Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

CHAPTER ONE

Jimin blinked at the hot rays of sun peaking through the roof of leaves covering him as he walked through the garden on the way to his brother’s house. The warmth he felt when every bit of sunlight touched his skin was soothing. It was almost like the sunlight itself fueled him, but he’d never know where the true source of his power lay.

He wasn't alone in this big garden that separated the kingdoms of Summer and Fall. He was accompanied by his personal servant, Taehyung, who he had known since he was granted his power that allowed him to be the new King of Summer. Though they had a servant and master relationship, Jimin would never consider Taehyung anything less than a friend and almost brother. They were too close for him not to consider Taehyung as family.

“Must we always walk through the garden on the way to your brother’s house? There’s a perfectly good clear road we could ride horses on to get to him,” Taehyung muttered out, comfortable enough to complain about this situation to Jimin.

Jimin laughed under his breath and glanced at new purple and white orchids growing against a tree, definitely made by the power of his brother’s lover, the king of Spring, Jin. More and more flowers grew every time he passed through here from the frequent visits Jin made to his brother, and he never failed to appreciate every new flower that seemed to be added to the beautiful barrier garden.

“I like to see that Namjoon is happy with Jin whenever I travel to his kingdom,” Jimin finally said, turning to Tae to see him also taking in the light blue sight of the glowing roses scattered up in the trees. Those were just one of thousands of kinds of flowers Jin had invented just to show his love for Namjoon, and Jimin couldn't help but wish he would someday have someone to invent a whole new type of flower for him as well.

Tae tilted his head back and forth in thought and sighed, “Yeah, I guess the view is a lot better than a dirt road. You should tell his majesty to maybe make a path in the garden for us to ride horses through though because I’m sick of walking for hours every time you want to visit him.”

“Then don’t come,” Jimin replied, half joking though he would be perfectly fine if Tae didn’t come along just to complain. He knew Tae would never let him walk outside of the castle alone though. It was too dangerous nowadays for a king to be alone anywhere.

Tae let out a defeated grunt and looked up at the stone castle that was now coming into view. He pressed a flattened hand up to his head to shield his eyes from the hot sun and said, “I can’t wait until we enter the barrier. The kingdom of Summer is too damn hot, no offense.”

Jimin glanced at Tae and giggled, “I’m sure Namjoon’s kingdom will be just as hot when you see his new servant. What’s his name again? Jungkook?”

He watched as Tae’s neck and face grew red with embarrassment that came with only saying that simple name. He wanted to laugh, but he waited for Tae’s reaction which was too hilarious to miss. Tae quickly averted his eyes to the ground and shook his head, “Yeah, it’s Jungkook. Why would he make me hot?” He immediately thought about what he just said and bit his lip, sweat dripping from his forehead down to his brow. He shakes his head again and keeps walking, “I admire his tea making skills.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Jimin nodded his head as he mused on to Tae, “You were in that kitchen with him for hours watching him at work, yet you still can’t boil water correctly.”

“He’s a bad teacher,” Tae retorted.

As soon as he said that, both of them felt a cool rush of air as they walked through the barrier into the kingdom of Autumn, the kingdom King Namjoon with the power of lightning and wind ruled over with people who preferred to reside in that season all year.

Tae held the handle of his knife just out of habit of being in a new land but quickly relaxed when he reminded himself that Namjoon would never let anything happen to Jimin within his kingdom. He turned to Jimin and nodded towards the cobblestone castle that stretched across most of the land they could see and said, “Looks like Jin is here.”

“How can you tell?” Jimin asks, wondering how Tae could see anyone in or around the castle from this distance.

Tae pointed to patches of tiger lilies actively growing around the stone of the castle as they walked up to it. Both of them knew that this meant Jin was getting too excited to control his powers. A blush couldn’t help but tint the color of Jimin’s cheeks as he thought about what his brother-like friend and his lover might be up to.

He looked down, “Maybe we shouldn’t ruin Jin’s visit with my brother.”

“He’s here all the time,” Tae said, taking Jimin’s hand and leading him closer towards the castle. “Ruining one visit - though you wouldn’t actually be ruining it - won’t be so bad. Plus, he sent for you to be here this time, so it’s his fault if you do ruin something.”

Though Tae’s words were reassuring, Jimin knew he mainly cared about seeing Jungkook more than anything, so he still felt a sense of worry as he walked up to Namjoon’s castle.

When they got to the large wooden doors of the castle, twisting with wooden vines and dogwood blooms at the end of some of the stems, Tae knocked on the door and held Jimin behind him just for safety precautions. His duties of being a personal servant also came with protecting Jimin at all costs almost like a knight. The only difference between him and a knight of Jimin’s kingdom was the fact that he only wore a long sleeved red shirt over his black pants and boots instead of bulky armor.

The doors opened as soon as Tae knocked, and he and Jimin were immediately welcomed by the always smiling new servant of King Namjoon, Jungkook. His eyes lit up when he saw Tae and he almost forgot that Jimin was even there, “Welcome! Namjoon told me to go ahead and let you in when you arrive.”

Tae stepped to the side and let Jimin pass through first before Jungkook finally addressed him with a bow, “My apologies, your majesty, I get too excited for my own good.”

“You’re fine,” Jimin smiled and eyed Tae with a smirk, “I’m glad you two get along.”

“Stop,” Tae muttered, flashing a fake smile to Jungkook.

Jimin laughed and turned away to head towards the throne room where Namjoon usually brought Jimin in to discuss minor news between the Autumn, Spring, and Summer Kingdoms. Jimin knew that one of these days he was going to be told that the Kingdoms of Autumn and Spring were going to join together in a marriage, and he wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why Namjoon told him to visit today.

“Where is Namjoon and Jin?” Jimin asked, turning around to face Jungkook and Tae again. He managed to catch them awkwardly staring at each other in search of words to say, but they cut away from one another when he spoke.

Jungkook looked confused and almost amazed for a moment, eyebrows raising as he asked, “How did you know King Seok-jin is here?”

Tae laughed under his breath and looked outside where roses were still blooming in areas where flowers would normally never be able to grow, “Just a hunch.”

“Wow,” Jungkook gasped, staring wide eyed at Tae as if he just performed magic like a king. He nodded his head and pointed towards the servants’ quarters, “They are in the kitchen. Jin is attempting to teach Namjoon how to bake, but they're only making a mess.”

“I’ll help you clean it up later,” Tae offered, and Jimin laughed at his friend’s awkward attempt to spend more alone time with Namjoon’s servant.

Tae rolled his eyes and pointed towards the kitchen, “Go see your brother.”

Jimin did as asked, laughing under his breath the whole way there at how flustered Tae got around Jungkook. It was nice to see his friend finally thinking about something other than protecting him or doing his duty as a servant, so Jimin was happy he took a liking to Jungkook.

He walked into the kitchen where a sound of dishes clattering and two men laughing louder and uglier than anything he’d ever heard before could be heard. He knocked on the door twice as he walked in and said, “Namjoon? Jin?”

The laughter ceased and Jimin watched as Namjoon poked his head out from around the corner of the kitchen before saying, “Oh?” Namjoon grinned and he stepped out with his arms spread, “Look at little miss sunshine here already!”

“I told you not to call me that,” Jimin groaned, dodging out of the way of Namjoon’s hug when he noticed how the whole entire front of Namjoon’s clothing was covered in flour.

Jin walked around from the corner as well, not as messy as Namjoon, and said, “Little miss sunshine! I haven’t see you in so long!”

“You have him calling me that too?” Jimin asked, glaring up at Namjoon with a pout that could hardly be taken seriously.

Namjoon laughed and wrapped his arm around Jin who didn't care at all about the flour rubbing off on his clothes, “I expected you around noon, so I tried to have Jin teach me how to bake a pie for you, but I’m beyond hopeless when it comes to that.”

“When he says beyond hopeless, he’s not kidding!” Jin added, turning back to the messy kitchen, “He got flour everywhere except the bowl.”

Jimin laughed and looked past the both of them to see flour on the ground and table and - low and behold - nowhere near the closest bowl. Jimin had a half a mind to think that Namjoon did that on purpose, but he couldn’t be too sure with his clumsiness.

Namjoon sighed and his smile for some reason faded, though it wass barely noticable to anyone who didn't know how wide Namjoon always smiled. Jimin almost questioned it, but Namjoon spoke before he could, “So about what I needed to tell you.”

“Ah,” Jimin nodded his head slowly when he started to realize that whatever Namjoon needed to tell him was not anything good. He could tell it just by Namjoon’s eyes alone if not his fading smile and furrowing brows. The way he clutched Jin closer than ever before made Jimin fear what could possibly be that bad.

Jin spinned out of Namjoon’s hold and muttered absent-mindedly, “I-I’m going to fix us some actual food. I’ll have Jungkook and Taehyung help me clean it up, so don’t worry about the mess.”

He walked away and Jimin noticed a handprint in flour on the back of his pants. What would normally be a moment where he’d laugh or throw a jab at the happy couple was a moment that he barely noticed go by. His heart was beating too fast, drumming in his ears and making him feel nauseous, too nauseous to think about the funny prints left behind from Namjoon and Jin’s previous moments.

Jin’s hands were shaking, but he grabbed a broom and started sweeping the flour on the ground into a pile, biting his lip and looking down as Namjoon finally grabbed Jimin’s attention again by saying, “Let’s go to throne room.”

“Is it bad? Does it have to do with?...” Jimin’s voice went quiet when he noticed the twitch at the corners of Namjoon’s lips, threatening to put even more of a scowl on his face. By that reaction alone, Jimin knew the answer to that question.

Whatever bad news this was, it’s about the King of Winter, Yoongi.

Jimin had never personally met him, but he was one of the four chosen holders of power in the world. When the previous king of Winter died, Yoongi was apparently just a simple villager that was suddenly cast upon by the powers of Winter. Rumor has it that as soon as he got his powers, he used them for evil and killed his whole village over night. He went around to three other villages after that and killed several people with his powers. Many people fleed their new king and left to go live in other warmer kingdoms, but King Yoongi had never been seen since.

There was always the occasional claim of someone seeing him though, people saying that he was a beast or an old sorcerer with a beard made of ice. Those could all be stories though. Most people said that if you did see the king of Winter, you wouldn't live to tell the tale. Jimin wasn't even sure if anyone lived in the Winter Kingdom anymore either. It had been taken over by a blizzard ever since Yoongi claimed power, so who was crazy or unfortunate enough to live there?

Namjoon and Jin hated the King of Winter for reasons Jimin can’t understand since they had never personally met him either. He always asked about why their expressions went cold or eyes went blank every time he was mentioned, but they never gave him an answer. They only either laughed it off or changed the subject quickly to avoid anymore questions.

Were they finally going to tell Jimin why they hated the fourth king so much though? Was he finally going to get answers as to why Namjoon always told Jimin to stay as far away as he could from Winter’s border? He was afraid to hear about something that scared even Namjoon and Jin who have been kings for longer than him, but he had waited long enough to finally get some answers.

“Sit down,” Namjoon quietly instructed when they entered his throne room and he closed the door.

Jimin obeyed him and sat down on the red carpet in front of Namjoon’s throne that sat alone in the back center of the room. This was the place where people from all around would kneel to Namjoon and voice their worries or praises for his kingdom, but for Jimin, this was where he heard Namjoon tell stories about him and Jin or news going on in the world of the humans they ruled over.

Namjoon walked past Jimin and instead of sitting down at his throne like he usually did, he sat down on the stairs approaching the throne. He leaned forward on his knees and stared at Jimin with worried eyes.

This prompted Jimin to speak first, “What is going on with the King Yoongi?”

“Don’t say his name,” Namjoon closed his eyes, folding his hands together and biting his lip to keep himself from getting angrier about this outcasted king.

Jimin tilted his head, “Is Jin alright? He seems afraid too.”

Namjoon ducked his head down and ran his fingers through his hair, “He’s just… worried… He’s scared for you.”

“For me?” Jimin asked, eyes widening in surprise. “Why would he be worried about me? I’m fine.”

Namjoon nodded his head, “I know, I know. But the king… the king of Winter. He’s… His blizzard grew overnight and it’s stretching towards your lands.”

Jimin’s eyes widened when he heard this news. How did he not notice this? How did Namjoon notice this? A blizzard in the realm of the king of Winter could only be seen if you were truly looking, so why was Namjoon watching out for this?

“How do you know? Why would the blizzard even be coming towards my lands?” Jimin asked, looking down at his lap in confusion. “I haven’t been a bad king have I?”

“No, most certainly not,” Namjoon quickly shut him down and rocked forward on his toes a bit, giving Jimin a reassuring smile, “Right from the start you’ve been the best king the kingdom of Summer has ever had! Definitely better than the last at least. That’s why he was killed.”

Jimin leaned back, momentarily reminded of what he had so often feared would be his demise if he didn’t perform well enough as a king, “But what if this king is trying to kill me because I’m not a good king in his opinion?”

“I won’t let him,” Namjoon smiled, “Jin won’t either.”

“So there’s nothing to worry about,” Jimin muttered out, looking down at the ground and rubbing his thumb and index finger together as he tried to assure himself that everything would be ok.

Namjoon nodded his head, happy that Jimin wasn’t worrying anymore, though that didn’t ease his fears at all. He pressed his elbows deeper into his knees and continued to speak in a cautious tone of voice, “But I do need to warn you…” His words gained Jimin’s attention once more and he listened in high alert as Namjoon spoke, “A long time ago, two years before you were granted the power of summer and became king, there was a prophecy of tragedy.”

“The tragedy of the King of Summer and the King of Winter?” Jimin asked, trying to remember the exact words of the prophecy everyone throughout all four kingdoms knew. He recited as much as he could remember out loud, “Winter shall swallow Summer up whole until nothing remains and not even the Sun can bring him back.”

“Yes,” Namjoon edged him on now, “Do you know the rest?”

“The rest?” Jimin asked, tilting his head in confusion. “I mean, the old king of Summer thought he was invincible, so he challenged the king of Winter to a duel with a plan to wipe him out and prove the prophecy wrong. That didn’t work out for either of them though, because they both ended up dying. Me and yoon-!” he stopped himself before he could say that name in Namjoon’s presence and treaded on carefully, “...The king of Winter were both given our powers immediately after and the prophecy became irrelevant after that.”

Namjoon shook his head, “Except it didn’t.”

“What?”

He got up and walked over to a stain glass window showcasing a depiction of the previous kings of Fall. He hadn’t put up a glass window of himself yet, but there was an open space for that time that would eventually come.

“There’s a part of the prophecy only the kings of Spring and Fall know,” Namjoon said, his hands meeting each other behind his back, “I’m not sure why this prophecy part of the prophecy was supposed to be private, but it’s about how it didn’t stop at those two kings,” he turned around to look Jimin in the eyes now with a serious look. He licked his bottom lip and lowered his head, “The prophecy has continued on to you and the king of Winter."

“What?” Jimin’s eyes widened and he stood up. “So King Yoongi is planning on killing me?”

Namjoon nodded his head and walked back towards Jimin, “But Jin and I will not allow that to happen. Ever since we met you and took a liking to you, we knew we must do whatever we can to protect you from him. We’ve been keeping a close watch and only now has it gotten so bad that we can’t hide it from you anymore.”

The King of Fall reached out to touch Jimin’s shoulders, but Jimin stepped back before he could be touched. He brought his hand up to head as if to ease a headache and said, “My kingdom… My people! I need to save them from the blizzard! They’ve only been used to the hot conditions for so long, they wouldn’t survive!”

“Jimin, calm down,” Namjoon tried, but Jimin hurried towards the doors that lead out to the entrance room of the castle.

“I…” he put his hand on the door and looked down in thought, eyes widening when an idea came into mind, “I’m going to talk to King Yoongi.”

“What?!” Namjoon practically squeaked out. He shook his head and followed Jimin out of the room, “You can’t! He is sending that blizzard to kill you. If you try to talk to him, that’s like a fish jumping right into a fisherman’s basket! You won’t even have a chance to speak before he turns you to ice.”

Jimin stopped in his place and curled his hands up into fists, turning around to face Namjoon with a more determined look on his face than anything he’d ever seen on him in his life, “I’d rather die trying to save the people of my kingdom than have my people die while I try to save myself.”

When he said these words, Namjoon couldn't help but stand there in complete silence, both admiring and questioning how much Jimin had grown as a king in these few years. He was making such a mature choice that even a mad man had to honor, but still, he shouldn’t be having to make this choice at all.

“Jimin… I love you like a brother. I know this sounds selfish, but I can’t have you go into his kingdom,” Namjoon said calmly now, “At least let me come with you?”

Jimin laughed under his breath and shook his head, “I’ll be fine with just Tae. Plus, Jin would kill me if I requested you come with me into the lion’s den.”

Namjoon looked down at the ground, slowly growing aware that it was near impossible to try to convince Jimin to do anything but attempt to talk with his powerful enemy to try to solve the problem at hand. Namjoon nodded his head and sighed, looking up at the ceiling to keep himself from looking at Jimin and trying all over again to get him to stay in the safety of his kingdom, “Take Jungkook with you. He doesn’t look like it, but he’s a skilled fighter as well. Better than anyone I’ve ever had.”

“I can’t-!” Jimin tried to say, but he’s cut off by Namjoon saying in a tort voice, “It’s the only way I’ll let you go.”

Though his words sounded bossy and almost violent, Jimin couldn't’t help but smile at the way Namjoon cared for him. The corners of his mouth tugged up into a closed lipped smile before he nodded his head and said quietly, “Thank you.”

Namjoon didn't smile back, only already dreading the future while also saying, "I'll give you three weeks, and if you aren't back by then, I'm declaring war on the Winter Kingdom."

Jimin's eyes widened, "Really? You shouldn't-!"

"Then make sure you live and get back before I can, ah?" Namjoon finally smiles, lowering his brows to let Jimin know he's only half joking. If that monster of a king in the Winter Kingdom even dared to lay a hand on Jimin, he was going to make sure that was the last thing he'd be able to do.

An hour later and Jin was also giving demands to Jimin on how to be safe when facing the terrifying king of the Winter Kingdom. Like a mother, Jin packed three backpacks full of food for Tae, Jungkook, and Jimin to carry, telling them to drink as much water as they could to remain healthy and never overwork themselves when walking in the mountains of the kingdom.

It was surprising that they were able to leave after such a short time of Namjoon and Jin both telling them how to safely get to the castle of the Winter king and begging them to not go. Everyone already knew though that once Jimin had his mind set on something, he would do it, and that included risking his life to save his kingdom.

With one last goodbye and a tight enough hug to squeeze the life out of him from both Jin and Namjoon, Jimin set off with Jungkook and Tae behind him.

His heart beat at a fast rhythm softly in his chest, afraid to let the two accompanying him know he was in fact scared to go anywhere near the king or the kingdom that wanted to kill him. He couldn’t even admit to himself that he was scared enough to turn back and never leave the comforts of his hot kingdom again, but there was one thing he was willing to tell himself in his mind over and over again to keep himself from turning back no matter how bad his worries became:

It was time for a change in the prophecy. Maybe he could make that happen. Maybe the prince of Winter could come to realize that he didn't have to fulfill such a terrible fate either.

With these words, Jimin smiled to himself and walked on towards the frozen kingdom.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER TWO

     “Are we sure we’re going the right way?” Tae asked for the third time in the past hour. He had every reason to though since every snow covered tree in the woods of the Winter Kingdom looked the same. In fact they were passing a white oak tree covered in snow that looked just like the one they saw earlier. Jimin, Tae, and Jungkook feared that it might actually be the one they saw a half hour ago.

Jimin was now cold, wet, tired, and hungry, and wanted to stumble across at least an abandoned town or something before the weight of all of these needed components weighed him down. Namjoon told him before he left that Jungkook knew the area of the Winter Kingdom since he lived there before moving to the Fall Kingdom, but even Jungkook was now second guessing his directions as they walked through the deep snow.

Jimin could see his breath blow out in front of him, looking like smoke before it disappeared into the thick air. He held his thin coat close to him, chills eating up every bit of his skin until he was completely numb. He tried to use his powers to heat himself up a bit, but he didn’t want to use his powers for his own benefit while Tae and Jungkook were left to freeze.

     “Should we stop and take a break?” Jungkook finally suggests, noticing the look on Tae and Jimin’s face that gave away the fact that neither of them had ever been in cold conditions like this before.

Jimin didn’t want to seem like he was giving up on a journey that he wanted to go on in the first place, but he gladly took advantage of Tae wanting a break. He nodded his head and looked to Tae, “Do you want a break?”

Tae glances at him with a mildly confused look before looking to Jungkook and muttering out a nervous, “I mean… I can’t feel my legs right now, but I can keep going if you guys-!”

     “We’ll take a break,” Jungkook decides before either of them can say anything else about it. He puts his hand on a tree branch and breaks it off, “Let’s make camp and a fire before we rest though. Your highness, is there anyway you could use your powers to melt the snow around us? We need a dry place to set up the fire and can’t do that with the snow.”

     “Of course,” Jimin says, dropping his bags where he stood and bending down to put his hands on the ground. “Once it’s water, I’ll refill our water supply.”

Jimin could also control water as one of his powers he inherited as the king of the Summer Kingdom. He couldn’t create it like he could with fire or how the Winter King could create water and ice, but in these kinds of situations, he was thankful he could at least control it.

He pressed his hands to the snow on the ground and focused his power into his palms until he started to feel the ice melting beneath him. He had grown less marveled at the sight of his own power after having it for four years now since he was thirteen, but he always loved to see Tae and Jungkook and others seem so amazed by the things he could do with just his hands.

Jungkook bent down next to Jimin, jaw dropped in awe as he gasped, “I’ve never seen the power of the Summer King before! Your majesty, this is amazing…”

     “You should see him when he uses his fire powers to put on shows for the children of the kingdom,” Tae smiled, sitting down next to Jungkook with his legs bent and crossed over each other in front of him. “He can make moving shapes within the flames of the fire, it’s really amazing.”

     “Really?” Jungkook’s eyes widened and he turned to Jimin. “Can you do a show now? I’ve never known a king to entertain his people with his powers.”

Tae smiled at Jungkook’s amazement and answered for Jimin since Jimin was too busy melting the snow and already moving the excess water so they could be able to lay on the dry ground, “He should rest first because it takes a lot of energy for him to use his powers. But he performs for us because the kids love his magic. It makes them know that they are safe from anything ever attacking our kingdom with a powerful king watching over them.”

     “Does Jimin ever have to use his powers for discipline?” Jungkook asked, glancing at Jimin for a moment to try to imagine it. His mind came up empty with any kind of image of Jimin being mad, so he continued to speak, “King Namjoon only ever uses his powers for discipline when someone does something really bad like murder. He strikes them down with lightning before sending them down to the kingdom prison to live out the rest of their punishment,” Jungkook laughed a little in admirement, “He sometimes helps King Jin out too if he needs it, because it’s hard to hurt anyone with his spring powers.”

     “Ah, I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Tae argued, smiling anyways though and glancing at Jimin who was now done clearing a space for them to stay. While they were talking, he even built up some walls made of snow around them to block out the wind and help keep the fire going.

Jimin was able to attest to Tae’s statement now that he was almost done setting up camp, “One time I saw Jin get so angry at a man in his kingdom that had killed his own kids to save money that he made a tree grow inside of the man and killed him,” Jimin cringed a bit at the memory, but gave a smile anyway, “It was terrifying, but the man deserved it.”

     “People used to not take him seriously as a king until that moment. I don’t think there’s been much crime since,” Tae laughed and broke a branch off of a tree next to him and threw it into the center of the dried out circle where the fire would be.

Jungkook mirrored his actions and started collecting sticks and branches as well for the fire before Tae asked him, “So when did you leave the Winter Kingdom? Must have been around the time of King Yoongi taking power, right?” He laughed a little to himself and continued, “I bet your family is glad to have made it out alive after hearing the stories of what he has done since.”

Jungkook’s expression fell when he heard these words, and he looked down, unable to hide the obvious pain he felt when Tae spoke. Both Jimin and Tae noticed it, glancing at each other and then back at Jungkook with worried eyes.

     “Are you alright?” Jimin asked, pressing his hands to the wood to create a fire before any of them could freeze anymore in the frigid cold.

Tae placed his hand over Jungkook’s arm, but he stepped away from his touch, nodding his head and replying quietly, “Yeah… I-I guess I just realized what we’re heading into. We’re going to see the King of Winter… the… the killer of so many people.” He quickly looked up at Tae and Jimin who had previously been staring at him wide eyed and said, “I mean, that’s the reason I left. He killed so many people, it was only a matter of time before he got to me, so naturally-!”

Jungkook was suddenly cut off by the sounds of wolves howling from a close distance. All three of the boys turned to face the direction that the noise came from, two of the boys afraid of what could possibly make that noise and one boy aware of the troubles that would soon beseech them.

Jimin and Tae turned to Jungkook with a look of bewilderment on their faces. Tae grabbed his dagger from his belt and spoke first, “What is that noise? Is this common in the Winter Kingdom or is this the work of the Winter King?”

     “Wolves,” Jungkook spoke, grabbing his bag that was laying on the ground quickly and rummaging through it for something. He continued to speak as he desperately searched through the bag, “Wolves are pretty common and the second scariest thing I feared at night besides the king himself. They are animals that will stop at nothing to make you their prey.”

Jimin stood up straight in alert and tried to access his power only to stumble back a bit in exhaustion. He gripped his head and groaned out in pain as Tae rushed to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him up, “You overworked yourself with your powers. Just rest and we’ll take care of it.”

     “There’s five wolves surrounding us,” Jungkook spoke from a few feet away, counting the pairs of eyes and gnashing teeth that were approaching them slowly, having found their prey for the night.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he pushed himself away from Tae, “There’s no way the two of you could fight off five wolves alone. I’m going to help.”

     “Jimin you can’t-!” Tae tried to argue, but Jimin shot him a look to let him know that there was no stopping him from doing what he had his mind set on doing now.

He used the little strength he had in him to create a fireball in his palm and turned to the wolves, “Let them try to approach us.”

Tae rolled his eyes and turned the other direction to have Jimin and Jungkook’s back in the fight against the wild beasts staring at them like they were their next meal because they were. He gripped the handle of his knife harder and pointed towards one of the wolves staring right at him, “They'll regret it.”

The first wolf which seemed to be the leader of the pack came lunging at Jungkook first, taking him by surprise since Jungkook had been previously staring at two other wolves that had started nearing him.

This wasn’t enough to win over Jungkook though because he quickly swung his short sword at the wolf and sent him away temporarily. Now that a member of their pack was hurt by one of the prey they were after though, all of the wolves went around to Jungkook’s side, either wanting revenge on him for hurting one of their own or wanting a challenge against the prey that seemed to be putting up a fight.

Jimin and Tae quickly turned around to help Jungkook out, pointing their weapons and flames at the opposing side until suddenly a light could be seen in the distance as someone shouted out to them, “What are you doing in these woods?”

     “People?” Tae asked, his eyebrows raising as hope filled his senses. Before Jimin or Jungkook could respond, he quickly shouted back to the voice approaching them slowly, “Wolves! Don’t come over here unless you can put up a fight!”

There was complete silence after that and none of them could try to pay attention for another response before the wolves started trekking closer, their growls rumbling at the back of their throats. When the wolves got too close for his comfort, Jimin sent a wall of fire between them and the wolves to force them back.

Jungkook looked up in amazement at the fifteen foot wall of fire lifted up in front of him, the heat radiating off of it hotter than anything he had ever experienced. The wolves whimpered and growled in fear, scampering back a few feet at the massive amount of light that appeared before them.

Tae and Jungkook would have stayed standing in awe with their jaws dropped as well if they didn’t hear a loud thump right before the wall of fire disappeared and Jimin was suddenly on the ground.

Jungkook turned around to see Jimin lying unconscious in the snow before being forced to turn around to deal with the wolves again. This time, he had to keep them away on his own since Tae immediately ran to Jimin, muttering to himself, “Shit, I told you you’d overwork yourself!”

     “We need to escape to a safer place!” Jungkook called out from where he was holding back the wolves. “If there was a person nearby just now, that means a town is nearby!”

Tae quickly picked Jimin up and held him in his arms, “I think I still see the man’s light. If you can fight the wolves off as we head in that direction, we might be able to reach a town and be safe.”

Jungkook nodded his head, “Start walking; I have your back.”

With one last glance at the raging wolves, Tae started running towards where he saw the light of the lantern the man off in the distance was still holding. Jungkook followed close behind him, batting his sword at any wolf that dared to come near them.

Taehyung held Jimin close until all three of them froze in place at the sound of a gunshot ripping through the air. He clutched onto Jimin and turned around to shield him just in case they were the target for the bullet, but he soon realized that the shot wasn’t pointed at them. In fact, it wasn’t pointed at anything. Someone had shot a gun into the air.

The wolves scampered away like ants at the sound of the shot, whimpering as if they had been the ones to get shot. Jungkook put his hand on Tae’s shoulder and muttered, “The man holding the light shot the gun.”

