Hoseok said. “As you gain control over your magical abilities, you’re going to get stronger. That would have happened regardless if these guys attacked you or not.”

“If I get strong enough, is it possible that I can carry this baby without it hurting me at all?” Jimin asked.

“I can’t say for sure,” Hoseok told him. “Pregnancies progress quickly. If the baby grows faster than you get stronger, there’s nothing we can do.” He set the clipboard aside. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for Taehyung to get off work before going to the pharmacy?”

“How did you know I was in trouble anyway?” Jimin looked at Taehyung, ignoring Hoseok’s question. “The demons said that you can’t send a message from the Dark Alley. I tried to contact you, but I couldn’t get a response.”

“What I’d like to know is why you were in a Dark Alley in the first place,” Taehyung said, serious. They were all avoiding answering each other’s questions. 

“Because the barista told me it would cut right to the front of the pharmacy,” Jimin said.

“And you trusted him?” Taehyung questioned.

The way Taehyung asked that question as if Jimin just should have known better angered Jimin. Taehyung was the one who was always drilling it into his mind that demons weren’t liars.

“You are the one who told me that demons never lie,” Jimin snapped. “Or were you lying about that this whole time?”

“Just because we aren’t liars doesn’t mean we’re whole-truth-tellers,” Taehyung demanded. “When did I ever say demons could be trusted, huh? I tell you to be careful all the time because you can’t trust demons. They hide part of the truth and only tell you things they want you to hear because they can’t lie, so they find ways of manipulating you with the truth.”

“That’s the same thing as lying,” Jimin said through gritted teeth. “What kinds of things have you been holding back from me?”

“Okay, you two,” Hoseok butted into their argument. Since Jimin had been down here, that was the closest that he and Taehyung ever got into a serious fight. “Let’s not get worked up now. You’re going to stress the baby, and a stressed baby flares.”

“Cerberus, go track that barista and bring him back to Hell,” Taehyung said to the dog. Cerberus nodded one of his heads, and he ran from the hospital room. Taehyung turned to Jimin. “Dark Alleys are like portals of Underland. They can take you anywhere you want to go, so the barista was not lying when he said that it would take you to the pharmacy. He failed to mention that you would need to know where the pharmacy is in order for it to take you there. If you don’t know where you are going, you can get stuck in a Dark Alley forever, which is likely how those three demons wound up there.”

“What about you?” Jimin asked. “How did you know I’d be there?”

“I tried to ask if you found the pharmacy, but my message wouldn’t get through to you,” Taehyung said. “So I tried to detect your presence, but I couldn’t sense you anywhere in Underland. Which meant that either you took the opportunity of being alone outside of the castle to leave Underland, or you were in a Dark Alley. If you had left Underland, there was nothing I could do. You’ve been free to leave since the day we brought you down here. I had to consider the possibility of the Dark Alley, though. Since I was looking for you without knowing where you were, finding you was easy.”

Jimin was thankful that Taehyung was worried about him, but now he had more questions than when he first came down here. He felt like Taehyung was a stranger all over again.

“Well, I’m glad you showed up,” Jimin said, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I tried to fight them off, but I just wasn’t strong enough.”

“You will be,” Hoseok said. “Seeing how your levels are progressing, you just might even become stronger than Taehyung.”

“I hope I get stronger quickly,” Jimin said. “I don’t want to have to worry about killing the baby before he kills me.”

“We’re not killing the baby,” Taehyung said. “And you’re not dying either.”

*

Later that night, Jimin and Taehyung were in the bed chambers again. Cerberus was also back from dragging those demons to the pit, which reminded Jimin to bring that up again.

“Hey, Taehyung,” Jimin said. They were lying in bed, and Jimin was resting his head on Taehyung’s chest, his arms wrapped around the demon’s waist.

“Hm,” Taehyung humed in response, his fingers gently trailing Jimin’s back.

“What did you mean earlier when you told Cerby to take those demons back to the pit?” Jimin asked. “They seemed pretty terrified about the idea.”

“You know about the pit,” Taehyung told him. “The pit in Hell where all souls are taken. I’ve shown you before.”

“I know,” Jimin said. “But back there? They were there before?”

“All demons were,” Taehyung replies. “Every demon you see is born from a soul that once belonged to a human. When they come through here, if they are judged to stay in hell with us, we torture their souls until they forget what it was like to be human. Then they get reborn into demons.”

