[CONTENTID1] A New Confidant [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] a/n: Super excited for this chapter because we can finally get some BTS action and I've been waiting for this since the very beginning! LET'S DO THIS ALREADY WOOO!!!! \( ^-^ )/

warning: long chapter sorry :(

∞:ØØ.

The Dark Hour

     Life can be described with all sorts of synonyms and metaphores along with the countless of analogies. There are plenty of examples with, say, how life can flash before one's eyes. That's the most common term.

Another one is the concept of time: time can be a basic, simple idea that everyone's familiar with. Though, to understand time is incredibly confusing. Before you know it about seventy something years passes and you're deader than dirt. 

At some point someone must question about their life. Not only question their life, but to debate whether it's worth living.

And as for Kim Taehyung, well, let's say his life has suddenly ceased to exist. To put it bluntly, Taehyung assumed his life was automatically over the moment he crossed through that screwed up mirror. Somehow in some way he crossed over and just died. Yeah, he said it, died, over sheer curiosity.

Because let's face it. No one is going to believe he traveled through a mirror. A mirror? Yeah, nah.

Hell, even the thought of it just sounds downright ridiculous. But it happened. There's no mistaken of it that he witnessed a bunch of symbols for a brief moment of time before the sudden light blinded him.

It was instantaneous. He could see the intense light underneath his closed eyelids.

He was falling and falling. Screaming, crying, shrieking, flailing wildly with little hope of survival. He expected a quick and painful death. Like, maybe those rodents that accidentally electrocute themselves and then fall off the powerlines.

Yeah, that's definitely him right now. Luckily enough he wasn't electrocuted, though.

Still. It doesn't ignore the obvious fact he'll probably splatter all over the ground.

Soon Taehyung slams onto a marbled floor. "Aack!" He expected to feel the sudden snap of his bones. Probably, most likely, his neck. And yet, here he laid upon the floor as if he stepped on his own two shoelaces. Sore, hurting all over with aching muscles and- and maybe a sprained ankle? He bumped his head across the floor too, which made everything appear incredibly dozy.

Hand resting on his left temple Taehyung gurgled out a jumbled groan. He blinks a few times in hopes to quickly adjust to his surroundings. "Ow." He then grunts. It felt like he was swimming in a sea of nausea.

His stomach also happened to make these weird topsy-turvies and loopy-loops.

So scratch that.

It feels like he rode a huge roller coaster for the fourth time after stuffing himself with tons of candy and soda. "I-I think I'm gonna be sick." He mutters to himself before quickly doubling over to his side.

The worst way to experience an unexpected death. Is this described as a death, rather?

Finally, after all is said and done and emptying out the souring contents from his stomach, Taehyung shivers in mild aguish. While gazing around the incredibly spacious room, however, he then noticed it seemed very similar to that of an ancient castle. In fact, where the heck is he? This wasn't no heaven or hell. This doesn't even look like purgatory.

The further Taehyung scrutinize his surroundings he bit his bottom lip, feeling way more uncomfortable than previously. And with a bit of hesitation the boy stands, patting all over his body to ensure he was indeed alive.

I mean, I feel like I'm alive... He can breathe. He can see. He can smell. He can feel. He can stand against solidary things, and isn't hovering above the ground like a freshly deceased ghost.

This must mean he's alive. At least, he had desperately hoped for it to be so.

Still, this doesn't explain what happened moments ago. No, it doesn't. Neither does this match to the reality he once knew. Is this even a reality? He easily remembers being in Jungkook's room. Now he's in a castle? He rubbed a hand over his scalp while pacing around. None of this is making sense.

As much as he would prefer denying this obvious problem, it's probably best to figure out how it happened in the first place. "Hello?" Taehyung calls out.

No one answered.

He figured to try again, only this time much louder. "Helloooo? Anyone home?" Maybe, just maybe, in some sick, twisted way, this is all a dream. A total misunderstanding.

He paused.

Taehyung shakes his head. Nah, it's too cliche for that excuse.

"Stop right there!" A loud cry halted the teenager right in his movements. He looks over his shoulders and- and oh god what the absolute is that?! Suddenly, Taehyung finds himself backing away.

