One winter day in a time long, long ago, Grey and her family huddled inside her uncle's lake house. Never mind that ice solidified the only aquatic attraction or that there weren't any other homes in this dense patch of forest. Her mother and father wanted to spend Christmas at the cabin, as they called it, for a change of pace from the suburbs.
Looking back at it, they wanted to show her something new. Things she would not have noticed while cooped up in their actual house on her phone or computer. Like the trellises of snowflakes that grew on windows, the colorless sun setting over the tops of snow-capped trees, their clothes and ornaments slashing pops of color against white snow. The smell of cookies or a savory dinner drifted through the halls. Laughter was there too. Always laughter.
But not for Grey, who grew sick of board games and flicking through the same twenty channels on a television riddled with static. The pile of presents under the tree grew every day. She would go peek at those; shake them to hear what was inside or check their name tags. She eventually became so ill with cabin fever that she put on a coat and sat on the veranda.
The sliding doors peeled open soon after. "Honey, if you're going to sit out here at least wear a hat."
Grey turned in her chair, facing her mother. "Mom, when are we going home?"
"After Christmas," she said.
"Well, why not now?"
She frowned only slightly. "We're having a great time out here."
Grey quirked an eyebrow. "Are we?"
"Yes, once you stop being so grumpy." Her mother mimicked the gesture, her lips curling into a grin. "If it makes you feel any better, I can point you in the direction of home."
"But it's hours away. You can't know the direction from here." Grey blinked, annoyed.
Her mother put her hands on her hips. "It's closer than you think. If I point the right way, you have to go sledding with your father and I."
Grey narrowed her eyes. "Only if you point the right way."
"I'm pointing towards home, right?" Her mother walked towards her, putting a hand on the back of her chair and staring into an audience of evergreens as though the right answer would peek its head through one of the spindly branches. Grey nodded, crossing her arms expectantly.
Her mother inhaled the wintry air and lifted an arm. It carried across her body until she pointed to the left, and while Grey followed her trail, the young girl missed the way her mother knelt before her chair. She wrapped that arm around her daughter's chest, pulling her into a hug.
"My home is right here. In your heart."
"Mom." Flustered, Grey hugged her back. "That's not--"
"That's where I'll always live. And you live there too. Home is where the heart is. Now get your boots on, we're going sledding."
Namjoon's voice cut through the reverie. "Grey?"
She snapped out of it, but she didn't open her eyes. She sat at the dining room table, wallowing in the darkness of her eyelids. Home is where the heart is.
She said, "I'm listening."
Anaphiel carried on.
Namjoon said, "This far, we know that the artifacts are retrievable at night. A light to humankind meant the Statue of Liberty, a national monument. The next piece of the riddle is Rowan declaring he is a light to the heart. I have my guesses, but do any of you have ideas?"
"Liberty was also tall enough to stick into the sky. We might be able to assume there's a correlation," Hoseok said.
"So it's tall, another symbol, and shiny at night," said Jimin.
Taehyung asked, "Could it be another monument?"
She heard Jungkook's frown through his voice. "What monument symbolizes the heart?"
"Love," Grey corrected. "It symbolizes love."
Someone hesitated in response. They were either going to ask her why her eyes were still closed or why she emphasized that piece. She didn't know herself, but beating around the bush when it came to the L word wouldn't get anything solved.
She added, "There's an entire city that stands for love."
"Paris," Vanity said.
"What about it? We need more evidence." That had to be Luca.
Amelia scoffed. "It's honeymoon paradise for crying out loud. French is a romantic language. It has the most romantic monument on Earth."
"Then that's the next destination," Hoseok said cheerily.
Grey opened her eyes. Across the table, she caught Jimin staring at her.
Yoongi scratched behind his ear. "Are we sure we want to rush off so quickly? Calling it the City of Love means nothing. There are romantic places all over the world."
There are friendly places too, Grey thought.
Namjoon nodded. "We don't have time to waste. Rowan didn't even attack in New York. We're two steps ahead and we should stay that way." He looked to Grey for confirmation, but she busied herself by staring out of the window. He leaned forward to get her attention. "Nothing happened, right?"
"No," she said. "Nothing happened."
Jimin's head cocked to the side out of curiosity.
"See?" Namjoon shrugged. "We won't be under the radar long. It's better to take risks than lie in wait."
Hoseok clapped, cutting off any dissent. "Pack your bags, ducklings! Uncle Hobi's taking us on another field trip!"