     “Is he pointing it at us now?” Tae asked, his voice low and normal but his eyes showing a great deal of fear. If anyone had forgotten how young he was before, they were certainly reminded of it now.

Jungkook glanced above Taehyung’s head to see the man putting his gun away and beckoning for them to come closer. He shook his head and looked down to Tae again, “I think he saved us. He wants us to meet him where he is though. Should we?”

     “Yes,” Tae answers, turning around to face the man once his fears subsided. He took a step forward and continued to speak, “We need to bring Jimin indoors. He can’t be out here in the cold; it’s not good for him.”

     “I’ll lead the way then,” Jungkook replied, keeping his sword out just in case the man that beckoned them was bad news.

They walked the rest of the way to the man until they came into hearing distance and the man greeted them with a smile, “So I take it you’re not from here? Everyone knows traveling in the woods at night is a death wish these days.”

Tae looked to Jungkook who shrugged, “I can handle wolves.”

The man laughed under his breath and held out his hand to Jungkook, “I saw that. My name is Hoseok. And you both are?”

Taehyung spoke for him and Jungkook this time, “I’m Taehyung and this is Jungkook,” he lifts Jimin up a little bit, “Our friend passed out and we need to get him indoors. Do you know where a nearby town is? Does anyone actually live in this kingdom?”

Hoseok laughed at this and shook his head, “There’s not a town for miles with people living in it.”

     “Then where did you come from?” Tae asked, trying to catch the man’s bluff though the man didn’t seem phased by it.

He pointed behind him where a hill was and replied, “I live in the castle of the king just beyond that hill. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I brought a few guests in need of help back with me. He rarely comes out of his room, so he might not even notice your presence!”

Taehyung and Jungkook’s eyes widened and they glanced at each other. Tae shook his head in resistance, but couldn’t decline the offer before Jungkook quickly accepted it, “We would very much appreciate that, thank you. You said it was behind that hill, right? Should we start walking then?”

     “Yes of course!” Hoseok cheerfully replies and turns on his heel to start walking in the other direction.

Taehyung gave Jungkook a worried look as if he was about to protest the idea, but Jungkook smiled and whispered to him, “Jimin fainted from what we think is hypothermia and we’re all from the Fall Kingdom. That can at least be the story until Jimin is strong enough to decide what to do in the house of his enemy.”

His words caused Tae to fall quiet since Jungkook did have an excellent point that they could just lie to the king for now if they saw him. Jimin needed rest and warmth more than anything right now, so they’d have to take the risk while they could.

As they walked on in silence, Hoseok finally decided to talk about the topic on everyone’s minds right then. He turned to them and spoke with an encouraging smile, “He’s not as bad as everyone says, you know. No one has even see him since he got his powers four years ago except for me, so I don’t know why they claim he’s done terrible things.”

     “He has though,” Jungkook argued, a glint of hatred in his eyes as he spoke.

Hoseok glanced at Jungkook for a moment, then back at the ground, falling silent without a reply since he knew what Jungkook’s words meant. He bit his lip in search for something to say, but could only come up with a quiet, “So you used to live here?”

Jungkook nodded his head, “Pine Valley.”

Tae watched in confusion as Hoseok gasped and muttered to himself, “One of the towns that were hit… And you lived?”

The corners of Jungkook’s mouth curled up as if he was about to make a sly comment, but instead it fell into scowl as he barely nodded his head and muttered out, “Yeah.”

The group fell into silence for a few moments before Hoseok spoke up, cheerful yet again as he said, “You’ll see that he’s not like that. What people think is not the truth, but it’s not my place to tell you. After living through that, I understand if you’d never believe anyone saying the Winter King is anything less than a monster, so it’s best for you to come to realize that yourself.”

Both Tae and Jungkook wanted to retort back with a protesting comment, but they both decided to remain quiet, not wanting anything they say to get back to the Winter King himself if this guy really was close with him. And what if he was just lying about his name and really was the Winter King? Because no one in their right mind would ever stand up for the king.

The rest of the way to the castle was in complete silence apart from the whispers made back and forth between Jungkook and Taehyung about Jimin’s condition. No one spoke until Hoseok opened the grand doors to the castle and said softly, “Try to be quiet just in case Yoongi is sleeping. I don’t want your first impression of him to be a cranky old man.”

     “Is he actually an old man?” Tae asked, looking behind him as the creaky doors to the cold castle closed behind him.

Hoseok gestured for them to follow him to a room with a fireplace lit as he answered Tae with a laugh, “No, quiet the opposite. He’s as young as all the kings though his white hair often throws people off. But that’s because of the powers he inherited, kind of like how the king of Fall has brown hair, the king of Spring has pink-ish hair, and the king of summer…” his voice trailed off and his eyes looked upon Jimin whose hair color could now be seen in the light. He tilted his head and looked up at Tae with a raised eyebrow, “The king of summer has orange hair… Is he?... Is he who I think he is?”

Tae shook his head slowly and set Jimin down on the couch next to the fireplace to give his arms a rest. He felt like he was going to have to pick Jimin up and run out of that castle soon though if things went south from here, so he was ready. He ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to think of a lie that didn’t sound too fake, stuttering out the words, “Ah… He… He dyed his hair. It’s not natural. He’s an orange farmer, so I think it suits him.”

     “What kingdom is he from?” Hoseok asked, looking down at Jimin again.

     “Huh?” Tae asked, glancing at Jungkook for a split second to find an answer before turning back to Hoseok and quickly replying, “Oh, we’re from the kingdom of Spring. Jungkook lives in the king of Fall, but we’re all good friends.”

Hoseok smiled and backed up, not sensing that Taehyung was lying but still sensing that he was uncomfortable. He pointed to a stack of blankets and said, “There’s plenty of blankets in the corner for you to use tonight to get warm. I’m sorry I can’t give you a proper bed without the king’s permission, but I hope you understand.”

     “We do,” Jungkook replied with a smile though his fingers were trembling from the anxiety that was racking up within him from being in the castle of the Winter King. He stiffly walked over to the stack of blankets and got three off the top for him, Tae, and Jimin, his fear going undetected in the room colored warmly by the light of the fire.

Hoseok stepped back into the doorway and waved one last time at the duo before saying, “I’ll let you three rest now, and I’ll be back in the morning to check up on you. If you need anything, I’m in the room at the end of this level’s hallway.”

     “Thank you,” both Tae and Jungkook said before he left, leaving them to stare at each other for a few seconds in silence as they waited for his footsteps to subside with the soft closing of a door at the end of the hallway.

When they were sure they were alone, they both let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding in. Jungkook laid on the ground next to the couch Jimin was still unconscious on and mumbled tiredly, “Good night.”

     “What?” Tae asked, looking shocked that Jungkook was falling asleep just like that. He quickly lay Jimin’s blanket evenly out across his body before crouching down to Jungkook on the ground and whispering, “We are in the house of the evilest king himself and you are just going to sleep?”

     “There’s nothing else we can do,” Jungkook answered plainly, keeping his eyes shut.

     “And what about him attacking your village? You said you’ve never seen him,” Taehyung kept talking despite Jungkook’s wishes to fall asleep.

Jungkook sighs and responds, “I lied. I don’t want to talk about it.”

     “Why? Did he kill your family?”

There was a long pause after that with no reply and no backtrack of words. Tae almost decided to take back his words and apologize, but Jungkook turned around to face the couch in his laying down position and replied before he could say anything, “Good night.”

Taehyung didn’t push him to talk anymore after that, feeling like he received his answer with that reaction to the question. He sighed and laid against the couch, turning to Jimin who was sleeping soundly with no idea what kind of dangerous place he was sleeping in at the moment. Tae bit his lip and looked down at his knees that were brought up to his chest as he held his silver knife in his hands as protection against any evil the king might use against him in the night.

He shook his head and looked down to Jungkook who had visible tears running down his cheeks as he tried to fall asleep. Without thinking, Tae put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it soothingly, muttering out quietly, “Fall asleep, Jungkook… I’ll watch over the both of you tonight, so you have nothing to worry about.”

He didn’t receive a verbal answer to that, but the slow and almost thankful nod that Jungkook gave him was enough. Though he was tired, he was going to stay up all night, prepared to fight the Winter King if it came to that. If he dared put a hand on either of his friends while they stayed here helplessly in his house, he was going to raise Hell.

-

Jimin woke up to the sound of a crackling fire and wind howling outside of a window. When did he go indoors? Didn’t he fall asleep outside in the cold? Wait… He didn’t fall asleep at all. He fainted due to using his powers too much. But still, he fainted outside in the snow in the middle of nowhere, so where was he now?

Jimin turned on his side to see the back of Taehyung’s head, resting on the couch. Tae had a knife in his hands, but his fingers held a loose grip around the handle and a light snore was making its way out of Tae’s mouth.

With a glance to the side, Jimin could see his hand resting on Jungkook’s shoulder who was also half asleep.

Curiosity prompted Jimin to slide the blanket off of his legs and carefully get off the couch without waking Jungkook or Tae to find out where he was. Was this place abandoned since no one lived in the Winter Kingdom, or did someone actually live here?

Jimin tiptoed out of the living room and out into the dark hallway, the floor underneath him creaking even with his lightest steps. He’d be afraid to wake everyone up in the house if the wind wasn’t so loud.

He looked down the dark hallway of the first level, seeing nothing but closed doors and old walls where the paint was peeling off at the corners. The house didn’t look old or unmanaged, but it did look like it was in need of a repair though Jimin wasn’t sure there would be anyone around in the Winter Kingdom to be able to repair a house like this. Whoever lived here must be lonely if there were any residents in the house.

Instead of going down the hallway, Jimin decided to walk carefully up the stairs next to what seemed to be the kitchen to see if there were any pictures on the walls or paintings to indicate if anyone lived there still or not. 

When he got up to the second level, his eyes were immediately drawn to three candles still glowing next to the sill of a closed window. They were almost burned out all the way to their wick, but two inches were still left, holding up a little flame that was the only light in the upstairs that Jimin could see.

Curious about these three candles, Jimin walked over to the stand that held them, able to see one small picture frame in the center of all three of them, a photo that Jimin couldn’t quite make out at his distance. He tilted his head and squinted his eyes to try to see it, stepping closer on the creaky floor to depict who was in the photo. It seemed to be a little boy and his parents, the boy having black hair while his parents matched as well.

He could almost see the picture clearly until he heard a footstep creak behind him as a low voice asked, “What are you doing in my house?”

Jimin whipped his head around quickly and jumped back when he met face to face in the darkness with a man with white hair and tired eyes. He was definitely angry and Jimin immediately started to fear that Tae snuck into this house and fell asleep without checking for an actual owner.

     “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t know there was anyone here,” Jimin tried to explain himself, averting his eyes away when the cold eyes of the man in front of him stared directly at him.

The man stepped forward, a low growl coming out with his voice as he replied, “No one enters this castle unless they have ulterior motives. So tell me, why are you here?”

Jimin stepped back with every step closer the man got, putting his arms up to defend himself as he tried to explain, “I swear, I just woke up downstairs. I-I passed out in the woods when wolves were attacking, and I think my friends just brought me here for shelter from the cold-!”

Before he could finish his last words, a low voice he recognized as Tae’s spoke behind the man, “Step away from him before I make you regret ever being born.”

The man quickly turned his head around and looked to Tae, finally putting distance between him and Jimin to say, “Who are you? How did you get in to my castle?”

Tae’s eyes were unwavering, unblinking as he glared at the man as coldly as the wind blew outside. He raised his knife up to make the man aware of its presence as he said, “A man by the name of Hoseok let us in because my friend here passed out. I know the monster you are, but I’ll let you prove to me your capable of something other than murder by stepping back.”

Tae and the man had a staring contest for a few seconds before the man finally broke eye contact to back up and look at Jimin again , “What are you doing up here? Go back downstairs with your friends.”

His words were dripping with venom, but Jimin understood why. Tae did just call him a murderer and threatened his life out of nowhere, so Jimin could see why the man wanted them both out of his presence.

Jimin warily reached out for Tae, hoping that whenever he was next to Tae, he’d be safe. The man stepped back more when he walked past him, hissing out in surprise and spitting out, “Don’t touch me!”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he stared at the man for the rest of the time he was in his presence, afraid of what was going through the man’s head to make him hate him so much. He stayed in a trance until Tae pulled him downstairs, not wanting to stand before such a ‘monster’ for another second.

When they got downstairs, they heard a door slam upstairs before Tae finally said, “What were you doing wandering around a stranger’s castle at night? You should have woken me up.”

     “I thought it was abandoned,” Jimin looked down, still going over his meeting with the white haired man over and over again as if reliving those short term memories would help explain to him what all just happened. He shook his head and continued to speak, “I thought it was abandoned like the rest of the Winter Kingdom.”

Tae rolled his eyes, “Well you thought wrong.”

     “What else was I supposed to think?” Jimin retorted in a hushed voice. “And why were you so angry at the man if he’s giving us shelter? You could have been nicer. Have you been speaking to him like that the whole time I’ve been unconscious?”

Tae bit his lip and looked down to the ground, finally walking a few more steps into the warm living room Jungkook was still sleeping in. He shook his head and sighed, “That was my first time seeing him. I only met a different man named Hoseok that also lives here.”

     “So why are you calling him a monster?” Jimin asked, sitting on the couch in front of the fire that was now only dimly lit.

Tae sat next to him and glanced behind his shoulder to check for the white haired man possibly standing in the doorway where they once stood, listening to them. When he saw no one eavesdropping on them, he turned back around to Jimin and spoke cautiously and quietly as if every sound he spoke would be amplified in the castle, “Because he's..." he takes a deep breath and folds his hands together in his lap, "Because he's Min Yoongi... the king of Winter."

Chapter Text

CHAPTER THREE

Jimin couldn’t fall asleep at all that night after Taehyung told him about the owner of the castle they were staying in. He stared at the fire in silence, trying to think about what he should do in the presence of the king of Winter himself. Tae told him about how the king was unaware of who they were right now, and Jimin wondered if it should stay that way for a little bit, just until he gained his strength back. Then he’d be able to face the king confidently and ask him why he was sending a storm towards his kingdom.

At breakfast the next morning, Jimin’s exhaustion showed. Jimin had sluggishly introduced himself to Hoseok and thanked him for saving them all before slumping down at the table and eating a breakfast Hoseok made for the four of them. A fifth plate sat the end of the table, but Jimin hoped the ominous host of the house would never join them.

     “It’s so exciting to have guests,” Hoseok smiled, watching Tae and Jungkook chowing down on their separate bowls of strawberries and grapes. He rested his chin on the back of his folded hands and glanced at Jimin who was trying to show at least a little respect by eating his food slowly, “So you are an orange farmer? Taehyung told me a little about you and how you are both from the Spring Kingdom.”

Jimin glanced at Tae and nodded his head, remembering the lie he was supposed to keep up, “Yes, I’ve never been in a colder climate than the Fall kingdom, so this has been a big change I wasn’t prepared for. Have you lived here your whole life?”

Hoseok tilted his head side to side before looking down and shaking it, a smile still resting on his face as he must have been thinking of fond memories, “I used to live in the Summer Kingdom actually. It was extremely hot and we all feared the king, so we left right before he and the previous Winter King died. My family lives in a town a few miles away and we’ve been in the Winter Kingdom ever since.”

     “Why do you live with the king?” Jimin asked, glancing at the stairs to make sure the king wasn’t awake yet to hear him ask such a personal question.

     “He saved my family from a pack of wolves two years after we first moved here. We would have died if it wasn't for him, and my family has been forever grateful since. We know from experience that he isn't as bad as everyone says he is! And I found out a year ago that he is quite frequently in danger of ignorant people that hate him, so I chose to stay here to protect him from those who want to hurt him without even getting to know him. He hated me living with him at first, but we became better friends after a few years,” Hoseok said with a small smile before the wooden floor in the doorway creaked and the king walked in.

Jimin felt a chill run up his spine as the king asked grumpily, “You aren’t gone already?”

     “Yoongi be nice,” Hoseok laughed and pointed towards the open chair for him. “It’s their first time in the Winter Kingdom, so you should make a good first impression.”

     “I think they’ve already made their minds up about me,” Yoongi replied, glaring daggers at Taehyung in particular. Tae pretended not to notice and kept eating, so Yoongi shifted his intimidating stare to Jimin, muttering out disdainfully, “Why are you here anyway?”

Jimin eased his gaze towards his food, unable to handle the ice cold stare Yoongi gave him that sent chills throughout his body. He remembered another part of the lie Taehyung told him to tell last night and replied, “I couldn’t handle the cold and fainted, and Hoseok is allowing us to stay here until I get better.”

     “No,” Yoongi let out a frustrated sigh. “Why are you in the Winter Kingdom? No one visits just for fun.”

     “That's understandable,” Jimin spoke before he could bite back his words. He shuts his eyes in regret for the rude comment, but didn’t take it back, only bowing his head a bit and looking up at Yoongi with a cautious stare as he explained himself, “I mean, I almost died out there. Wolves attacked me and my friends, and there isn’t a single person we've encountered except Hoseok and you, but you-!... You are feared throughout the lands…”

Taehyung nudged Jimin with his elbow under the table to make him stop talking, but Jimin kept feeling the need to justify his words by continuing to speak, only digging himself deeper into his grave, “Maybe if you just tried to use your powers less for evil, then-!”

Yoongi interrupted him by standing up so quickly his chair almost fell to the ground. Jimin noticed Yoongi's plate of food had become frozen completely without him noticing as he growled out, “You have no right to come into my home and tell me what I should do as the ruler of my own lands!”

     “Yoongi calm down,” Hoseok tried to reason, but Yoongi wasn’t even going to listen to him at this point.

He slammed his hand down on the table and grit his teeth as he leaned in close towards Jimin to continue harshly, “Until you’re a king of one of the four kingdoms, I don’t want to hear you ever try to act like you-!”

     “I am a king,” Jimin leaned forward with a smirk and furrowed brows that showed off his pride and anger in that one sentence. His teeth were clenched tight to control himself from completely yelling at the Winter King, but he could already feel his powers boiling up to the top. If he had gotten angry like this two years ago, the table in the grip of his hands right now would already be set on fire, but thankfully he could control his powers now.

Yoongi tilted his head in confusion and leaned back a bit, a condescending laugh escaping his lips before he asked slyly, “A king of what, you’re little orange farm? Because that’s laughable.”

     “No,” Jimin clenched his hands into fists and shook his head. “I’m the King of Summer.”

     “Jimin…” Jimin heard Tae mutter out disappointedly.

He looked down briefly at Tae and Jungkook almost to apologize, but his and their attention quickly turned to Hoseok who finally spoke up, “So you are the King of Summer?... Why would you lie about that?” he got up slowly and stepped in front of Yoongi protectively, “Why are you guys here?”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and stood up as well, stepping in front of Jimin, “We aren’t here to hurt the king in any way.”

     “And we lied because of the prophecy,” Jimin added, stepping out from behind Tae since he didn't feel any need to be protected right now, “Tae and Jungkook didn’t want the prophecy to come true while I was in ill health.”

     “That stupid prophecy!” Yoongi groaned out, turning around and stepping out into the hall outside of the kitchen. He turned back around to look directly at Jimin and shout even louder, “Is that why you came here? To talk to me about it? I have no interest in making it come true, so just get out of my house before I change my mind!”

There was a moment of silence that followed his words with Jimin, Jungkook, and Tae being too dumbstruck to say anything in reply. Jimin’s heart was beating faster than ever before and he could see that the other king’s chest was heaving up and down with what he could only guess as anger. He took this moment to calm himself down before finally saying in a calmer tone of voice than before, “We need to talk… Something big is happening between our kingdoms, and-!”

     “I said get out,” Yoongi interrupted him, pointing to Hoseok as he stepped further away, “Let someone into this house again without consulting me about it first and I won’t react as kindly as I did this time.”

Jimin started to protest, but Tae beat him to it, shaking his head and bravely arguing with the king, “You aren’t kicking us out. Jimin is still not completely well, and we can’t risk him falling unconscious again in the middle of the woods.”

     “So go find a town to stay at! There’s one-!” Yoongi suddenly paused, his eyes widening as an idea came into his mind. His scowl slowly subsided and he bit his lip, gaze resting on Jimin as he continued to think.

Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jungkook all followed his stare to Jimin, confused about what he was planning with that almost hopeful expression on his face. They noticed the corners of his mouth curling up into a small smile the longer he stared at Jimin until he finally spoke in a sweeter sounding voice than before, “I’ll let you stay.”

Everyone turned their heads back around to him when they heard that, Taehyung again voicing all of their thoughts, “Why the sudden change of heart?”

Yoongi only smiled to himself, it being an innocent one though it gave no hints as to what he was thinking. He just nodded slowly and looked down at the ground, saying in a calmer voice, “I’ll let you stay if Jimin does me one favor,” he glanced up at Jimin, “You are in fact the king of Summer, right? You aren’t wasting my time? Because if you are wasting my time, you’ll regret it.”

Jimin shook his head, “I’m the king of Summer.”

     “Ok,” Yoongi turned to Hoseok with a grin, “Watch his two friends while we visit the next town over. We’ll be back in an hour or two if all goes well.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened and he shook his head quickly, “Yoongi, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

     “What?” Tae asked, protectively stepping out in front of Jimin again, “What is he planning?”

     “That’s none of your concern and only of Jimin’s,” Yoongi replied, pulling white polyester gloves out of his pockets and slipping them onto his hands. He then walked around to the other side of the table and grabbed Jimin’s arm, pulling him towards the door, “I won’t hurt your precious king, don’t worry. I have no interest in harming him.”

Taehyung followed them both to the door anyway, “How can I know I can trust you?”

Yoongi shrugged and turned away from him to open the front door that led to the cold air outside. He led Jimin out there and turned back around to close the door, only then saying, “You can’t. But I suggest you trust me if you want to spend another night in my house.”

     “I’ll be fine, Tae,” Jimin tried to smile and hide his fear, but Tae knew him too well not to notice other signs of his discomfort. With the way his eyes were detached from his smile was enough to make Taehyung want to rip the Winter King away from him and march both Jimin and Jungkook all the way back to the Summer Kingdom.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He knew what would happen if they went back. A blizzard would still reach past the Summer Kingdom’s territory and hurt Jimin in ways that couldn’t be fixed. He had to step back and let Jimin go into danger alone in order to keep him from the danger that brought them here in the first place. The danger that would keep looming over him if they didn’t fix whatever was going on with the Winter King.

Tae bit his lip and stepped back, obediently letting Jimin go off with the king on his own. Before he and Jimin could open their mouths to say another word to each other, the front door closed and Jimin was now alone with Yoongi, already being pulled away from the castle and towards the open emptiness of the snow covered kingdom.

Yoongi didn’t bother to make conversation as they walked. He was too determined to get to their destination to care if Jimin knew what was going on or if he felt too cold from the harsh winds blowing all around him. Jimin could feel the king’s icy hands through his gloves as they wrapped tightly around his arm, but he didn’t dare say a thing though in fear of angering the king.

They continued on in silence, treading through the snow that reached up to their knees until they came upon what looked to be the ruins of a town that was almost completely covered in snow. Jimin could see the tops of a few houses and one church steeple that was a few more meters away. Was this one of the towns that were destroyed by the king years ago?

Yoongi finally let Jimin go so he could step forward and drop to his knees, putting his hands on the ground soon after to start moving the snow. Jimin watched in pure amazement as snow started to part in front of Yoongi like a sea separating for them to walk through. Slowly, the snow moved to other areas around them and the town started to show through where it had once been buried.

Jimin stepped closer to Yoongi so he would be safe with the snow flying everywhere around them. He hated being this close to someone so dangerous, but the fear of being buried under snow outweighed the fear of being close to the infamous Winter King until the town was completely visible in its own little hollow in the rest of the snow covered land.

Yoongi stood up, startling Jimin and causing him to step back as Yoongi put his arms out in front of him in a pushing motion to create a staircase in the snow for them to walk down to the town. Yoongi didn’t even bother to glance back at Jimin before starting to walk down to the town.

Jimin followed closely him, looking around him at the town literally frozen in time as he asked, “So what exactly is it that you want me to do? I can’t do anything big because my powers make me weak. Namjoon says it’s cause of me being so small, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for-!”

He bit his tongue just as Yoongi snapped his head around with a glare, his hands curling up into fists as he snarled out, “You want to finish that sentence?”

Jimin shook his head quickly and stepped back before he could be turned to ice just from one slip of the tongue, “No, I’m sorry.”

King Yoongi rolled his eyes and scowled, turning back around to keep walking again as he said, “I made mistakes in my past. I just need to see if maybe you can fix them. Your powers are the opposite of mine, so maybe you can undo what I did.”

     “Like what?” Jimin asked, “Do you need me to melt something?”

     “More like someone,” Yoongi muttered out, stepping to the side and opening up the doors to the church Jimin previously saw buried under the snow. Though the steeple was rusted from the harsh air it was exposed to up above the snow, the rest of the church was left completely as it probably used to look like, with white planks of wood neatly stacked over each other to make the walls and a few stained glass windows that showed depictions of previous Winter Kings.

Jimin’s eyes widened when he walked in and saw the inside of the church though. It was like the power of Winter had devoured up the inside, turning everything to ice. Jimin had to hold onto the iced over church pews as he walked down the aisle of the church to keep himself from slipping on the floor that had also been completely turned to ice.

What Yoongi’s powers had done to the floor and the furniture was nothing though. It couldn’t even compare to the sight Jimin saw before him. Three statues made completely of ice were standing at the center of the room. They were humans, their faces showing fear as if they had been instantly turned to ice before they could even think about running for their lives. Jimin couldn’t believe this was real, but this was definitely the rumored evil power of the Winter King. This was the thing that claimed so many lives in the early years of Yoongi's rule... the infamous power of turning anything in his touch to complete ice. 

     “You killed these people…” Jimin whispered out his words with a quivering breath.

Yoongi put a trembling hand up to the face of one of the people, a woman who’s features could still be seen in the shape of the ice. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide, making her look like she was stuck in a scream that would forever be silenced by the cold around her. The air grew colder as Yoongi drew his hand back before he could touch her, saying, “I’m sure you can fix this with your power. I messed things up, but you can fix them. Just use your powers to turn them back to human.”

Jimin tilted his head in confusion, “What?” he shook his head slowly, squinting his eyes as he thought about how he could even attempt to do that with his power. He came up empty with any ideas as to how to do that and replied, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that with my powers. I think all I’d do is melt them into water. They are probably already…” he bit his lip and looked at the woman’s face again, trying not to focus too much on if they are really dead or forced to live in the ice they had become underneath Yoongi’s power. He cast a cautious glance at Yoongi and continued, “I think they are dead. There’s no bringing them back.”

He watched as Yoongi inhaled a sharp breath through his nose, shutting his eyes tight to control his anger. His pinched the bridge of his nose hard and shook his head defiantly, “No. They are alive. You just need to really try, and you’ll reverse what I’ve done.”

     “That’s not going to work,” Jimin tried to argue again, “I really don’t want to-!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Yoongi grabbed his hand and forced it onto the man turned to ice that was standing next to the woman they were looking at with the same expression of fear forever etched onto his face. Before Jimin could fight his arm away from Yoongi’s grip, Yoongi yelled at him, “Use your power!”

Jimin struggled against him, “He will only melt! That’s all I can do! Heat is my power!”

     “Then use it!” Yoongi shouted, his eyes glistening with what Jimin guessed were tears but couldn’t be too sure. He never thought of the great evil Winter King as one to cry, especially not when he was yelling at someone or forcing them to use their powers on what Jimin was afraid to think of as a corpse.

Yoongi brought his free hand up to his mouth and bit onto his glove to pull it off, saying through his teeth, “Or else I’ll turn you to ice and leave you here with the three of them.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he quickly brought the source of his powers into the palm of his hand being held onto the ice statue, suddenly speaking in a rushed tone, “I’ll do it!”

Before he could regret using his powers to hurt someone else in order to save his own skin, he let his heat seep into the man made of ice, feeling the surface underneath his hand grow wet and knowing full well what this meant. Of course he knew that this wasn’t going to work, but something in him felt sick that it ended up not working. He was turning the only left remains of this man into water, and the sight of his features slowly fading away as water trickled down to the floor was something Jimin knew he would never forget.

Yoongi started to realize what was going on, loosening his grip on Jimin when he realized that the Summer King’s power was only making things worse. Tears that had been forming in his eyes finally fell down his face only to freeze as soon as they came in contact with the skin on his cheeks. He brushed them off easily and stepped back, letting go of Jimin and demanding him to step back as well, “Don’t touch him. Of course you couldn’t fix it.”

    “I told you I couldn’t…” Jimin whispered, looking down at the puddle of water now on the floor that used to be the ice sculpture of the man. Tears swelled up in his eyes when he thought of how that man used to be alive, used to be living and breathing like him, and maybe could have still had a chance to be saved if he didn’t use his powers to melt him.

