The dragon's eyes darkened, and a storm of fury filled those violet eyes. "How dare they...."

Hayun felt herself shrink at the force of his anger, it was nearly radiating off him. This was it... he was really going to eat her now that he knew she was not a princess... at least now this messy incident would end...

"How dare they be so cruel!" The dragon's jaw clenched and he started to pace. "They sent you with the intention of your death? Those fiends..."

Hayun stood rooted at the spot in shock as he paced around furiously and muttered something she could not understand - it sounded like a different language. This could not be right... he seemed furious about her situation instead of the fact he had been lied to...

This dragon was really crafty, she realized, and a good actor. Too bad she was too clever to be lulled into a false sense of trust and security, he was wasting his efforts for nothing.

He suddenly stopped pacing. "You should bathe and then eat - you sweat so much and it is not goot be dirty for long."

Hayun wanted to scoff at that - back at home, they did not bathe and wash their clothes more than once a week as they had neither the luxury of that time, or the soap. A bit of feverish sweat was nothing.

The dragon grabbed another robe that was folded on the bed, and firmly took her hand and took her into the passage. Hayun forced her hand out of his, and he seemed to get the message because he did not try to take it again. They walked in the dark passage in silence, and eventually were greeted by sunlight.

Hayun gasped, and the dragon smiled, apparently amused at her reaction. This was like the garden of a very rich lord - no, it was like paradise, she corrected herself. Bright green grass covered the ground like a luxurious carpet, and she could see trees and plants and flowers she did not know the names of - some trees had silver patches on their bark, and bright flowers of every colour and size with magnificent butterflies fluttering about. She had never seen a place like this - the fields were just wheat and potatoes and so on, and the forest was dark and filled with oak trees.

Birds perched on branches and sang and chirped loudly, and Hayun looked up at them with wonder. This place was beautiful and had such a powerful aura of peace and tranquility it seemed to put a spell on her.

"You can come here whenever you like," the dragon said. "But if you want to pick flowers, ask Hoseok first."

"Who's that?" she asked, admiring a cluster of red flowers that was nearly as large as her fist.

"He is a flower fae."

"I won't pick any flowers," she said; she would rather come outside to admire them, and watch them bloom and wither. Could she maybe water the flowers from time to time? Would Hoseok mind?

Hayun stopped that train of thought immediately - this place was inhabited by fae and was probably enchanted. She could not let down her guard!

"Come, the stream is this way," the dragon said, bringing her attention back. She followed him down a narrow stone-paved path leading them to a sparkling pool of clear water - it was so clear she could see fish swimming about, and the pale smooth pebbles at the bottom. It was mesmerizing.

The dragon placed the robe on a rocky shelf behind them, taking a bucket and a bar of bright yellow soap. Hayun watched him, confused, as he scooped up water in the bucket.

"Seokjin will get angry if you enter his water too dirty," the dragon explained. "He is a nymph. So be careful. Also, only use Taehyung's soap in his ponds and streams. Taehyung made soap that is good for us and also for nymphs - normal soap irritates nymphs' lungs. Taehyung's soap is always here on this ledge - if you run out, ask the fae for more."

If this had been a different situation, Hayun would have been thrilled to bathe with fairy soap in the crystal clear pool of a sensitive water spirit - a nymph. But for now, she felt nothing other than a kind of irritation that she could not really find the reason for.

"Take off your clothes, and I will rinse you before you enter the pool," the dragon announced.

"I can rinse myself!" Hayun yelped, taking a step back and glaring.

The dragon frowned. "But they told me I should. And that I should bathe you."

"I can bathe myself!" she snapped. "Whatever this person told you is wrong."

"But-" The dragon took a step forward.

"No, don't come any closer! Stay right there!" Hayun ordered. "I don't know what this person told you but I do not need you to bathe me or even be present! What is your plan?"

"M-my plan?" The dragon clearly did not understand.

"I told you, I am not a princess. So, what will you do with me? Will you eat me?"

"I already said I have no desire to eat you."

Frustration at the creature feigning innocence increased even more. "Just drop the act! If... if you are going to force me to carry your young you can forget about that because I won't!"

"C-carry my young?!" The dragon looked as though he had been slapped. "You look beautiful but your thoughts are not... I do not know why you think I will eat you or... or force you..."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before he finally said, "I will leave you to bathe, then. Remember to rinse yourself before entering the pool, or Seokjin will get angry."