“So our son,” Jimin placed a hand on his stomach. “Will he be born from a tortured soul like that?”

“No,” Taehyung assured him. “Daimons are different. Like gods, Chaos creates their soul for the purpose of them being a deity. It’s why we’re much more powerful than regular demons.”

“So, Jungkook?” Jimin asked.

Taehyung nodded. “He was human once,” He said. “But he doesn’t remember it.”

Jimin wasn’t so sure about that. Ever since he came down here, Jungkook was the kindest one to him — other than Hoseok, maybe. Jungkook always sympathized with him, to the point that he skipped past the filth pouring through his brother’s mouth when they were showing him those videos.

“He remembers the torture,” Jimin said. “Jungkook is so sweet compared to the other demons. I can’t imagine he was horrible as a human. Why was he judged to deserve that?”

“I only decide who gets to die and who gets to live,” Taehyung reminded him. “If you want to know about judgement, Hoseok would be the one to ask. Maybe he wanted to keep Jungkook here, considering where he ended up.”

“He would put Jungkook through that just to keep him here?” Jimin had a hard time believing that. He always thought of Hoseok as one of the kind ones.

“Sure. He’s greedy. Just like any demon,” Taehyung said. “But since when do you care? When I showed you the pit before, you were thrilled to see the tortured souls.”

“I don’t care,” Jimin said. “Those guys who attacked me earlier deserve to be dragged back there.”

“And my previous promised ones? Do they deserve to be there, too?” Taehyung tested, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe not,” Jimin mumbled, and he wrapped his arm around Taehyung’s waist again. “But I’m greedy, too.”

“I know,” Taehyung chuckled, “And that’s why I love you.”

*

After everything that happened, Jimin wanted to spend time with Jungkook, who was the only demon who could probably understand him. At least, the only demon he wanted to talk to. After the events from before, he had so many questions about the demons, the place, and his whole situation. Jungkook just might be the best one to get the answers from.

“Do you remember what it was like?” Jimin asked, handing Jungkook his cup of coffee. 

There was a new barista working today, since Taehyung dragged the other one to the pit the night before.

“What what was like?” Jungkook asked.

“Being human,” Jimin said. “I just learned yesterday that every demon was human once, so. Do you remember it?”

Jungkook frowned, and he looked into his cup of coffee. Whatever he remembered about being human clearly brought him down. “I remember it,” Jungkook told him. “I remember my family. I even remember what I did to be here right now.”

“Was it—was it bad?” Jimin asked, scared to know.

Jungkook scoffed and he shook his head. “I couldn’t sleep,” Jungkook said. “That’s all.”

“That’s it?” Jimin couldn’t believe it. “You were damned because you couldn’t sleep?”

“I made a deal with Yoongi, who was known as Hypnos at the time. He promised to help me sleep,” Jungkook admitted. “Which means that I promised my soul to him, so I had no choice but to be damned.”

“So you didn’t do anything wrong?” Jimin frowned.

“Lots of good people wind up here because they made a deal with a demon,” Jungkook said. “They don’t stay good for long.”

“You did,” Jimin pointed out. “I think, anyway.”

“Well, not every demon gets the same favorable treatment I did,” Jungkook said. “Yoongi and Taehyung both pulled a lot of strings for me.”

“Is that why you have a pact with Yoongi?” Jimin asked. “Because you promised your soul to him?”

“If that was the case, a lot more demons would have a pact with him,” Jungkook said. “I have this pact with Yoongi because he saved my life more than once, and I trust him. And Hoseok. More than anyone.”

“And Taehyung?” Jimin asked. “It’s not foolish for me to trust him?”

“You have your doubts,” Jungkook said. “That’s understandable. I did, too, at first. But after a few thousand years with these guys, I can assure you I see no reason Taehyung can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t have doubts, really,” Jimin stated. “I just...wish he would stop hiding things from me.”

Jungkook bit his lip, and he reached for Jimin’s hand. “I wish I could tell you, but it’s not my place,” He said. “I’m sure Taehyung will let you know all of the secrets when he thinks you're ready. Some of the things might be hard for you to hear.”

“It’s harder to know that he’s keeping things from me,” Jimin said with a frown.

“You can’t say it’s harder if you don’t know what he’s keeping from you,” Jungkook pointed out. “You’re still upset with that thing about your servant on the surface, so you obviously still feel connected to the humans. He’s protecting you.”

“Protecting me?” Jimin challenged. “From what?”

