Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ORIGIN PT. 1

The story of the half-blooded viking prince, born of both a brave viking chief and a fierce dragon, is one told throughout all the lands North of the Galenaer Sea. The tale has always been told to little ones at dinner time over food and a fire to let them know about the many things one man can be capable of if they accept themselves for who they are and unlock their true potential. It can also be told as a frightening story to scare the children into behaving or even a tale of romance at wedding ceremonies if told in a certain way, and everyone has heard each version at least once.

But the part of this story that only few people know is how this fierce and powerful half-dragon half-viking prince came to be. For how could a viking chief come to make anything with a dragon when their great races were at war? How could they even look at each other without killing each other much less fall in love with each other in the process?

Well there was a period of peace before the viking prince was born. A moment in time where, story has it, dragons and humans were friends just so this powerful hero could come to be born. And his parents’ story could only be told as one of pure romance with a tragic ending, though everyone who has heard it can agree that the tragic ending was only the beginning of the great tale that would be passed around for ages to come.

The tale of the human boy with the dragon heart.

~(***)~

The story before the story. Part 1 of 2 parts.

Island of Yulae, North of the Galenaer Sea

18 years before the Viking Prince’s story of bravery:

Namjoon held his sword tightly in his hands, walking through the brush of the woods outside his village as he tried to find the golden muse planted on the outskirts of his village for young princes to find when it was their time to assume their father’s place as chief. Having been hunting in these woods before for many years, Namjoon knew almost all of the paths through the trees and where they led to, so finding the golden muse statue was something he could accomplish in his sleep.

As he walked through the woods, he listened for dragons, sometimes hearing their heavy breaths as they slept in caves or splashes of water as they swam through a nearby lake. Dragons never liked to show themselves because of a past of war between them and the humans, but if he was quiet enough, he could watch from afar or behind a tree how they acted when they weren’t afraid of their unknown company.

He was on a mission today though, walking through a trail covered in moss and shaded by red maple trees that led to a clearing made just for the muse that had been used to bless a chief’s reign for centuries before him if they prayed over it before their ceremony. Namjoon never believed in the powers the muse held over a whole village because it was only made of gold, a material incapable of powers people claimed it to have, but he still followed with tradition, wanting to make his father proud who had died a few weeks ago in a battle against a clan far off in the East.

If praying over a silly statue was all he had to do to make a village respect him and believe in him like they did for his father and the long lineage of powerful chiefs before him, then he was willing to stray from his beliefs just for this.

When Namjoon found the muse, overgrown with vines but still glowing in the sunlight that shined through the large oak trees all around, he kneeled down before it, lowering his head and whispering under his breath, “Please watch over my father’s village that is now my own. Help us prosper in times of peace and even in times of war, and allow us to continue on as how we so graciously lived when my father was in command.”

Namjoon glanced up at the statue, smiling a little to himself when he noticed something in the trees beside him, watching him with teeth as large as his yellow eyes. Namjoon glanced to the right of him at the creature and asked softly, “Do you want to sit with me? I’m out here to pray, not to hunt, so you’re safe.”

The creature shifted in its place, seeming uncomfortable now that it had been spotted. It kneeled down lower into the bushes as if Namjoon wouldn’t be able to notice it anymore, so he only laughed a little and sat down in the grass wet with water from this morning’s storm, crossing his legs as he continued to speak to it, “Come out! If you are so curious about me, then come out and see me up close. Or are you going to eat me?”

The creature’s eyes narrowed and it huffed, finally standing up and walking out of the tree line slowly to accept Namjoon’s invitation to investigate his presence. It was a dragon with large wings by its side and scales that seemed blue in the shade but rose golden when it stepped out into the light. Its face was decorated with scales too that were a pale pink while its heavy tail that trailed behind it was a darker shade of the same color. Namjoon couldn’t help but stare at it with an awed expression, looking into its curious big eyes and only being able to conclude to himself that it was quite possibly the most beautiful dragon he had ever laid his eyes on.

Namjoon’s eyes widened and he fell silent when it walked out towards him. He couldn’t help but scoot back a bit because dragons were definitely known to be carnivores whose favorite meal was viking, but he wasn’t frightened enough to run away. He could only stare up at it and whisper under his breath, “Woah…”

The dragon tilted it’s head and froze in front of him, looking him up and down before leaning close and sniffing him, causing Namjoon to tense up since those razor sharp teeth he had noticed earlier were now much too close for comfort. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, not reaching for his weapon though he was ready to duck and run just in case the thing breathed fire or snapped at him, but the dragon only sat down and looked at him expectantly, tilting its head and letting out a soft roar as if it was trying to speak to him.

Namjoon’s eyes widened and he wished he spoke dragon, but he honestly had no idea what it was trying to say to him. He was breathing heavily now, still not sure if the dragon was planning to eat him or not though he was glad there was some space between them. He tilted his head to match the dragon’s actions, mimicking a roar back to him to see if maybe that was a word in ‘dragon language’.

The dragon only seemed to grimace at this though, lowering its head and huffing again before standing up again and quickly creeping towards Namjoon once more, this time too fast for Namjoon to react before it knocked him over and pinned him to the ground with it’s claws on both of his shoulders, staring at him with wide eyes and leaning even closer this time as if he was observing his every feature, trying to memorize him or study him for reasons Namjoon couldn’t even think of at the moment.

Was he going to be eaten? Was the dragon studying him to see if he’d be a good meal?

Thinking about that thought made Namjoon reach for his axe attached to his belt, wanting it by his side just in case the dragon tried anything, but before he could pull it from his belt, the dragon’s eyes snapped to the weapon and it let out a loud roar in panic that hurt Namjoon’s ears so much he had to quickly pull away, “Ok, I’m sorry! You don’t have to yell! Stop yelling!”

The dragon fell silent again thankfully but huffed at Namjoon with narrowed eyes, the air from his nose feeling like wind against Namjoon’s face. He gripped onto the grass under him and nodded his head as if he understood the dragon, “I know I said be curious and see me up close, but pinning me down is unnecessary don’t you think?”

He looked up at the dragon to see him shake his head and let out a sound under its breath as if it was trying to mock the way Namjoon spoke. Namjoon fell silent, taken by surprise that this dragon just tried to mimic him and quite possibly had an attitude which was something he was only humans were capable of. He was about to laugh and ask the dragon if he just mimicked him, but before he could, the dragon on top of him suddenly shut its eyes and raised its wings, letting out a cry of pain almost as its shape began to change.