This isn't real. This isn't real! But it is. Had to be. There's no other way around it. "W-w-what are y-you?" He stammers in a mixture of confusion and "slight" fear. Well, no, that's definitely more than slight. It's probably intense fear.

His body grew tense, jittery as his mind went to a screeching halt. Legs grew so weak with shock (and terror, he may add) that Taehyung could feel the entirety of his throat clamping up.

A titanic creature with four legs and horse-like hooves. Its face resembles that of a demon possessed horse and streamlined body is covered in icky, nasty scales. There were guards with blue ceramic masks accompanying this messed up creature, as if it's totally normal having some demon within the deepest pits of hell for your watchdog.

"More intruders have infiltrated the king's castle." Wait, what? "We will eliminate you all!" Massive weapons in their clenched hands the guards release a ear shattering bellow and the hideous monster howled in its fury.

He's going to die. He's definitely going to die here for sure.

RUN!

A fool didn't need to heed twice. Call it natural instincts, or in Taehyung's case, running for dear life. His long legs were already moving on their own accord with immense speed. Moving far faster than he could ever remember running on the soccer fields.

Oh , where can he even run to?! Taehyung wanted to smack himself. Crap, if he doesn't have a place to hide then he's pretty much screwed. An opening. Across the right of the foryer was a large opening. A large, double-wide bronzed door wide open, so he had to choose the most immediate option.

It's obvious of the choice. The teenager dashes across the room. "Get him!" He didn't dare look back. Far too afraid that if he did then they would kill him in one entire swoop.

Entering the opened entrance seeped out complete darkness. It was extremely dark and incredibly musky with a lingering scent reminiscent of a senior citizen's mildewed home, though that is the least of his worries right now.

Feet peddling down the steps which the rails were his only guide, Taehyung moved blindly down the stairs. As for anything else? Nothing. Taehyung all could hear was his haggard breathing and the loud squeakings of his sneakers.

The stairs spiraled in endless circles. It continued for quite some time. A set of stairs. Then another. Another. More.

"He's down here!" . , , .

Taehyung could feel his heart plummeting deep into the pits of his stomach. At this point he began skipping over two steps to increase his pace. Thank god for his long legs.

He could only hope that he doesn't stumble down to his death. Eventually, he sees a faint glowing light from below. Oh, goodness, please tell him it's anything but more stairs!

"Yes!" He let out an exclaim. His legs had finally reached the end of those notorious stairs. Around him resembled that of a gritty dungeon from the early 1700s.

And, in that split moment of happiness, it was erased by complete horror. "W-what the-?" His eyes fills with shock when the revelation smacks him right in the face. Taehyung looks around, made twists, turns, and a complete 180 degreed circle to fully comprehend what he was seeing.

A murky, crusty, stank-filled dungeon. Filled with such intensity of the darkness that those few litted torches did very little to combat the shadows. But that's not what appalled him the most. It was the people locked in those jail cells.

Not anyone. No, instead they were...

"What are the sports teams doing here?" A disturbed look flashed across his face. Although Taehyung may not remember everything nor everyone, the first semester playing sports was the most impactful with his ex-teammates.

Their faces. They looked way too familiar to disregard.

The main question is why are they here within the first place? What business do they have here, and, and why are they locked up? Who the hell went out of their way to kidnapped them? Are there anymore people kidnapped? Was... Was he, too, kidnapped? Upon closer inspection it was indeed his former teammates.

There were multiple cells across this darkened passageway. Within each cell held a student or multiple students. Some looked like they were flipped upside down and being tortured alive.

Taehyung calls out to them. "Guys!" Rushing over to them seemed to instill this peculiar wave of numbness. He wasn't sure what to think of it all. One of the students he remembered, Arisato Kyojo, was clinging to the jail bars and was crying total jibberish.

"H-hey! It's me, Taehyung," Taehyung clung onto the bars as he spoke. "What's going on here? Why are you guys lock up?" There were many questions he desperately needed answered. This was beyond inhumane. This was... This is absolutely abysmal.

Arisato Kyojong, or merely "Kyojo" for short. A mixture of Japanese and Korean descent, Kyojo was always this meek, adequately short and shy looking fellow for the most part. A sorphmore at the IBBA campus, Kyojo was pretty active on the soccer team. Yet, there was a major difference about him.