The man had barely turned his back before he shifted. Hayun watched in mixed horror and awe as he stretched into vast wings and shimmering scales painted his body . The beat of his wings sent a few dried leaves into the pool, and as he flew farther away it was finally quiet apart from the sounds of birds.

Hayun let out a deep breath she had not even known she had been holding. Finally he left her alone - finally she had some space.

"That was not kind."

Hayun gasped in shock; a figure stood in the middle of the pool, his form nearly translucent. His silvery robes moved, like flowing water. This must be the nymph, Seokjin.

"The dragon is trying his best," the nymph said, a dark scowl on his beautiful features. "It is not exactly a treat for him, either. He does not want this any more than you do. Do you realize that he will soon be plagued with countless humans trying to kill him?"

Hayun's stomach tightened. That was true... the dragon would be a target for everyone now. And if he was killed and she was still there, she was as good as dead, she realized with horror. She would be killed for impersonating a princess.

Panic rose in her like a flock of startled birds, flying high and out of control. She had to get out of here! Staying would bring nothing but death, or worse - she did not trust the dragon, or the fae. She did not trust anyone or anything.

"-so the least you could do, Princess, is be kind to him - are you listening to me?" the nymph scolded.

"I-I'm sorry," Hayun muttered, dropping the orange bar of soap.

Ignoring the nymphs shouts, she turned her back and ran as fast as she could. Her stomach lurched when she reached a sharp slope of the mountain. She could do this. If something happened to her, at least she would know that she had tried to do her best and not simply waited around to fall victim to the dragon and fae's plans, or wait for death from her fellow humans. She would run to a village or town and go far, far away - she would find a job somehow and make this all work out. She had to.


****

The dragon landed, and shifted to his human form. Not knowing what else to do anymore about the human, he gently tapped on the nearby tree trunk. "Yoongi? Are you there?"

A small form appeared in front of the tree, seemingly out of thin air. "You always say that dragons are solitary creatures yet you come running to me for every little thing." The dryad tried not to smile in amusement.

"Not everything!" Namjoon said defensivly. "Perhaps a handful of things. It might just seem like I am coming for your advice more often, but that is just because of the human. You know humans, you lived many times near their habitats."

"Yes, and that is how I got sick." Yoongi sighed. "I have not been near humans for a long time, Namjoon."

"But you are the only one around here who has any experience so that is why I keep bothering you."

The dryad smiled. "All right. So, what is it this time?"

"Well, the human is saying she is not a princess."

Yoongi's jaw comically fell open. "Then what is she doing here?"

"She said she is a peasant and she was selected to be sent here instead of the real princess - apparently with the idea that she will be killed."

"Well, she might be," the dryad pointed out. "The Council of Dragons will not be happy that the humans have broken their part of the agreement. What will you do?"

"I do not want to tell the Council - at least until I know they will not harm her. She has done nothing." The dragon hesitated. "I still do not understand what this is all for - the end goal, I mean. What benefit does this bring dragons?"

"None." Yoongi's voice was gentle. "Namjoon, you know this is mostly something for humans - their complicated way of selecting their next ruler."

"They still break their part of the bargain, though," the dragon grumbled. "The Council agreed to be part of this foolishness after the war only if the humans stopped hunting dragons, but they have not truly stopped."

"Yes, well, that is another matter. The point is, what will you do now?"

Namjoon was quiet for a minute. "I... I think, for now, I will do nothing. It will be a death sentence if the Council is informed."

"It will be a death sentence for her if she returns to the humans as well," Yoongi pointed out. "If by any chance anyone is to defeat you and take her, they will not be pleased to find out she is not a princess. Humans, are, well.... they are temperamental creatures."

The dragon sighed. "This has some very cruel possible endings. I did not want to get selected this year, any more than she wanted to be sent. Yoongi... I am afraid." The dragon's voice turned into a hushed murmur. "I am afraid of the many attacks that will come from the humans soon."

The dryad looked at him sharply; Namjoon had never expressed any emotions about this situation before now, much less expressed any fear.

"You are not alone," the dryad said, trying to sound comforting. "See, you have befriended four fae, a dryad, and a nymph. We will help you and make sure no human gets on this mountain without your knowledge. I have requested the help from the spirits of the trees to be on the lookout, and the fae have recruited the birds and squirrels to be on the lookout as well. This whole mountain is on your side, and you will never be attacked by surprise."

