beginning.

the tick-tock of the grandfather clock outside had taehyung thinking about time and how he wished he had more of it. in eight minutes, last taehyung had checked, the gates would close, and he would be locked in the building for the night. in ten minutes, the people blocking him would finally move- meeting or something (taehyung hadn't been listening too well). there was almost no way taehyung could make them move in less than five minutes- and it would take him three to get out of the building. what to do? what to do? what to do? taehyung needed more time.

thirty seconds passed. taehyung peeked around the corner. he could slip past the people, easy, but he would leave a trail of blood that they would surely notice before he could make it outside. they would chase him. they would pin him down, whip him, kill him. he wasn't allowed to die yet. he had someone to take care of.

so taehyung pulled back and leaned against the wall, letting out a long, silent sigh. what to do? what to do? what to do? all taehyung really could do was sit, wait, ponder. he asked himself the first thing that came to mind- why am I here? he knew the answer. it started a long time ago, a time he simply called 'the beginning' because he didn't like to think of the other things it could be called. everything could be traced back to 'the beginning', his story; his someone, his someone's father, his best friend, his best friend's mother, himself, his own father. it was all a mess of fear and stupidity that taehyung deeply regretted getting involved in.

"you love him, right? never let him out of your sight. keep him safe. it's for him, not me."

but had he really had a choice?

ten seconds passed. taehyung peeked around the corner again, his heart jumping to his throat when he noticed the people were gone. panic-stricken thoughts raced through his mind at a mile a minute; had midnight already come? had he really not noticed? was he stuck in the building? taehyung clambered to his feet a step clumsier than he meant to. he rounded the corner, peeking out first to make sure there were no guns pointed in his direction. there was nobody there, thank god, so taehyung began running. it hurt like a , and his feet were hitting the ground harder than they were trained to, but the grandfather clock told him he only had two minutes. that was one minute down from what he needed.

ing time.

taehyung began to think about time again as he sprinted through the halls, holding his stomach and wiping annoying tears from his eyes. he began to think about inventors and how he desperately needed one to make him a time machine. he could go back. he could do something- he could stop his father, his best friend's mother, his someone's father. he could stop everything somehow, couldn't he?

but then again, all of this was pretty inevitable. there was no real cause, as far as he knew. what would he have done with a time machine? where would he have gone? would he just watch it all happen again? he didn't even know what exactly it was that happened.

alarms began blaring just as taehyung dove through the closing gates. he landed hard on his shoulder, but he landed in soft grass and mud instead of concrete, so it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it might. he scrambled to his feet and began to run again, holding his stomach tightly. he could make it, he could get out of there before people began to shoot at his ankles. he could do it, he could do it, he could do it.

"it's okay, taehyung." his someone's father said, brushing dirt and tears off of his cheeks. his hand was on taehyung's side, gently holding his bleeding wound. his someone's father smiled in a way that eventually had taehyung wishing he had enough strength to rip out teeth. "you can do it, taehyung. you can do it."

bullets zipped through the air; some went past taehyung's ears, some past his knees, most past his ankles. his head pounded as fast as his heart, and he felt himself slow. where was the van? seokjin? hoseok? one last bullet zipped past his ear, and then the world fell black.

but taehyung was still concious. he couldn't see, couldn't really move, but he could hear. for a long time, he just heard silence. no more gun shots, no more wind, no more anything. it was terrifying. taehyung could see himself, but it was back at the beginning. he was sitting in a dark room, his face buried in pillows, his clothes wrinkled and bloody against his body. he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, and he couldn't stop sobbing.

then taehyung heard shuffling and muttering, "did you ing kill him? why did he collapse?" he felt hands on his body, lifting him up. he felt himself bouncing and rocking slightly as he was carried. taehyung didn't know if he was imagining it, if he was back at the beginning or if he was really being carried. and he was too confused to start assuming things.

"nobody hit him with anything. he just collapsed." taehyung thought that was probably someone from the present speaking, for he didn't remember anybody ever saying that in the beginning. but what did he know about the beginning? he only knew bits- the parts he starred in. who was speaking, though, if he was from the present? a guard? a gunman? how did they get to him? the gates closed!

"bandage him up."

taehyung felt his shirt being lifted over his head, and then he was laying on a cold, flat surface. he tried to move his fingers, his mouth, but nothing would move. he couldn't open his eyes. he went on like this for two minutes, desperately trying, trying, trying to move, and then he felt himself slipping away. far, far, far away.

"hyung! hyung! no! daddy, tae is dead! he's dead! somebody killed him!" he was sobbing. taehyung remembers wanting to reach out, wanting to tell the boy that no, he wasn't dead, but he couldn't do anything except for hate the man that spoke next, "now now, son, nobody killed taehyung. he'll wake up soon, you'll see. how about we put you to bed, huh? we can come see taehyung again in the morning."