Amelia pointed towards Hoseok. "So he can call us ducklings, but we can't call him anything bird related?"
Taehyung smiled a bit, so did Jimin. Yoongi shrugged. The others stood from their seats and spread through the townhouse to their rooms. Alone at last, Grey faced off with Jungkook, who hadn't moved an inch.
He was impossible to ignore. He propped his head up with one hand, leaning against his chair's armrest. His white tee shirt glimmered in the light spilling from the window. He was ethereal, and he seemed to be waiting patiently. Seconds in silence bled into minutes. The entire time he didn't look away.
Grey, unable to hold her cold front, kept her voice low so that no one else would hear. "Rowan waited for me inside the statue."
He sighed through his nostrils. His volume mimicked hers. "You haven't told anyone else?"
She shook her head.
"Did he do anything to you?"
She hesitated. "He gave me a portal back to my world."
He swallowed, the bewilderment clear in his wide eyes. "You're still here?"
She would have teared up had there been any tears left. But, the well had been dried up and she just didn't feel like it today.
"Why?"
"I can't leave now," she said. "We're all so close to the end."
"But leaving was your dream."
"Things have changed," she said.
He reached his hand across the table. She took it, reveling in how steady and strong his grasp was. It reminded her of the snow she trudged through on her way to and from the cabin with her sled. It was there every step of the way, heavy and endless, and it left her shivering long after she escaped it.
He smiled softly, drawing a thumb across the back of her hand. "There's something else on your mind."
It was her turn to smile. "Remember when it was just you, me, and Jin?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, I should probably apologize for that."
"You were a total jerk," she said, laughing. "But had I been in your shoes knowing what you know, I would have been a jerk too."
"What would you have done?" He pressed his lips into a flat line, his telltale signal for thinking. "If you were me, I mean. If you were any one of us."
Grey pondered the responsibility.
If she had trouble experiencing emotion, if she were constantly hunted for being who she was, if she watched every human she got close to get snatched from her arms. Or if she watched them die, because she was going to live longer than they were anyway. How would that feel?
She said, "I would have given up."
"I almost did," Jungkook admitted. "Then you came to the skyscraper."
"And had no idea what I was getting into," Grey partially laughed yet partially sighed.
Jungkook became serious. "No one else can do what you're doing."
"I know, I get reminded--,"
"No," he said, squeezing her hand gently to silence her. "Hear me out. You are not the same girl that came to the interview. You've changed in such a short amount of time. And honestly, I wasn't sure if you were ready for all the tasks you were given. But each one... you handled each one." He seemed to hesitate before finishing his thoughts. His voice dropped even lower than before. "None of the others came close."
She shook her head, the idea making her heart sink. She didn't want to know how many there were. How many women tried and failed to be heroes. Not from their own shortcomings, but from a game where every move held a certain weight.
Trying to lighten to mood, Grey said, "In what ways have I grown?"
"When you walk into a room you don't hide. You speak up when you disagree. You walk right into danger. Hell, you told Rowan no."
She rolled her eyes emphatically. "I'll probably pay for that last one later."
"Yeah. You will."
Grey guffawed. "Gosh, that's where you're supposed to make me feel better."
"I would let something happen to me before anything happened to you."
His words struck a deep chord.
Another question dawned.
How would she feel in their shoes if someone lived? If that individual killed a demon, faced off with a stubborn council, killed a Queen, and still drew breath. She had sat upon a rooftop, seen a garden of Heaven's creations, been the face of a fashion brand, learned how to wield a knife and fist, and danced in the rain unknowingly celebrating her victories. She made relationships, she made a life here. An abnormal one.
She let her eyelids flutter to a close, sinking into the snow in her hands.
The Assassin. Her bodyguard.
Perhaps she was making a mistake in letting her mind drift, but the longer she considered her decision, the easier it became. Nothing she would do in this world would be normal, and expecting that or even hoping for it wouldn't help her progress in her mission.
Because in another world, her world, Jungkook was the one.
He was the fit for the Grey that hunched over her laptop deleting manuscripts and loathing her first paragraphs. He was the fit for the Grey that came home with powdered sugar on her cheeks. That could fit right in with another Amelia as though he had been there since the girls first met. He was the perfect man to hold her while she slept, comfort her while she worried, kiss her while she rambled. She regretted never feeling what it was like to kiss Jungkook.
But for this Grey, the girl that wore a King's crown and carried the world, he was her dearest friend.
"Jungkook," she said, glancing at him.
"Yes?"