A lump of emotions rose in the dragon's throat. He was incredibly lucky, he knew that - not every dragon would have the help from fae, dryads, and nymphs. Not every dragon shared his moutain with them, either - Namjoon knew that this mountain was their home every bit as much as it was his. Yoongi had told him that he can never leave this mountain, as he could not go far from the tree his spirit resided in, and if that tree gets cut or burned, it will be the end of him. Dryads have a handful of chances to move their spirit to another tree after the initial one is destroyed, but Yoongi was on his last tree now.

"Thank you... you are right... and I will do my best to protect our mountain."

The dryad smiled. "That's the spirit, dragon."

"Yoongi?"

"Yes?"

"I did everything you told me to do, but the human did not like it."

The dryad's eyes widened. How could that be? "What exactly did you do?"

"I did as you said and gave her a room filled with light, and a bed of furs. I changed her clothes, and was going to bathe her but she did not like it at all and told me to leave."

"Oh." The dryad frowned slightly. "That is odd. Hmmm... oh! Perhaps she is not used to it! She is not a princess, right?"

Namjoon nodded. "No, she is not a princess."

"So, maybe where she is from, she does not get that kind of help, and finds it uncomfortable."

"But she shouted at me for changing her clothes when she was ill and unconscious."

"Well, humans are odd," Yoongi explained. "Some kinds of humans have a very deep sense of privacy about their bodies, as in no one should ever see them without clothes."

"Why? Are they terribly ugly? I did not see anything ugly on her, though."

Yoongi shrugged. "It's in the mind, you know. Humans are odd. They have developed this sort of belief that their bodies are unnatural and should be covered up from others - as if all humans did not have the same kind of body parts." The dryad snorted at the ridiculousness.

"But a princess does not?"

"Well, a princess and other kinds of humans - the rich and so-called noble - need help to get dressed and bathe."

"Oh. She is not that kind, then," Namjoon said. "Humans are dreadfully complicated. Did you know they call pig meat pork? But chicken meat is still called chicken. And they..." his voice trailed off as a familiar voice was shouting in the distance.

"It's Seokjin." Yoongi frowned.

The dryad and dragon headed to where the shouts seemed to be coming from, and gradually the nymph's shouts got louder and they met him halfway to the stream.

"Oh, there you are!" Seokjin sounded frazzled. "That human! She ran away! I kept screaming at her not to go but she did not listen and ran down the mountain! Barefoot, even! And she left the fairy soap too close to my water!" The nyph's face turned purple in fury. "No manners at all! I refuse to have her in my territory ever again, I-"

"Which way did she go?" Namjoon demanded, his mind jumping to the countless dangers of the steep rocky mountain for a human still weak and injured.

"I do not know! I just know she ran away, down the mountain, espite my warnings it will storm soon! She is terribly ungrateful!"

Without another second to waste, Namjoon spread his wings and was off, and Yoongi tried to explain the irrational nature of humans in fear to a furious nyph.


****


Night was falling. Her face covered in scratched and her feet cut and bruised, Hayun scrambled over rocks, losing her balance plenty of times. She paused to catch her breath for a minute before continuing, not daring to stop for the night, fearing the dragon would be after her and take her back.

It started to rain, making the ground slippery and the rocks even more unsteady and difficult to navigate. Next to the edge of a steep slope, she lost her footing in a particularly muddy patch and landed hard on her side, tumbling through rain and mud and rocks bruising her entire body. For one terrifying second, there was nothing below her other than air - she was falling.

With a strangled cry of pain, she hit the hard ground several feet below. The shock of the fall and the panic knocked the wind out of her lungs, and she gasped, fighting to breathe, her left leg consumed with an unbearable pain. The rain fell down harder, colder, feeling like little pricks. Hayun tried to calm herself, and when she could finally breathe a bit, she tried to stand but fell down again, a sob of pain escaping her. Her leg... it was definitely broken.

Maybe if she just sat there, the pain would get better, and the rain would stop. Hayun hugged herself, trying to keep what little warmth had, and tried to stay calm. This is fine... this is just a little setback... she will get better soon and walk down the mountain and-

Oh, who was she trying to fool? Her leg was broken and when the rain stopped, everything would still be dangerously slippery. This was really it.