Yoongi’s gaze was also on the water already freezing once again on the floor just from being under his stare. He bit his lip to keep himself from crying out, biting down so hard he drew blood that filled his mouth with the taste of iron. He shook his head and shut his eyes, growling out, “You didn’t use the right power.”

     “What?” Jimin turned his head to look at Yoongi, a feeling of hatred taking a hold of his heart stronger than ever before as he looked at the Winter King, “What other kind of power was I supposed to use? What did you think was going to happen?”

     “I thought you were going to fix things!” Yoongi retorted, stepping forward as if he was going to turn Jimin to ice right there and then.

Jimin didn’t back down though, only taking another step forward to close the gap between them even more and shout, “Don’t blame me for not being able to fix something you did, you power hungry murderer! I thought I could look past your past, but after you threatened to turn me to ice if I didn’t do as you said, I know now that all you are really is a devil in king’s clothing.”

     “You think you have me all figured out?” Yoongi spit out, the air around him turning so cold that Jimin felt like he himself was being turned into ice at that very second. “What have people told you, huh? That I killed without mercy from the moment I first got my powers… That I killed my whole town in one night? Of course you would foolishly believe in those stories so easily. You probably love knowing that you’re a better king than me, don’t you?”

Following his words was the sound of a sharp slap. Jimin had never hit anyone before in his life, but he wasn’t ashamed of starting now in this situation. He couldn’t stand the sound of the Winter King yelling to him anymore and needed to silence him as fast as possible.

He knew there would be massive-retaliation returned to him, but he stood in his place and watched Yoongi’s reaction. It was too late now to show any signs of fear. He never got what he expected from Yoongi though. There was never a slap back or him using his power to freeze him in his place. In fact, Yoongi looked just as scared as how Jimin felt.

Jimin was confused, watching Yoongi’s eyes grow wide as he stared at Jimin in fear and shock of what just happened. His mouth was ajar and his eyebrows were raised in disbelief. Jimin almost questioned if the Winter King had finally becoming frozen himself until he finally moved, eyes looking down at Jimin’s shoes and slowly raising up to eventually his face.

Jimin tilted his head, “Has no one slapped you before? I think that was long deserved.”

     “You aren’t turning to ice?” Yoongi asked, ignoring Jimin’s brave insult. He touched his gloved hand to his face and stepped forward to Jimin, taking his hand in his own and inspecting it, “You touched my skin though…”

Jimin looked down at his hand that was being examined by the white haired king. He furrowed his brows and shook his head, still confused, “Was I supposed to?”

Yoongi touched his hand to his face that was now hot from the burn Jimin’s hand caused when he slapped him. Jimin's power was still in his palm when he slapped him, but thankfully it was already subsiding or else Yoongi would have been in a lot more pain. Jimin watched as Yoongi stepped back and shook his head in disbelief, “You touched me and didn’t die.”

Jimin glanced back at the people that had been turned to ice from Yoongi’s power and suddenly started to allow himself to think of a different side of the story that no one knew about. Why was Yoongi so surprised he wasn't dying? Why did he seem happy about that? What if... What if he never wanted to hurt anyone? It was a crazy thought, and with the king’s temper, it was hard to believe, but something in Jimin wanted to trust it. He wanted to think that maybe the king of Winter wasn’t so bad. Maybe he could test that theory out right now. 

Jimin turned back to Yoongi and smiled a little, reaching out his hand warily and asking shyly, “May I touch your face again? I promise this time I won’t burn you.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he looked at Jimin’s hand. Jimin could tell the offer was tempting to him, but Yoongi bit his lip and shook his head, “Don’t. You can’t take that risk.”

     “If I turn to ice, it won’t be your fault,” Jimin lifted his hand up to Yoongi’s face, not touching it yet in his own fear of actually turning to ice. It would look like Yoongi’s fault if he did die here and now, and Namjoon and Jin would kill Yoongi for sure for revenge, but something in Jimin wanted to try it anyway. He selfishly wanted to ease his curiosity and see if he really was an exception to the Winter King’s possibly uncontrollable power.

Yoongi remained frozen in his place, succumbed to Jimin’s hand that was hovering just centimeters away from his cheek. He looked at it like it was a knife being held up against his throat, but he welcomed it like a warm hug. A hug he hadn’t received since he got his powers.

When Jimin’s fingers finally brushed against his skin and his warm palm pressed against the whole side of Yoongi’s face, Yoongi let out a breath he had been holding in since Jimin touched him the first time. Jimin couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath of air he didn’t even know he was holding in too. He then laughed under his breath when he saw that he wasn’t turning into ice either. Though Yoongi’s skin was colder than the air around them, Jimin didn't freeze at all.

     “Can people not normally touch you like this?” Jimin asked, feeling Yoongi lean his head deeper into the palm of Jimin’s hand.

Yoongi shook his head, keeping his eyes shut to take in a touch he had been deprived of for so long, “As you can see they all turn to ice. You are the first to be able to touch me and live…”

Jimin tilted his head and rubbed his thumb across the soft skin of Yoongi’s cheek, muttering out more to himself than to Yoongi, “You hate people being near you because you don’t want to risk turning them to ice.”

Yoongi opened his eyes when Jimin said that, his gaze towards the ground and eyes looking like glass that could be shattered by a single tear. His nose twitched when he furrowed his brows to keep himself from crying, and he nodded his head, whispering back to Jimin, “Just a single touch is all it takes to kill them…”

     “The night you received your powers,” Jimin spoke carefully, not wanting to overstep any boundaries and ruin his chances at a possible friendship with the king of Winter, “You didn’t mean to hurt anyone did you?”

If this was the case then was the blizzard starting to reach Jimin’s kingdom all a product of the power that Yoongi still couldn’t control? Was this something he could maybe help the king fix? How would he be able to fix that though?

He looked up at Yoongi and opened his mouth to propose the idea, but sound never came out. Instead, he reeled back his hand quickly as a stabbing pain attacked his heart and shook him to his core, causing him to fall onto his knees in front of Yoongi. He looked down at his hand quickly to see if he was turning to ice, but he wasn’t. This was something on the inside that Yoongi didn’t cause.

     “Jimin?” Yoongi asked, fear already causing his voice to tremble when he called out the other king’s name. He was scared he had turned the boy to ice too, but only came up confused - though thankful - when he found that his powers didn’t have anything to do with Jimin’s sudden collapse.

He kneeled down to Jimin’s level as Jimin clutched the clothing covering his chest, crying out in pain as another stabbing pain ceased his heart once more. He leaned against a pillar in the church, chest heaving up and down heavily as his breath came out quick and desperate. He was freezing cold, not just on the outside but on the inside, his bones feeling like they were made of ice. 

He looked up at Yoongi with desperate eyes and choked out, “I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have followed you.”

     “What?” Yoongi was hurt by those words, now scared that he really was the reason behind whatever was happening with Jimin.

He reached over to touch Jimin with a gloved hand, carefully putting distance between them just in case his skin really was still toxic to Jimin. He bit his lip when he saw that Jimin was shaking all over, his fear not subsiding even when Jimin explained his last statement weakly, “Using my powers in the cold is bad for me… I need heat.”

    “Heat?” Yoongi let out a breath of relief, happy that this was something he could fix. “I’ll bring you back to the castle.”

He quickly picked Jimin up and carried him out of the church, careful not to touch Jimin’s skin with his own. He couldn’t rule out his powers as the source of whatever was happening to Jimin just yet, so he had to remain careful of touching Jimin at all.

Jimin fell unconscious while being carried back to the castle though Yoongi ran the whole way back in fear of Jimin turning to ice if he held him too long. He came crashing through the front door, immediately in search of help from the three men he knew were in the house.

     “Hoseok!” he called out, running into the living room where Taehyung and Jungkook were sitting on the couch talking. They both turned to Yoongi and jumped up, fear in their eyes at first but soon shock taking over their emotions when they laid their eyes on Jimin.

     “What did you do to him…” Taehyung muttered out once before walking around the couch to where Yoongi was. He looked down at the state Jimin was in again and shouted out louder this time, “What did you do to him?!”

     “He wore himself out with his power, I think? That is what he said. He… he just fell over and started shaking,” Yoongi replied, walking past Taehyung and towards the lit fireplace to lay Jimin down beside it. He grabbed a blanket and laid it across him, muttering to himself and Tae, “He said he needed heat.”

Hoseok ran into the livingroom, opening his mouth to ask Yoongi what was wrong but finding his answer as soon as he arrived. He ran over to the fireplace and kneeled down next to Jimin, “What happened? Were you two able to?...”

     “No,” Yoongi replied, looking down. “That’s not important now though. This is. Just make sure he’s ok.”

Tae kneeled down beside Jimin on the other side of Hoseok, touching his hand to Jimin’s face and muttering out, “He’s so cold... You shouldn’t have made him go out there after he had just passed out.”

     “I’m sorry,” was all Yoongi could respond before getting up and running his fingers through his hair. He let out a slow breath as he stared at Jimin and took a few steps back, muttering to Hoseok quietly, “Take care of him. I need to step out.”

     “Are you alright?” Hoseok asked, looking up at Yoongi to see a new look in his eyes he had never seen before. He almost thought to inspect Yoongi to see if he was feeling ill as well, but he just looked shaken up, making Hoseok guess that maybe him and Jimin came too close to touching. He had made the mistake of almost touching Yoongi before just on accident, and Yoongi shut himself in his room for days to get over the shock of almost turning another person to ice. That was most likely what was happening now.

Yoongi nodded his head, his gaze still glued to the ground with small glances cast towards Jimin for a few seconds at a time. He then put his hand up and walked out of the room, “I’ll be in my room. Come get me when he wakes up or if anything else major happens.”

His words were followed by the sound of his footsteps going up the stairs to his room. Hoseok waited until he heard the door upstairs shut to turn to Tae and smile, “He cares. He hates it when his powers come close to bringing people harm.”

Tae looked up from Jimin to glance at Jungkook, mainly worried about him and how he felt about that statement. He only caught Jungkook roll his eyes at Hoseok’s words and curl up into himself on the couch, showing obvious distaste to the fact that Hoseok truly believed Yoongi was a good guy.

Tae turned back to Hoseok with a cold stare and shook his head, “We’ll see what Jimin thinks when he wakes up. As far as I’m concerned, he’s murdered before and will murder again I’m sure when he sees fit.”

Hoseok’s smile that he once had to reassure Tae of Yoongi being sweet soon faded and he glanced at Jungkook before residing his stare down by Jimin. He nodded his head as his smile slowly started to come back, “Well thank you for at least not hurting him for what you think he is. That is more than what most people do when they find out who he is. I appreciate that.”

     “As long as he doesn’t try to hurt Jungkook or Jimin, I won’t try to hurt him,” Tae responded, placing a hand on Jimin’s warm face. He was starting to warm up beside the fire thankfully. Tae let out a breath of relief that Jimin was going to be alright and faced Hoseok, “You can understand that right?”

Hoseok glanced at Jungkook who was staring idly at the fire before him, lost in thought after being in the presence of the monster he had always hated since his childhood that was ripped away from him along with his family. He nodded his head in understanding, deciding not to try to change Tae or Jungkook’s mind anymore tonight. They were both too on edge to believe anything about Yoongi except for what they could see with their own eyes. He would have to wait for them to come to the realization themselves that Yoongi really wasn’t a monster. He was just a boy imprisoned by powers he had no control over. And something in his gut told him that maybe Jimin may had realized that today. Hopefully that would be the case when Jimin woke up again.

~(***)~

Back in the Fall kingdom, Jin woke up to the sound of someone pacing across the floor in front of his bed. After patting the empty sheets next to him, he guessed it was Namjoon before he even opened his eyes.

He rolled over in bed to avoid opening his eyes up directly to the sunlight gleaming in through Namjoon’s castle’s glass windows. He pulled the thin sheets over with him to cover his bare skin as he finally opened his eyes to see what he expected, Namjoon walking around the room lost in thought. He bit his nails as he walked, a nervous habit Jin had tried to make him stop doing so long ago but eventually gave up. At least with that though, Jin could easily tell something was wrong. 

     “Are you alright?” Jin asked, smiling when Namjoon’s eyes widened at the sudden rush of reality coming back to him. He sat up a bit and propped himself up on his elbow, “Worried about Jimin?”

A glint in Namjoon’s eyes gave away what he felt before he could even answer. He stepped closer to the bed and nodded his head, “It’s gotten worse. I worry about what is going on with Jimin being in that bastard’s land, but I’m worried about Jimin’s kingdom now too with the blizzard…”

Jin’s eyes widened and his smile faded, “It hasn’t reached past his borders yet, has it? I noticed Jimin growing weaker before with the storm nearing his kingdom, but if it crosses over, then…” he put his hand over his mouth to keep himself from voicing such a terrible scenario.

He watched as Namjoon walked over to the side of the bed and sat down, the moment so quiet they could hear his bed creak softly under Namjoon’s weight. They both stared at each other in silence for a few moments before Namjoon spoke with sadness in his eyes and voice. He laid his hand over Jin’s and squeezed it for reassurance as he said, “One of my servant watching the storm for me came back this morning. He returned in a hurry, because it has finally happened. Overnight the storm advanced greatly and grew bigger and wilder than ever before.”

     “And what does this mean for Jimin?” Jin squeezed Namjoon’s hand back, eyes wide and heart beating fast as he tried to hope that the storm still hadn’t crossed Jimin’s borders yet. If the storm were to reach into his kingdom even a little bit, it would affect his health greatly.

Jin remembered one time when the old king of Summer would intimidate him and Namjoon by making his powers stretch out to just a little bit beyond their own kingdom’s borders. He and Namjoon would be stuck in a feverish sickness for days on end, unable to leave their beds because they were too weak to walk. He had no idea what a Winter King’s powers could do to Jimin if it crossed his kingdom’s borders, but he was sure it couldn’t be good.

Namjoon took a deep breath and Jin knew then that the news he was about to receive wasn’t going to be good at all. He bit his lip though and shut his eyes to take it on, flinching only when he heard Namjoon say the words, “The storm is over his kingdom’s borders now. I don’t know what that means for Jimin physically, but the Summer Kingdom is definitely in danger. As an ally of Jimin, I'm going to take action against King Yoongi."

Chapter Text

CHAPTER FOUR

Jimin woke up in a daze in the living room to the sound of crackling fire for the second time in a row now. This time though, he immediately knew where he was and he knew of the owner of the house he was in. And this time if he ran into him, he wouldn’t be afraid of his presence. In fact, he was already determined to try to touch him again just to see once again how warm the Winter King would become just from the simple touch of his fingers. 

It was funny to Jimin how someone as cold as ice could melt so easily in the palm of his hands.

Jimin sat up slowly, wrapping the blanket laid over him tighter around his body to keep himself warm in the cold house. He inched towards the fire that was low on wood, a weak flame barely emitting any kind of heat into the air around it. He tried to warm his freezing hands to the little flame that flickered with the small gusts of air caught in the house, but nothing could ease the frigid feeling still coursing through his veins like cold water.

     “The others are out gathering wood,” Jimin heard a voice say behind him, causing him to jump a little just when he couldn’t recognize the voice as one that belonged to Taehyung. Jimin quickly relaxed though when he saw that it was Jungkook sitting behind him curled up on the couch.

He looked like he had been almost frozen to ice yesterday too with the look on his face, but Jimin was sure Yoongi didn’t try to harm anyone while he was unconscious. He was confident enough now to know that they weren’t in danger staying in the Winter King’s castle.

     “Where’s Yoongi? Is he also out with them?” Jimin asked, a bit too eagerly for Jungkook’s taste probably, but Jungkook still replied as if he wasn’t bothered, “Yes, he insisted on helping.”

Jimin smiled, tugging at the corners of the blanket draped over his shoulders to connect them together at the center of his chest, “That’s nice of him. I hope he doesn’t feel bad for what happened. It really was my fault.”

     “What exactly happened out there?” Jungkook asked, shifting where he sat on the couch though his expression didn’t waver away from a glint of hatred Jimin could tell was specifically meant for Min Yoongi.

     “I…” Jimin started to explain, but decided to leave out an important detail of what happened. It was the moment that kept spinning around in his head over and over again that he couldn’t stop thinking about. He couldn’t tell Jungkook or Tae about it yet, not when he still needed to talk to Yoongi himself about it to understand what it truly meant. For now, he would just have to spare Jungkook the details and give him the main point that happened before he passed out, “I used my powers too much and suddenly felt a weird stabbing pain in my chest. This happens when I wear myself out, but I don’t think it’s ever been this bad.”

     “It must be the presence of the king,” Jungkook muttered out, his words immediately being followed by the front door loudly swinging open on its squeaky rusted hinges and the three men that had previously been absent from the house walking back in with wood piled up in their arms.

Tae turned the corner into the living room and gasped when he saw Jimin, almost dropping his logs of wood as he ran over to him exclaiming, “You’re awake! Are you alright? You aren’t allowed to go outside again, no matter what you say. I’m not allowing it.”

Tae carelessly dropped all of his wood into the fire so he could drop down to his knees beside Jimin and hug him quicker. Jimin choked for air within his friend’s arms that were wrapped tightly around him. He tried to hug back, but he was too far stuck in Tae’s hold for his tries to move to be fruitful.

     “Sorry for scaring you,” Jimin smiled and rested his head in the crook of Tae’s neck, hoping that the boy didn’t give Yoongi too hard of a time while he was unconscious.

When he thought of Yoongi, he looked up at the other two men standing in the room to see the king himself standing there with wood in his hands and a shyly worried look on his face. Jimin offered a smile to him before speaking to Tae, “How long have I been unconscious? I’m starving…”

Hoseok started to neatly stack his wood next to the fireplace and said, “You were unconscious since yesterday afternoon, so I’ll fix you something. Can someone help me?”

     “I will,” Tae offered, holding Jimin’s hand and helping him stand up along with him.

Jimin tried to get up with his help, but his body refused to let him stand, his legs shaking under his weight when Taehyung started to pull him up. He clenched his hands onto Tae’s in an effort to push through it and stand up, but he fell back down halfway through his attempt, deeming himself too weak to even stand up all the way.

Everyone’s eyes widened in worry and they all glanced at each other before Tae asked, “What is wrong? Can’t you walk?”

Jimin brought his knees close to his chest and gave confused reply, “I… I can move my legs. I’m just really weak, I guess,” he touched his hand to his head as a headache started to grow behind his eyes. “Fainting twice within two days wouldn’t be the best for anyone’s health, so that’s probably it. I’ll just rest for today and tomorrow.”

Though he sounded sure of himself and that he was ok, everyone still looked on at him with eyes filled with fear. Jungkook and Tae were afraid the king they were supposed to protect wasn’t going to ever get better at this rate while Hoseok and Yoongi were afraid that this was an effect of Yoongi’s power. Hoseok knew that it wouldn’t be Yoongi’s fault if it was, but Yoongi thought something entirely different. He feared that maybe his touch wasn’t deadly to Jimin, but it was still toxic for him.

Jimin could see Yoongi’s worries conveyed in his eyes and almost parted his lips to shutdown those idea right there. He didn’t want to do that in a room full of people though. He didn’t want to worry Tae or Jungkook or possibly embarrass Yoongi or make him mad. He needed to talk to him privately.

He turned to Jungkook and Tae and asked, “Can you both help Hoseok with preparing the food actually?... I’m sorry, but I want to speak to Yoongi alone.”

He bit his lip and watched as Jungkook and Tae’s expressions turned into reluctance to leave him alone with the king they feared so much. He knew they felt worried like a friend would but had to leave without arguing because that was their job. He hated to put them in a position like that, but he would have to take advantage of it just this once. Talking to Yoongi was the most important thing on his mind right now.

Jungkook got up off the couch and followed Tae and Hoseok into the kitchen, him and Tae both solemnly dragging their feet and casting warning glances at Yoongi though Yoongi didn’t notice. He was too busy stacking his wood on top of Hoseok’s previously neatly stacked pile and then staring down at his gloved hands in fear of hurting Jimin again.

Once all three of the other men were out of the living room and in the kitchen, Jimin patted the floor next to him for Yoongi to sit down on. He knew Yoongi would be wary of the invite at first, but as predicted, the king did as requested and sat down next to Jimin, hands folded together to prevent any accidental touches with Jimin.

The fire picked up and a heat wrapped around the whole room in a warm embrace that eased Jimin’s headache and made him feel more confident and stronger. That was always the power of heat, fire, and the sun with him. He was sure as long as he had that, he would be ok.

Yoongi stared absentmindedly at the flames in the fireplace until Jimin caught his attention by saying, “You know, my weakness right now isn’t because of you. It’s because of me using my powers too much and falling unconscious twice in the past two days,” he smiled when Yoongi looked up at him with a stare that wanted to fully believe and trust in his words. There was still doubt underlying in his expression though and he looked down, muttering out, “I don’t think you should try to touch me again. My skin has turned everyone to ice so far, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t work with you. You were probably just lucky yesterday.”

     “Or it’s because we’re polar opposites,” Jimin smiled, “Fire and ice? Maybe I can’t undo what you’ve done in the past with my powers, but I can prevent your powers from hurting me with the power I have within me. Does that make sense?”

     “Yeah, it makes sense, but I just can’t trust this,” Yoongi looked down at his open palms and clenched them into fists, “I’m sure my powers would somehow manage to freeze you if you weren’t careful, and I really don’t want to see another person turn to ice before me.”

     “I won’t,” Jimin still argued, leaning forward and grabbing Yoongi’s hand before he could draw it back. Yoongi still tried to pull away from Jimin’s hold, but Jimin kept a firm grip around his hand, pressing his thumb and index finger on both sides of his palm to keep it still as he looked up at Yoongi and asked, “Can I take your glove off?”

Yoongi tugged at his bottom lip with his front teeth, brows furrowing at a fearful anger rising in him for Jimin wanting to take such a risk to touch him again. He shook his head and grumbled out, “If you want to die. Touching my face is one thing, but touching my hand-!”

He was interrupted by Jimin quickly taking off his glove and pressing his face into Yoongi’s palm. Yoongi’s eyes widened in surprise and shock at Jimin being brave enough to even come close to touching his hand. He quickly shouted out and jerked his arm away from Jimin, but he knew it would be too late if his powers really did manage to work on Jimin. He stared at the orange haired boy in shock, breath coming out quick and labored as he expected to see the already fragile boy turn into ice.

When he saw those piercing brown eyes Jimin had still warmly staring back at him after half a minute went by though, he let out a breath of relief, feeling like he himself was going to collapse from the amount of stress that hit him like a wave at high tide in the past last minute. He quickly reached for his glove again, stumbling over his words as he stuttered out, “Y-You shouldn’t have done that. You were lucky again, so just stop. I-!”

Jimin touched his hand again with his own, laughing under his breath as he said, “I’m not lucky. Your powers just don’t have an affect on me.”

     “How do you know for sure?” Yoongi replied, shaking his head. “You know, I’ve truly never met anyone more stupid than you! You clearly know what can kill you, yet you dive into it head first with no fear at all.”

     “Because,” Jimin grinned and picked up Yoongi’s hand again, this time feeling no resistance when he lifted it up to his face and had his palm cup his cheek. He placed his own hand over Yoongi’s to hold it in place and continued to speak, “There is nothing to be afraid of.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at what Jimin said, having never heard those words spoken about him before. He had met many people since he had gotten his powers and every single one of them feared him and his powers so much that some even moved out of his kingdom in fear of turning to ice as well. He couldn’t help it and he tried to tell people that, but no one would listen. He eventually gave up after a few years, shutting himself in to his castle and refusing to let anyone else be afraid of him until Hoseok came along.

Even Hoseok still feared to sit next to him though, not being afraid of him but still being afraid of the power he couldn't control. Yoongi appreciated having someone who didn’t blame him for everything that happened, but it still hurt to see Hoseok flinch every time he got close or breath hitch in fear every time Yoongi rolled his sleeves up at the dinner table.

But here was Jimin now, with his breathing completely still and a smile on his face as he brought Yoongi’s hand up to his cheek and let him touch him. Yoongi hadn’t touched anyone since the first few weeks of gaining his power when he was just learning how dangerous he was. He was too afraid to try to touch anyone ever again after seeing so many people turn lifeless under his hand, but here he was safely touching a boy who was still alive after touching him so many times.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile, “It’s been so long…”

     “Since you’ve touched someone?” Jimin grinned and let his hand fall from Yoongi’s so Yoongi could decide what he wanted to do from here.

Yoongi kept his hand on Jimin’s face despite the absence of another hand holding his down. He rubbed fingers lightly across Jimin’s skin, feeling and loving how warm it felt to have someone else’s skin under his. This was like a dream come true for him to touch another human being without killing them, and he would stay like this forever if Jimin would let him. He obviously knew that would never happen though.

Yoongi tilted his head and let his smile turn into a grin, “This is amazing… I’m actually-!” a tear fell down his face, freezing along the way and leaving his face decorated with a trail of ice. He sniffled and nodded his head, “I’m sorry, this is just… a really good feeling for me.”

Jimin giggled and shrugged, “It’s fine, I understand. I couldn’t touch anyone for a whole year after I got my powers because I would burn them or set things on fire, and when I could finally control my powers, I went around hugging everyone. It was such a good feeling to touch another human again.”

     “It really is,” Yoongi agreed.

As soon as he spoke though, a crash could be heard from the doorway as plates fell to the floor before Hoseok shouted out, “Yoongi, stop!”

Both heads turned to Hoseok who was standing above a bunch of shattered china and wasted food with his eyes wide in shock. Taehyung and Jungkook ran to his side a few minutes after his outburst, also crying out in fear and pulling out their weapons they already had attached to their waists.

Though Jungkook and Tae were busy stepping forward to fight Yoongi off of Jimin, Hoseok was now staring at them in surprise and confusion, knowing that Jimin should have been turned to ice by now under Yoongi’s touch.

Before anything bad could happen, Jimin quickly explained to them what was going on, “Everything’s fine, Yoongi’s powers don’t work on me, see? We found out yesterday, but I just wanted to test it out again!”

     “Are you serious?” a grin immediately spread across Hoseok’s face. He grinned and stepped over the broken plates on the floor, “This is great! I wonder if it’s because you two have polar opposite powers?”

     “That’s exactly what we think,” Yoongi replied, finally letting his hand fall from Jimin’s face. He was still not over the feeling of euphoria he got from touching another person’s skin yet, but he didn’t want to make a show of touching Jimin’s face for longer than acceptable. He also didn't want to anger Taehyung anymore than he already had in the past day. 

Tae and Jungkook stared on with dumbfounded looks on their faces, slowly putting away their weapons as they watched Yoongi’s every move. They kept jumping back in forth from the conclusions that Jimin had gone completely crazy to let Yoongi touch him or he was being threatened by Yoongi to be so close to him. Neither of them knew which one was worse, but they were dying to find out what was going on in order to have a good enough reason to hurt Yoongi for Jimin's benefit. Hoseok brought them both out of their trances when he said, “My apologies, but looks like we’re going to have to make another plate of food for Jimin. I promise I won’t drop it this time.”

Tae and Jungkook decided to clean up the pile of broken pieces of plates on the ground so they wouldn’t be in Hoseok’s way in the kitchen and also so they could keep an eye on Jimin this time, still not trusting Yoongi even though they saw that his powers didn’t work on him. They still trusted the prophecy that promised of the Winter King ‘swallowing up the Summer King until not even the sun could help him’, so they couldn't bring themselves to let their guard down even after seeing that.

Hoseok decided to make dinner for everyone as well while making Jimin food, bringing it into the living room so everyone could sit down and eat in Jimin’s presence and not leave him alone by the fireplace while everyone ate at the table. Though there was still a level of tension in the room between almost everyone, they were able to relax more than they could the night before.

Jimin, Jungkook, and Tae saw how funny Hoseok could be when relaxed and how Yoongi laughed at almost everything he said. It was strange to see such a feared king of the cold laugh so warmly that it could challenge even Jimin’s laugh, but it even managed to make Tae and Jungkook stop fearing for their lives for the first time since they stepped foot into the borders of the Summer Kingdom.

By the end of the night, Jimin was almost back to his usual emotional health with a smile brightly shown on his face and cheeks flushed with the heat that always emitted off of him. He still couldn’t find the strength to stand up which worried everyone, but he assured them that he would be able to do everything normally tomorrow morning.

Yoongi offered two rooms on the first level for the trio of guests, letting them decide who slept where. They all wanted to sleep in the same room together at first with Taehyung not sure who he wanted to protect more. He didn’t want to leave Jungkook to sleep alone, but he also didn’t want to leave Jimin alone either because of his health. He almost wanted to have Jungkook and Jimin share a room so Jimin would be protected and Jungkook wouldn’t be alone, but then he would still want to stay close and protect them both as they slept.

Jimin helped Tae end his inner conflict by commanding him to stay with Jungkook for the night, claiming that as long as he had a fire going in his room in the fireplace, he’d be fine. After enough convincing, Tae finally agreed to let Jimin stay in a room alone while he kept Jungkook company in the room next over. Jimin knew Tae would never admit it but he could tell he was glad to be with Jungkook instead of watching over Jimin.