Seeing the dragon’s wings starting to disappear and its scales starting to fade, Namjoon almost lost his breath in fear of what was going on. He almost panicked thinking the dragon was dying in some way, but he quickly remember his elders in the village telling him about how dragons were capable of shapeshifting into other animals either to find the home of their prey or as a safety tactic. This was always used as a way to remind the children not to trust everyone they meet so he sometimes passed it off as a false tale, but right now he may have been witnessing the proof that dragons really did shift into other animals, a power only they possessed.

And when he realized that the dragon that was once hovering over him with a look of curiosity had just shape shifted into a broad shouldered human with soft black hair that just fell over his forehead, he knew that those ‘tall tales’ were nothing but the truth, and he was somehow lucky enough to see this rare sighting up close just inches away from his face for reasons he was sure he would never understand.

He could see now that the dragon was a male, unclothed and weak from the transformation. Namjoon didn’t get a chance to see his face before his knees buckled underneath him and he collapsed flatly on top of Namjoon, panting heavily and muttering out in a thick accent only some of the elders in his village had from their accent learned from their parents and taken from a language long since forgotten, “I…” the man’s voice came out smooth and quiet, “I haven’t done this in a long time…”

Namjoon was shocked to hear the dragon speaking in his language fluently, causing him to fall speechless for a moment until the dragon spoke again, “My dragon form hinders me from speaking your language, but I tried to ask your name.”

Was this… Was this dragon really speaking to him to ask for his name? Did this dragon just turn into a human to ask him that?

Namjoon awkwardly laid flat underneath the dragon/man/very-naked-man and answered nervously, “I-I’m Kim Namjoon. You’re a dragon…” he stated as if he had just found that out or maybe he had forgotten it and was reminding himself.

Whatever he meant, this caused the man to laugh a little under his breath and lift his head to smile at Namjoon, “Well I’m one of your kind at the moment,” he pressed his knees into the ground on both sides of Namjoon’s hips and struggled to push himself up into a straddling position on Namjoon, placing his hands on his hips and asking nervously, “How do I look?”

Namjoon looked up at the beautiful, no, absolutely stunning man on top of him and was almost afraid to answer in fear of saying something vulgar. The man had a handsome face, black hair that was shorter than he had seen on most vikings, a cleanly shaven face, and big eyes that still held the same curiosity his dragon form did. He had broad shoulders as Namjoon noted before and abs Namjoon hadn’t even see on even the strongest of vikings in his clan. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open without him thinking, “You’re…” he coughed a little and looked to the side, “You’re a man.”

The dragon, no, gorgeous human, huffed under his breath and tilted his head from side to side in thought before he leaned in closed and whispered, “You vikings can’t recognize a beautiful man when you see one?” he ran his fingers through Namjoon’s hair and admired him with a smile before he sighed to himself and said, “That’s a real shame because a dragon certainly can.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “W-What?”

The man didn’t care to answer and got up off of him, not worrying about his lack of clothes since he had enough confidence to carry him or maybe just because he didn’t see a need for it since he was a dragon. He only looked up at the trees around him and smiled, “Humans are so short,” he laughed under his breath, “And you’re one of the taller ones, yes?”

Namjoon raised an eyebrow, wondering how the dragon-man new this, “I suppose?” he got up after him, “You haven’t told me your name yet. Do you have one?”

The man nodded and beckoned Namjoon to follow him as he started walking in a direction away from the golden muse, “I do. I was never named at birth like you humans like to do, but I gave myself a name based off of what most men and women say when they first see me regardless of my form.”

     “And what is that?” Namjoon ask though he wasn’t sure if he would even ever see this dragon again or need to know his name. He wasn’t even sure if this was a dream or not anymore because of how casual the dragon was speaking with him now that he was human.

He still walked with him though, becoming more comfortable with him as the dragon continued to talk, “My name is Seokjin,” he smiled proudly, “It means ‘handsome’.”

Namjoon wasn’t surprised most humans called him handsome when they first saw him. He really was, walking around with a bright smile and beautiful features that Namjoon couldn’t help but melt into and follow him around the forest like a lost puppy without even being prompted to as if he was in some kind of trance. He then realized where Jin was going and paused when they reached a large pond hidden in the woods where Namjoon sometimes liked to go to think to himself privately without worries of blood or shouting or fights over food between vikings happening around him. This place was his calming peace. His secret sanctuary that he found comfort in. His little hideaway he thought no one knew about… until Jin peered over into the water at his reflection, smiling at himself and nodding his head in satisfaction, “This place you always visit is so beautiful. When you leave, I stare into the water at my reflection and hope I’m a human you can find awe in just like our surroundings, and I think I was successful.”

Namjoon raised his eyebrows, “Wait, you’ve seen me here before? You’ve watched me?” Odin, he had a million questions right now, “Why do you want me to find awe in you?”

     “Isn’t it obvious?” the man tilted his head, “I’ve chosen you to mate with! It’s my choice of course since I’m the carrier, but I’d still like you to enjoy our time together since I’d prefer our child to grow up with parents in love with each other.”

Namjoon felt his heart skip a beat, and he almost felt his knees growing weak underneath his weight. Ok, he was definitely dreaming now. No way was this real, and he was probably just nervous because had a whole clan waiting for him to finish his ceremony to become the chief of his village and lead them into the new age for vikings. But how was he going to even make it back to his village if there was a dragon, now man, talking to him about mating? And how was a male going to carry a child? Namjoon wasn’t even ready for children either! He hadn’t even thought of marriage yet though he was sure the elders were thinking about bringing that topic upon him soon now that he was going to be the new chief and would need to pass his leadership down to an heir. Either way though, they probably had a certain girl in mind rather than a male dragon to be the viking who lead alongside him.

He shook his head slowly, hoping the dragon wasn't going to eat him for turning him down, “This is flattering, but I have a clan to lead, and I don’t think they would be too fond of the idea of their chief and a dragon producing their future leader. I-If we were to have a child, he would face prejudice and be stripped of certain rights only full humans and dragons have, right?”

Jin laughed a little and shrugged, “Well would anyone have to know he’s half dragon? Seems silly for your people to have to know your family business.”