When Taehyung quit the team last semester he had taken note of the boy's decreasing loss of weight. Whenever he asked Kyojo about it the guy always brushed it off. Claimed to be for weight training purposes, but Taehyung wasn't that stupid.

Now? Kyojo appeared closely to that of a literal skeleton. Eyes sunked to the barrel of his eye sockets and face incredibly pale, strickened with far more than physical injuries. There were emotional ones as well.

The boy happened to wear his soccer uniform, too, which also appeared to be in tatters. "Please," Taehyung found himself pleading to the scrawny boy. "I don't know what's going on. What's happening, and why are your teammates locked up?" He watched Kyojo's facial expression transform from fear to extreme caution.

"D-don't tell the king..." As his brows grew deeply furrowed from the lack of understanding, Taehyung tried to make sense of Kyojo's words. "I don't get it. What king?" He tried to ask. He was hoping for some answers but none were given.

"Because... we are slaves to him. We have no choice but to suffer." What. What? Taehyung narrows his eyes as he understood very little of Kyojo's mumbling.

"What king? Who is the guy?"

Silence.

Taehyung's patience has finally snapped. "Hurry up and ing answer the question!" There was a loud squeal. Kyojo shuffles back to the end of his cell with visable tremors shaking throughout his entire body. "...J-Jeon... J-J-Jaehun..." The boy whimpers and broke down in cracked, ugly sobs.

It was at this very moment that Kim Taehyung felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. An emptiness void expanding inside his chest. His mind completely went blank. Nothing. Ceased to exist.

Jaehun's... a king? This is his castle? What... what the in absolute ery is this? What the hell is going on here?

"There he is!" Taehyung whirls around to find those terrifyingly persistent guards and the monster inching closer. When did they arrive?! They must've snuck up on him o-or something! Heart fluttering fast, nerves on edge, body trembling in fear, Taehyung sworn his vision gotten blurry.

All he could do was take several steps backward.

More like tip toeing from behind. But for how long? It's only a matter of time until they tear him to shreds.

"You may have fled from us, but you are now surrounded." One of the guards stated as they moved closer in on him. "There is no escape. Surrender now, and your death will be immediate." No... no... this... this can't be the end of it. Taehyung could feel his eyes tearing up and burning.

This can't be it. He doesn't even know how he gotten here. He can't just die without knowing. Taehyung opened his mouth, ready to beg for his life until an abrupt yell captured everyone's attention.

"Seraphine, use your divine absorption!" Wait, what? What the-? Taehyung ducks to the ground when a glittery beam shoots past him. It reached to one of the guards, striking them right in the masked face and it stumbled to its knees. "Arrgh!" It cries out and falls to the ground.

Quickly the guard disintegrates into a cloud of shadows. Taehyung could feel his heart ramming against his ribcage, sharp and painful, and with a hesitant gaze looked over his shoulders.

The first thing he noticed was this ridiculously huge woman floating behind the black cloaked girl as if it was some guardian angel.

Next beside the girl was this tuxedo, black looking cat. But was it really? It looked more cartoonish than anything else. "What the hell...?" Taehyung whispered. He wasn't sure how to process it all.

He didn't move, however, for the cloaked girl commanded something else from that enormous female... woman, goddess, deity, whatever.

Dressed in a traditional hanbok, the goddess was holding two incredibly large and ivory laced fans. In one entire motion the woman flapped her fans downward. This created some sort of reaction as another blast of wind thwacks the monster away.

Taehyung didn't get the chance to contemplate any further, though. The huge gust of wind also manages to blow him far across the dungeon with his back slamming against one of the jail cells. It knocks the breath out of him. Not only that, but his mind grew dizzier each time he blinked.

"Let's do this Seraphine," It- it has a name, too? Suddenly Taehyung's head throbbed more. And it wasn't only in pain, either.

Sadly, the teen was far too distracted to notice a hand reaching out to him. By the time he'd realized it, it was too late. "Gaack!" His fingers went straight towards his neck.

He can't breathe. He can't breathe.

Someone is choking him. Someone's choking him! "Fool," It was one of the ceramic masked guards from before. "If only you had listen then no suffering would be required."