Jimin was also happy to have a whole bed to himself, easily getting comfortable once Hoseok had set up the fire in his room and left him all alone. He had to admit to himself that the room was a bit eerie to sleep in alone, but he was happy to get some finally voluntary rest that his body was aching for. He hoped that tomorrow he would be stronger and be able to sort everything out with Yoongi so he could go home. He was ready to be welcomed by the sun again and forget about all worries of a false prophecy. 

~(***)~

Tae and Jungkook’s shared room was a bit smaller than Jimin’s having a smaller bed and no fireplace to keep them warm. Taehyung would have been mad about this if Jimin didn’t desperately need the fireplace, but he understood Yoongi’s decision to place Jimin in the better room.

Jungkook had changed into spare clothes Hoseok brought out for him, Tae, and Jimin and was in bed, listening silently to the howling wind outside their window. He kept chewing on his bottom lip as he thought about how he was in the house of the Winter King and was using all his strength not to kill him.

Tae could feel the tension coming from Jungkook and approached him cautiously as he crawled up into bed next to him, “Are you alright?" he bit his lip as he remembered asking this same question a few nights ago and getting no response out of Jungkook. He continued to ask anyway when his worry became too much to bear, "Do you want to talk about it? I’m sure the king won’t hear because the walls are so thick.”

Jungkook smiled, though it seemed more fake than the playful one he used to always give Tae. He nodded his head slowly and kept looking at the wall on the other side of the room, “You already know what I’m thinking before I’ve even said anything. But I guess you feel the same way though, right? About Min Yoongi?”

     “Oh yeah,” Tae nodded his head dramatically to show emphasis on how he felt, “I don’t see why Jimin is putting so much trust in him. I’m not one to question his actions, but he’s just being so… so careless with that murderer!” Tae fell quiet when he realized his words might have reminded Jungkook of his own troubling past with the king. He quickly bit back on his tongue and glanced at him through the darkness, “But how are you?... If you don’t mind talking about it. I know you hate talking about-!”

     “I don’t hate talking about it,” Jungkook cut him off in a quiet voice, finally looking him in the eyes for the first time since he had gotten into bed with him. He leaned back a bit more into his pillow and continued to speak, “I’ve just never talked about it before to anyone else, so I’m not sure what to say.”

Tae propped himself up with his pillow and turned on his side to face Jungkook better, “Well you could tell me about what happened and how you escaped? That’s a start.”

Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought of his past, nose twitching ever so slightly before he replied, “I was eleven or twelve, I can’t remember… I was asleep when everything happened, so I think that’s why he spared me, but when I woke up, there was a blizzard outside so fierce that it was shaking my house,” he ran his fingers through his hair to keep himself from crying, “I was confused because we hadn’t had snow since the Winter King had died weeks before, but suddenly the power of the kingdom was back with no mercy. And when I saw my parents weren't in their bed, I stepped outside to try to find them and found my whole town frozen.”

Tae’s heart dropped as he tried to imagine how Jungkook must have felt to see everyone he once knew, frozen with no chance of ever coming back. Tae wasn’t sure what he would do if he ever had to go through that. He’d probably dedicate his life to finding a way to kill the Winter King, which made him surprised that Jungkook wasn’t doing anything to harm Yoongi while staying in his house as a guest.

Tae was about to offer the idea of them possibly killing Yoongi when all of this was over or there was even so much as a small hint of Jimin’s current truce with him going south, but his thoughts came to an abrupt stop when he heard the boy next to him sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes.

Jungkook shut his eyes and covered his mouth to hide his tears, embarrassed that something that happened so long ago still had this kind of effect on him. Tae quickly sat up though and softly took Jungkook’s hands into his own to uncover his face and let him see the tears. Tae bit his lip when he saw how beautiful Jungkook looked even when crying. It was a morbid thought to think of someone as possibly ‘beautiful’ while in the emotional pain that Jungkook was in, but Tae could stop himself from thinking it.

He brushed Jungkook’s black hair away from his face and stared into his glossy tear filled eyes, “Why did you agree to lead Jimin and I to the king after what he’s done to you?”

     “I had no choice,” Jungkook answered, his eyes averting to different areas of the room, anywhere but Tae’s eyes, “It’s my job. I know Namjoon would have let me say no, but I didn’t want to let him down after all he’s done for me.”

     “How do you feel being here with him?” Tae asked, his and Jungkook’s breaths mixing together in the air in the short distance between their faces.

Jungkook finally looked into Tae’s eyes that were just above him, unwavering as his words trembled out, “I’m scared. I want to hurt him for everything he has taken away from me, but I just want to leave him alive and pretend I never came back here. I just know that if I kill him I’ll never be able to leave my past behind me. The blood on my hands will always serve as a reminder.”

     “I’ll kill him for you then-!”

     “No,” Jungkook cut Tae off before he could finish his sentence. Jungkook put his hand on Tae’s chest to calm him down a bit as he continued to speak, “I don’t want anyone getting hurt for me. I’m not the monster... He is.”

Taehyung bit his lip, feeling almost awkward that his offer was so quickly shut down by Jungkook. He almost felt like he had been reprimanded, but the look on Jungkook’s face assured him that he didn’t say anything wrong in any way. The smile that played across Jungkook’s lips let him know that Jungkook appreciated what he said even if he didn’t like the idea.

Tae couldn’t help but smile back, running his fingers through Jungkook’s hair once again as he said, “I’ll protect you from that monster then, ok? If that’s the most I can do, then I will do it.”

     “Thank you,” Jungkook beamed, eyes widening when the boy on top of him lowered his head to place a chaste yet very firm kiss on his lips.

Tae quickly pulled back as quickly as he leaned forward into the kiss, rolling off of Jungkook and onto his back next to him, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking! I didn’t mean to do that out of nowhere.”

There was a silence that attacked the room fiercer than they imagined even Yoongi’s powers to be. Both boys laid on their backs in silence, staring at the ceiling or stealing occasional glances of each other while the other one wasn’t watching. Tae was biting his lip and cursing himself in his mind for doing something so stupid like kissing Jungkook out of nowhere. He probably didn’t even like him more than a friend! He should have made Jungkook make the first move just so everyone would be comfortable, but now he probably ruined their friendship.

Jungkook couldn’t keep a smile off his face. He had no idea what to say to what just happened because he was taken by surprise, but it was definitely a good surprise. He could tell Tae liked him after the second time he had visited the Fall Kingdom with Jimin.

Taehyung had followed him around the whole two days, offering to do every little thing for him as if he was Jungkook’s own servant. It reminded Jungkook of how his father always treated his mother when they were alive, and Tae always had the same look in his eyes that he’d see his father having when he stared at his mother. He kept quiet about everything though just in case Tae really didn’t have any feelings for him and he was imagining it all. He was thankful now that he wasn’t though, because he had grown to feel the same way.

Letting his grin fall for the first time ever just to pucker his lips together, Jungkook twisted over to Tae and kissed him, resting his palm on Tae’s cheek as he let this kiss melt into a longer one than before. This time, he could examine every part of Tae’s lips that moved in motion with his own.

They broke away from each other slower this time, wanting to take in the moment for all it was worth, staring into each other’s eyes and wondering who should make the next move. Jungkook’s eyes swept over to his hand still resting on Tae’s face as he said, “I don’t want you to protect me anymore, Tae.”

     “What?” Taehyung furrowed his eyes in confusion, wondering what could have happened between now and their kiss to make Jungkook suddenly change his mind about them being together. Before he could question Jungkook’s words anymore, the boy above him explained himself with a sigh, “I don’t want to see you hurt either. I would hated it if you got hurt because you felt the need to protect me from things I’m capable of protecting myself against."

     “But what about Yoongi?”

     “I’m sure if I stay out of his way, he’ll stay out of mine,” Jungkook smiled and shook his head, “Plus… I saw the way Jimin and him stared at each other tonight.” Jungkook bit his lip and shifted over onto Tae a bit more so he could feel the heat emitting off the other boy for comfort, “I think Jimin would resent us for the rest of his life if we did anything to hurt the Winter King.”

     “Jimin?” Tae asked, and shook his head, “No, he would never care for King Yoongi. That guy has a storm sent towards his kingdom still, so why would he ever have a soft spot for him?”

Jungkook shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling,” he rested his head on Tae’s chest and closed his eyes, “But watch them in the morning and how they stare or even talk to each other. You’ll see what I mean.”

Taehyung didn’t respond after that, both worried about what Jimin could possibly be thinking right now with Yoongi and excited about how Jungkook was falling asleep on top of him after they had just kissed. He wasn’t sure which emotion or topic of thought should win over his mind at the moment, but initially chose to focus on Jungkook for now since he was in fact on top of him while Jimin was all the way in the other room, safe and sound for at least another night. He had time to talk to Jimin about what he could possibly be getting himself into with the Winter King, but for now? He was going to get some rest and take in this moment with Jungkook he had been longing for to happen since the first time he met him.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER FIVE

Over a week had passed since Yoongi and Jimin found out that they could easily take each other’s powerful touch with no effects whatsoever, and Jimin had been coming in and out of weakness and sickness as the days went on.

He had a small suspicion that his health was somehow related to Yoongi’s emotions because it seemed like every time Yoongi got frustrated or sad, his health would steadily decline to the point where he would sometimes collapse to the ground without using any of his powers. He would never fall unconscious, but his legs would just refuse to take his weight as soon as Tae snapped at Yoongi or Yoongi snapped back. This was only a very uneducated theory though, so he never voiced it to Yoongi. He was sure the king would try his hardest to be happy all the time if he thought his emotions were hurting someone now, but that would only make things worse, Jimin was sure.

Tonight was one of those nights Jimin knew Yoongi was in his room feeling anything but happy. Jimin could feel it in his stomach as he laid in bed, teetering on the edge of running to the restroom connected to his room to throw up or building himself a bigger fire to try to gain more strength back.

Jimin sat up, his breath labored and head flushed red with a fever that he couldn’t help but blame on the Winter King’s feelings. He almost wanted to go upstairs to see why Yoongi was so upset this late at night, but he decided against it since Yoongi never wanted anyone upstairs. For now, he would go to the kitchen and fix himself something warm to drink in hopes that that would help him feel better.

He got up slowly, pressing his hand to his head when a dull pain ached all around from the top of his spine to the back of his eyes. He shut them and felt for the wall to lead him to the door that led to the outside of his room, only opening them again when he reached the door knob and stepped out into the hallway. He wrapped the blanket he was wearing tighter around his shoulders when a cold chill ran up his spin from leaving the warmth of the fire that engulfed his whole room. He bit his lip and continued to walk forward to the kitchen, whimpering out every time he took a step and felt sicker. The hot drink he was working so hard for seemed more desirable with every step he took.

Finally, he made it to the kitchen, breathing heavy and bending over as he walked as if he just ran a marathon without stopping. Everything in him ached and felt frozen from the inside out, and he had little hope a warm drink would help him out anymore.

Jimin slowly walked over to the cup cabinet to grab a glass and heard a loud bang upstairs. Just as he was about to take a glass from the middle shelf, his legs suddenly gave out on him and he started to fall. Momentarily scared of the fall, he grabbed onto the shelf of cups to hold himself up but only ended up falling with the shelf of cups in tow. Jimin landed on the ground in a hard thump on top of his knees which was followed by the sharp clashing of all the glasses falling on top of him.

No glasses fell on top of his head thankfully, but they had fallen around him, hitting his arms and legs and definitely creating a mess where he sat. Jimin curled up into himself, eyes widening when he saw glass everywhere around him. How was he going to get out of this? He didn’t want to wake anyone up so late, but he couldn’t even stand now.

Jimin bit his lip in thought, trying to think up a solution that could work, but his brain and mind were too foggy and tired to think anything properly. He looked up when he heard footsteps walking downstairs, alerting him of Yoongi’s soon to be seen presence. And normally he wouldn’t be afraid of seeing the Winter King, but he was in this moment, now aware of his foul mood and having caused a situation that no one would react kindly in.

Jimin shut his eyes when he saw just a glimpse of Yoongi turning the corner into the kitchen, waiting for Yoongi’s reaction that came out in a low tone, “...What did you do?”

    “I’m sorry…” Jimin weakly whispered out, his breath hitching when he felt a big wave of nausea rush over him. Sweat dripped down his face from his forehead and he ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, every move becoming more and more laboring to complete.

He saw Yoongi quickly move towards him, footsteps quiet but every movement amplified in Jimin’s mind. He curled up into himself and cried out when Yoongi quickly picked him up, cold hands directly touching the skin of his waist underneath his shirt and his legs. He didn’t fear Yoongi’s hands, but they were too cold for him now. Every touch felt like he was getting stabbed and his mind was screaming at him for being touched by such a cold temperatured being.

Jimin let his head fall back in exhaustion as Yoongi carried him away from the mess on the floor. Every feeling he felt Yoongi make on his skin felt like a punch to the stomach until he couldn’t take it anymore and cried out, “Put me down! Don’t touch me!”

     “Jimin stop, just calm down!” Yoongi tried to say in a calm voice, but Jimin elbowed him and fought his way to the ground and out of his arms.

He looked at the fire still dancing in the fireplace in the living room, his whole body desiring to dance with it to gain some strength, some power, some sense of relief from the cold that was attacking his body.

He started crawling towards it, only able to do so much with his legs that still refused to carry him. Yoongi followed after him, trying to speak some sense into him, “Jimin, what is going on? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

     “I need heat,” Jimin choked out, his eyes filled with tears as he used every bit of his strength to get across the room.

When he approached the fireplace, he lifted his hand up next to the fire and muttered out, “It’s not enough…”

     “What do you mean it’s not enough?” Yoongi asked, walking up to the fireplace and standing next to Jimin. “Jimin come back to the kitchen with me. Your arm is bleeding I think from one of the glasses, so let’s wrap it up and take you back to-!”

     “No!” Jimin snapped, glaring at Yoongi and pressing himself closer to the fire. “Get away from me, you make it worse!"

Yoongi’s eyes widened in surprise at this, a feeling of dread running through his body more than ever before. Jimin could see that his words hurt Yoongi, and not only could he see that, but he felt it. As soon as Yoongi’s emotions reacted to what he said, he felt a stabbing a pain in his heart and chills run all over his body.

He cried out in pain and got closer to the fire, too frustrated now about how cold he was despite being next to a fire to think clearly. Jimin put his hands into the fire and muttered out, “Everything in me is telling me to fall into the fire...  I just want the pain to end.”

     “What?’ Yoongi asked, watching as Jimin started to lean into the fire as if he was actually about to voluntarily fall face forward into the blazing fire. Quick and without thinking, Yoongi lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Jimin, yanking him back away from the fire and holding him there as Jimin started crying out again, “Stop touching me! It hurts!”

Though Jimin slapped him and fought with all the strength that was left in him to get away, Yoongi didn’t let go, holding him tight and keeping him from the fire despite Jimin’s pleas and frustrated shouts.

He didn’t loosen his grip until Jimin eventually submitted to the situation and calmed down, his quick and heavy breaths only becoming excited hiccups every once in a while. Jimin learned too that he wasn’t in as much pain as he thought and quieted down, leaning against Yoongi’s chest as he thought about everything else except the chilling feeling wrapping around his whole body at the moment.

     “Are you alright now?” Yoongi asked when Jimin had fallen completely silent. “I’m not hurting you, see? We established that.”

Jimin nodded his head slowly, tears rolling down his face, “I don’t know what’s happening though. It’s never been this bad… The cold just won’t go away, and I feel like I’m dying every second I’m awake.”

Yoongi stared at the fire that was still blazing an orange color in front of them. Even over a foot away, he could feel a hot sensation emitting off the fire and seeping into his skin like a forever scent. He looked back down at Jimin who was trembling in his arms, “You don’t feel hot even now? Couldn’t you feel the fire when you were about to jump into it?”

Jimin shut his eyes and shook his head, biting his trembling bottom lip as he tried his best not to cry again, “I couldn’t feel anything except coldness…”

     “How do you feel now?” Yoongi asked, hoping Jimin would say he felt better now that he had calmed down.

To his relief, Jimin nodded his head slowly and leaned into Yoongi’s chest more, “Your chest is warm unlike your hands… Does your power not reach there?”

     “I’m sure it does,” Yoongi answered slowly, confused why his chest was so warm to Jimin when even the fire he was stepping into wasn’t. He continued to speak, “I’m glad you find it warm though.. If you ever need warmth again, I’ll be here since it beats stepping into the fire.”

     “When you smile, I feel better,” Jimin muttered out, eyes closing as he started to drift off into sleep. Yoongi couldn’t help but smile as he heard Jimin’s words, watching the other boy fall into a limp peace in his arms. Though Jimin’s words were a quite literal truth, he only took it as a sweet gesture to make Yoongi feel better about everything he had said before. And he took it in stride, making a note to himself to smile as long as he could keep the only person in the world he could touch without hurting alive.

During the next two days Jimin started to feel better than before, now able to get up and walk around like he used to even before coming to the Winter Kingdom. Namjoon and Jin also received word that the blizzard creeping past Jimin’s borders had receded back once more.

     “What do you think this means?” Jin asked from next to Namjoon’s throne where he sat when they had both received the news from another one of Namjoon’s knights that had come back from watching the progress of the blizzard.

Resting his face against his hand that was propped up on the arm of the golden brown wooden throne he sat on, Namjoon muttered out softly, “Jimin might have been able to talk some sense into that king. I don’t know how, but… there might not have to be a war.”

Though Jin didn’t want to seem too happy about it, he couldn’t help but grin and nudge Namjoon, “He said he would do it, didn’t he?”

Namjoon nodded his head though it wasn’t as enthusiastically as Jin would have hoped. He watched Namjoon started biting his nails again. He rolled his eyes and raised a hand up to dismiss the guard, “Thank you for reporting this to us. You may take your leave.”

The guard nods awkwardly at Jin but stays in his place, glancing at Namjoon for the official permission to leave. Namjoon’s expression contorts into an irritated one and he raises his hand up just a bit, grumbling out, “Whenever Jin tells you to do something, you obey.”

     “Sorry sir,” the guard uttered, backing up and looking to Jin as he corrected himself, “Sirs.”

He left in a hurry, closing the door behind him to leave Jin and Namjoon alone. Jin sighed when the echo of the door continued to ring for a few seconds around the room even after the moment passed. He placed his hand over Namjoon’s shoulder and sighed out, “Must you be so harsh? You are that man’s king, I’m not.”

     “You wanted him out as soon as possible didn’t you?” Namjoon retorted, still staring across the room in thought. “I could tell you had something to say.”

     “Yeah, I just wanted to tell you to stop biting your nails,” Jin laughed, taking Namjoon’s hands away from his mouth and holding them in his own. “Why are you so worried? Isn’t this a good thing for Jimin? He’s safe now.”

Jin stepped forward in front of Namjoon’s throne and faced him, bending down on his knees so he could look up into Namjoon’s eyes as he held his hands and asked, “Is it because of the prophecy?”

Namjoon bit his lip and nodded his head, looking down at Jin with a worried look cast over his eyes, “He’s still behind enemy lines. As long as he’s not safe and out of that kingdom, I can’t help but think that the prophecy is going to come true while he’s over there.”

Jin squeezed Namjoon’s hands and pressed one up against his cheek to take in the soft palm of his lover’s hand as he replied, “Let’s give him one more week. He should be back by then since it seems like he successfully convinced the king to hold off a war on his kingdom, but if he isn’t, then you can go into his kingdom and raise Hell, ok?”

Namjoon sighed and nodded his head, looking down at his hand that was being wrapped around my Jin’s own. He couldn’t help but smile and glance up at the man in front of him, agreeing with him for the sake of seeing him happy, “I’ll wait a week, but nothing more.”

     “That’s all I ask,” Jin tilted his head and leaned forward to kiss Namjoon, pressing him back into the throne as he slowly and subtly crawled up on the throne with him with his knees on the opposite sides of Namjoon’s waist.

He rocked back and sat down on Namjoon’s lap now that he was straddling him and wrapped his arms around him, “I have to go back to my kingdom later tonight because I have to show my face in my kingdom every once in a while… What do you say we make our last few hours together count?”

Namjoon grinned and cupped his hands around Jin’s cheeks before kissing him chastly and saying in an excited growl, “You always know exactly what to say to make my worries go away, don’t you?”

Jin nodded his head with a proud smile, “It’s a gift that comes with my looks.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes and kissed Jin on the cheek, “Alright, Mr. Handsome, continue to keep my mind off this whole thing with Jimin and the Winter King.”

~(***)~

Everyone was sitting at breakfast in a silence that wasn’t exactly tension filled, but it was just there because no one knew how to fill it. Jimin and Yoongi were casting glances at each other as memories of the last night came to mind and made their cheeks heat up with a pink tint while J-hope, Tae, and Jungkook were trying to decipher what their stares towards each other meant.

Tae and Jungkook were holding hands underneath the table, squeezing each other every time Jimin looked up at Yoongi and smiled just a bit or Yoongi quickly averted his eyes in a flush of red. What had happened between the two? It made them uncomfortable to see how well they were getting along before today, but seeing them acting like two people with a secret infatuation for each other was even worse.

Taehyung was the first one to speak up, sick of seeing this tired dance of glances made between Yoongi and Jimin that was circling around for the thirtieth time already. He sighed and groaned out, “So where do you guys get your food? I don’t think it magically appears in your cabinet, so is there a town with actual people nearby?”

Yoongi and Hoseok glanced at each other, Yoongi’s stare timid but Hoseok’s expression happy as the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile. Before Yoongi could say anything in reply to Taehyung, Hoseok jumped in before him and spoke excitedly, “There’s a town less than a mile East of here! I usually go there to get food since Yoongi doesn’t like to be around people, but you guys are welcome to come with me. I have to go on a run today anyway!”

Jungkook’s eyes widened, “What town is it?”

     “Glacier’s Peak,” Hoseok answered, “Do you recognize the name?”

     “Do I?” Jungkook grinned, “That’s where my family and I would go on holidays! I used to always look forward to going there every year. That’s really less than a mile away from here?”

Yoongi nodded his head, his chin resting on his fingers that were holding onto each other, “While you are there can you get-!”

     “Ingredients for a cake?” Hoseok interrupted him and laughed as he turned to the others at the table, already explaining himself before they had to ask, “Every year around this time he bakes a cake all by himself and goes upstairs to eat it all alone.”

Yoongi shut his eyes, ears turning red with embarrassment as he said, “I give you half of it the next day. I just like to eat alone in my room.”

     “Why the specific time though?” Jimin asked, turning to Yoongi with an amused smile.

Yoongi only shrugged and looked down though, avoiding making eye contact with him as he made up a fake excuse for his strange annual craving, “Maybe it has to do with my powers, I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter that much anyway.”

     “Well why don’t we all go into town to get the ingredients? I’d like to see a busy town in the Winter Kingdom,” Jimin smiled and sat up from his chair. “I want you to show me around.”

     “I’m not going into the town,” Yoongi shook his head, “Not after everything I’ve done in the past.”

     “But they don’t even know what you look like,” Hoseok spoke up, now joining Jimin’s side to make Yoongi go into town with them. Taehyung and Jungkook would prefer Yoongi to stay at the house, but they stayed quiet as Jimin and Hoseok continued to try to convince Yoongi to tag along with them.

And after giving quite a few excellent points, they managed to talk Yoongi into at least walking into the town and giving Jimin a quick tour of the place. He was only to go on the conditions that he wasn’t to be left alone, he was to wear his gloves at all times, and he wasn’t to walk into any crowds. These three things were easy enough to accomplish so Jimin and Hoseok agreed to those terms as well as Jungkook and Taehyung begrudgingly.

Within only an hour, they were arriving to the town with Hoseok carrying bags that would soon hold food that would last them a week or two. Hoseok stepped forward into the entrance of the town before everyone else and called out, “Yoongi, you should show Jimin the library first since that is my favorite place. I’ll meet you all back here when I’m done getting ingredients, so let’s say we have an hour or so before we meet up?”

     “That’s enough,” Yoongi nodded his head, and looked to Jimin, “It’s a small town, so there’s not much else to do in it.”

Jungkook held Tae’s hand without realizing where he was and spoke excitedly, “Let’s hurry over to the other side of town where a pastry shop is. I want to visit all the places my family and I used to go to.”

Tae smiled and looked down at his hand still being held on tightly by Jungkook’s. He glanced at Jimin and started following behind Jungkook, “I’ll meet you back here in an hour?”

Surprised that Taehyung would let him be alone with Yoongi for an hour but also happy he was trusting Yoongi enough to leave him alone with him, Jimin grinned and nodded his head, “Have fun, you two! Don’t get into too much trouble.”

Tae rolled his eyes, his lips curled up into a smile still to show that he knew Jimin was joking, “Be safe.”

After they all parted ways, Yoongi and Jimin fell into a silence, both mesmerized by the peaceful yet busy town around them in the snow. The snow out here was only light though. It was almost like it was protected by the power Yoongi couldn’t control. While Jimin’s breath was taken away by the sights of a beautiful Winter Kingdom village, Yoongi was quiet as he took in one of the last remaining towns that still stood in his kingdom, unharmed by his powers from so long ago. It made him want to leave just so he would never be able to ruin the beauty before his eyes, but it also made him want to selfishly stay and enjoy the comfort the surroundings brought him.

Yoongi led Jimin into the library as Hoseok instructed, placing his hand on Jimin’s shoulder as he brought him into a small wooden library with a huge fire in the center of the room and couches and chairs placed around the room for visitors to sit down and read a book.

     “This place is amazing…” Jimin muttered out, looking around him with wide eyes at the walls of shelves stacked with more books than he had ever seen before. There were plenty of libraries throughout his Summer Kingdom, but none had as many books as this.

Yoongi smiled and looked around as well, “I went here once when I was younger, and I remember reading a whole book in one night by the fire that the owner kept lit for me just because he was glad to see such a young child interested in reading.”

     “The people of this town seem really nice,” Jimin smiled to himself, walking over to one of the shelves close by and tracing his fingers along the cover of a book he would be interested in if he had the time to read. Being a king these days left little time for that though.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Yoongi replied to him in agreement, “I’ve never had a bad encounter with anyone here. I don’t think I’ve ever really had a bad encounter with anyone within the Winter Kingdom.”

     “But what about the people Hoseok mentioned that attack you?” Jimin spoke without thinking, whipping his head around when he realized what he shouldn’t have said. He covered his mouth and shook his head to let Yoongi know he didn’t have to answer his question, but Yoongi answered anyway in a calmer manner than he expected, “It’s understandable… why they would attack me. I’ve hurt so many people intentional or not, so I can’t blame them for hating me or trying to kill me.”

     “But if they would just try to listen-!” Jimin started to suggest, but Yoongi smiled and shook his head, “My word can only go so far. They would still fear me no matter what I tell them, so there’s no point in even trying to talk to them.”

Jimin looked down, eyebrows furrowed in thought that earned a laugh under Yoongi’s breath at how funny Jimin was to always try to think of a solution to everything. He brought his hand up to Jimin’s chin to gain his attention and spoke softly to not disturb the few people of the town sitting quietly in corners and reading their books, “Do you want to see my favorite place here?”

    “Your favorite place?” Jimin breathed out, staring into Yoongi’s eyes as if he was mesmerized by the light of the fire dancing in his pupils. Maybe he was, but there was something else causing him to stare longer into the eyes of the man in front of him. He just couldn’t place his finger on that reason why.

Yoongi smiled and quickly took Jimin’s hand, able to take it with ease because he still had his gloves on. He led Jimin through the light snowfall of the town that still made it hard for Jimin to see. It was dark out despite it being a little past noon, but that was normal for the Winter Kingdom. Though he was out of the hot habitat that naturally made him comfortable, he couldn’t help but fall in love with lights around the town as if it were a festival of light in his kingdom. He could even see auroras off in the distance, dancing in colors of light blue, green, and purple over the mountain tops that he now wanted to stand on top of just to see if he could touch the beautiful lights.

He never thought of the Winter Kingdom as beautiful before, but now he could only see it as breathtaking. And yet again, maybe there was another component to it all that he couldn’t quite detect yet.

When he and Yoongi arrived at the destination of Yoongi’s ‘favorite place’ though, Jimin couldn’t be more confused. They stepped inside to a bar that was empty albeit a few mid-day drinkers or people eating appetizers which were the only kind of food the bar sold. Jimin’s brows furrowed in confusion and he turned to Yoongi, “A bar is your favorite place? Is there a reason for-?”

His words trailed off when Yoongi left him without an explanation to walk over to a piano in the corner of the room. The piano was small and looked like it hadn’t been played in years, but Yoongi still found interest in it. Was that the reason why he loved this place?