“Turning you against your family,” Jungkook said. “Taehyung hates them, but they’re your family.”

“I kind of hate them now.” Jimin admitted. 

*

Now that Jimin was a full demon, and pregnant with Taehyung’s baby, the wedding came sooner than expected. It cut preparations short, which meant that it wasn’t as extravagant as a wedding as it should have been. Jimin didn’t care, though. He didn’t need anything other than Taehyung to make this the special night that it should be.

There was just one thing he needed to take care of before he could marry Taehyung, though. He needed to erase all doubts that he had about anything. He found Taehyung’s dressing room, and he tapped on the door. “Taetae!” He called inside.

The door came open, and Taehyung was standing in front of the mirror, tying a bow tie around his neck. Yoongi was sitting in the chair, and he offered Jimin a smile when he walked into the room. “You look good,” He said.

On the surface, Jimin might have been embarrassed about his dress, but it was demon customs for the omega to wear a gown. He actually felt really pretty in it.

Taehyung turned around to look at him, and a pleased grin showed up on his face. “You do look good,” He said, and he stepped closer to grab Jimin’s wrist and pull him toward himself. He placed a hand on Jimin’s lower back, pulling him even closer, and he pressed a kiss to his lips. “Why did you come here?”

Jimin gripped the insides of Taehyung’s tuxedo, and he snuggled closer to him, nuzzling his face into Taehyung’s chest. “There’s just something I have to get out of the way before I can agree to marry you out there,” Jimin said.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Taehyung asked, brushing Jimin’s cheek with his thumb.

“No,” Jimin said. “I just want to get this stuff out of the way so we can have a fresh start when this is all done and over with.”

“You want to know about your family?” Taehyung asked.

“I should let you two talk about this,” Yoongi said. He stood from the chair and left the room.

Jimin waited to hear the door close behind him before he said anything. “Seokjin said there’s a lot I don’t know about my family,” He said. “I want you to tell me what I know.”

“When you were younger, your older brother got sick,” Taehyung said. “Do you remember?”

Jimin nodded.

“He was supposed to die,” Taehyung sighed. “I already had a reaper assigned to him, and he was going to bring your brother down here with us. Your father, he cried and begged and looked for a solution to save his son’s life. Your family had dealings with demons before, but they tried to get out of it. When he begged for his son’s life, the gods wouldn’t answer his prayers, so he turned to us once again. He asked me to spare your brother.”

“And you asked for me in return?” Jimin assumed.

“No,” Taehyung said. “I asked for your father’s soul in return. He wanted his son to live to take over the kingdom one day, so I told him I would give him that if he gave me his soul when his son came of age. Your father, however, was selfish. He didn’t want to give me his soul. He’d have rather offered me his youngest son. ‘I will offer you the child who means nothing to me.’ was exactly what your father said to me.”

“I was three,” Jimin said, tears in his eyes. He didn’t even know he was promised to the demons at that age. “And he said I meant nothing to him?”

“I accepted his offer because I didn’t think that was any way to talk about his own child, and I didn’t want you staying with a man who felt that way,” Taehyung said. “I didn’t intend to make you my bride at first. You were only three, after all. No, I was going to take your soul just as I would have with your father, but I was going to give you five years. When I returned to Hell, I kept tabs on you. I watched as you naively believed that your family loved you, but neither of your parents even believed that you belonged to either of them.”

“I got sick at 8 years old,” Jimin remembered. “We thought I was going to die.”

“But I didn’t let you because I changed my mind,” Taehyung told him. “Watching you, I saw how caring and sweet and innocent you were. I just couldn’t take your soul and throw you into the pits. You didn’t deserve that just because your father was too selfish to offer his own soul, and it wasn’t like you made the deal. I couldn’t take it back, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t alter the contract. So I made you one of the promised humans. Turns out,” Taehyung gently grabbed Jimin’s chin. “It must have been fate. Seeing as how you are Boreas’s child.” Jimin didn’t know that Taehyung knew that. “Seokjin told me.” He explained.

“So that’s what you didn’t want to tell me,” Jimin said on a heavy breath.

“Do you feel better now that you know?” Taehyung asked.

Jimin shook his head.

“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you,” Taehyung admitted.

“But at least now I know,” Jimin said.

“So,” Taehyung dipped his head down and kissed Jimin. “Do you still want to do this wedding?”

A small smile spread across Jimin’s lips, and he nodded once more. “Let’s go get married,” He said.