Namjoon swallowed hard at the sound of the dragon using the word ‘family’, and he spoke lowly now, “My people need to trust in me, so I must tell them everything,” he sighed and started to turn towards the direction of his village since he knew they were expecting him to come back soon to place a torch in the fire and claim his father’s throne, “Find another human or dragon to mate with you because-!”

     “Namjoon, I already chose you!” the dragon grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around, his eyes glowing yellow for a split second to remind Joon of his true more vicious form. He seemed more desperate now as he spoke, “Please… I’m of age and I have found myself in so many places searching for the man who will be able to give my child the best life. This age of dragons and humans being at peace is not going to last long, alright?” he was breathing heavier now, seeming scared and out of character from before as he continued, “The war is spreading…”

     “What war?” Namjoon asked, eyes widening.

     “The war between humans and dragons,” Jin looked down, “I came here to escape it at first, abandoning my search for a suitable dragon or a human to mate with, but then I saw you,” he smiled a little, his eyes filling with tears, “You were so beautiful a-and kind. You would sit out by this pond and scribble things down on pieces of paper and when you spotted a little dragon laying out on a nearby rock or swimming in the pond, you didn’t curse at it to leave or try to kill it, y-you smiled and recited the things you wrote to it,” Jin leaned close and placed his hand on Namjoon’s cheek, “When I first heard these-these rhyming word stories you came up with, I found myself infatuated with you. I knew you had to be the father of my child. I knew you’d be able to raise it to be kind and smart like you and protect it…” he sniffled and placed his hand over his flat stomach, “Protect it when the war spreads to the north and my kind gets killed off one by one by your kind. You will raise it as a kind human and make sure it lives to see the day dragons and humans are at peace once more if that day may ever come again.”

Namjoon’s eyes were wide and his expression was frozen in shock. He couldn’t believe dragons and humans were going to be at war again after almost ten years of them being at peace. What caused this? Were dragon attacks happening and causing an uproar? Were humans bored and wanting to start something with the vicious race?

He saw tears in Jin’s eyes finally falling down his cheek and finally spoke quietly to him in reply, “You’re speaking as if you will leave the child with me. Why mate if you won’t be able to raise the child yourself?”

Jin smiled and shrugged, “I’m planning on staying and raising the child with you. I just wanted to make sure that the father I raise it with will be able to treat it to be kind and brave just in case…” Jin looked down and frowned, “Just in case…”

Namjoon realized what he meant now, knowing that Jin was fully planning on staying to raise his child though he was taking every precaution necessary to ensure his future child’s well being and survival just in case he didn’t survive this war that was apparently killing off dragons one by one. He still wasn’t fond of the idea of ‘mating’ with a dragon he just barely met, but he did feel for him.

     “I chose you…” Jin added again, still looking down at the ground and pulling Namjoon away from his thoughts with his soft voice that he had previously been using before he got himself worked up. “Mating season is almost over, and I’ve fought every alpha dragon away from me because I had my sights set on you and you only… I-I’d like to have a child by next spring so if you could just think about it-!”

     “I have to go back to my village,” Namjoon stepped away, feeling dizzy for a second but standing on his own just fine once he backed away. He knew he was just finding an excuse to leave before he was forced to make a choice, but he did have his ceremony to get back to. He frowned when he looked into Jin’s eyes, his back set straight and his hands clutched into fists to make him seem more serious and intimidating as he spoke, “I’m becoming chief today; my father’s people are waiting to become my own, and that takes my first priority right now.”

He watched as Jin’s face fell in devastation, so he quickly added without thinking for reasons he couldn’t understand, “But I will be back tomorrow, alright? With less on my mind, maybe we can talk about this and work out other options for you.”

Jin still frowned despite promises of being able to talk to the chief tomorrow, “Other options? You are the only one left.”

Namjoon started to back up, nodding his head despite Jin's complaint, “Alright, we’ll just talk then. I’ll be back here by sunrise tomorrow if you are willing to help me understand you more.”

Jin’s eyes widened a little in interest at Namjoon trying to understand him and he spoke up clearer now, “I’ll stay here and wait for you to return, chief,” he started to shift back into his dragon form, “Sunrise.”

Namjoon nodded and quickly snapped his head in the direction of his village when he heard the loud blare of the horn of the elder calling him to come home from the woods to finish the ceremony that would officially name him the chief of their village and of the Dal Viking Clan. Crows cawed overhead from feeling disturbed by the loud sound, and when Namjoon looked up at them, he noticed storm clouds rolling in as they always did every evening. He could hear the distant sound of rumbling off in the East and knew he’d have to run fast to the village to light his torch to the bonfire as symbolism of his love for his people forever burning and finish the ceremony before a big storm came and his people had to take shelter for the night.

He started to hurry away, eyeing Jin one last time before he completely turned into a dragon and took shelter in the tree line to hide from the alpha dragons still desperately searching for a mate this time of year and also the storm that he heard coming as well. Once Jin was hidden in the tree line, Namjoon turned back away from him and started to run back towards his village, already feeling rain drops on his skin though he had a feeling he would make it before the storm became too bad.

~(***)~

Namjoon ran up the small hill at the center of his village where the clan’s elder was waiting for him with a torch in her hand, the orange and yellow flickering fire on top of it being protected from the cold rain by a tarp two taller men were holding up over her.

Everyone cheered when he emerged from the woods, their shouts and songs of praise echoing through the air as he tracked fast across the shoreline their village was set upon on their gloomy but prospering island. These cheers grew quiet when his sprint slowed into a walk and he made his way up the hill into the mossy land his people lived on and where the bonfire had been built for him to throw his torch into.

     “Sorry,” Namjoon apologized with a soft laugh when he noticed the elder’s glare directed at him for taking too long in the woods.

     “Make any friends while you were there? You took awfully long,” she replied in a gruff voice, handing him the torch as she stepped back and held her hands up for the village to cheer for their soon-to-be new chief.

Namjoon smiled awkwardly at them, having never known how to make his presence leave a mark as strong as his father’s. His father stood tall with broad shoulders bigger than he could even dream of having. His father had scars that decorated his body like tattoos drawn on his skin to force him to remember ever battle he won and lost, whether that be with a dragon, a bear, or another clan off in the east that claimed his life once and for all and earned him a rightful place in Valhalla.