Jimin followed him over to the piano and watched as he sat down and opened up the top of it. Finally, he looked up at Jimin and smiled, “I would visit my aunt every once in a while back when she lived here, and I’d come here every day to learn piano while she was at work. I haven’t played in…” he bit his lip and tilted his head, “well since everything happened, but I’ve always wanted to play it again.”

     “Play something right now,” Jimin grinned, not caring of what the people in the hushed bar would think if Yoongi started playing what was probably an out of tune piano.

Yoongi laughed a little and shook his head, “Here? I don’t want people to see me mess up. I have forgotten to play most of the songs I used to know, and it’s hard to play with gloves on.”

     “Then take them off,” Jimin replied, brushing his fingers across the top of Yoongi’s hand. He moved to take his gloves off, but he decided to let Yoongi decide for himself this time whether or not he wanted to take them off. It was one of the three conditions they made to convince him to come into the town, and he was going to keep it. 

Yoongi pulled his hand back and held it in his other one, shaking his head as he muttered out, “Jimin, I don’t want to risk it here. I don’t want to hurt anymore people.”

     “You won’t,” Jimin assured him, looking around at the people talking amongst themselves without a single care of what him and Yoongi were up to. They were far enough away from Yoongi for it to be safe, so he turned back to him and continued to speak, “I’ll make sure no one gets near you while you are playing.”

Yoongi stared at Jimin with skeptical eyes for a moment, his lips pursed together as he thought deeply about what could possibly go wrong if he took off his gloves. It only took a few seconds for his heart to win over and convince him that he could play and Jimin would make sure nothing went wrong. He nodded to himself and slipped off his gloves, placing them on the music stand on top of the piano, “Do you want to sit down next to me?”

     “Sure,” Jimin nodded his head and sat down next to Yoongi on the piano bench, pressing his palms against his thighs and rubbing them down to his knees. He watched as Yoongi placed his hands on the piano and pressed down on six keys that create a sound that already sounded more beautiful than Jimin could ever feel like he could create on the instrument.

It seemed so foreign to him, and as he watched Yoongi continue to make sounds that turned into beautiful music, he felt as if he was learning a completely new side to the Winter King that no one knew.

He turned to Yoongi once more to see a smile spread wide across his face as he got lost in his own music, playing a melody that sounded so sad yet so sweet. Both the music and Yoongi’s smile together made Jimin’s heart beat faster, and he couldn’t stop the happy feeling in chest that was swelling up more and more as he stared at the king next to him.

Yoongi eventually stopped playing when he felt the stares of everyone in the bar on his back, mesmerized by his piano playing. He awkwardly turned around and nodded his head to everyone before turning to Jimin and saying softly, “I messed up so many times, you should have told me everyone was watching.”

     “I didn’t even notice,” Jimin kept his stare directly into Yoongi’s eyes as if the song on the piano was still playing in them. “It was so beautiful.”

There was a moment; just a brief moment, where they both stared at each other as if they were meeting for a first time. Jimin wasn’t sick this time though and Yoongi wasn’t angry to see someone in his house. No, this time, they were meeting as not even kings. They were meeting as two people who were finally seeing each other as something so much more than what everyone else saw them as. They weren’t just kings that held great power, but they were people too, people who were finally being found by a light in the darkness they had been wondering in since as long as they had been kings.

Without thinking, Jimin closed his eyes and leaned forward to press his lips against Yoongi’s. He realized what he had done as soon as he felt Yoongi’s cold lips touch his warm ones. He didn’t stop or pull back though. He didn’t even flinch when he wondered what Yoongi was possibly thinking right now.

How could he when he felt those same cold lips press deeper into the kiss? That was all he needed to know he was fine to continue. The longer they kissed, the warmer Yoongi’s lips became. It got to the point where Yoongi’s lips were the only source of heat in his body at all. The feeling of his lips was the heat Jimin had needed last night more than anything. Not even fire itself could compete with the feeling his lips gave Jimin.

Jimin would have tried to feel the warmth of Yoongi’s chest as well if they weren’t in a bar at that moment. He would have tried to explore the insides of Yoongi’s mouth with his tongue too whether people were watching them or not if Yoongi didn’t pull away from him just before he got the chance to.

Jimin blinked in surprise at Yoongi’s sudden jerk away from their kiss. He tilted his head and asked, “Need to breathe?”

It was true, Yoongi probably did need to breathe. He was panting in the same rhythm his chest was heaving up and down, but that wasn’t why he pulled away. He shook his head and muttered out, “You’re freezing. You’re lips… they’re as cold as ice,” he bit his own lip and grabbed his gloves off the piano stand, “We shouldn’t have kissed. We have to set boundaries. I don’t care if you don’t turn to ice when we touch; I still hurt you, and I can see that very clearly.”

     “I actually felt heat during that,” Jimin laughed a little and tried to take Yoongi’s hand into his own to calm him down, but Yoongi yanked his hand away before he could and grabbed onto Jimin’s shirt as he spoke a bit too loudly and attracted everyone in the room to look at them, “I’m hurting you, Jimin! Don’t you see that? You don’t even look like the Summer King anymore!”

Jimin stared blankly at Yoongi, surprised by his harshness that he hadn’t seen since he first met him. How did he not look like the Summer King anymore? He still had orange hair, a bright smile, and power coursing through his veins. What more would someone need to look like a king of summer?

Yoongi stood up from the piano bench and backed away from Jimin, “I think after we get back, you should just go… for your sake.”

Without another word, Yoongi walked past Jimin who was still sitting down to make his way towards the exit of the bar. Just before he could make his way out though, Jimin stood up and shouted over the murmurs that were starting to rise from the people eating in the bar, “You are the reason I’m not getting better! I hope you know that! All this time I’ve kept it hidden, but it’s only gotten worse because all you do is feel sorry for yourself and nothing ever changes!”

Jimin could see his words clearly hurt Yoongi just by the wince that caused Yoongi’s eyes to squint and his lips to twitch into a frown as if he was about to cry. If he was to cry a second later, Jimin wouldn’t see it for Yoongi turned around as quick as the previous mood had changed and was gone without a word into the dark of the evening.

As soon as the door slammed behind him, almost as if the sound of the slam had caused it, Jimin’s heart twisted in his chest and he fell to his knees. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground, breath picking up as a craving for heat and a headache came on fast.

A woman ran over to him and rolled him onto his back to see if he was ok, asking frantically, “Are you alright?... your… your highness?”

Jimin’s eyes were wide in panic when he felt his whole body take the painful form it took last night. He dug his fingernails into the wooden floor underneath him and fought for the strength just to sit up again and answer the woman as calmly as he could manage, “I’m fine… I just need to find…” he bit his lip and thought about where Tae and Jungkook might be, “I need to find the pastry shop. Where is that?”

He stood up with the woman as she responded to him, “It’s across town near the church. You should go to a doctor though. Do you need someone to lead you-!”

     “I’ll be fine,” Jimin took a few quick steps towards the door and left the bar before he could hear her say anything else. He knew where the church was, so he would find the pastry shop quickly. He needed to find Tae and Jungkook before he passed out in a town full of strangers. The last thing he wanted was to fall unconscious in a cold place without anyone around who knew how to help him.

Jimin looked up to see the steeple of the church and started walking towards his slowly in the snow, grabbing onto the material of his shirt that covered his chest as if he was grabbing his heart and forcing it to calm down. He could hear himself breathing fast with every heavy step he took that made him feel like he was treading through water.

He decided to take a shortcut to the church by cutting through back alleys, making as few turns as possible with the least amount of steps as he could manage. He was beginning to feel like he was possibly going to make it to the pastry shop in time until another stabbing pain raided his heart once more and pushed him into the snow.

He yelped out in pain again and leaned against the brick wall of the back of a building in the dark alley he was currently stuck in. Snow fell down and hit his skin, feeling like tiny needles prickling him with their soft bites of frost. He tried to wrap his coat tighter around his body, but nothing could cover him up from the blizzard attacking him from the inside. He contemplated using his powers to try to burn himself and add just a bit more strength for him to walk the rest of the way to the pastry shop, but he knew that wouldn’t work and he would probably pass out. He was most likely going to be stuck here until he got over the pain or Yoongi got over his emotions. He had a fearful feeling that he was going to have to do the former choice.

His stomach flipped with a new feeling of nausea that decided to wash over him and add on to his pain, but he couldn’t even focus on that when he heard footsteps crunching in the snow towards him. He snapped his head up and looked behind him to see three guys making their way over to him, their faces hidden by the shadows cast upon them in the darkness.

He hugged himself and grunted out the words, “Tae? Jungkook?... We need to go home…”

     “Yeah, he’s the Summer King,” one of the men spoke when they neared him, grin spreading wide across his face as he said those words.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he curled up into himself, hating that people were seeing a king like him in such a weak condition, “Sorry, I’m just resting right here. There’s no need to worry.”

One of the men pulled a knife out of his pocket and opened it up so the blade would show, sparkling as the moonlight hit it. He stepped in front of Jimin and kneeled in front of him, asking the other two men, “How much you think we’ll get if we sell him to one of the upper class people here? Would they like their very own human fireplace?”

     “What?” Jimin’s heart skipped a beat when he realized the people weren’t here to help him out in any way. He shook his head and spoke quickly now, “Guys please, that wouldn’t be right. You’d regret it if you did something that terrible.”

     “Shut up,” the man in front of him groaned, grabbing his head and slamming it against the brick wall behind him.

Jimin cried out in pain and reacted without thinking, reaching his hands out in front of him to grab the man’s face and burn it. He succeeded in getting the man off of him, but he immediately grew weaker just from using his powers for a split second in that state.

The men could see this too, watching as Jimin became more breathless. Even though he was much weaker than before, Jimin attempted to get up now that the men were all distracted by their friend in pain. He got up and walked a few wobbly steps in an attempt to at least get out of the alley, but before he could, one of the men caught up to him and tackled him down into the snow, holding him down as the other two ran up to them.

Officially panicking, Jimin shouted as loud as he could in hopes of someone nearby to hear him and help out, “Someone help me! They’re trying to ki-!”

Before he could finish his sentence, one of the men covered his mouth as another one kicked him in the stomach and sent him curling up in pain. Tears of frustration fell down his face because he wasn’t able to do anything about his current situation. His tears burned his skin on their way down his face because he wasn’t able to even focus on controlling his powers at this point.

     “Leave me alone!” he fought to say, shutting his eyes and grinding his teeth as he used more power than he felt like he had to create fire in his hands. He pressed the fire into the guy in front of him and once again was safe for a few more seconds until the other two guys retaliated in full force by kicking him in the gut again and throwing him up against the brick wall.

Since Jimin couldn’t stand up on his own anymore, the man who hadn’t been harmed yet held him up by his neck, gripping on so tight he was choking Jimin. He shouted for the other two men to hold his arms against the wall so he couldn’t use his powers against him.

Jimin glared at the new guy before him, clenching his teeth together as he growled out viciously, “I may not kill you, but I sure as Hell have friends that will.”

     “And where are they now?” the man asked with a smirk, glancing off to the side just to make sure no one was coming to the Summer King’s rescue. When he saw no one there, he looked back at Jimin with an even wider smile, “Looks like I’m going to get away with it this time. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get pawned off for a lot of money. And if you do everything we say, I promise you’ll only be used for your power instead of… other things..”

     “Other things?” Jimin asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion and also anger at the whole moment in general.

The man laughed and tilted his head, “Is the Summer King really that innocent?” he glanced down at Jimin’s pants and nudged his knee in between his thighs, grinning when he could feel every muscle in Jimin’s body tense up. Jimin’s heart started beating faster as the man continued to speak, “I could show you right now what will happen if you don’t do exactly as I say,” he grabbed the knife from his friend and held it up to Jimin’s neck, “Do you want to find out the hard way or do you understand?”

Jimin shut his eyes and nodded just slightly to avoid feeling the edge of the blade against his skin, growing hotter and hotter the longer it touched his skin, “I… I understand-!”

He was interrupted by a low voice speaking at the end of the alleyway, “If the three of you don’t back away from him right now, I’m going to make sure you never see the light of day again.”

Jimin immediately recognized the voice as Yoongi and relaxed a bit, glad to know he was there despite having just fought with him. The man lowered the knife away from his neck as he responded to him, “And who are you? Are you his friend that’s gonna kill me?”

     “I don’t know about friend, but I’ll definitely kill you,” Yoongi replied, stepping towards them.

The man raised his hand though and spoke loudly, “Nuh-uh! If you take one more step closer to me, I’m gonna stab him right in the heart.”

As he spoke, Jimin realized that he could now fall unconscious without worrying about never being found or helped. Even if he was mad at him, Yoongi would still help him out and know what to do. He was free to use the rest of his strength to use as much power as he could before passing out. He scowled at the man in front of him, glaring at him as he spit out the words, “He doesn’t need to take another step for you to burn.”

Before the man could question his words, Jimin focused his power to every area touching the man in front of him including his thighs and face and burned him as much as he could before he quickly ran out of strength.

The man yelled out in pain and the other two men let Jimin go in fear of getting the same treatment, but before they could scatter, the man got his quick revenge by stabbing Jimin in the stomach before turning to run with his friends. Before he could leave though, Yoongi ran towards him and grabbed his face, screaming out at him as the man turned to ice in his hands.

He looked up for the two other men, eyes wide with fury and a lust to kill them, but they were already gone in the night, safe unlike their friend who was already frozen to pure ice. Yoongi didn’t have time to look upon or notice what he had done before he heard Jimin slump down in the snow on his knees, clutching his stomach as he muttered out, “Those two guys saw your face. You need to get out of here before they realize the Winter King made an appearance in their town.”

     “Jimin, that’s the least of my worries,” Yoongi lifted up Jimin’s already blood stained shirt to see the deep wound the knife made. It was still in him and it was going to have to stay that way until he brought him somewhere where someone would be able to help him.

     “We have to bring you to a doctor,” Yoongi spoke, about to pick up Jimin until he protested, “No… No doctor. I don’t need it.”

     “What? No, you need help. I’m not going to let you die!”

     “I’m not going to die,” Jimin shut his eyes and pulled out the knife before pressing his hand against the wound on his stomach, using his powers to burn it shut so it would stop bleeding. He cried out in pain, but quickly clasped his hand over his mouth to keep from gaining anymore attention from the people of the town. Tears fell down his face once more, his powers still uncontrollable to the point that they burned his skin again. He remained calm though. Awake and calm enough just to say to Yoongi clearly so he would understand, “All I need is heat now… And I know where I can get it.”

     “Where?” Yoongi asked, contemplating whether or not he would be allowed to pick Jimin up again, “You need it now, so tell me where I need to bring you.”

Jimin shook his head, frowning because he was frustrated Yoongi wasn’t automatically understanding and helping him. He huffed out in both irritation and pain and replied thickly, “You need to kiss me again… please….”

     “Kiss you?” Yoongi tilted his head, “Jimin, that will only make things worse.”

     “Kiss me!” Jimin shouted suddenly, grabbing Yoongi by the collar of his shirt and pulling him close so their lips would smash together. Their teeth clashed as well, but Jimin managed to coax their lips together more comfortably, sighing out when he felt the heat that came from Yoongi’s lips.

Almost as if his blindfold had just been taken off as he kissed Yoongi for the second time, he finally realized what this sensation he got from kissing Yoongi meant. This craving for heat that could only be helped by a simple kiss from a certain someone meant one thing and one thing only.

Yoongi was the only source of heat that could help him now.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER SIX

Namjoon barged through the doors of Jin’s castle, disregarding the several knights hurriedly following behind him and shouting at him that he couldn’t just walk in without the Spring King’s direct approval. He rolled his eyes at their words and stepped into the throne room where Jin sat, unaware of Namjoon’s presence until that moment.

His eyebrows raised and his expression turned into both one of worry and joy when he saw his lover making a surprise appearance, “Namjoon? Why are you here?” his features relaxed and he smirked, “Did you miss me that much?”

Namjoon didn’t even have time to go along with his lover’s teasing, wound tight as he stepped up to his throne and spoke firmly, “The storm is back and even worse than before. I know you told me to wait a week, but I can’t, Jin. I have this terrible feeling that maybe he’s just torturing Jimin with this blizzard, and we have been too naive to notice it!”

     “Woah, calm down,” Jin’s smile faded quickly and he stood up from his throne. He hurried over to Namjoon and cupped his hands around his face, “Just breathe, ok?” he laughed a little, “I’m glad you came over here to check with me before declaring war on Min Yoongi, and I’m going to take advantage of it to say that you really should try to figure out what is truly going on before starting a war over what could possibly be nothing.”

     “Nothing?” Namjoon snapped, jerking his face away from Jin’s hands. He stepped back and shook his head disapprovingly, “Do you not remember how much it hurt the both of us when the old Summer King would bring waves of heat over our borders? I thought you were going to die once because it got so bad, and he didn’t even go half as far as Yoongi’s storm has gone past Jimin’s borders!”

Jin frowned at the thought of their past with the old Summer King and looked down, “Namjoon, I hate it when you mention those days.”

     “Well that’s exactly what’s happening right now with Jimin!” Namjoon continued to yell. “Now, I hate remembering the past just as much as you do, but I need you to understand that I’m only doing this so Jimin doesn’t have to look back on his first years of being king and only think about that bastard and his storm!”

     “Namjoon calm down!” Jin suddenly shouted, stepping away from Namjoon and towards the throne.

Namjoon’s eyes widen at the sudden outburst, and he looked around the room to see vines creeping in from the open windows, an unintentional product of Jin’s outburst. Jin had been able to control his powers so easily since the moment he got tem, so when he lost control, Namjoon knew to quiet down. It was hard to because he feared for Jimin’s safety, but he managed to seal his lips shut for now to hear what Jin wanted to say.

Jin sat down at his throne once more and spoke calmly once again, “The reason I’m not worried is because either Tae or Jungkook would have made it back here by now to let us know that Jimin is either not in good health or is in danger, but they haven’t made an appearance yet. He is in good hands, but if you really feel the need to see what is going on, you should go to Yoongi in peace first to find out what is going on. Not everything needs to be solved with war.”

     “With people like him, war is the only thing that works,” Namjoon spoke dryly, his nose twitching as a rush of hatred took him over once again and he twisted his hands up into fists.

Jin sighed and rolled his eyes, sending the vines that were still growing into the room back into the garden outside his castle, “You said those exact words when you wanted to kill the Summer King, and you remember what happened?”

Namjoon furrowed his brows and tilted his head, “Nothing happened. I wanted to wage war on him, but he ended up getting himself killed before I could.”

     “Exactly,” Jin smiled, “If this Winter King is the same as the old Summer King, then he’ll bring on his own demise without your help. You just have to be patient.”

Namjoon wanted to argue with him, but Jin had a point. It was an abstract one and there were many holes in this point that would really only increase his worries if he were to think about it long enough, but it was something to make Namjoon wonder if war really was the only option for him. He didn’t want to pull Jimin into a war, that was for sure, but he also didn’t want Yoongi to hurt him anymore either. Maybe he was just going to have to travel down there to see what was going on for himself as Jin suggested.

He stepped back and turned for the door, “I see your point. I’m going to go to the Winter Kingdom and find out what is going on between Jimin and that king.”

Just before he could near the door, vines came flying in through the open windows and wrapped themselves around Namjoon, restricting his movements until he was standing up firmly with no way to take another step forward. He looked down at the vines and sighed, glancing back at Jin as he said, “I really don’t have time to kiss you on the cheek. I have to save-!”

     “Make time for it then,” Jin interrupted him, pressing his finger against his cheek and releasing Namjoon from his tight vine trap. “You yelled at me for no reason, so you have to make it up to me.”

     “You are so much work, you know that?” Namjoon smirked and stalked his way up to the throne. He leaned forward quickly and kissed Jin on the lips, “You know I love you, right?”

Jin smiled and nodded his head, “But not as much as I love you.”

     “I’ll challenge that statement whenever I get back,” Namjoon smirked and turned on his heel to leave for real this time. He waved his hand up in the air as he walked away and called out one last time, “See you soon, flower!”

The door closed behind Namjoon, leaving Jin alone in his room to smile to himself and already start counting down the seconds 'til his lover’s return. It only took a few seconds for that whole act to disappear though as reality set in. He frowned and rested his chin on his hand as he thought about what Jimin was going through at the moment. What if the Winter King really was keeping him locked up somewhere and using his powers to hurt him in every way imaginable?

Jin shut his eyes when memories came rushing through of what the old Summer King would do to him and Namjoon. He clenched his teeth and ordered those thoughts to go away, scared that they would send him into a fit of uncontrollable power. He had to stay positive if not for himself than at least for Namjoon.

Jimin was going to be fine. Tae and Jungkook were fine as well. The three of them could handle anything. They weren’t little kids, they were adults. Jimin was one with more power than Jin could ever dream of holding, so of course he was safe.

Of course he was safe.

Of course he was safe.

Jin was going to have to keep repeating those words to himself over and over again to convince himself that a war really wasn’t the only option when it came to the king of the Winter King, Min Yoongi.

~(***)~

     “Yoongi… hah…” Jimin breathed out and searched frantically with his tongue for the hottest spot in Yoongi’s mouth. Every time his skin came in contact with Yoongi’s own, he felt a sense of heat stronger than anything he had ever felt before. It fueled him to the point where he was feeling stronger and better than he had ever been before.

Jimin whined when Yoongi pulled away from the kiss, but he was quickly satisfied again when Yoongi pressed his lips against his neck and tugged at his skin. Jimin shut his eyes again and wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s neck, muttering out breathlessly, “I feel hot… This is the heat I need, ah!”

He was interrupted by his own surprise to a new heat rubbing between his thighs as Yoongi continued to kiss his neck. His eyes widened when he realized what that meant, and he asked, “Yoongi…? Do you want to?....”

     “Want to what?” Yoongi finally pulled back to face Jimin with a confused expression. Only a second would pass before he realized what Jimin was asking. His whole face grew hot and red immediately when he thought about what might happen if he says yes. But now wasn’t the time for that, was it? Out in the cold next to someone he just killed? But how could he say no to Jimin?

With the way he was looking at him right now, eyes glistening in the moonlight and hair shining brightly from the different colored lights scattered across the town, Yoongi couldn’t even control himself anymore. Jimin had full control over every bit of him.

~(***)~

     “Tae, maybe we should get a carrot flavored muffin as well,” Jungkook smiled as he stared down at a case full of different desserts.

Though Jungkook was excited to see a muffin with that flavor, Tae’s face contorted into an expression of disgust and he grunted out, “Why would you want a muffin that tastes like carrots? That sounds gross.”

     “It’s not!” Jungkook’s eyes widened and he whipped his head around to Tae. “Have you seriously never tried carrot flavored muffins? They’re amazing!”

Tae tilted his head, “You’re joking, right?”

Jungkook shook his head and pointed to the glass as he turned to the shop owner behind the counter, “I’ll take two carrot flavored muffins as well,” he glanced at Tae, “You’re trying one.”

Taehyung sighed, unable to control his smile though as he stepped up next to Jungkook and wrapped his arm around his waist, “I trust whatever you say. Jimin’s really missing out by hanging out with that ice king. He should just-!”

     “Dae, you’re not going to believe what we just saw!” two men came rushing into the pastry shop and ran up to the counter. “The King of Summer is here!”

Dae, the man behind the counter that Jungkook and Tae could guess they were speaking to, stared at the men with wide eyes before responding to them, “Where is he now? Where is Ferris? Is he with him?”

The two men shook their head, “Hell, I think Ferris is dead. He did something stupid.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened and he butted in to the conversation, “Where did you last see the Summer King? Is he alright?”

One man shook his head and replied without thinking, “We didn’t stay long enough to find out. He got stabbed, but then some guy walked into the alley and tried to kill us all.”

Tae felt his stomach fall when he heard that Jimin got stabbed. His brows lowered and he grabbed his knife from his belt, not even letting half a second pass before he held it up to the neck of the man in front of him. Jungkook followed his actions and slammed the other man’s head into the glass case showing off the muffins and pointed his knife towards Dae.

     “Show us where the Summer King is,” Tae growled out, starting to walk towards the exit of the pastry shop. “He better not have been hurt at all, or else I’ll make you regret it.”

The man put his hands up and followed where Tae forced him to walk, keeping his chin up so the blade of the knife wouldn’t touch his skin. When Tae opened up the door to the pastry shop with the man in tow, Jungkook grabbed the bag of muffins they were about to buy and ran out after him, muttering to the shop owner to keep quiet if he didn’t want them to return.

When out of the pastry shop, Tae walked quickly, forcing the man to lead him to Jimin with small presses of the blade against his neck to remind him of his position. The man quickly obeyed ever demand Tae had and led them to the alleyway just as they heard what sounded like Jimin yell out, “Yoongi stop!”

Tae’s eyes widened and he tore himself away from the man to run into the alleyway to save Jimin from whatever could be happening. As soon as he turned the corner though, his eyes landed on the man turned to complete ice and Jimin and Yoongi… pressed up against the wall making out.

Jimin’s shirt was unbuttoned half way down his stomach and it was stained with blood near the bottom. Yoongi’s hands were grabbing onto Jimin’s hips as he continued to kiss Jimin. Was Jimin in trouble? Why wasn’t Yoongi stopping if Jimin had clearly shouted at him to stop?

Jungkook rounded the corner as well and immediately muttered out with wide eyes, “Oh… So he’s not in trouble.”

     “But he told him to stop…” Tae mumbled, about to stalk over there and rip Yoongi off of Jimin.

Before he could do that though, Jimin broke away from their kiss to laugh and hold Yoongi’s hands, “I told you not to touch my hips, it’s cold!” Jimin leaned forward to kiss Yoongi again until he caught sight of Tae and Jungkook and quickly pushed Yoongi away, “How-How long have you two been there?”

     “Long enough,” Tae replied, not sure what he should address first. “I thought you got stabbed, so I came to save you, but looks like you didn’t need it.”

     “Oh no, I got stabbed,” Jimin lifted up his shirt to reveal the hand shaped burn on his stomach that had closed his wound shut. “I fixed it though, and I needed heat so Yoongi gave me some,” his whole face turned red and he looked to Yoongi with a smile. “That kind of heat works the best.”

Tae stepped over to the man turned to ice and asked, “Jimin, someone just died and you don’t care at all? Did you forget why you came here in the first place?”

     “To talk to Yoongi,” Jimin replied, buttoning up his shirt, "And the guy died because he hurt me and Yoongi protected me. I’ve killed people before, Tae. It’s bad, but it’s not new to me.”

Tae shook his head and stepped back, “Jungkook and I are going back to the house. I think we should go back home too because Namjoon and Jin are probably worried sick about you.”

     “The other kings?” Yoongi questioned, having heard their names briefly a few times when he was younger and the previous Winter King was still alive.

Jimin turned to him and opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the man Tae had forced to lead them there shouting out, “What the hell? What… What have you done? How is he?....” The man ran over to his friend turned to ice and placed his hands on him, eyes wide with fear as he turned to the Yoongi, “You….” his eyebrows furrowed and he suddenly started to shout, “You’re the Winter King, aren’t you? You monster! What are you doing here?”

     “We need to go…” Jimin muttered out, pulling at Yoongi’s sleeve and edging towards Taehyung and Jungkook who were still at the end of the alleyway.

Before Yoongi coul d follow in suit with Jimin though, the man lunged at him and grabbed the collar of his coat, “Finally a coward like you is making a public appearance! I’m going to kill you, and I’ll make the whole kingdom watch so they will finally be happily free of your evil!”

Yoongi quickly put his gloves on and pushed the man away, “He stabbed the Summer King, he deserved it.”

     “Anyone with power that can kill deserves to die!” the man yelled, reaching for his pocket.

Jimin had no idea what was in there, but he wasn’t going to stick around to find out. He quickly created a tall barrier made of fire in between the man and Yoongi and took advantage of his own distraction to grab Yoongi’s hand and run.

When he passed Tae and Jungkook, they started to run with them, momentarily forgetting about their fight to make sure Jimin was safe as he ran away from the man who wanted to kill both him and Yoongi now.

The four of them didn’t stop running until they had left the town and could see Yoongi’s house in the distance. Even then though, they kept a fast pace in fear of seeing torches and pitchforks amongst a mob of angry villagers following behind them.

     “We left Hoseok behind,” Yoongi spoke breathlessly, looking back at the town that was far enough in the distance to be concealed by a storm of snow coming in.

Everyone continued to walk despite the realization of the friend they left behind, Tae muttering out under his breath, “I think he’s fine to make it back here on his own. I’m sure he’ll figure out we ran for our lives when everyone starts yelling about killing the two kings that decided to kill someone in a back alley.”

     “He stabbed me!” Jimin snapped, “You are always so ready to kill someone if they even so much as look at me the wrong way, so why are you angry now that someone has managed to protect me from actual danger? Is it because it’s Yoongi who saved me? Why do you hate him so much?”

     “Guys, let’s not fight,” Jungkook tried to say, but Taehyung only retorted back to Jimin in the same manner he had just been shouted at.