Her courage wavered as he laced their fingers together. It saddened her more than she thought it would. To lessen the burden, she spoke from her heart.
"I love your honesty and kindness." His neck craned back a fraction at the mention of love. She continued. "I love that you see the best in others and that your spirit is still strong after all this time. I need that by my side more than anything. Your strength, your advice," she said, straining to pronounce the last piece, "your friendship."
He regarded her evenly. If he thought anything negative, if he disagreed, if he even cared, he didn't show it. His silence sent guilt tearing through her chest. Slowly, his other hand came from under the table to envelope their joined ones.
He said, a little too cautiously, "Anything else?"
She shook her head. "That's it."
He nodded, dark eyes staring at their contact over the table. "It will always be yours."
"Thank you," she whispered, gently pulling away from his grip. He let her go, his fingertips tracing lines against her palm as she went to pack for Paris.
:::
Yoongi eyed a polished pair of revolvers that he'd found in Jungkook's desk drawer. Light to the touch and well balanced in weight, the Wraith twirled them with his thumbs or took turns tossing one or the other. Jungkook's office was a lot more homely than Jin's. More personal, in a sense. Photographs of the youngest's business ventures were in small frames near the lamp and desktop computer. A display of different swords lined the walls rather than bookcases. A leather couch adorned the far side of the room where industrial windows tossed city light onto the dark wooden floors.
The white-haired man had been leaning in the doorframe for several minutes. Yoongi knew the second he looked at anything other than these guns he'd receive a thousand-year old one liner that hinted at wisdom beyond comprehension. But, Nico was not a man anyone could avoid. Very much like his elder brother, his words would always be heard.
Yoongi said, "You look healthy again."
"I do feel better."
Nico stepped into Jungkook's office, grinning a bit at the way the Assassin had neatly lined up his vinyl collection on the floor. Quickly, he focused on Yoongi. "I dislike feeling human sometimes. The emotions that come with it are so conflicting. They never arrange themselves."
Yoongi finished playing with the pistols and gently placed them back into the drawer. "Are you excited for Paris?"
Nico shrugged. "I would say she is far more excited than I am."
"Who?" Yoongi grimaced.
"You answer that question for me," said Nico, shifting his weight onto his other hip.
The Wraith's indifference may have remained, but his coldness froze over onto his speech. "You know I don't like the mind games."
Nico put his hands into his pockets. "I only want to hear it from your lips. If I play the Devil's Advocate, then I will not forget to remind you that when you fell to this realm, you gained freedom from the codes of Heaven. Yet, you still choose to serve a master."
Yoongi slammed the drawer shut. "I won't give in to human notions of free will. It doesn't matter where I am, I will always be there to protect the Scepters."
"Though it will cost you?"
"As you obviously heard I already paid the price in full." Yoongi bit the inside of his cheek. Irritation was hard to settle. Especially when one had the power to disappear from conflict but couldn't for respect. Surprisingly, Nico clenched his jaw and bowed a bit.
"You are correct. My apologies for prying. I should not have been so obnoxious."
Yoongi stammered, uncomfortable with watching his King treat him as an equal, "I'm sorry for being mindless."
Nico smiled a bit. "You are forgiven. It is hard to stay angry at a very fine warrior."
"Thank you," the Wraith muttered, staring at the floor, "for still believing that after all these years."
The Second King approached the desk that separated him from his sweet angel. Yoongi watched him come closer, watched him lean forward a tad and seize him with green eyes that told stories of summer, a cloud kingdom, and war.
"Notice that I called you a warrior, not a soldier. Soldiers follow orders. They move with plans and strategy created by others, never of their own making. Warriors choose what they fight for even if that means defying what they understand.
"Soldiers can fill a battlefield and not care for what they represent. But warriors? They stand up for what they love. Do not be afraid to follow suit, Yoongi."
:::
Hoseok forgot his favorite winter coat on the living room couch. He rushed from his suite to retrieve it. Autumn and winter in Paris tended to be chilly, and if so much as his ankles were exposed, he might be prone to frostbite. One would think that immortality would provide a decent cushion against mortal discomfort. However, despite Namjoon and Taehyung's warnings that his hypersensitivity to temperature was psychological, Hoseok always seemed to get hit with the breeze hardest.
Perhaps he'd convinced himself that he actually did feel weather even though he wasn't supposed to. His mind was pretty strong, and it grew in strength when he was absolutely opposed to an idea. It also didn't help that he overheard Amelia telling Vanity that birds had already flown South but he decided to stay.