Namjoon wondered if he would one day look like his father at all. If he would have scars or muscles big enough to make his enemies run with their tails between their legs. If he would have the power of Thor on his side and become as knowledgeable and well known as Odin as his father and his father before him was.

Only time would tell though. And Namjoon was willing to do everything in his power to achieve this status the many chiefs before him earned so valiantly.

The elder bent down to the ground and brushed her fingers across the black sand the hill was made of, reaching her hand up to Namjoon’s face afterwards and marking his forehead with the mark of their clan, the Dal Clan, which translated to the Moon Clan, symbolized in a crescent shape since the moon followed their clan’s warriors into battle to protect them and stayed back with their families as well to tie them together even when they were oceans apart. Their clan was a light in the darkness like the moon, and their clan was tied together with the help of it too. His people were proud to wear this crescent shape on their clothes, jewelry, and ships since it meant so much to them, and he felt the same.

Namjoon smiled at the elder as he felt her fingers pressing the shape onto his skin with the black sand, decorating him with light and unity with just a single curve of her thumb. He held his lit torch tight and could hear low humming drums beating as he lifted it up and turned to his people, now seeing them as they lifted their arms as well and cheered for him and created a harmony of deep voices of viking warriors praising him and women singing of his destiny to lead them into greatness. His heart rate picked up as he looked down at the large stack of wood in front of him, and he looked around once more at all of his people staring up at him, proud of their old leader’s son that they had so much faith in.

Namjoon finally smiled at all of them and shouted out loudly for everyone to hear him over the sound of their own cheers, “For our Dal Clan! The Moon Clan! May the moon continue to watch over us all and continue to light us up in the darkness so we may see our enemies when they are blinded and come back home safely with its uniting light as our guide!”

The whole village’s cheers grew louder as Namjoon finally threw his torch into the woodpile, stepping back a bit as it quickly lit up into flames and created a bonfire that would last until late into the night or at least until the storm came .

The elder held Namjoon’s hand beside him and smiled, “You’re father would be proud. You’re going to make a great chief and leader to your people.”

     “His people,” Namjoon humbly corrected her, “I have yet to earn their trust or following.”

He looked over at all of them, smiling when he saw their happy faces as they grabbed each others’ hands and danced around, playing instruments and shouting out old war hymns in celebration of the new chief. He only looked back at the elder when she placed his hand on his back and assured him fondly, “You already have.”

~(***)~

The next day at sunrise, Namjoon visited Jin, keeping true to his promise and meeting him by the pond where he was already in his human form and waiting. Namjoon had brought a fur cloak this time to cover him, sure that he was cold from the misty fog left over from the storm and the cold northern air this time of year. He wrapped it around him as he greeted him with a nervous smile, “I hope you weren’t waiting too long?”

     “It’s still sunrise,” Jin shook his head with a smile, “You came as promised,” he looked him up and down, “And you’re a chief now? A leader?”

Namjoon nodded, “A leader.”

     “Wow,” Jin gasped softly and looked towards the pond shyly, “I’m not a leader, but I hope that won’t be a problem.”

     “No that’s not the problem,” Namjoon’s smile faded and he sighed, deciding to sit down now and pat the area of grass and clovers beside him that were wet with morning due for Jin to sit on. “Let’s talk now because I know nothing about you. To humans its important we know someone before we trust them let alone start a deep relationship with them or make a child with them. Some of my people are backwards though, marrying after knowing each other for a day and having children as they get to know one another. It usually works out though because everyone within our clan are perfect for one another.”

Jin’s eyes widened, “Woah, so you can never go wrong?”

     “Oh, no, you definitely can,” Namjoon laughed a little, “My uncle and his first, second, and third wife went wrong, and some say all three of them are the reason he mysteriously disappeared,” his eyes widened as he spoke to enwrap Jin more in the story, and he found the dragon mimicking his expression as he spoke since he was paying attention so closely. He continued, “My father and mother married for status though and ended up falling in love after they had me,” his smile softened and he looked down, “So it worked for them.”

     “Are they still happily married?” Jin asked, tugging the cloak tighter around his shoulders and leaning closer towards the chief viking.

Namjoon’s smile fell completely as he remembered his father’s last words in battle before he died and his mother drowning in a accident involving a dragon when he was only seven. The memories were still so vivid in his mind, but he pushed them to the back for now and nodded his head, “In the afterlife, yes. I believe they have found each other in Valhalla and are living out the rest of their days there.”

Jin sighed happily, glad they were still together and in love, “I want that… Dragons mate for life so once we choose someone, we may never choose another because we are marked with their scent, and other dragons know not to mess with an alpha’s mate. It’s the reason behind so many battles between dragons, and when two alphas fight,” Jin blew out air through his lips and shook his head, “You want to get off that land as soon as possible before you get caught up in it.”

     “So am I an alpha?” Namjoon asked, “Or will you be allowed to mate with others after me?”

A blush rose across Jin’s features and he smiled to himself, giggling a little under his breath before he decided to lean in close and press his nose to Namjoon’s neck. He held his cheek lightly in the palm of his hand to keep him close and take in his scent, and he could feel Namjoon freeze under his touch, but he continued to take it in because it was almost intoxicating when he was this close. This human… This human was definitely capable of becoming a leader upon leaders even though he was still so young, probably only eighteen when Jin was hmm… twenty? In human years?

He leaned back and nodded his head, “You’re an alpha. And alpha dragons will respect an alpha human’s mate especially with the strong scent you have that you will cover me with.”

Namjoon blushed at this and quickly lifted his hands up to his face to cover it when he felt heat rise to his cheeks. He looked down and shook his head, “This is crazy… A dragon wanting to mate with me. And we’d be bonded for life,” he looked up with wide eyes, “And how would I introduce you to my village? A dragon? A human male able to bare kids? Surely they would have things to say about both of those introductions, but since I’m chief, they’d have no choice but to let you be part of the clan. Even if the war spread here, they’d…” he tilted his head and furrowed his brows, “They’d probably blame you, but if you could maybe say you came to warn us and are on our side, then that could work.”

     “They’d earn their trust in me and treat me as their own even during the war because I help you guys out!” Jin gasped and clapped his hands excitedly, “You’re such a smart human!”