     “I hate him because he’s evil, and he may seem innocent to you, but that’s all just lies! No one can kill half his own kingdom on accident!” Tae fumed, pointing to Jungkook as he continued, “Did you know he killed Jungkook’s family? Jungkook has kept quiet this whole time as you’ve gone on and on about how a murderer like Yoongi is so innocent! Could you imagine how he has felt this whole time?”

     “Then he shouldn’t have come,” Jimin replied without thinking, not even daring to look Jungkook in the eyes because he knew as soon as he said it that he was being selfish and rude for no reason at all. He wanted to take it back, he really did, but Tae’s glare keeping him frozen in place was preventing him from saying anything at all.

Tae eventually broke his glare only to roll his eyes and shake his head as he stepped back, “That’s it. Jungkook and I are going back into town for Hoseok. When we come back, we are leaving with or without you. I’ll tell Namjoon that you’re perfectly fine though.”

     “Don’t go back into the town, it’s dangerous!” Jimin called out as Jungkook and Tae started to walk away.

     “Since when do you care?” Tae replied without turning back to Jimin, continuing to walk towards the town.

Not sure what to say back to that, Jimin decided to reside in silence, turning back to the direction of the house and starting to walk back to it. Yoongi followed behind him, lost in thought about the fact that this whole time he had been around Jungkook, Tae and him had known that he had killed his parents a long time ago.

How many nights had they gone hating him no matter what he did or judging his every move? Yoongi felt terrible about this all. He wasn’t even mad at Tae or Jungkook for not telling him and hating him behind his back. He deserved it. In fact, he deserved for them to hate him openly which they did now, but he was more angry at himself for ever letting himself hurt anyone.

And just with Tae’s simple words, he was back to square one, hating himself and the power that had ruined his and many other people’s life ever since he attained it.

When they walked up to the house, Jimin’s health had declined again along with Yoongi’s emotions though both were too angry at themselves and the current situation to put two and two together.

Jimin let Yoongi walk in before him and quickly followed him in before slamming the door behind them. He grabbed onto a coat rack to keep himself from stumbling forward as he muttered out, “You need to kiss me again…”

     “What?” Yoongi turned around with a look of confusion and almost anger on his face, “You seriously want to continue what we started after what Taehyung just told you? I’m a murderer of your friend’s parents! I’m a murderer of many families! Why would you want to be with someone like me?”

Jimin bit his lip and shook his head, “We need to talk about this another time… I need heat…”

     “Then go by the fire,” Yoongi mumbled, turning to walk towards the stairs. Not even Jimin could admit he wanted to be with him anymore. He didn’t blame him.

Jimin’s heart was hurting and twisting with every step Yoongi took away from him. He bent over and clutched it, wincing as a coldness swept through his body and sent him in a spell of nausea.

Before he could think straight and prevent himself from doing anything he’d regret, he lunged forward and ran up to the stair step Yoongi was currently on to grab him and pull him into a kiss, desperately searching for heat that would cure his pain.

His eyes widened and fear settled in when he only felt chills though. Yoongi stepped up another stair step to get away and said, “I don’t have heat.”

     “No, you did before,” Jimin argued, quickly reaching out to Yoongi to try to kiss him again. Yoongi backed up though and pushed Jimin away before he could stop himself, almost causing the other boy to fall down the stairs.

     “Stop!” he snapped and stepped up on a new stair step, “Just stop!....” the expression on Jimin’s face made him almost take back his shouts, but he had to stay strong. He needed to protect Jimin from himself, and if he had to make him angry to make him safe then that was a sacrifice he would have to make.

Jimin bit his lip and shook his head, “Yoongi don’t do this to yourself… I… I don’t think you are a bad person! I don’t fear you, so stop fearing yourself!”

     “I don’t love you, ok?” Yoongi shouted out desperately, not knowing what else to say to make Jimin go away. Tears were forming in his eyes and his heart was beating out of his chest almost as a way to beg him to stop talking and take it all back, but he continued on, “I don’t even like you, so stop trying to get close to me! Just… I want you gone by tomorrow. You’ve stayed here long enough to accomplish anything you came here to do.”

     “Yoongi please!” Jimin pleaded with him as he walked up the stairs. Jimin almost followed him up there, but his legs gave out on him at the last minute and he held onto the railing to prevent himself from falling completely over.

He tightened his grip on the railing as the cold feeling inside him grew stronger and stronger. He thought the pain couldn’t get worse until he heard the door slam upstairs and everything in him completely collapsed.

Though Yoongi didn’t even touch him, he felt like he was starting to turn to ice.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER SEVEN

Yoongi couldn’t hear a thing outside his room with the wind blowing so roughly outside his house. He tried to listen for any noises Jimin could be making downstairs, but a storm had picked up in his kingdom. He was confident enough to blame it on his uncontrollable powers and know he was correct.

He was in the bathroom now, fat tears falling from his face and breaking once they reached the tile floor of the bathroom since they had frozen on the way down. Even he was starting to get cold from his own power, but he couldn’t stop himself from crying. Plus, if he was only hurting himself, then there was no need to stop his powers now.

His lip trembled as he shut his eyes and laid his head back on the claw footed bathtub behind him. Being here reminded him of the first time he hurt someone with his powers, the time he had become a monster over night when his powers first came to him.

He got his powers when he was thirteen  years old on the night of his little sister’s birthday. She was turning six, and though they lived as a poor family and couldn’t even make her a cake that year, his parents managed to make it special by inviting the whole town over to dance and celebrate around a huge fire set up outside.

     “Yoongi?” his little sister sang out as she sat down next to him by the fire outside.

Yoongi looked up from his book to see the little girl with brown hair braided into pigtails and a new doll in her hand that must have been given to her from the neighbors. He smiled and scooted over a bit to give her room on the bench, “Hey Ara, are you enjoying your birthday?...even without cake?”

Ara nodded her head with a smile, “Yes! We had cake for your birthday which wasn’t too long ago, so I’m fine,” she playfully nudged Yoongi with her shoulder. “Mom is calling us in though. She doesn’t want us staying out too late even though it’s my birthday.”

     “Well it gets colder at night, so that makes sense,” Yoongi muttered in agreement, closing his book and standing up. Ara stood up with him and sighed, “I wish this night would last forever though! I love playing with my friends and eating yummy food! Oh, and we don’t even have to worry about school tomorrow because it’s Saturday!”

Yoongi laughed under his breath and started to walk back towards the house with Ara right behind him, “That means that tomorrow will be just as fun as tonight was. I’m sure the village wouldn’t mind to have a part two of your party tomorrow night?”

He turned back to look at Ara just as her eyes widened and she jumped up and down with excitement, “Yes! Yes! And we can have a part three on Sunday night as well! I am six years old now, so this is a special birthday!”

Yoongi laughs out loud this time, patting Ara on the shoulder as he walked inside the house, “Let’s get to bed before it gets too co-!”

He’s cut off by his mother calling their names from the kitchen, “Yoongi? Ara?” they turn to see her smile sweetly and move to cover up something rather large behind her on the table, “I have a surprise for you both, so run along and get ready for bed and come back to see what it is.”

Yoongi couldn’t be fooled by his mother. He knew exactly what she was hiding, noticing the icing on her apron and the batter still in a bowl placed in the sink. He smiled and nodded his head, ushering Ara past before she could notice anything as well, “Ok, we’ll be back again in a few minutes!”

     “Hurry up now before I steal a piece of that surprise,” their father called out from the living room where he was reading a book, making a show of where Yoongi got his love of reading from.

Yoongi and Ara ran to their room as he said that, only catching on to a giggle and a whisper between their parents before they closed themselves in their shared room to get dressed.

Yoongi sat on the bed to change into his pajamas while Ara made her way to her dresser to choose her favorite nightgown to wear. Ara hummed to herself as she changed into the plain white gown that reminded her of what a princess might wear on her wedding day. She always went on about how she would marry the new Winter King in order to become royalty and wear pretty dresses, but no one knew exactly who the next Winter King would be yet.

     “Do I look like a princess?” Ara asked, grabbing Yoongi’s attention as she twirled around in her nightgown.

Yoongi finished putting his shirt on and smiled, nodding his head as he replied, “Like a queen. Are you ready for your royal surprise?”

Ara’s eyebrows raised in excitement and she nodded her head, clapping her hands cheerfully, “Yes!” she held out her hand to Yoongi, “Escort the birthday queen to her court?”

     “Of course, your highness,” Yoongi decided to play along only because it was her birthday. He held out his hand to hold hers, only hesitating for a moment when he felt a chill run up his spine and throughout his body as if he had fallen into ice cold water.

This feeling only last a second though so he decided to brush it off and took her hand, grabbing it firmly to lead her to the kitchen. He couldn’t even make a move though before she suddenly froze, eyes turning a light blue color and hand turning into ice as he watched in confusion and then in shock.

He jerked his hand away from her and rubbed his eyes, thinking for a moment that he was only hallucinating something out of a nightmare, but when he opened his eyes again, she was already completely ice.

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he stepped back, falling to the ground in shock. A harsh wind started to blow outside and snow was falling into a blizzard more loud than anything he had heard before. He didn’t notice it, but the wooden floor under his hands started turning to ice around him. Was a new Winter King back in power and attempting to kill them all? Was his sister really dead?

Before he could attempt to answer those questions, he ran out to the living room and grabbed his mom and dad from where they had been eyeing the cake, taking both of their hands into their own, “Mom! Dad! A-Ara, she’s-!” he gasped when he watched them turn into ice before him.

Tears were falling down his face and freezing by the time they got to his chin. He started to back up away from them but froze when he heard someone knocking on the door outside. His eyes widened and he feared who could possibly be behind it. Was it the new Winter King coming for him?

Mustering up enough courage to speak, he called out to the person behind the door, “Who… Who is it? Say your name!”

     “It’s Jei! I wanted to see if you guys are ok! A blizzard suddenly appeared!” the voice called out, opening the door without warning and stepping inside to the house. He was Yoongi’s next door neighbor, so Yoongi felt a wave of relief rush over him, but he froze again when he heard the man gasp, “Y-Your parents! They’re ice!” the man's eyes trailed to Yoongi and he suddenly lowered his brows in a glare, "Did you do this?"

Yoongi shook his head and stepped back, “No! I-I didn't! The Winter King is attacking us! That explains the blizzard outside!”

The man shook his head, face red with anger now, “You’re trying to trick me now? You caused that blizzard outside, didn’t you? How long have you known that you’re the new king?”

     “I’m not!” Yoongi argued, sniffling and looking down at his hands. He looked up to shout his claims at the man again, but the man was suddenly too close, grabbing onto Yoongi and pushing him against the wall.

He held Yoongi up by the collar of his shirt and shouted, “Why would you suddenly turn on your own village?”

Yoongi shut his eyes and tried to push the man off of him, shoving at his face without thinking until the warm skin of the man turned into cold ice as well. Yoongi was able to drop back down and out of his grip now, but he was stunned to see yet another person turned to ice before him.

He uttered out a noise he couldn’t understand himself when he saw the man turning to ice before him just from his touch alone. He wanted to scream. When his eyes caught on to his parents again and he thought of his innocent young sister dead as well in their bedroom because of this new power in him, he couldn’t help but let out a loud scream of agony at the horrors he was facing.

What was going on? He didn’t want to be king! He wanted his family back!

Yoongi heard more villagers headed towards his house due to the shouting and screaming that had happened just moments ago. Yoongi couldn’t risk killing them too. And with that thought he ran. He ran out of his house and out of that town before he could hurt anyone else, but the damage had already been done. He didn’t know it at the time, but his power was so strong back then, many people died that night from the sudden burst of cold his power caused.

He killed all those people in just one night, and he would never be forgiven for it. He would never forgive himself for it. For he still remained a monster even now.

Yoongi opens his eyes and sniffled, the wind outside snapping him out of his thoughts of that terrible night his whole life changed. The only thing around him that was louder than the wind was the sounds Jimin was making downstairs.

What was he doing? Was he ok? Yoongi wanted to check on him, but he couldn’t be near Jimin right now. He needed to create space between them in order to keep Jimin safe. Hopefully he was gone and back in his Summer Kingdom by tomorrow as he requested. Then Yoongi would finally rest easy.

~(***)~

Downstairs, Jimin stumbled over to the fireplace, tripping on his way there but eventually crawling up to the it in a weak state. His hands were shaking up to his fingertips as he grabbed a log from the pile Yoongi and Hoseok had helped make over the days and threw it onto the pile of ashes still in the fireplace.

He repeated this step with two more logs before using his powers to throw a flame at the wood. Jimin cried out when he let out too much power on accident and left himself drained along with the pain still taking over his body.

Jimin fell down in front of the fireplace, rolling onto his back to stare up at the ceiling as he thought about what just happened.

Did Yoongi really never even like him? Why would he kiss him then?

That wasn’t important now though.

Jimin had to stop thinking about Yoongi and start thinking about how he he was going to manage to stop feeling like he was going to freeze to death. The fire beside him wasn’t helping him at all either, but trying to jump into it was not an option. 

Jimin bit his lip and closed his eyes, trying to think of something else to get his mind off of Yoongi. Maybe that would help him feel less cold.

He thought about Tae and Jungkook and how he could tell there was something new going on between them. Sure he was mad at them right now, but he was also happy for them finally realizing his feelings. He was probably going to have to find a new personal guard after this though since Tae would want to spend all his time with Jungkook in the Fall Kingdom instead of the Summer Kingdom.

That would work out too though because Taehyung never liked how hot the Summer Kingdom was.

A tear fell down Jimin’s face, burning his skin on the way down. He winced in pain when he felt the boiling tear leave a red trail down his face that would puff up later. It wasn’t until another hot tear fell down his face when he realized that he wasn't cold anymore. In fact he was too hot.

How was this happening? He had never been too hot in his life! In fact, the heat had always been comforting to him, but now he felt like he was actually in pain from it. Where did the coldness that was previously in his body go?

Jimin sat up, still in pain but now from the heat instead of coldness. He touched his hand to his face and winced when the touch of his skin felt like fire. His eyes widened and he looked at his hand, wondering what was happening. He had been able to control his powers for a long time now, so what was going on? Why couldn't he control them now?

The front door to the castle opened and Hoseok came running in, setting the things he had bought down on the table and running up the stairs without a word or so much as a glance in Jimin’s direction. Jimin almost called out to Hoseok, but was cut off by his own fear when he saw Tae and Jungkook walk into the castle and close the door behind them.

He stared at them until they made eye contact with him, Tae speaking first when the tension between them started to grow thick, “What happened? ...Are you alright?”

Jimin touched his hand to his head and winced when the skin on his forehead burned his hand. He grabbed onto his wrist without thinking and cried out in pain once more when he left a hand shaped burn around his wrist.

Tae’s eyes widened and he rushed over to Jimin, suddenly forgetting everything that happened between them to ask in a frantic manner, “What is wrong? Are you in pain? What happened to you?”

Taehyung reached to feel Jimin’s forehead, but Jimin jerked away at the last moment to keep himself from hurting Tae. He scooted away from the fire and hissed out, “Don’t touch me! I don’t know what’s going on; my powers…. My powers, I… I can’t control them...”

     “What do you mean?” Tae asked, glancing back at Jungkook who was just now slowly making his way into the living room. Tae bit his lip and looked back down at Jimin, already knowing exactly what was wrong. When he went back into the town he found out something that explained why Jimin had been in poor health lately. And he was right to have never trusted Yoongi. He bent down to Jimin’s low height on the ground and said softly, “Jimin… I know you’re going to hate to hear this, but Yoongi has been betraying you all along.”

     “What?” Jimin sniffled, eyes going wide in confusion. He stayed quiet though to let Tae explain himself.

     “The reason why you’ve been sick and probably why you’re this way now is because he’s been attacking your kingdom while you’ve been here. His blizzard has taken over almost half of your kingdom so far.”

Jimin’s heart felt like it stopped beating for a split second, the uneasy feeling of betrayal setting into his mind and hurting him beyond anything else. Yoongi really never liked him, didn’t he? It was all fake to ruin him… The people in his kingdom were in danger, and he was so blind to it all because he thought he had found someone he was happy with.

More tears fell down Jimin’s face, leaving behind a red trail of burned skin on Jimin’s face. Though they hurt, he couldn’t stop them from falling.

He stood up weakly as Jungkook asked from the doorway to the room, “Should we take you back home now? I’m sure we can fix this once you are back in your element of summer.”

Jimin shook his head, “I want to do one thing first,” a growl was in his voice that made Jungkook and Tae wonder what he was planning on doing.

He stumbled past the both of them, grabbing onto the wall every so often to keep his balance, burning a black spot into the wall every time he touched it though. He walked up the stairs, taking a few seconds to regain his strength on every step. His head was aching and he was both too hot and cold at the same time, unsure of how he could even get a release of his pain at this point though he was sure of one thing now. Yoongi was the cause of it all. Yoongi had always been the cause of it all, and he always meant it.

Jimin stepped into the bedroom with the door wide open, making a guess that Hoseok went in there to check on him. He stumbled through Yoongi’s bedroom until he reached the bathroom, leaning against the doorway and trying his hardest not to touch anything in fear of setting it on fire.

Yoongi was sitting by the bathtub with tears frozen on his face. Hoseok sat on the rim of the tub a foot away from him, trying to talk to him as he cried. Jimin couldn’t even feel bad for whatever Yoongi was going through when he saw him though. Not when he knew the truth now.

     “You….” Jimin spoke in a low voice, coughing after he said only one word. He covered his mouth as he coughed, only to pull it away to find blood on his skin. His eyes widened and he looked up again as Hoseok spoke in a stricter tone than normal, “Jimin, please go downstairs. Now is not the time to-!”

     “You lied to me all this time,” Jimin interrupted Hoseok, clutching his stomach when a wave of nausea hit him.

Yoongi was the one to speak this time, tilting his head in confusion and saying, “What do you mean?” his eyes trailed down to the blood on Jimin’s hand, “Are you bleeding? Are you alright?”

     “What do you care?” Jimin gritted his teeth just before he rushed over to a trashcan in the corner to throw up in. He hovered over it for a moment, waiting for whatever both hot and cold sickness was in him to finally come up.

Tears fell down his face again and he winced at the pain they brought him, only interrupting his quick and hot panicked breaths to finally throw up in the trash can.

Hoseok quickly rushed over to Jimin and placed a hand on his back, “Jimin, you should go downstairs,” when he felt the heat of Jimin’s skin through his shirt though, he quickly lifted it and backed up a bit, “You’re burning up…”

     “Don’t touch him,” Tae warned as he walked into the bathroom, “He can’t control his powers right now, and he’ll accidentally burn you.”

     “He can’t control his powers?” Yoongi asked, moving to stand until Tae held his hand out at him and snapped out, “Don’t you dare move. You’re the one that caused this.”

     “Taehyung, don’t blame him for-!” Hoseok tried to stand up for Yoongi, until Yoongi suddenly stood up for himself and snapped back at Taehyung, “Stop saying it’s all my fault! How could I possibly be at fault for him losing control over his own powers? You always blame me for everything, and I’m sick of it.”

He stood up and stepped towards Tae with his hand out to grab him, but Tae quickly stepped back and pulled out his knife, “Try to turn me to ice, I dare you. He’s here in the first place because you sent a blizzard into his kingdom. That's why I blame you for everything, because you are the only one to blame!”

     “What?” Yoongi asked, eyes widening.

Taehyung smiled and shook his head, “You thought we wouldn’t notice? You thought that whole pitiful facade you put up for Jimin would work until you managed to kill him?” he stepped closer and held the blade of the knife up to Yoongi’s neck, “I’m sure you hated the fact that I never trusted you from the beginning, you scum of a king-!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Tae could see Yoongi’s hand reaching up for his neck. He didn’t have a chance to step back and avoid the touch, but Yoongi didn’t have a chance to grab his neck as he planned either before Jungkook jumped in and shoved Yoongi away with his shoulder, making sure not to touch him.

Tae caught his breath that he lost for a split second, eyes widening when he realized Jungkook touched Yoongi. He cried out in panic and stepped forward to Jungkook, grabbing his shoulders and asking, “Jungkook… Why would you!?”

     “I’m fine…” Jungkook smiled and cupped Tae’s face in his own. “I made sure not to touch him, but I wasn’t going to lose another person I love to him.”

Taehyung grinned when he realized that Jungkook was alright and wasn’t turning to ice. He let out a sigh of relief and leaned forward to kiss him, wrapping his arms around his waist and vowing in his mind to never let go of him once they left the Winter King’s presence and were finally safe in a different kingdom.

Next to them, Yoongi stood up, not even angry at them for pushing him out of the way. How could he be when he was only pushed to prevent him from killing another person? Was he really planning on purposely hurting Taehyung? And what were they saying about a blizzard? His eyes darted to Jimin when he heard the weak boy speak from where he was leaning against the wall, “Taehyung… Jungkook… We’re leaving now… I need to go to my people.”

The two embracing lovers finally separated when they heard the king speak, rushing over to him and carefully picking him up while trying to avoid burning themselves. Yoongi stood up at the same time and muttered out, “Jimin… I… I had no idea my powers were reaching past your borders. If I had known I would have-!”

     “Save it…” Jimin interrupted him, sucking in his breath when he found it hard to talk. He shut his eyes and let Jungkook and Taehyung lead him out of the room as he continued to speak, “I wish… I wish I never fell in love with you.”

Everyone in the room froze where they were. Jungkook and Tae glanced at each other, Hoseok let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, and Yoongi stopped and stared at Jimin as more tears fell down his face and added on to the red burn lines leaving a design on his skin. Yoongi never truly felt like his heart was frozen, but if it really was made of ice, he felt it crack and completely shatter in that moment.

Why did everything have to end this way? Why was his uncontrollable powers hurting the one person he could actually be happy with recently? Why did someone so innocent have to love him and find out what pain was? Why did he have to fall in love with this person but only realize it as he was walking away?

Before he could even answer one of the questions buzzing in his mind, Jimin was gone and the door to his room closed. Hoseok stood up and opened his mouth to speak, but Yoongi shook his head and gritted his teeth, “Don’t… Just… Just go back to your family for now, I need to be alone.”

     “But Yoongi,” Hoseok spoke softly, not moving any closer in fear of the power that might be released in Yoongi’s emotional state.

Yoongi didn’t make a move either, just staring at the ground as he growled out, “Leave before the humans from the nearby town make their way to my castle. You’ll be safer with your family, so go.”

Hoseok shook his head, “I’m not leaving without you. They’re going to kill you!”

Yoongi bit his lip and sat down on the edge of the bathtub, looking out the window as he watched the front door to the castle open and Taehyung and Jungkook walk out while holding onto Jimin. He let out a shaky breath as he fought off a cry, tears falling down his face anyway as he whispered, “Maybe it’s best that way…”

~(***)~

The walk back to the Fall Kingdom was quiet and uneventful. Jimin silently cried the whole way back, the skin on his face growing raw from his hot tears to the point Jungkook had to wrap a piece of cloth around Jimin’s face under his eyes to catch the tears and keep them from burning Jimin.

     “I see Namjoon’s castle…” Tae finally spoke for the first time during their walk home. He was speaking to both Jimin and Jungkook, though he knew only Jungkook would answer.

Jungkook nodded his head, patting Jimin’s shoulder lightly, “We can all rest there for the night when we arrive. He’ll be glad to see you back.”

Jimin sniffled and looked down, “I just want to go home…”

     “We’ll go home in the morning, but you need to lay down and get some rest first, ok?” Taehyung replied, answering sweeter than normal for Jimin’s sake. He was thankful they were finally out of that Winter King’s land, but now the state Jimin was in was scarier than the situation they were in before.

When they arrived at the castle, there were horses and knights stationed outside. They stood on high guard and cast downward glances at the three when they approached them.

     “Why is Namjoon preparing an army?” Jungkook asked Tae in a whisper, looking at the guards.

Tae only glanced at them for a short moment before answering Jungkook, “He probably knows about Yoongi’s blizzard taking over Jimin’s kingdom too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jin is preparing an army as well.”

     “Halt!” a knight called out to them as they tried to walk past the men towards Namjoon’s castle’s main entrance. “You three are coming from the direction of the Winter Kingdom. What business do you have here?”

Taehyung, not in the mood to deal with anyone who had no idea what they had just been through, glared at the knight and pointed to Jimin’s hair, “Who do you think we are? Where is King Namjoon?”

     “I’m afraid his highness will not see unauthorized visitors at the time. I cannot trust orange hair as proof that boy is the Summer King,” the knight said, only to be patted on the back right after by Namjoon himself. “It’s alright, that really is the Summer King…”

Namjoon’s eyes widened when he saw Jimin’s state, and he quickly ran over to him, lifting Jimin's chin up to see his face and gasping when he saw the layers of burns on Jimin’s face from his own tears. He let go of Jimin’s face quickly when his skin started to burn and Jimin’s head fell limp again with him too weak to even hold his head up. Namjoon grit his teeth and turned to Tae, “That King.... What did he do to him? The blizzard couldn't have caused this much damage to him, could it?" Namjoon didn't wait for an answer as he stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair, "I need to tell Jin... This... Jimin being attacked by his own power now is worse than any state I imagined him to be in."

     "He's being attacked by his own powers?" Taehyung asked, confused what Namjoon was saying. He glanced at Jimin and asked again, "What exactly does that mean? Can we fix this by bringing him back to his kingdom?"

Namjoon bit his lip and looked to Jimin, shaking his head as he muttered out, "The old Summer King... He... He would put Jin and I on the brink of death so many times to make us aware of his power, and when we were about to die, our powers... our powers would suddenly be the cause of our pain."

     "But Jimin isn't going to die, is he?" Jungkook asked, holding on tightly to Jimin without touching his skin. He feared that Jimin really was going to die in the next few moments because of Namjoon's words. He turned to Taehyung, "There must be a way we can prevent this, right?" He looked to Namjoon, "...Right?"

     "There's only one way," Namjoon muttered out, looking down at the ground with his hands balled up into fists. He glanced up at Taehyung, "It's what I've been planning to do all along."

     "I'll help you," Tae spoke, nodding his head in understanding of what Namjoon was planning to do. 

Jungkook had an idea of what they were planning, but he still hoped there was another way that didn't involve anyone else dying, "What are you guys going to do?"

     "We need to kill Yoongi," Taehyung spoke, breaking away from his stare at Namjoon to look to Jungkook, "It's either him or Jimin, and I'm not going to let Jimin die. He's my king and he's also my best friend. It's both my duty and the least I can do for him."

They were going to kill Yoongi?... For some odd reason, a sickening feeling found its way into the pit of Jungkook's stomach. He knew that Yoongi was evil for killing his family and many others and now maybe Jimin, but it seemed almost wrong for them to kill him after knowing him for two weeks. What was he going to do about it though? If that was really the only way to save Jimin, then they were going to have to do it. Like Tae said, if it came down to Yoongi or Jimin, Jimin had to live and Yoongi had to die. 

It was either that or the prophecy was going to come true as predicted.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER EIGHT

     “Namjoon…” Jimin weakly muttered out to the Fall King from where he laid on a green love seat at the edge of the front room of his castle.

     “Yes, Jimin?” Namjoon spoke, finally listening to the boy’s mutterings and kneeling down beside him.

Jimin’s face was flushed with a red color, and Namjoon wasn’t sure if it was from the scars of his burns or he was just that hot. Either way, Jimin was in bad shape and was getting worse by the minute. It wouldn’t be long before….

No. He wasn’t going to let himself think like that.

Jimin spoke anyway, tearing him away from his morbid thoughts, “You can’t kill Yoongi…”

     “What?” Namjoon asked, tilting his head in worry of why Jimin would even ask for him to spare the evil king that had done terrible things to him. He shook his head and brushed Jimin’s hair out of his face, “We have to kill him in order for you to get better… You don’t want the prophecy to come true, do you?”

Jimin shook his head, but still argued with Namjoon, “I don’t want him to die though. There has to be another way.”

     “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to find-!” Namjoon was interrupted by Jungkook opening the doors to the castle and speaking without permission, “Jin has arrived. Would you like to speak in the throne room?”

     “Right here is fine,” Namjoon replied, staying by Jimin’s side, “I just want to include him in on what is going on.”

As soon as he spoke, Jin stepped in from the outside of the castle and searched for Jimin until his eyes landed on him. He covered his mouth with his hand and ran over to him, kneeling down beside Namjoon, “Please tell me he’s not burning up… This was someone else, right? Someone else burned him?”

     “You can touch him and see that his powers have turned on him,” Namjoon spoke softly to his lover, “It’s the blizzard.”

Jin didn’t have to ask Namjoon to know what he was planning. Namjoon only ever wanted to do one thing to the old Summer King and now the new Winter King. He wanted them gone. If they hurt anyone he wanted to protect, then they were considered dead to him.

When Jin felt a hot feeling on his wrist, he quickly jerked his hand away from it and looked down at where Jimin had held his hand without thinking to gain his attention. He didn’t reprimand Jimin for what he did. He stayed quiet and listened to what the boy wanted to say, hearing a trembling voice edge out, “Please… Please don’t kill Yoongi. I don’t want him to die.”