As Hoseok rounded the corner to the final corridor, he locked his sights on the black trench coat slung over the couch's edge. But, his concentration dissipated as he entered the living room and peered into the dining room where Jungkook sat like a statue in the same chair he'd occupied since breakfast.
Warily, the Raven grabbed his jacket and inched towards the dining room entrance. It felt like approaching a mirror.
Jungkook's eyes slowly trailed to where he stood. The openness, the innocence the elder typically spotted between his dark irises was muted. He wasn't necessarily cold or shut down. He just seemed... tired.
Hoseok knew that fatigue. It hardened through the limbs and shoulders so that it was hard to move. It wrapped around the mind, letting all its weight drag the host down until the motivation to move was about as sharp as the motivation to speak or try.
He felt that way after he lost Rin.
"If it is meant to be, it will be," Hoseok said.
Jungkook peered at his hands. "One day."
Hoseok smiled halfheartedly. "One day," he repeated. "Will you be alright? Do you need me to pack for you?"
Jungkook blew a piece of hair from his eyes. "If you don't mind."
"Hang in there."
Jungkook tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. "If she wants me, I will be the best friend she has ever had."
Hoseok nodded and left him where he perched. It would take time before he got up. It would also take time for him to eat again. The Raven made a mental note to get him dinner before their flight tonight. He might have to watch him swallow each bite, but he didn't mind. Whether the bodyguard wanted it or not, he needed company. And it would give the two plenty of time to catch up. He wasn't sure what they would talk about later, but Hoseok would prepare the Assassin for the next leg of their journey.
It was odd though, watching a crystal image of what pain from the heart resembled. That must have been what he looked like a few years ago. Hoseok loved Rin. Still did, and he made the necessary sacrifices to prove it.
He recalled an old proverb he once wrote in a journal long forgotten.
There are multiple depths of love. The first level scrapes the surface, as it's only just beginning. The second level allows you to keep that person close to your heart. Together, you breathe as one. The lucky ones stay in the second stage forever. But, they will never compare to the residents of the third, because they love so much that they are willing to let go.
Hoseok belonged to the third.
Jungkook belonged to the third too. The Assassin loved Grey, and it had never been more apparent to Hoseok than in that moment.
:::
Amelia was the only one that heard the knock on the door.
Vanity ran water in the sink. Grey balled up her clothes and threw them into her suitcase. Taking their preoccupation as her cue, she strode over and opened it. A ringed hand rifled through platinum hair, full lips succeeding into curling into a smirk even though they weren't trying to. Jimin's frosted eyes landed on Amelia, and she held up a hand.
Without turning around, Amelia said, "Grey, honey. You have a delivery."
Grey sidled next to Amelia, sizing up the Ripper. Kindly, she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. Catching the hint, her best friend stole another once-over and went back to her luggage.
Jimin chuckled. "Am I a package?"
"Ignore her," Grey said, trying to muster a smile. "What's going on?"
"If I asked you to marry me in London, would you?"
Amelia dropped the shirt she carried. "WHAT?"
Vanity stuck her head out from the bathroom.
Grey choked. She covered her mouth to cough, her throat suddenly so dry it flared whenever she tried to breathe. Her eyes watered involuntarily as she beat her own chest with a fist. Worried Jimin drew her into his chest and gently pat her back. Grey nearly wrestled out of his arms.
"What? Are you serious?"
He smiled proudly and nodded. "Celia requested you and I for a shoot in her wedding collection."
"Miss Celia Camille?" Amelia stomped towards the door. "As in the designer of my dreams?"
Jimin said, "She does make some pretty beautiful things."
Amelia frowned. "Why would she request a wedding sh--,"
Grey gasped. "We're engaged."
"Did you forget?" Jimin smirked.
"I... What did you tell her?"
"That I would leave the decision to my beautiful fiancée. That happens to be you."
Grey despised today but that still made her cheeks warm. Sighing, she put her hands on her hips.
"Tell her we'll be there."
:::
(A/N) Entertaining reader,
I'm sorry if this chapter was a tad uneventful/boring/long or a combination of all three... please forgive me. It picks up literally as soon as next chapter so hold on!
also Greykook just sank and it hurt me to do that to them bc they're one of my favorite ships (but it's also a gentle reminder that no one is safe). And good luck to Yoongi. Maybe he can crawl out of his grave. Or not.
Thank you for checking out this chapter! My heart belongs with you, TTS fam.
Next release: 11/25 or 11/26 (November 25th or 26th)
With love,
M