     “But I still need to learn to trust you,” Namjoon quickly cut off the excitement to say in a serious tone, “You seem genuine, but I believe in a build up to marriage and having kids, and I definitely need more time with you before I let you into my clan as one of our own. How much time will you allow me to get to know you and decide if I want to make this big decision?”

Jin was happy that the viking was now considering his wants to mate and was willing to put in effort to try to make this work, so he replied with a smile, “There is one more month left of mating season. Alpha dragons without a mate will become more desperate and agressive towards the unmarked carrier dragons, but I will remain strong and stay in hiding to make sure you are the one that marks me if that is what you choose in the end.”

     “Thank you for giving me time,” Namjoon pulled a knee up to his chest and leaned on it as he smiled and then started to get to know this strange creature he had no idea would ask him to be his mate when he first invited him out of the tree line. And if he knew the future the two of them were going to have together, he wouldn’t have needed anymore time at all to decide that he indeed wanted to spend the rest of his life with this beautiful man that he would come to love more than anything.

Namjoon continued to visit Jin everyday for the next three weeks, walking into the woods with clothes and sometimes food and finding him near their lake where they would sit and talk for hours until Namjoon was needed back at the village. Namjoon dressed Jin the second time they met, giving him brown wool trousers, a cream colored tunic, black leather boots, and the light brown fur cloaked he gave him that first sunrise they decided to attempt to pursue this relationship. Jin saw these gifts as some form of mating ritual humans performed, so he always returned the favor by making Namjoon flower crowns for him to wear as they talked, placing it over his head before he left and kissing him on the cheek to wish him well until they met again.

Twenty sunrises passed and Namjoon found himself meeting with Jin more often, coming out to the woods to talk to him when he achieved something great for the first time as chief and wanted to talk to someone about it without putting on the air of a strong leader who always kept himself composed without getting himself excited when he did brave and cool acts successfully. He would run out to the pond at times other than sunrise and call out the dragon’s name, finding his heart bubbling with excitement when he saw the dragon walking out from the tree line and transforming into a human once again for him.

They would talk for hours every day, Namjoon learning about Jin’s past as a dragon and finding out that once dragons chose a mate, they were bound for life, and once a carrier’s alpha mate died, they died along with them because of their bond breaking and shattering their heart completely in the process. Alphas lived on if their mate died though because it was common for carriers to be too weak to defend themselves from stronger dragons on their own which was why Jin was adament about making sure his child had a strong father that Jin was confident wouldn’t die especially with the dragon war spreading towards the north so fast. They talked about other things too like human and viking culture compared to dragon culture, Namjoon’s poems he liked to write, and places they had traveled to before.

They both had seen the grim parts of life, but they had also seen the beautiful parts as well. The sights, the smells, the tastes, the music…. each other.

On the twentieth day they had met with each other, they ate a picnic by their little pond that consisted of cooked fish, bread, buttermilk, and dried fruit dipped in honey. Jin was dipping his bread in honey as he spoke about how he saw dragons migrating over to a spot deeper inland, wounded and flying fast as if they had come right out of a war. He saw some arrows in one of the dragon’s side and knew it was humans, and when he realized that this meant the war was creeping closer, he couldn’t sleep at all that night.

Hearing Jin’s words and seeing the worry in his expression as he spoke about the dragons and the war with a trembling lip, Namjoon couldn’t help but find himself wanting to take Jin as far up north as they had to go to escape the war that Jin feared for himself and his future child. … Their future child now that he thought about it.

     “I think I’m ready,” Namjoon spoke up, setting down his wooden cup half full of buttermilk into the basket and turning to Jin with a serious face.

Jin tilted his head as if he had totally forgotten about the reason he pursued Namjoon in the first place, “For what?”

Namjoon bit his lip and scooted closer with an intense stare, not wanting to back down from shyness when he had finally made up his mind, “I have fallen in love with you, Jin. Or at least I know I will soon fall in love with you,” a small smile grew on his face and reached down to grab a strawberry dipped in honey to eat it before he continued, “Our child, you want to raise it as a human?”

Jin’s eyes widened when he realized what this meant and he gasped, nodding his head excitedly, “Yes! You… You want to mate with me?”

     “I want to marry you,” Namjoon’s smile widened, “I’ll introduce you to my village and you can warn them of a war coming. We’ll get married and mate for life just like you want.”

     “Yes!” Jin shouted out and quickly jumped onto Namjoon to wrap him up in a hug, pushing him down into the grass and shifting on top of him as he held him tight and laughed out happily, “Oh my gosh, you’re going to be my alpha! My… My husband!” his eyes were bright with glee as he thought about their future he had been hoping for with the viking ever since he laid his eyes on him. He reached his head up to kiss him on the lips for the first time ever, not understanding how humans could just stop at the lips when he wanted to taste the inside of his future alpha’s mouth with his tongue, exploring every part of the man he was going to spend a lifetime with.

He pressed his hands into the wet grass to prop himself up as he continued to kiss Namjoon, pressing his knees into the ground on both sides of the viking’s hips as well to be able to hover over him as they made out. Namjoon laughed at how excited Jin became, and he wrapped his arms around the other boy’s thin waist, “I’ll take you back to my village tonight and introduce you to my people. We can get married by next week and mate that night to-!”

     “No, I’ve waited so long!” Jin laughed and sat up, straddling Namjoon and pressing his hands on his chest through his shirt, “Tonight. Come back to the forest tonight, and we’ll mate how my kind does. We’ll spend the night here by the pond together afterwards and then the morning after you will take me to the clan and make me one of your own.”

     “And how will we know if you are pregnant? We’ll just have to wait and see?” Namjoon sat up and asked as Jin got up off of him.

He watched as the other boy shook his head and replied with a smile, “I won’t be able to shape shift while pregnant. My body will have no choice but to remain in its human form until I give birth,” he looked up at the sun starting to set and grinned, “Hurry back to your village to take care of anything you need to get done as chief. Come back here when the sun is completely gone and mate with me how dragons do. I want to be ready for this important moment that marks the rest of my life that will be dedicated to you and our child.”

Namjoon stood up and dusted himself off of wet grass and stray drops of water that formed onto his clothes when he was laying down, bending down to quickly pack up their things before leaning forward to kiss Jin on the lips for their second time ever, “I will spend the rest of my life after tonight protecting you and our child as well,” he cupped Jin’s cheek with the palm of his hand and smiled, “And I’ll love the both of you more than anything…” he stepped back in the direction of his village, keeping his eyes on Jin as he reminded him once more before he turned and ran back to his people, “More than anything, Jin!”