Jin glanced at Namjoon with a raised eyebrow, “Jimin doesn’t want you to kill the Winter King? Why are you planning to do it then?”

     “Because it’s for his safety,” Namjoon answered, “He’ll understand.”

Jimin shook his head, nose scrunching up and eyebrows furrowing as if he was about to cry again. He gripped onto the fabric of the love seat and sniffled, “Jin, please don’t let him kill Yoongi. I… I love him, so please don’t let him die!”

Jin’s eyes widened and he turned to Namjoon, “He loves him?” he didn’t let Namjoon answer and turned back to Jimin, “Do you really love him? Even though he’s hurting you?”

Jimin shut his eyes and nodded his head, “I shouldn’t have left him… I was just angry because he told me I needed to leave, but he was only trying to protect me. He doesn’t mean to hurt anyone, he just can’t control his powers.”

     “What?” Jin muttered out, looking to Namjoon again. “If Jimin is right, then should we help Yoongi instead of kill him?”

     “Are you serious?” Namjoon asked, frowning at the fact that Jin was even considering what Jimin had come to believe over the past two weeks. He stood up and crossed his arms, “Even if he was half as innocent as what Jimin thinks, we don’t have time to teach him how to control his powers. Jungkook and Taehyung agree that this a choice of letting Jimin or Yoongi live, and we are all choosing Jimin.”

     “Except for Jimin,” Jin stood up as well. “Shouldn’t this be his decision? If he’s in love with him, then he should be allowed to decide what happens.”

     “He’s being deceived,” Namjoon argued. “Don’t try to convince him that a power hungry murderer would seriously love him back.”

Jin bit his lip and watched as Namjoon turned to start walking away. His fingers clenched into fists and he stepped forward, “We aren’t done talking, Namjoon! I’m not going to let you kill that king if Jimin doesn’t want it,” he ran up next to Namjoon and grabbed his arm, leading him towards the throne room, “Let’s go in here to talk.”

He hurried Namjoon into the throne room and closed the door behind him as Namjoon said, “Jin, I know you want Jimin to be happy, but we also want him to live. It’s a small sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

     “But he’s not willing to make that!” Jin retorted back. “If I couldn’t control my powers and I was hurting you, I know full well that you wouldn’t be willing to let others kill me in order for you to live.”

     “That's different. The Winter King could be lying,” Namjoon argued, “Jimin has just fallen for it because he was in a vulnerable state going in. I should have never let him go alone to that wicked king.”

Jin stepped close to Namjoon and grabbed his shoulders, “Namjoon. Find another way to fix this. If people had to kill you in order to save me, I wouldn’t even feel like living afterwards because of it. Think about how Jimin would feel. We can't put him through that!”

     “He’ll get over it,” Namjoon nodded his head, trying to reassure himself with his words.

Jin bit his lip and kept his hands on Namjoon though, “Would you get over it easily if I died?”

     “This isn’t about you.”

     “I’m just trying to make you see that-!” Jin tried to say, but Namjoon pulled himself away from him, muttering out coldly, “I’m doing this with or without your permission. I’m sick of kings that hurt others for the sake of their own power. I’m doing this for peace between the four kings. I know you probably don’t understand that, but you will when we all finally stop fearing for our lives because of kings like Min Yoongi.”

Jin shook his head and looked down, “Maybe you’re just like him…”

     “What?” Namjoon turned around to face Jin once more, “Are you serious?”

Jin nodded and replied, looking up at him, “You are doing this for power. There is an obvious way to fix this mess without killing anyone, but you just want to kill him and make it well known that you’re a king that shouldn’t be messed with.”

     “In order to protect you,” Namjoon argued.

     “I don’t need protection,” Jin grit his teeth and stepped forward towards Namjoon. “What I need is for you to be who you once were when we were younger! I miss when murder and war were your last resorts, Namjoon… Not your first resort.”

Jin tried to look into his lover’s eyes to catch a glimpse of what he once knew, but the only thing he could see in him was a glare directed at him as he muttered out, “Someone needs to keep us all from not dying out due to a higher power. It’s certainly not going to be you because you’re so naive and blinded by love, you-!” Namjoon bit back his words when he realized what he had said, but it was too late to take it back.

Jin’s eyebrows furrowed and he stepped back, “Blinded by love? Is that seriously what you think of me? Just because I don’t want to kill someone that might just be innocent?”

Namjoon wanted to apologize for what he had said, but he was too focused on trying to convince Jin that he was right. Without thinking, he stepped forward and snapped at Jin, “He’s not innocent!”  A silence passed between them for just a moment but Namjoon didn’t stop there. He continued to shout, “He has Jimin out there on the brink of death and you are really choosing to stupidly believe the fact that this all might be a misunderstanding!”

     “Namjoon, you have no right to speak to me like that!” Jin shouted back.

     “I have every right to speak to you like this when you’re holding me back from what needs to be done!” Namjoon stepped forward, closing in the space between them to the point their noses were touching.

Though it was obvious Namjoon would win in any kind of fight they might have, Jin still didn’t back down, glaring at Namjoon and yelling the words, “Then I won’t hold you back anymore! Go out there and kill Yoongi, but let me assure you of one thing, I won’t be here when you get back! And I surely won’t be blinded by any kind of love either.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Are you serious?” He stepped back and shook his head, “You’re going to end things between us because I’m saving Jimin?”

     “You’re only saving yourself,” Jin growled out, looking upon Namjoon with a look of disappointment.

Namjoon could plainly see it in Jin’s eyes, only gaining a stronger hatred for Yoongi because of it. His heart was beating out of his chest and he wrongfully let anger take over for just a moment, a strike of lightning flashing across the sky from his powers as he spoke, “Get out of my kingdom and never come back.”

Before Jin could say anything else in response - either to apologies or to yell further at Namjoon - Namjoon was gone with a slam of the door and a shout for his guards to get ready to leave for the Winter Kingdom.

Tears fell from Jin’s eyes as he sank down to the floor, processing what just happened. What did he say to Namjoon and what did Namjoon say back? He couldn’t even remember anymore, but it was something that made him feel sick to his stomach.

He pressed his hands against the marble floor of the throne room and bit his lip, tears falling down his face and onto the floor as he tried to figure out where he went wrong. Should he have not said anything at all?

No, he didn’t like who Namjoon was becoming…

Jin picked himself up off the ground and assessed the situation. Jimin was his top priority no matter what he thought should happen to Yoongi. He needed to care for him and find out how to make him better before going after Namjoon who would be mad to even see him now. As soon as Jimin was strong enough to help him figure out what to do, he would determine where to go from there.

~(***)~

Tae and Jungkook were standing by the doors of the castle near where Jimin was laying on the love seat when they heard the door to the throne room slam open and the shut as Namjoon stormed out. Tae smiled and stepped forward, walking up to Namjoon as he said, “Sir, the army is ready outside. Is Jin staying or is he assisting us?”

     “You’re staying,” Namjoon growled out, not bothering to stop even though Tae stopped walking in shock. He tilted his head and opened his mouth to form the question as to why the plans changed, but Namjoon answered him before he could make a sound, opening the doors and saying before he walked out completely, “Make sure Jin goes back to his kingdom, and let him know I’m serious about every word I said.”

And with that, he slammed the door and left Jungkook and Tae in a silence that left nothing but room for questions and no answers. They looked to each other with worried expressions on their faces, Jungkook whispering out, “...What happened?”

Tae bit his lip and shrugged, “He seems angry, but he could want Jin to go back to his kingdom in order for him to stay safe.”

As soon as he said that, the door to the throne room opened again but quietly this time, revealing an awestruck Jin with a spaced out expression on his face. His lips were slightly parted as he slowly looked around the room for Jimin.

Jungkook and Tae watched as Jin then made his way over to Jimin, dropping down by his side and muttering out, “I tried to fight for you… Namjoon won’t listen…”

Jimin’s eyes opened when Jin finished his words, his whole face contorting into a look of exhaustion and worry, “No…” he cried out, sniffling and weakly looking to Jin with just his eyes, “Don’t let him kill him. Please, I can’t lose Yoongi!”

A tear rolled down Jin’s cheek, “Looks like we’re both losing someone we love tonight.”

Tae and Jungkook overheard this, looking over at each other once more and stepping towards the two frantic kings. Jungkook was the first to say something, placing his hand on Jin’s shoulder and speaking softly, “Are you alright? Namjoon is going to be fine, don’t worry.”

    “He does want us to take you back to your kingdom though, but you can rest before we leave if you prefer that,” Tae spoke, hoping that Jin’s lover thinking of him would cheer him up.

Jin only scowled though and glared at Tae though it wasn’t directed at him, saying in a growl, “I’m not leaving until Jimin is better and I stop Namjoon from killing Yoongi. Only then will I leave.”

Though Tae was intently listening to Jin speak because of his stare being directly aimed at him, Jungkook was noticing something outside the window behind the castle in the garden Jin had made for Namjoon a long time ago. It had grown to cover a vast majority of Namjoon’s property for miles and miles, but he could see through the moonlit darkness that all of the flowers in the garden were wilting. They weren’t just wilting either, they were turning to ash completely.

Jungkook squeezed Tae’s hand in shock as he whispered out, “The flowers…. They’re wilting.”

     “What?” Tae asked, looking outside the window to see what Jungkook was seeing. When he saw the once glowing flowers darken and turn to ash off in the distance, his eyes widened and he looked to Jin who was watching along with them.

     “Are you meaning to do that?” Tae asked, heart skipping a beat when he saw how Jin was crying now.

Tears fell from Jin’s eyes and down his cheeks as he bit the side of his mouth and shook his head, “No… But it doesn’t matter anymore,” he sniffled and looked down at Jimin, “Once I solve this mess and go back to my kingdom, I’m never coming back.”

Both Jungkook and Tae looked at Jin with looks of bewilderment and even Jimin started to pay attention to Jin now. Jimin reached his hand over to Jin’s but retracted it back when he remembered the state of his powers and skin. He bit his lip and looked down, “Is it because of me? I don’t want you and Namjoon to be unhappy because of a mistake I made.”

Jin smiled and shook his head, “It’s not because of you, and loving Yoongi is not a mistake. Love is never a mistake.”

     “Then why are you leaving Namjoon?” Jimin asked, sounding like a little kid talking to his mother about something he couldn’t wrap his head around at such a young age. In a way he was like that though. Namjoon and Jin had been the people who practically raised him once he got his powers. They were the only people who knew how, and they were determined to do it correctly and raise a king that would be a good person.

Jimin had always known Namjoon and Jin to be together, and when they rarely weren’t, all they would do was talk about how much they loved one another. To hear that Jin didn’t want to see Namjoon again and Namjoon even told Jin to never come back to his kingdom was something Jimin hated to hear. He couldn’t even grasp the fact that that was reality, but it was.

     “We just…” Jin bit his lip as he choked on his words. He shook his head and babbled out the next part, “We just don’t love each other anymore.”

He could see the tears in Jin’s eyes and how much it hurt him to even be saying those words, but what could he do? This was partially his fault wasn’t it? Because he loved Yoongi even though Yoongi’s power was killing him.

Seeing Jin like this made him realize that it was time for him to stop relying on them like they were his parents. It was time for him to take matters into his own hands but correctly this time.

Jimin sat up much to the surprise of the three men to his side. They reached over to make him lay down again, but Jimin put his hand up and spoke, “I’m going back to the Winter Kingdom.”

     “What?” Tae asked, already shaking his head in disagreement, “No, you aren’t. You’ll die if you get close to Yoongi.”

     “No,” Jimin argued, "Every time I got close to Yoongi, I felt happier and stronger than I’ve ever felt before. Only when he told me he didn’t love me did I become like this.”

Tae’s brows furrowed and he frowned, “So why are you going to go to the Winter Kingdom if he doesn’t love you back?”

     “He does,” Jungkook suddenly spoke up, eyeing Tae when he received a look that showed that Tae definitely though he was crazy for saying that. He continued to speak anyways, “I’ve seen the way he looks at Jimin. It’s the same look everyone makes where they’re in love. I saw it in the bathroom too before we left, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he pushed Jimin away just to protect him.”

     “And what about the blizzard taking over more than half of Jimin’s kingdom?” Tae asked, turning to Jimin, “You believed just early today that Yoongi was doing it on purpose and hid it from you.”

Jimin shook his head and looked down, “I’m not sure what I should think… But right from the start he told me how he couldn't control his powers, so I don’t know why I suddenly stopped believing him.”

Tae looked down, deep in thought for something else that might possibly change Jimin’s mind about going back to Yoongi. When he thought of only one more thing he could say, he took in a quick breath and looked up at Jimin, “And what if the prophecy comes true because you go back to him?”

Jimin smiled and looked down at his hands, “I think the prophecy already came true..”

     “What?” Jin asked, worried now that Jimin was already well aware that he was dying.

They gave Jimin a chance to explain himself though and he said, “The prophecy said that the Winter King will make it so not even the sun can save me, right?” he didn’t wait for the others to nod in agreement before continuing, “Well it’s true, the sun can’t save me right now. The sun has turned on me along with my powers now that I’m dying with my kingdom, but I think there’s one thing the prophecy didn’t mention that can save me.”

The three men in front of him’s eyes widened as they all slowly started to understand what he was saying. It made sense too. Maybe the prophecy was always going to come true, but there were different ways to interpret it. Everyone always thought it would be because the Winter King was evil and would kill the Summer King like the last time the prophecy came true, but it was far from it this time.

This time, there was something that could save the Summer King from his inevitable doom.

And this time that something was the Winter King himself, Min Yoongi.

~(***)~

Yoongi closed his eyes and sat himself down in the bathtub, covered in the thick scent of alcohol that dampened his clothing and dripped from his hair onto his face. Jimin had left early yesterday and Hoseok had left as demanded a little under four hours ago. Yoongi was all alone now.

He had no idea his powers were reaching all the way to Jimin’s land. If he had known that then… no, he couldn’t have done anything about that. He was uncontrollable. There was nothing he could do to save Jimin from himself except for kill himself and his powers completely. It was a morbid though, but he knew he had to die in order for Jimin to live.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew that the prophecy couldn’t come true if one major part of it wasn’t even alive. So he had to make that sacrifice.

One good thing about being drenched in alcohol was that it couldn’t freeze. It was the only thing besides Jimin that couldn’t freeze no matter how much he touched it, and being drenched in it right now, he was glad for that.

He shut his eyes and felt his hands around the side of the bathtub for an old lighter he set aside until now. Once he turned it on and the little light of the fire flickered, everything would finally be over. It should have been over a long time ago after he first killed so many people, but he was glad it was ending now. At least he was dying before he could kill the person he cared for the most. It was the only thing that made his current situation bearable.

He took a deep breath and held the light above his chest, thinking about Jimin to keep himself from crying. He thought about the boy’s orange hair and how short he was even compared to himself. He thought about that smile Jimin would always have on his face when he wasn’t in pain or when Tae and Jungkook played cards with him by the fire one night when the three of them thought everyone else in the house was sleeping. Yoongi had watched that moment by the doorway, peeking through so he wouldn’t be seen by them and ruin the moment. Jimin would burn all the good cards in Tae’s hand just to tease him and when he won, he was still so happy despite cheating.

Yoongi grinned, thinking about how Jimin was never going to feel pain again once he was gone. He was going to play cards all he wanted, and cheat, and sing, and dance, and live without worry of any kind of prophecy coming true.

He didn’t need anything else to convince himself that this was the best decision. Without any further thoughts, Yoongi turned on the lighter and let it fall onto his chest, holding his breath as he waited for his clothes to catch up in flames.

As soon as the lighter fell onto his chest, he felt heat rise up in the room, hotter than he had ever felt it before. It was going to be painful soon, but right now it was assuring. Assuring of a better future for everyone without him and his powers in the world.

And suddenly that warm feeling vanished. The heat went out quickly a coldness replaced it, confusing Yoongi and making him open his eyes again to a sight of everything in the room covered in ice and almost a small blizzard blowing its way through the room, blowing the fire out quicker than it started.

His eyes widened and he sat up, looking at his hands, “What the-?”

Sadness quickly replaced his confusion and anger quickly replaced his sadness before he stepped out of the tub and shot ice into the mirror of his bathroom. Both ice and glass shattered and fell to the floor as he screamed out at his powers, “Just let me die! Find someone else to use you and kill people, because I can’t do it anymore! I hate this!”

He fell to the ground and sobbed out, thinking about how Jimin was still in danger because his powers wouldn’t let him die. Why did there have to be a prophecy? Why did the Winter King always have to kill the Summer King?

Yoongi looked up when he heard thunder strike outside and a loud bang downstairs. His eyes widened and he stood up, wondering if the angry villagers were already at his door. He thought they would take longer to devise a plan to kill him, but sure enough, they wasted no time to come here to get him back for killing one of them.

That wasn’t such a bad thing though.

Yoongi quickly opened up the bathroom door and ran downstairs, grabbing his gloves by the door and putting them on before he answered out to them, “I’ll come out willingly! Just make sure you don’t touch my skin.”

His last words came out slower and quieter when he found that there was only one man at his door. There were many others behind him dressed in knight's clothing, but this man seemed to be the leader of them all. And he didn’t look like a villager either… 

It didn't take long for Yoongi to deduct in his head who was before him, wearing a crown made of thorns with gold painted on the tips, a crest of a leaf pinned to the dark red cape he wore and his brown hair and eyes making it obvious what he ruled over and controlled. This man was Namjoon, the king of Autumn. And he was here to kill him. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER NINE

     “What are you doing here?” Yoongi asked upon seeing the King of Autumn. His eyes widened and he gasped under his breath, “Is Jimin alright? I… I tried to fix it, but my powers won’t let me. They-!”

     “Silence yourself!” Namjoon cut him off, lightning striking in the distance when his eyebrows furrowed. He held his hand up without warning and grabbed Yoongi’s shoulder, sending a wave of electricity into him with his powers.

Yoongi yelled out in surprise and then cried out in pain when the electricity spread throughout his body and forced him on his knees. He made sure he had his gloves on before he reacted to Namjoon’s touch, quickly grabbing his hand and pushing him away.

      “If you are here to kill me just do it quickly. There is no need to fight, for I will die willingly in order to save Jimin,” Yoongi said, grabbing  Namjoon’s wrist to prevent him from hurting him again.

Namjoon tilted his head in confusion but grinned anyway at how easily this evil yet weak king was surrendering. He snatched his wrist away from Yoongi and motioned his army to get ready for his command as he shouted, “Then I will kill you the same way you are killing Jimin; with fire.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “W-With fire? My powers will react badly if they realize what is going on. Trust me, I just tried it.”

     “Acting cowardly now that you realize you are going to feel pain before you die?” Namjoon laughed under his breath and shook his head, “Letting you burn to death will let you feel only half the pain that Jimin is feeling now because of you. I suggest if you really want to atone for all you have done, you comply with me.”

     “But…” Yoongi shook his head and stepped out of the house, “My powers act beyond my control. If you guys don’t kill me quickly, they might act out and kill people around me. I don’t want people to die for this when you can easily kill me right here.”

Namjoon grabbed Yoongi’s arm and led him towards the army of men anyway, “Then I suggest you try to get a grip of your powers and let us give you far less than what you deserve.”

~(***)~

Jimin felt a fire in his chest every time he took a step towards the door, but he was determined to go back to the Winter Kingdom and save Yoongi himself. He was going to have to run or walk there though because he couldn’t put a poor horse through the pain of carrying a literal fire on its back.

He paused when he reached the door, his chest swelling up as nausea swept over him once again. He bent over and held onto the doorknob of the front door and groaned out in pain, feel frustrated that he could barely make it across the room in five minutes.

Jimin shut his eyes and bit his lip as he tried to fight through the feeling of sickness washing over him. It passed after a minute or two, but he still felt too weak to even stand up.

With tears now in his eyes, he turned to the three men staring outside the window at the dying plants and forest outside and begged them, “Please, someone just help me go back to the Winter Kingdom to save Yoongi! I need to save him!” more tears fell and he started to crawl back towards them weakly, “Please, I’ll do anything, just-!”

     “I’ll go,” Tae spoke, turning to Jimin from the window. “I may want Yoongi dead, but I’m not going to keep you from saving him,” he glanced at Jungkook, “Jungkook, you can stay here with Jin… Come get me if anything happens.”

     “I’m going too,” Jin suddenly spoke. “You guys can’t carry Jimin there, so I’ll do it.”

     “But isn’t that going to hurt?” Jungkook asked, following the two as they made their way towards Jimin. He looked upon Jimin and cringed a bit, the creases of his lips frowing as he thought about what touching Jimin felt like. “He feels like hot irons.”

Jin picks up Jungkook despite the fact that Jimin really did feel like touching hot irons and it hurt Jin even though he was a king. He winced when Jimin’s skin accidentally touched his hands, but resumed his calm stance as he replied to Jungkook, “I heal faster than you both cause I’m a king, so I’ll be fine. Plus, I already have burns left on me from the previous king, so what are a few more?”

He opened up the door before Jungkook or Tae had time to argue and saddled himself on a horse with Jimin still in his arms, leaving the other two men no choice but to join him and travel to the Winter Kingdom.

They rode as fast as the horses could carry them, Jin closing his eyes and focusing on other things to get his mind off of the pain of the heat seeping through Jimin’s clothes and onto his skin. He knew he was burning with every second he kept his arms wrapped around Jimin, but he had to keep him safe until they got to Yoongi. Them solving the problem without killing Yoongi was the only thing that kept Jin from quitting the journey due to the pain of Jimin’s heat.  

The trip to the Winter Kingdom was faster than ever before because they were travelling on hoses instead of foot, only taking two hours to arrive at the kingdom that looked like it had already been set on fire.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he pushed himself from Jin, trying to jump from the horse so he could make a running start towards the castle and Yoongi who was in danger. Jin held him close though as Jimin yelled, “Yoongi’s in trouble! Let me go to him!”

     “Jimin, you can barely sit up on your own,” Jin argued, hopping off his horse while still managing to hold Jimin close. He glanced at Tae and Jungkook as he muttered to them, “You two take our horses to a place out of the way of danger while I bring Jimin to Min Yoongi. Hopefully I can stop Namjoon in time.”

     “I should go to protect you both,” Tae said, starting to get off his horse until a branch from a nearby tree swayed him back into his originally sitting position on the horse. He looked to Jin who had his hand up to use his power on the tree branch, sighing and nodding his head in understanding, “I’ll meet you two after we bring the horses out of the way. Please stay safe.”

     “We will,” Jin smiled and started walking away, his arms burning from how close he was having to hold Jimin to his body now. He turned back around but continued to speak to them, more as away to reassure himself than them though, “He may hate me right now, but he would never hurt me. He may be different, but he still has a kind heart.”

Jimin coughed into his arm, tears welling up in his eyes that were red from his boiling tears, “Jin… What if I don’t make it by the time we get to Yoongi? What if Yoongi doesn’t make it?”

     “We are so close,” Jin started to say, but bit his lip when he saw the blood on Jimin’s arm that he coughed up. His eyes widened and he held Jimin tighter, “Stay strong for just a few more minutes, ok? You’ll see Yoongi soon.”

Jimin nodded his head weakly and buried his head into Jin’s chest, not even thinking about the affect his powers had on Jin anymore. He figured that Jin must not be affected by his heat since he had held him for the past two hours and never complained.

Jin ran around the castle through the snow, keeping his distance from the fire that swarmed the grand house made of cobblestone and wood. He heard shouts and screams from the other side and followed them all the way around until he saw Namjoon’s army circled around what Jin could see was Namjoon and Yoongi. Were they battling? Jin’s eyes widened and he ran the rest of the way to the circle, muttering to Jimin as he ran, “Yoongi is still alive! We just need to get you to the center to make Namjoon see that there is another way to solve everything. Do you think you’ll be able to walk to Yoongi once we get to the crowd?”

Jimin looked to the army crowded around Namjoon and Yoongi and nodded his head, “Do you mind if I slap Namjoon for not listening to me?”

Jin laughed as they entered the crowd, “You can slap him on my behalf as well.”

He set Jimin down when they got to the edge of the crowd, Jimin immediately conjuring up all of his strength to step out from the crowd and towards Yoongi, shouting out, “Namjoon stop this! You can’t kill him!”

Jin watched breathlessly as he fell to the ground and picked up snow to hold it to his chest. His arms and chest were completely burned with blood seeping through his shirt in some areas, but he didn’t regret a thing, seeing the look on Yoongi’s face when Jimin emerged from the crowd and the joy in Jimin’s voice when he was able to call out to Yoongi again.

Jin noticed how a previous attempt to kill Yoongi had gone wrong with what was probably going to be used to burn Yoongi turned completely to ice in the center of the circle. Now Namjoon had a sword out while Yoongi had nothing to defend himself but his powers.

Jimin ran into Yoongi’s arms and Yoongi held him close, glancing at Namjoon warily as he hugged Jimin and said, “What are you doing here? It is not safe to be in my kingdom. You must go back!”

     “I’m not going to let you die,” Jimin ignored his commands and held his hands. Jin noticed how Yoongi didn’t even flinch when Jimin touched his skin to his.

Yoongi shook his head, “I’m not going to let you die either. I have to die for my powers to stop killing you.”

     “No, I’ll teach you how to control them,” Jimin smiled, “We just need to-!” He cried out in pain when a wave of his own power rushed over him and made him feel like his insides were burning to a crisp. He fell to the ground and coughed up more blood, causing Namjoon to think that Yoongi did something.

Namjoon’s eyebrows furrowed and he ran towards Yoongi, raising his sword to end his life once and for all. Jin’s eyes widened and he quickly shouted out, “Stop! It’s not his-!”

A knight covered Jin’s mouth with his hand and forced him up on his knees, “You are not to request anything from King Namjoon. Who are you?”

Jin tore the knight’s hand away from his mouth and glared at him, “Who do you think I am? I am the king of Spring. I have an alliance with your king, so if you put your hands on me again, I promise I’ll see to your-!”

     “The Spring kingdom and Fall kingdom no longer have an alliance,” the knight interrupted, a smirk playing into his expression. He waved for two more soldiers to join him and bent down to Jin’s level, “You’re not going to stop what needs to be done because you are a weak king. Our king is making a difference, and we will not let him be interrupted by someone who was never fit for the role of a king in the first place.”

Jin laughed and turned to the trees, wondering if he should use his power now to kill the soldier and see where he was going. He tilted his head and smiled, “Namjoon’s going to kill you when he realizes how you’re talking to me right now.”

     “The King of Autumn has stated to us all that you are nothing to our kingdom anymore. Anyone who goes against the king’s actions is an enemy of the kingdom and the king himself,” the knight replied as two soldiers grabbed Jin’s arms and forced him away from the crowd of the other soldiers.

Momentarily stunned by the fact that Namjoon really said those kinds of things to his knights, Jin was blindsided by the fact that they took him away from the crowd, only pulled out of his thoughts once more when he was suddenly punched by one of the knights and kicked down in the snow.

He cried out in surprise and quickly reacted by lifting his arm up and using his powers to bring a tree up from its roots and move it towards the knights. Before the tree could make it though to defend Jin for him, a knight grabbed Jin’s arm and twisted it behind his back, releasing the power from the tree.

Jin tried to connect his powers to another tree, but before he could, the knight holding his arms behind his back, lifted him up and let another knight stab him in the side with a short sword. Jin yelled out in pain and sent forth his power from every direction, not caring if it was sharp branches or dandelion seeds coming to protect him.

He held his breath as he felt his powers connecting to trees and pulling them up from their roots. Tears filled his eyes as he thought about how he was really having to defend himself from Namjoon’s kingdom, who had turned their backs on him because of Namjoon claiming he was now an enemy.

The knights noticed what he was doing with his powers and quickly stabbed him again in the other side, wasting no time to pull the sword out to stab him in the shoulder this time. Jin sobbed out and released his powers, struggling against the knights as he begged them, “Just let me talk to Namjoon, please! Tell him I’m sorry, but he has to know that what he is doing is wrong. He is becoming just as bad as the old Summer King!”

     “You will consider yourself lucky we don’t cut your throat for speaking of our king like that,” one of the knights growl out, wrapping his hand around Jin’s throat and forcing him down into the snow. “The Spring Kingdom has always needed a stronger king anyways, so we are doing everyone a favor.”

Those words were words that Jin had heard many times before; the Spring Kingdom needs a stronger leader, he was always too weak to be king, why was he even chosen to be a king anyway? Jin closed his eyes, finally realizing that he really was never meant to be a king. If he was the only king to believe in something that could create peace besides death, then maybe it was better for someone else to take his place. Someone that was strong. Someone that Namjoon could be proud to love.

That just wasn’t him.

~(***)~

     “Jimin!” Yoongi shouted, kneeling down to and holding him before he could fall to his knees. He held him close and muttered out worriedly, “What is happening? Did I do this? Is this my blizzard?”