P-p-ple...ase... Taehyung desperately tries to gasp out but further chokes, his fingers digging deep into the cold and rusted metal in desperation to gather some air. Yet its hand tightened.

Vision began to drastically dim. World grew hazed as his lungs burned with fire. His energy was growing depleted by the second.

"Die." "I won't allow it!" He couldn't comprehend anything, but before he knew it Taehyung found himself falling onto the cold concrete.

He gasps wildly with his lungs expanding, finally getting the oxygen that they desperately needed. His hand was still placed on his neck for precautionary purposes.

"Carillon, get ready for an all-out attack!" A second later Taehyung could only get mere glimpses of black figures blurring through the soldiers and practically flying everywhere. It was so fast that he could barely even see them.

"NArrgh!" The soldiers crumbled to the ground along with that cursed abomination of a monster. Finally, blades in her gloved hands, the yukata wearing girl sliced through the guards with little effort. The cat on the other hand uses its sword to stab through the hybrid.

When Taehyung's vision finally clears his heart stopped beating. He inspected the figure a little closer, eyes locked onto her brown eyes and wispy brown and short hair. There was a white ostrich hair brooch on the side of her head that also hidden parts of her face.

She... she looks familiar. A little too familar.

Is... is that...? "Moon-" Taehyung couldn't even bring himself to say it. They looked too alike. Way too similar just to be merely someone else! Couldn't be a coincidence. Couldn't be. As the girl met his gaze Taehyung could instantly tell when she stiffened.

Obviously she knew something just as much as he did.

He pulls himself to his feet. "Moon...gi...?" Is that actually Park Moongi? The Park Moongi he had befriended days ago? And he's a... he's actually a girl?

"N-no!" She quickly denies and waved her hands. "I-I'm not Moongi! I'm, uh, h-his twin sister! So, um, d-definitely not Moongi..." Looking away the girl runs a gloved hand through her hair.

A behavior Moongi exactly replicates. She also seemed to be wearing a mask, too?

Seriously? Taehyung gives her a deadpanned look.

"Okay, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" He demanded. He didn't mean to be rude. It's just...- it's just he's sick of not knowing anything!

What in the world did he wander into? First traveling through a mirror and getting lost in some strange old castle, then finding out his teammates have been kidnapped and now... experienced some sort of monster battle? This sounded way more like a freaking fantasy novel he'dmagically teleported to.

"This isn't funny. I want answers." The girls glanced at each other. He didn't give them the opportunity to speak.

"Look," Taehyung began by folding his arms. "I found myself in this castle. I don't know where I am, nor do I have any ing-" a profanity had slipped out, using it whenever he's pretty agitated and pissed.

"Clue why my ex-teammates are being held captive. I want to go home. I want to forget about this entire experieince and I just want my best friend back." Taehyung soon finds himself panting. His breath shaky and body already tense with emotions far beyond his mental capacity.

The girl in the cloak took a step forward.

"We are here to rescue your friend, actually." By that statement alone was enough to warrant immediate questions. "You know where he is?" He blinks in confusion and unfolds his arms. "He's been kidnaped, too? D-do you know where he is?" There was an immense rush of hope filling his worried strickened heart. 

So Jungkook is not dead. Thank god. It's like this heavy load of anxiety, the fear, the hopelessness had dispersed from him. "N-not exactly..." Stutters the girl, her eyes arched to the side of the dungeon and completely avoiding his gaze. 

In response Taehyung clicks his teeth.

He shakes his head afterwards. No, I shouldn't be rude to them.  He means, sure, it's been a pretty stressful night with him running away from creepers and nearly getting himself killed within the process, but that doesn't excuse dickishness. "Sorry, it's just... been a night." A sigh escapes from his lips as Taehyung scratched his dyed auburned head.

"Don't worry about it. Here, let me heal you." Wait, h-heal? It was Taehyung's turn to act suddenly awkward. "Um, no, i-it's okay, I-" "Quiet," His hands instictively return to his neck. The girl was walking up towards him with her hands outreached.

"Please remove your hands." He was hesitant at first. Scared even. But with the tender look in those brown orbs for eyes, Taehyung found himself obeying her request without resilience.

She whispers the name Seraphine again and allowed her hands to gently encase around his neck. Woah. The being appeared before t