He ran back to the village, straw picnic basket in hand until he threw it down on the ground by his wooden home built tall and decorated beautifully because it was the home of the village chief. He ran inside and towards his private bathing quarters where he could wash his face and prepare himself for the night ahead. He changed into clean clothes only meant to be worn for ceremonies, but he was sure this was a just occasion since mating was a big deal for dragons or at least Jin.

He dressed in a white tunic, black leather pants, and his black boots he only ever wore to war. He then wrapped a black belt around his tunic that held the crest of his people, and covered himself up with a black fur cloak that hung down to the ground behind him. This was what he was wearing when Jin and him met because he had the ceremony of becoming his village’s chief that day, and he was excited for it to be what he wore when he and Jin mated and became one with each other for a life time.

And he had to admit, he was definitely nervous for what was to come tonight. He still wasn’t sure of the idea of him being father much less to a half dragon child, but he knew that if he was going to raise it with Jin, he would enjoy learning how to be a parent and teaching the child how to live in a world where both parts of who he or she was was at war. Jin would teach their child the way of the dragons and he would teach their child the way of the vikings, and together, maybe their child could become something great that stopped this war in the future. Their child could bring peace.

Namjoon grinned at the thought of this as he exited his house, ready to venture out into the woods again until he suddenly rammed into the village elder while having his head up in the clouds, day dreaming of his future family. He stumbled over her a bit before catching himself and holding her up thankfully before they could both tumble to the ground. He stepped back quickly and apologized with wide eyes, “Elder, I’m so sorry! I was lost of thought and didn’t see you in the darkness,” he straighted up a bit and furrowed his brows, “Wait why are you out so late?”

     “I was about to ask you the same question,” the elder leaned on her cane, seeming not phased at all by the almost tumble though she was now skeptical. She raised an eyebrow at Namjoon’s outfit, “And dressed like that to sneak out into the woods? Does it have something to do with the thing that has been pulling your focus away from the village for hours a day for the past few weeks?”

     “What?” Namjoon tried to act shocked and laughed a little, “A chief needs his time alone, elder. My father had hours to himself every day as well.”

     “Yes, but he didn’t come back with flower crowns on his head every time now did he?” the elder smiled a little since she knew Namjoon was going to have a hard time arguing the points she was making, “And you fix a picnic for two most days, but you’re still thinner than some of the children in our clan.”

Namjoon sighed and rolled his eyes, “Are you here just to irk me?” he started to walk past her and patted her on the shoulder, “I respect you, elder, but don’t worry about me. I just find peace in the forest that will help me become a great and wiser chief in the future, I’m sure.”

The elder sighed and let Namjoon pass despite deep down wanting to hit him on the head with her cane and forcing him to sleep since their chief couldn’t be sleep deprived, “Well tell the forest that our clan’s chief needs to spend some of his time with his people and not with her.”

     “Not a girl,” Namjoon argued.

     “Then him,” the elder called out after him and Namjoon couldn’t help but laugh to himself, “I’ll introduce the two of you soon, and I do hope you allow us to marry.”

The elder’s eyes widened at this and she gasped, “Marry the forest? Young chief, have you gone mad?”

Namjoon shrugged, “Maybe,” he laughed louder this time and picked up his pace towards the forest now, “But only in the best possible way.”

He ran towards the woods without another word to the elder, wanting to hurry back to Jin so the dragon wouldn’t think he left him all alone on the night they were to make their love for each other official and conceive a child from it. After tonight, he was going to forever love Jin, and during tonight, he was going to make this love to Jin in whatever way the dragon wanted.

The foggy air around him dampened his hair as he ran through the forest to his and Jin’s usual spot, the large pond hidden by a thick layer of trees so that no man may find their place of peace together. He ran out into the clearing and called out the dragon’s name, “Jin! Meosjin!” he looked up at the stars in the sky and then down at where they reflected on top of the surface of the lake. His eyes widened at the sight because he had never ventured out here so late to see such a beautiful sight.

Were he and Jin going to mate here? It was certainly a beautiful place to have their moment…

He blushed when he felt a breath on his neck, and he turned around to face Jin in his dragon form, his eyes showing a playful expression in them as he licked Namjoon’s face and quickly turned to breathe out fire onto the ground to create a yellow glowing trail. Namjoon’s eyes widened at what Jin was doing and he called out to him, “Jin, what are you doing? Why are you-!”

He watched in surprise as Jin bounded around him while still burning the grass underneath him until he had made a heart shape in the ground around Namjoon. Fire was set ablaze all around them from the hot wall Jin had created around them. Namjoon was about to ask what the heart shaped wall of fire around the both of them was before, but before he could, Jin quickly shifted back into his human form and smiled as he explained, “Dragons mustn’t be disturbed when mating so we protect ourself from other creatures in the area with a wall of fire. You and are protected now,” he grabbed Namjoon’s hand and placed it over his heart, “We will be safe as you take me as yours.”

Namjoon’s blush grew fully onto his cheeks now and he nodded his head, “I-I love you Jin.”

     “And I love you, Namjoon,” Jin was happy to reply, dropping his fur coat to the ground and slipping his cream colored tunic up with one seductive movement from his hand, showing off one of his thighs to his soon-to-be-lover and whispering to him with a sly smile, “Tell me how you want me.”

     “Just…Just how you are,” Namjoon couldn’t help but say, quickly lifting the tunic up over Jin’s shoulders and pressing a deep kiss to his lips before he moved onto his trousers. Jin kicked off his shoes and the rest of his clothes as his fingers struggled and fumbled but finally succeeded to take off Namjoon’s clothes as well. In a matter of minutes, their bodies were both pressed against each other’s rubbing together in a friction unseparated by clothing.

The fire around them was hot, but neither of them were bothered by it. If anything, it only provided a welcoming warmth in the cold mountain air of their homeland.

Jin spread his legs for Namjoon to fit between them, his fingers trembling since this was his first time ever letting another creature so close though he had come to trust the viking with his life and now his whole future. He arched his back and rubbed himself up against where he knew Namjoon would feel pleasure, and when he heard the strong viking man he had come to love moan out his name and ask for him to continue doing what he was doing, Jin couldn’t help but smile and want to do it a thousand times, over and over, until he had pleasured his lover as much as he possibly could.