Jimin weakly nodded his head and wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s chest, “Yes, but I know this isn’t your fault. We can fix this, ok?”

     “W-What?” Yoongi glanced at Namjoon who was making his way over to them. He looked back down at Jimin and shook his head, “I-I don’t know how to fix it! If I did, I would have saved you by now! Jimin, you should let them kill me in order for you to-!”

     “No!” Jimin suddenly pushed himself away from Yoongi, standing up right on his own now. His face was red from the burns from his tears, but anyone could take it as pure rage from the way he scowled at Namjoon, “I’m sick of people deciding who should live between me and you. Without you, I’ll feel like I died from the cold long ago!”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, and just for a moment, he felt he had every reason to be alive as he did before he got his powers. That moment disappeared though when Namjoon grabbed the collar of his coat and pushed him down to the ground, muttering to Jimin as he glared at Yoongi, “Jimin, I’m disappointed that a bright king like yourself would fall for someone like this king. You shouldn’t have risked your life to try to waste it on this king, so go tell Jin wherever he is to give it up and realize that I’m only trying to save you.”

     “Jin is right!” Jimin turned to see where Jin previously was, but he found he wasn’t there anymore. He had probably gone to check on Tae and Jungkook, so Jimin sighed and turned around to face Namjoon, “Jin is here. And I am disappointed in you too for wasted what you had with him to handle my business I never wanted you in in the first place!”

     “Should we interfere, your majesty? He has no right to speak to you like that,” a knight stepped forward from the crowd, a blood hungry look in his eyes.

Namjoon rolled his eyes and waved him off, “The only king I want you to hurt is Min Yoongi. All of you are welcome to free to do what you feel will kill him now.”

     “No!” Jimin shouted, stomping over to Namjoon and punching him as hard as he could, surging his powers into his fist just so there could be a little extra power in the pain Namjoon would feel.

Namjoon stumbled back and placed his hand to the new fist shaped burn on his cheek. His eyes widened and he looked to Jimin, “Why would you…?”

     “Don’t you see who you’ve become!?” Jimin shouted, “I’m in love with Yoongi, and you are killing him for reasons only you feel you can justify! This is my decision, Namjoon! If I live after tonight, I refuse to even enter your boarders ever again! You're a monster!”

     “What?...” Namjoon whispered, eyes widening when he saw all of the knight’s pull out their swords. A different knight stepped forward and yelled, “He hurt his majesty! The Summer King is now the enemy!”

Jimin turned to them, heart beating fast as he realized he was about to be charged at by Namjoon’s army. Before he could try to react though, a wall of ice circled around him and Yoongi, and Yoongi grabbed Jimin’s hand, squeezing it and saying, “Let’s finish talking elsewhere.”

Jimin smiled and watched as Yoongi created a blizzard around them so thick that they could barely see around them. Yoongi was able to lead Jimin through it though, keeping them hidden from Namjoon’s soldiers as they made their way to the other side of the castle and into the woods.

Only there did Yoongi finally disperse the blizzard he momentarily wrapped around his property. Yoongi held on closely to Jimin, not even bothered by the heat of his power radiating off of him, unable to feel it just as Jimin couldn’t freeze from his power as well.

     “Yoongi, can we kiss?” Jimin spoke as soon as the blizzard disappeared, turning to Yoongi with a determined look on his face.

Yoongi was surprised for a moment, but only for that second did he let himself stay stunned. Even though it had only been a day, thinking that he would never see Jimin again was too much for him to bare. He quickly leaned forward and crashed his lips against Jimin’s pressing him against a tree as the other boy kissed him back.

As they kissed, Jimin could feel the blizzard within his kingdom slowly receding back just as it used to when him and Yoongi got so close. He could feel the life in him slowly restoring and his powers becoming more and more controllable as if Yoongi’s kiss was a blanket of calmness that wrapped around him and protected him from the previous pain he was feeling.

He knew it! Yoongi really had always been the one thing in the prophecy that would save him better than the sun ever could. Now Namjoon just had to see that.

~(***)~

Namjoon watched as his soldiers started searching around the property for where Yoongi and Jimin could have possibly gone. Some were even fighting amongst each other on who would get to kill who, the word ‘kill’ causing Namjoon to feel a stabbing pain in his heart every time he heard it. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Jimin’s words in his mind over and over again until he was starting to see what the other three kings had been seeing all along.

He really was turning into a monster.

Jimin and Yoongi were nowhere to be seen now and his own soldiers were fighting amongst each other. And where was Jin? Didn’t Jimin say Jin was in the area? Where would he be now?

Namjoon scanned the area, searching for any glimpse of pink hair or eyes filled with pain that he caused. It wasn’t until he saw pink and red in the snow when his heart dropped and he realized just how much of a mistake this whole plan of going to the Winter Kingdom and killing Yoongi for peace was.

His heart dropped and he shouted out Jin’s name, dropping his sword and racing towards him past all his soldiers. The closer he got to Jin, the more he saw of his worst nightmares coming true, blood everywhere around the body he held close just days ago.

     “Jin!” he cried out, quickly kneeling down beside him and lifting up his shirt to see three stab wounds bleeding out on his stomach and shoulder.

Tears filled his eyes and his fingers trembled as he brushed his hands over Jin’s blood stained skin. He looked to his face and asked in a trembling voice, “Jin…? Please…. Please wake up, I’m sorry! If you wake up, I’ll stop all of this, just-!”

He stopped talking when Jin’s eyes fluttered open and he weakly looked up at Namjoon, muttering out softly, “Namjoon?..” a tear fell down his cheek and he reached for Namjoon’s hand, “I never thought I’d see the day you’re own kingdom would turn against me…”

     “What?” Namjoon’s eyes widened and he looked up at his soldiers, “My own soldiers did this to you?”

Jin nodded his head, coughing up blood before he replied, “I’m an enemy to your kingdom now, they said. You broke off the alliance.”

     “No, I-!” Namjoon’s eyes widened and he stood up, shouting out over all the yelling going on across Yoongi’s property, “Bring General Jae to me!” He looked back down to Jin and cupped his face, “Don’t worry, I’m going to save you, ok? These are only physical injuries, nothing is being done to your kingdom, so you should be fine.”

Jin nodded his head and closed his eyes, “Everyone’s right, Namjoon… My kingdom needs a stronger king. Not me.”

     “No, you’re wrong,” Namjoon lifted Jin up into his arms and held him close, “You are so strong. There are burns all over you.. Did you carry Jimin here?” he laughed a little though there was a soft cry in the back of his throat that kept the laugh from being as light hearted as he tried to make it be, “You are so strong and you don’t even know it. You are the strongest king out of the four of us.”

Jin’s lips curled into a barely noticeable smile as he closed his eye again and nodded his head, “How are Jimin and Yoongi? Are they still alive?”

     “They…” Namjoon’s voice trailed off when general Jae showed up at his side and spoke in his gruff tone that Jin remembered hearing when he was attacked, “Your majesty, you have found the traitor! We caught him trying to prevent your order from happening, so I took matters into my own hands. He is an enemy to our kingdom.”

     “When did I say that?” Namjoon asked, looking more and more pissed off by the second. He didn’t give the knight time to answer before he snapped out, “When did I ever say something like that?! Jin is the most powerful ally we could ever ask for, so what made you think that was a good idea?”

The knight tilted his head, “Well… You both went your separate ways. And then he arrives only to spoil your plans, so of course he is an enemy.”

     “That’s it,” Namjoon growled out, lifting his hand up to summon lightning. Without a second thought, he sent the most powerful bolt of lightning he had ever summoned before into the knight standing before him, and killed the man with one blow. 

Jin knew what had happened to the knight just by the sound of lightning that had struck, but he told himself not to look at the sight. He was sick of people dying no matter the reason. He wasn't going to get angry at Namjoon though, because he was sure he would do the same thing if they switched positions. He was just happy to be in Namjoon's arms again. Being apart from him as enemies even for only a few hours was more than he could bare, and he never wanted to do it again. 

He weakly stared up at the Autumn King's face and held his hand, a tear rolling down his cheek as he whispered, "Whatever happens to me, know that I always loved you."

Namjoon bit back on his lips when he heard Jin speaking as if he was going to die. He squeezed the boy's hand tight and shook his head, tears falling down his face as he sniffled and shook his head, whispering back, "I always loved you too, and I always will," a storm started rolling in from his powers that he could care less about having control over. Lightning struck once more around him as he declared, "I'm not going to let you die."

~(***)~

The longer Jimin’s lips touched Yoongi’s the colder he felt, but this time he wasn’t afraid of the cold. No, this time he welcomed it. In fact, he strived for more. He got as close to Yoongi as possible in order to cast out the pain his powers were causing him all over. And it was working. Yoongi really was the only thing that was helping him.

The two had to stop though when they heard leaves crunching in the snow behind them. Both lifted up their hands in defense, ready to use their powers on whoever was there to hurt them. Their hearts were beating fast and their chests heaved up and down until the two figures finally showed themselves as Jungkook and Taehyung.

Both Jimin and Yoongi let out a sigh of relief and lowered their hands as Taehyung stepped towards them and said, “So everything is fine now? Jimin do you feel alright?”

Jimin nodded his head and held onto Yoongi, scared that he would start to feel hot again the moment he let him go. He leaned against the tree he was currently up against and spoke, “We managed to get away from Namjoon’s knights but they are still after us. I don’t want to fight Namjoon, but we might have to if it continues like this.”

     “Jimin, you…” Yoongi glanced at Jungkook and Tae, “You probably shouldn’t tell them that. They don’t want you fighting against Namjoon.”

     “I’m loyal to Jimin and Jimin only,” Taehyung spoke, taking out his knife and stepping closer to the two. “Though Jungkook is loyal to Namjoon, I’m sure he can still help us out in other ways.”

Jungkook nodded his head, “I’m sworn never to fight against him, but I never promised to not fight his knights?”

     “Jungkook, we could never ask you to-!” Jimin started to say, but Jungkook put his hand over his heart and assured Jimin, “I can see the truth behind Yoongi and everything that happened now. I’m willing to fight for him so he doesn’t die for things he could never control.”

     “Jungkook…” Yoongi’s eyes widened and he slowly stood up, lips curling up into a touched smile. He nodded his head and also put his hand over his heart, taking off his gloves afterwards as he spoke, “I won’t kill anyone out there. I’ll just make it so they can’t kill me.”

Taehyung grinned and stepped out from the tree line into the open field of snow, looking back at Jimin and Yoongi only to say, “I’m not making any promises on what I’ll do to them, but the knights will regret ever trying to attack Jimin.”

As soon as he said that, a group of knights spotted the four and shouted out, “The two traitor kings have been spotted! Looks like they have an accomplice from the Fall Kingdom!”

Tae furrowed his brows and looked to Jungkook, “Are you going to let them call you a traitor?”

Jungkook’s fingers wrapped tighter around the handle of his knife and he grinned, “They’re definitely going to regret that.”

Him and Tae both ran off in the direction of a few soldiers that had already spotted them, leaving room for Yoongi and Jimin to collect themselves and get ready to go into the fight. Yoongi looked out at the small army spread out across his land, searching for them in all the wrong places for now.

He turned to Jimin who was now getting up and asked, “Do you want to go straight to Namjoon or do you want to take away his army bit by bit?”

     “Straight to Namjoon,” Jimin answered. “We don’t want to hurt anyone, remember? Let’s try to talk some sense into him and see if he can’t hold off his own people.”

Yoongi smiled as if he knew he was going to get that answer from Jimin. In fact, he did. He watched the orange haired boy step closer to him and smiled, saying, “You’re perfect,” before kissing him and pulling him closer. He held Jimin’s hands in his own and whispered into his ear, “My kingdom needs  aking like you to rule over them.”

     “What do you mean?” Jimin giggled and looked into Yoongi’s eyes, “You are a perfect king for this kingdom.”

Yoongi grinned and moved Jimin’s hair out of his eyes, “I still need help though.”

Saying this caused Jimin’s face to light up in a blush and if anyone else had been holding their hand, they would have been burned on the spot by how hot he had become. He quickly cooled down though as a smile crept on his lips and he nodded his head, barely getting out in a shy response, “Should we make an alliance of sorts?”

Yoongi nodded his head, “Of sorts.”

As soon as he said that, a strike of lightning hit near the back of Yoongi’s castle where he had once been tied up to be burned by the knights of Namjoon’s kingdom. Why was Namjoon attacking someone back there? Who was possibly?...

Jimin’s eyes widened and he stepped out from the tree line, “Jin! He’s attacking Jin!”

     “Jin?” Yoongi asked, following Jimin as he started to make his way towards Yoongi’s castle despite the threat of soldiers everywhere.

While walking, Jimin managed to reply to Yoongi, “He’s the king of Spring. He brought me back to you, because unlike Namjoon, he believed that you can’t control your powers. They got into a fight though, and they are both very powerful when angry. Especially at each other.”

With that explanation of who Namjoon was possibly attacking or fighting, the two kings ran the rest of the way to the back of Yoongi’s castle, using their powers to fight off the few soldiers that dared to stand in their way on their path to see what was going on between the two other kings.

Just as another strike of lighting hit, Yoongi and Jimin made their way to around the backside of the house and found four people laying dead around Namjoon. Jimin’s eyes widened when he saw Jin among the four bodies, and he shouted out to Namjoon as he ran towards him, “Namjoon, how could you!?”

He fell to his knees besides Jin and desperately searched for a pulse in his neck. With tears in his eyes, he glared up at Namjoon and spit out, “You’ve become a monster. You love him! Why would you kill him!?”

With tears in his eyes, Namjoon quickly shook his head and said in a trembling voice, “I… I didn’t do this. My knights did,” he looked over to the men lying dead around him from the lightning that had struck just moments ago. Tears fell from his eyes and he picked up Jin into his arms and begged the other boy to wake up, “Please, Jin… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

     “He’s not dead,” Jimin took his hands off Jin’s neck and looked to Yoongi. “Is there something we can do?” He looked back to Namjoon and cried out, “There must be something we can do! Where is he hurt?”

Namjoon shook his head, “Jimin, he’s bleeding out-!”

     “I can stop that!” Jimin shouted, grabbing at Jin’s shirt to see the injury that was causing his clothes to stain with blood. He gasped when he saw two stab wounds on Jin’s stomach and one on his shoulder. Tears brimmed his eyes as he brought a trembling hand over Jin’s skin. He glanced up at Namjoon once more as he said, “I’ll fix it. He’ll be fine.”

Without explaining to Namjoon or Yoongi what he meant by that, he pressed his hands on both of the wounds on Jin’s stomach, burning them closed so he wouldn’t bleed out. He then quickly worked to burn the wound on his shoulder just to make sure Jin was safe and wasn’t bleeding at all.

Namjoon watched, hating that the only way to save Jin was to put him through more pain, but he let Jimin continue, knowing that this had to be done. He looked up when Jimin shifted back on his knees and stopped using his powers. He bit his lip and spoke in a trembling voice, “I’m… I’m so sorry… I really did become a monster…”

     “Monsters don’t apologize,” Jimin muttered, looking down at Jin and checking his pulse again. Namjoon stared at him breathlessly, not sure how to respond to what he just said. When only given silence as a response, Jimin looked up at Namjoon again and said quietly, “You aren’t a monster, Namjoon. Everyone is safe now.”

As he said that, Jin’s eyes fluttered open and he immediately squeezed Namjoon’s hand, crying out in pain from the burns, “Ah, what happened?” Jin’s eyes searched around desperately for answers as to why he felt like he was on fire, but when he found Jimin in his sights, he calmed down a bit and stuttered out, “D-Did you?... To stop the bleeding?”

     “Yeah,” Jimin nodded his head and smiled. “We should get you back home so you can rest in a place where you are more comfortable. Everything is going to be ok.”

Jin looked around once more until his eyes landed on Yoongi this time. He smiled and reached out for Yoongi’s hand, holding it before the king had time to retract it. Yoongi’s eyes widened and he yelped out in fear of turning the king of Spring to ice until he realized… Jin was perfectly fine after a few seconds of holding his hand.

His eyes widened and he glanced at Jimin who was also equally in shock as Jin spoke, “So you are the king Jimin loves?”

Jimin’s eyes widened even more and he whispered out in a defensive voice, “Jin, not now!” He didn't stay mad for long though before he jumped to Yoongi and hugged them exclaiming, "It worked! Your powers!"

Yoongi didn't understand what was going on yet, but he still hugged Jimin and asked in a whisper, "Does that mean I can control them now?"

     "Well what else would it mean?" Jimin rocked back on his knees and held Yoongi's free hand in his own over his lap. He looked up at Yoongi with a smile and said, "It really did only take us coming together for you to be able to control your powers."

Jin laughed and reached for Namjoon’s hand with his other free one, humming to himself as he closed his eyes, “See Joonie? It didn’t take any pain for us all to be at peace. Sometimes being blinded by love is the only way you can see things.”

Namjoon glanced at Yoongi, realizing that the love between him and Jimin really was the thing that helped Jimin become well again. He really should have listened to Jin in the first place. He smiled and nodded at Yoongi when they made eye contact before looking down at Jin again and agreeing with the king, “You were right all along, Jin,” he leaned down and kissed the boy on the lips, “And no matter how stupid I can be, I really will never stop loving you.”

Jimin smiled and reached for Yoongi’s hand at the sight of seeing Namjoon and Jin back together. He looked to his side at the Winter King and whispered, “About that offer to help you rule this kingdom. Do you mind helping me rule mine as well?”

     “Of course,” Yoongi grinned, feeling a warmth throughout his body for the first time ever that felt like a welcoming fire within. He knew this was the true power of the Summer King that the prophecy foretold he would feel. A heat so powerful it could melt his uncontrollable powers away. A fire that would blaze inside him just from a single touch by the Summer King. A feeling he could never get rid of that would feel like the sun was in his very heart.

Love.

Chapter Text

Epilogue:

     “Yoongi hurry up, we are going to be late!” Jimin called out to the upstairs of Yoongi's castle, running down the stairs and towards the front door. He received no answer back from the Winter King who was still getting ready upstairs, but he did run into Hoseok who was thankfully already ready in the kitchen.

     “He’s always been terrible with time,” Hoseok chuckled to himself, fixing the collar of Jimin’s suit that was still flipped up.

Jimin looked down at his suit and then back up at Hoseok, “Do I look alright? I can’t believe I’m nervous and it’s not even my wedding.”

     “Ah, but it’s a very important wedding,” Hoseok mused, looking up at the stairs as Yoongi appeared and started to walk down. “And it’s obviously going to be followed by yours soon, so you should take notes.”

Jimin’s face turned into a bright shade of pink and he glanced at Yoongi as he awkwardly laughed, “It’s not going to happen that soon, is it?”

Yoongi realized what they were talking about as he neared the duo, and he smirked, kissing the flustered king on the cheek before he walked towards the front door and said, “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked to Hoseok, “Is he?...” he turned to Yoongi with a smile, “When are you going to propose?”

     “You’ll find out,” Yoongi smiled and grabbed three coats out of the coat closet, handing two of them to Hoseok and Jimin.

     “When though?” Jimin asked, slipping on his coat over his arms as Yoongi opened the door and stepped out, answering him with a sly smile, “Soon.”

Jimin huffed and pouted at that response though he couldn’t stay mad for long, too excited that Yoongi was actually thinking about marrying him. He actually had someone now that he loved like he always wanted when he saw Namjoon and Jin together. And someday he was going to get married with the love of his life and be with him forever. He couldn’t contain his excitement for that and he couldn't stay mad at Yoongi for wanting to keep the moment a complete surprise. 

The three men got onto their horses that were outside and road quickly through the light snow to pass through the Fall kingdom all the way to the Spring Kingdom. Today was a special day, and they couldn’t be late to the wedding that both of them were apart of.

When they arrived at the gates of the Spring Kingdom, the large gates made of gold and decorate in roses of all kinds of pinks, Taehyung and Jungkook met them there to lead them around to where both the guests and members of the wedding party were gathering.

Taehyung was excited to see Jimin again, practically jumping onto the Summer King’s horse to hug him after not seeing him for three whole months. Jimin had been so busy going back and forth between his own kingdoms to visit his right hand man who had decided to make the move over to the Fall Kingdom to work with Jungkook under Namjoon’s rule. Taehyung still pledged full loyalty to Jimin though and made that very clear to Namjoon, but the Fall King didn’t care, just happy that it seemed like there were never going to be any dangers between the four kings for a very long time.

Hoseok was led over to where the rest of the guests were, a bit nervous to see no familiar faces until he found out that Jungkook and Taehyung weren’t part of the wedding party either. Since he knew them, he stuck close to them while Jimin and Yoongi figured out what exactly they were doing in the wedding.

A letter had been sent to them last week with a brief rundown of everything that would happen, but they still had no idea what part they played in the ceremony.

Finally, Jimin found Namjoon talking amongst a few officials from Jin’s kingdom, and he ran over to him with Yoongi close behind, calling out with a smile, “Hey! Namjoon, I have a quick question.”

     “Hey!” Namjoon greeted, quickly pulling Jimin up into a hug, wasting no time to move on to the Winter King next to him and hug him too. “I’m so glad you guys could make it.”

     “Well everyone has been anticipating this for years. How could we miss it?” Jimin laughed and nudged Yoongi.

Yoongi smiled as well, “Yes, congratulations. Though I haven’t known you two as long as Jimin, I can see why everyone has been waiting for this for a long time.”

Namjoon laughed and ran his hands through his hair with a nervous grin on his face, “I’ve been waiting just as long as everyone else, yet I’m still so nervous… That’s why I’m glad you two will be up there with me when he walks down the aisle.”

     “You mean we’re your best men?” Jimin exclaimed, jumping up once out of excitement.

Namjoon sighed and shook his head though, “I wanted both of you to be my best men, but Jin wanted to have one of you on his side too.”

     “Oh, so I’ll be on your side and Yoongi on Jin’s?” Jimin asked, assuming that Namjoon would prefer Jimin over Yoongi after everything that happened. He didn’t mind it though because at least Namjoon wasn’t trying to kill Yoongi anymore.

Unlike what he expected though, Namjoon shook his head and answered, “You’re on Jin’s side and Yoongi’s on my side,” he put his hands on Yoongi’s shoulders and grinned, “I need someone to keep my cool when I get so nervous I burn up up there. He’s the perfect guy for that.”

     “Really?” Yoongi asked, eyes widening in surprise.

     “Of course,” Namjoon wrapped his arms around Yoongi and hugged him, “We’re all family now that we are in peace with each other. Thanks to you and Jimin talking some sense into me, the four kings can finally live in peace like I always dreamed we’d be.”

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile and hug Namjoon back, muttering out a, “Thank you… I won’t let you guys down.”

     “I know,” Namjoon smiled and backed up, checking his watch and muttering out, “I’d better check on the flower girls and the ring bearer. Hopefully they are ready or else Jin is going to freak for the hundredth time today. See you guys at the ceremony!”

     “See you!” Jimin called out as Namjoon left, smiling to himself and turning to Yoongi with a grin when they were left alone, singing out to the Winter King, “Look at you! The groomsman of the man that tried to kill you three months ago! I call that a very big improvement.”

Yoongi laughed under his breath and held Jimin’s hand, “Everything about my life now is a big improvement compared to what it was before,” he squeezed Jimin’s hand and muttered, “And I can thank you for all of that.”

Jimin giggled and kissed Yoongi’s cheek, “I love you, Min Yoongi.”

When the wedding ceremony started and everyone was in their places, Namjoon stood up at the front as the groom, Jimin and Yoongi on opposite sides of the steps as the groomsmen to the couple, and Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jungkook sitting up front as music started playing and the doors opened to two flower girls from the spring kingdom walking down the aisle to throw petals down on the aisle for the king.

Jimin smiled as the little girls, one with blonde hair and one with strawberry colored hair, walked down the aisle in little dresses that fell just above their light pink slippers. They smiled and giggled as the crowd turned and stared at them with grins on their faces and hands over their hearts at the cute sight.

They reached the end of the aisle and laid down the last of their petals before they took a seat next to Jungkook and Tae who high-fived their little palms and whispered to them that they did a good job.

The doors opened once more to a little boy, brown hair and head held high as if he was transporting something important upon the little pillow he was holding in his hands. Everyone knew the two rings placed on top of his pillow really were as important as the little boy thought, both rose gold with chocolate diamonds to perfectly represent the intertwining of the seasons, Autumn and Spring. With these rings to make it official, the two seasons and the two kings would forever belong together for as long as they lived.

The boy walked up the steps to Namjoon’s side and let the solemniser take the two rings, smiling up at Namjoon as the king pat his shoulder and thanked him for keeping the rings safe. Namjoon didn’t have time to look down at the boy for a moment longer though before the music changed and the doors opened slowly, revealing the last person that would walk in and truly the person everyone had been waiting to see.

The King of Spring, Kim Seokjin.

Everyone became breathless when they saw the pink haired king walk in with a bouquet of pink roses tied with twine, a white tuxedo on with a king’s cape made of white lace and tulle with pink and golden roses sewed onto the end, making him look almost like an angel or a goddess of the garden.

He was everything the crowd expected to see and more. When everyone was done staring at the beautiful spring groom, they turned to see the other thing that everyone was anticipating for the wedding as well: Namjoon’s expression when his husband-to-be walked down the aisle. And that too was everything the crowd expected and more.

Tears were falling down his face as a smile graced his lips. The man he had loved for so many years, the man he thought was dead just a few months ago, the man he vowed to never not love once he knew he was safe, and the man he was going to spend the rest of his life with was standing before him, as beautiful as ever and ready to marry him.

Jimin and Yoongi watched as the two came together before the solemniser, making their vows through tear filled eyes and giggles every now and then, their hands together until they were told to kiss to finally make their marriage official.

The crowd cheered when that happened, and the ceremony was over. Namjoon and Jin walked back up the aisle and out the doors to get ready for the reception while everyone else gathered into the ballroom where the reception was being held to mingle and talk about the two kings that were now joined together until the couple of conversation would arrive and enjoy the party with everyone else.

Yoongi and Jimin found each other as soon as the ceremony was over, holding hands as they both walked around in a daze, imagining their own wedding with each other. That was all they could really think about at that point. They couldn’t imagine not having it with each other.

Hoseok came up to them afterwards with Jungkook and Tae following close behind, wrapping his arm around the two kings with a grin as he teased, “It seems to me that two more kings are going to get married this year, huh?”

Jimin and Yoongi's faces both turned red and they quickly separated, each stuttering out, “We’ve only been together a short time! We have to wait a little while longer and get to know each other-!”

     “So you’re going to make everyone wait ten years like Namjoon and Jin did?” Tae groaned, rolling his eyes. “When you’re in love, you’re in love. There’s no reason to wait.”

     “Are you guys in love?” Jungkook asked with a smile, already knowing the answer to that.

Jimin and Yoongi knew the answer to that too. Both of them turned to each other, Jimin laughing a little as he smiled and Yoongi only staring at Jimin breathlessly as they both replied, “Yes.”

And that year there wasn’t exactly a second marriage between two kings, but there was a proposal around Christmas time, one that Yoongi wasn’t planning until Namjoon and Jin sat him down in a private room and begged him to propose already so Jimin would stop complaining about having to wait a long time to be married to him.

Yoongi kept asking if it was really alright for him to go ahead and propose to him when they had just gotten married themselves a few months ago, but they were completely fine with it. They were just happy to see that the boy they had both helped raise as a king had found someone who loved him as much as they loved each other.

So Yoongi proposed a few nights after out in the snow on Christmas Eve. And when Yoongi had gotten down on one knee and opened up a box with an engagement ring inside, Jimin barely let the Winter King get a word out before he screamed out his answer and wrapped his arms around Yoongi, kissing him all over in the snow next to the castle they had fallen in love in.

They both lay there in the snow after that, two new rings glistening in the moonlight on their fingers. Jimin kept admiring his as he lay his head on Yoongi’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around his chest. The couple lay there in silence for a moment, both thinking about how just less than a year ago they were both completely alone.

Jimin wasn’t aware of how lonely he was and how much he yearned for someone to love him as much as he saw Jin and Namjoon love each other, and Yoongi was so aware it was suffocating. But now there they were, defying what everyone thought was the prophecy and living a new prophecy that would remain true for the rest of their lives.

Yoongi was Jimin’s new warmth, and Jimin was the thing that controlled Yoongi’s powers, allowing him to touch others without worrying about turning them to ice anymore.

And who knew all it took was love? All they needed was love and now they couldn’t be happier. Though the prophecy didn’t mention anything about their future, Jimin and Yoongi both knew in their hearts that it was a bright one. One with wedding bells and walks at midnight with each other hand in hand. It would be one filled with kissing next to the fire and hot exchanges of breath underneath thin sheets and flour falling to the ground as they tried to make a cake for his sister’s birthday.

Everyone moment would be together, a man with eyes as blue as ice and another with eyes amber like fire.

And staring into each other’s eyes in love, they would both see themselves in each other like a sun made of ice.