Hayun never really believed in God. But she did believe in the universe, in the elements - water, fire, earth, air, ether. The universe, the elements, they created miracles every day. This rain was, in a way, a miracle. Life itself is a miracle. Just breathing, walking, thinking, laughing, the way the body healed injuries and processed information and learned, that was a miracle. The pain in her leg, signalling to her that it was damaged, it was a miracle - it was a way of her body telling her not to walk on it, not to damage it more and make it harder to heal.

And the fae. They were... they were miracles. Creatures with such powers and abilities, and meeting them and interacting with them is not something everyone gets to do. Neither was being cared for by a dragon-man. Why had no one said anything about dragons having human forms? Why had no one said that there are faes that can heal, help flowers grow, or make soap that did not irritate nymphs?

What if everything she had even been told about dragons and the fae were not true?

Hayun did not remember how many days she had been with them, unconscious even, but so far none of them had harmed her. Trick or not, the dragon... the dragon had been nothing but kind, even if he had no sense of privacy.

It could all be a trick on their part, or not... she would not be able to know for sure. But really, what choice did she have? Leaving behind all these miracles was heartbreaking.

"Help!" she cried, as loud as she could. "Help, I'm here!"

The roar of the rain was so loud, it surely must have drowned out the sound of her voice, she realized bitterly. Then, unbidden, the memory of the dragon's words floated in her mind:

My name is Namjoon. If you need me, simply call for me.

"N-Namjoon?" she callled out hesitantly. "Namjoon! Please help! I'm here! Namjoon?"

She kep calling the dragon's name, getting colder and colder, until a loud screech and a blast of light - fire - startled her out of her wits. The blast of fire was blindingly bright in the dark and the rain.

"Namjoon?" Through the heavy rain, Hayun could make out the enormous form of a dragon coming closer. Heart pounding with a familiar fear, she forced herself to not struggle when talons reached for her and lifted her in the air.

Keeping her eyes squeezed shut to keep out the stinging wind and rain, she clutched him tightly, terrified the dragon might drop her by accident.

Within minutes, the dragon slowed down, circling into a careful descent. Just before reaching the ground, he shifted, talons turning into arms, her hands clutching the fabric of his robes.

"Stop running away!" the dragon scolded. "Why did you run down the mountain just before a storm? You are still injured and you did not eat anything! You are soaking wet and cold, and even more injured now!"

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled; his skin was so warm that if he kept holding her, she would not feel so cold.

"Thank the universe you have found her." Jimin's soft voice said, from behind her.

"This is too much! Jimin has already healed her once, and has to do it again?" Taehyung said angrily. "Do you know how hard it is for healers, Namjoon? They have to transfer their own energies to others!"

"Taetae, it's ok," Jimin protested. "I'm fine, this is what Im meant to do-"

"I can feel it that you are still drained!"

"Tae," said Jungkook's calm voice. "Don't worry. Jimin is a healer, his energy will be restored soon."

"But I can feel-"

"Soon you will feel that he is fine again. Remember, it is always like this."

"I'm sorry," Hayun whispered, guilt suddenly clawing at her insides. She was bothering the dragon and the fae because of her moment of panic.

"Hush." Jimin was by her side, his small hand on the crown of her head. "Princess, please do not do this again. Please? Everyone here is in the same boat - we all want to survive. None of us are happy about this situation but I do wish you would trust us a little more. We cannot change it, but we can try to make the most of it since there is nothing else we can do. Right?"

"I'm sorry," Hayun whispered again, forcing herself to look up at the dragon whose gaze was fixed on her, feeling especially sorry towards him.Trick or not, he did bother to go and find her in the rain. "Truly... I am..."

Jimin removed his hand to bring that same small box out of his pocket. "It will be better for you to sleep... putting your broken bone in place will be very painful otherwise."

"Thank you." Even if this was a trick.... Hayun opened for the fairy to sprinkle the powder. Almost at once, her eyes drooped and her limbs went heavy. She felt Jimin touch her face, and her eyes closed, slowly drifiting away from consciousness. The last thing she felt was the dragon's warmth.
 

A.N/ Yes, in every universe, VMin are soulmates *blasts Friends on full volume* xD

Soooo this is my first story after a pretty long time, so my writing is quite rusty but hopefully it was bearable. Thank you for reading! <3