He thought he could continue like this, just rubbing against Namjoon and kissing him passionately with his tongue exploring every bit of his mouth, but he grew excited for more when Namjoon pressed his fingers into his mouth and told him to lick them and wet them with his spit before he felt Namjoon reach down between his legs and slip his slender fingers into his entrance, one at a time, stretching him out and preparing him for what was to come. Jin froze at first, closing his eyes and waiting for this whole ordeal to become more natural as he started to leak with natural lubricant, but when his slick started to help Namjoon’s fingers slide in and out of him easier, he found himself moaning now too and begging Jin to replace them with something bigger. Something that would fill him with the children he wanted to raise with Namjoon.

     “Namjoon…” he muttered out softly, running his fingers through the viking’s hair and closing his eyes as he hummed out in pleasure, “Go ahead. Make me yours.”

     “You already are,” Namjoon leaned down and kissed the dragon, replacing his fingers with the smooth feeling of his length slowly pressing into him, much larger than Jin was expecting from a human though he had no complaints. He arched his back and spread his legs more to maybe make it easier for him, but nothing helped until he held one of Namjoon’s hands tight and moaned out loudly to cover up the discomfort he was feeling. Namjoon leaned down and kissed his neck, apologizing for the pain he could see in Jin’s eyes though he didn’t stop. He pushed all the way in and stayed there for a few seconds, biting and sucking at Jin’s neck to distract him from any pain he might have been feeling as they stayed there and got used to being so close to each other; the closest two creatures could ever possibly be.

When Namjoon started pull out again just to thrust back into Jin, Jin gripped onto the viking’s back and duck his nails into him without thinking since his heart started to beat faster with fear of how he was going to be able to take Namjoon’s pulsing cock thrusting in and out of him. He gripped tight to Namjoon and held his breath, wishing he had prepared his body more before this though he didn’t say anything because he wanted Namjoon to feel pleasure without feeling guilty.

Namjoon noticed how scared Jin looked and could practically feel him shaking, so he paused and looked down at Jin, running his fingers through his hair and speaking softly to him, “Relax, Jin. It helps if you relax.”

     “It hurts, but don’t pull out,” Jin quickly said, trying his best to relax and breathe slowly as his alpha told him to do. He continued to have structure breathing to calm himself down as he stared up at Namjoon and told him to keep going, “Please… Keep going, I’ll get used to it,” he placed his hand on Namjoon’s cheek and tilted his head with a smile, “I love you. This is a dream come true to get to do this with you.”

Namjoon’s cheeks felt hot underneath the palm of his hand as he watched a blush creep up on the viking’s face. The human smiled and kissed Jin one more time, telling him that he loved him too before he continued on, slower and gentler at first just so Jin could get used to it now that he was relax. And when Jin hummed and moaned out in pleasure for the first time, Namjoon picked up the pace, leaning down and leaving a trail of hickeys and kisses from Jin’s neck all the way down to his chest.

The wall of fire around them continued to glow and the moon above them shine brightly as well. Creatures from miles away could see their fire and know and alpha and a carrier were mating tonight, knowing to stay far away from them because all creatures of the forest knew not to disrupt a dragon during mating season. Namjoon could hear the faint sounds of a dragon roaring in the distance, but he couldn’t find himself to care as he started to reach a climax with Jin, hearing his melodic moans that sounded like part of a beautiful song sung by families returning from war. He pressed kissed deeply into Jin as he shoved one last thrust into him and cummed out, biting Jin’’s neck and sinking his teeth deeper into the other boy’s skin when Jin told him to go ahead and mark him now.

He continued to ride out his orgasm until Jin cummed out across his chest, panting and reaching his hands up to Namjoon’s shoulders to hold them and say breathlessly, “I need to mark you too,” he pressed his hand to Namjoon’s neck, “Is it alright if I mark you there? Where everyone can see?”

Namjoon nodded his head and leaned closer, “Make sure to leave a mark that stays forever.”

Jin smiled and reached his head up to sink his teeth into Namjoon’s neck, just enough to break the skin and leave a mark that would forever bond them. He heard Namjoon wince and pulled away when he was done to admire how his mark looked, leaning up just once more to lick away the blood and whisper into Namjoon’s ear, “This is equivalent to what you humans call marriage,” he smiled to himself and ran his fingers through Namjoon’s hair that shined under the light of the fire that dance around them, “I know it’s not the same to you, but it means so much to me.”

     “Anything that means so much to you will mean just as much to me,” Namjoon caught Jin’s hand as it started to trail down to his side on the ground underneath him. He held it tight and in between their chests as he stared into the dragon’s eyes deeply and spoke with a smile, “It’s the two of us feeling things together from now on. That’s how strong our bond will be.”

Jin’s eyes lit up with a sparkle of excitement and he nodded his head eagerly, “I’d like that, Namjoon,” he reached his free hand down to his stomach and a warm blush crept upon his face, “I hope our child has your way of words. Being half-dragon and half-human, they will surely bring peace if they speak how you do.”

Namjoon couldn’t help but smile and lean down to kiss Jin once more, “And may our child inherit everything else from you. Courage, beauty, wit… All the things that made me fall in love with-!”

A loud roar coming from a dragon that sounded much bigger than Jin escaped from the valley near the shoreline where Namjoon’s village lay. The noises sounded like thunder ripping through the sky and landing right next to them, but both of them knew what it really was. Where it really came from.

Jin froze and Namjoon sat up before he could finish speaking to his lover who was now his bonded mate, turning in the direction of the sound to see through the darkness and the fog of the mountain air on the cliff they were on that overlooked most of the side of the island the Moon Clan inhabited. His eyes widened and he lost his breath as his heart sank down to his stomach.

     “Fire…” he breathed out softly, seeing now how his whole village was in flames from a dragon almost as tall as the cliff he and Jin were on. He stood up and grabbed his clothes, hurrying to put them on without a moment of hesitation, “I have to go to my people. I have to fight alongside them as chief, and-!”

     “I understand, Namjoon,” Jin helped lace up his black leather boots as Namjoon threw on his fur cloak over his black tunic. He stood back up and kissed Namjoon on the lips, “I’ll go with you, alright? As a dragon, I can-!”

Namjoon shook his head, “Jin, we just bonded ourselves for life. I’m not going to have you die only five minutes after we mate!”

     “If you die, then I die anyway,” Jin argued, sighing and closing his eyes, “I’m going to transform and-!” his eyes widened and he gasped, looking down and shaking his head as he muttered out with a shuttered breath, “I…Oh… So soon.”

It didn’t take long for Namjoon to realize what Jin was saying. He felt his heart jump a little in his chest and he quickly held Jin’s hands, “You can already tell you’re pregnant? It’s only been a few minutes, can you really find out that fast?”

     “I can’t transform,” Jin shook his head, shutting his eyes to try again but only stumbling a bit and nodding his head to himself in confirmation, “It’s no use,” he smiled a little, “I think… I think we might have been able to make a child already,” his eyes moved to the smoke rising from the small village down below near the shore and his smile fell, “Which means if you die, not only will I die, but this child will die too. You have to remain safe at least until I give birth, alright Joon?” he moved his hands up to the viking chief’s face and furrowed his brows as he muttered out in a serious tone, “I won’t be able to join you now in order to protect our child, but you fight for your people with all your might, and we’ll be waiting here, ok?” he moved one of Namjoon’s hands to his stomach, “Survive, Joon. That’s all I ask.”

Namjoon smiled down at Jin’s stomach and smoothed his thumb over the dragon’s soft human skin, “I’ll be back when the fire is gone, and I’ll bring you down to meet my people once the smoke has cleared,” he kissed Jin one last time and started to back up out of the wall of fire Jin had placed around them to protect them, “I love you!” he called out and turned to run back to his village, still feeling his heart beating fast from making love to Jin and then finding out that they had already successfully made a child.

He… He was going to be a father. In the same year of becoming chief, he was going to become a dad and a husband, and for reasons he couldn’t explain at the time, he was more excitement about having a family rather than becoming a leader.

Namjoon ran across the beach, his calves burning from the sand under his shoes proving to be too soft to run on comfortably, but he didn’t stop running. Not until the flames enwrapping his village were all around him, the sounds of flames crackling and people shouting becoming all he could hear along with the dragon that had destroyed their town’s wings flapping and creating a powerful wind as it started to fly away. Namjoon’s lungs were burning from how fast he had run, but he managed to keep up his strength just to run over to a man and ask, “What happened in the short time I was away? Where did the dragon come from?”

     “The demon just came out of nowhere and destroyed our village while everyone was asleep! It wasn’t provoked!” the man shouted back at him, angry that a beast came just to hurt their village. He grabbed and axe and pointed it at Namjoon, “It’s heading towards the cave-lands to the East so we need to gather up what we can tonight and leave to kill that thing.”

     “Kill it?” Namjoon’s eyes widened, but he knew he couldn’t protest killing a dragon that had hurt them first. An eye for an eye was the viking way of life, and if Namjoon’s first move as chief was to say no to a request for revenge, he’s surely lose all respect he could have gained from his village for as long as he ruled. He had to do this.

He had to go kill the dragon that wronged his clan.

The man, older than Namjoon and much stronger than him physically seemed angry to see his young chief showing reluctancy to kill the dragon that destroyed half his village. He stepped close to Namjoon and spoke in a stern voice that reminded him of his father, "No one died while you were away, but we may not be able to say that if it returns- when. it returns," his breath was heavy as he breathed in the smoke from the air and pointed to his house that was still currently burning, "The house that sheltered my family was ruined because of that fire demon, and I will not let it come back to kill my wife and son, Yoongi," Namjoon looked to see the man's wife helping an older woman away from her burning house, their two year old son in her arms and crying from the travesty that happened all around him. 

Namjoon couldn't help but think of his own child that he would have with Jin one day and realized that he would soon understand this man's eagerness to kill the thing that put his family in danger. He bit his lip and nodded his head, deciding to do what he knew most of his people would want on behalf of their family's safety “Ready a ship and other men willing to go. No one is forced because we will still need men back here to rebuild while we are gone,” he knew almost every man and even a few women in the village would be eager to go kill the beast that set their home ablaze, but if needed, he would force a few people to stay back to care for the children.

Children…

He looked up at the mountain where he knew Jin was waiting for him with a baby now growing inside of him that they would be meeting by fall this year if everything went well. He never wanted to leave Jin alone during this time of vulnerability when he wouldn’t be able to change into his dragon form and also have a baby in him to have to protect, but his duty as chief was too important to ignore. He had to leave him and kill the monster that put his clan in danger. He wasn’t in a position to be able to do anything else. Like any good chief, like his father, he had to lead his village in killing the dragon. That was the only way to protect them and assure them that this wasn’t going to happen again.

Once he sent the man off to round up other people willing to fight and ready their ships for battle, he ran in the opposite direction back to the forest, needing to tell Jin of how he was going to be alone for the beginning of this pregnancy. He didn’t stop running until he reached the lake where he and Jin had met and fallen in love, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting his lover’s name, “Jin! Where are you? Please come out!”

Jin quickly emerged from the woods, his clothes now on as he asked Namjoon in a worried voice, “What is it? Is your village safe from the dragon already?”

Namjoon didn’t answer Jin until he ran up to him and wrapped him up in a tight hug, kissing his neck and muttering out softly now that he had caught his breath and was calming down with his mate, safe and in his arms, “I don’t have much time… I have to leave to kill it,” he held Jin tighter since he knew the other man would protest and he didn’t want him to pull away. Not now when they only had just minutes together before Namjoon would have to leave for who knew how long, “The dragon attacked our town unprovoked. My people want it dead, and as a new chief just taking over my father’s role, I’m not in a position to argue. I have to lead them into my first battle as their leader.”

He expected Jin to be mad. No, completely angry beyond compare. They had just mated, just made a child. He had made a promise to Jin to protect him and their child and love them more than anything, and now he was having to leave them for some stupid revenge kill on a dragon that set fire to their town and-!

     “I understand,” Jin looked down and spoke softly, a frown on his face despite seeming to understand why Namjoon had to go to his surprise. He opened his mouth to ask Jin if it was alright he was killing a dragon since it was one of his kind, but before he could, Jin looked up at him with a serious expression as he assured his alpha, “Anyone, dragon or human, that is an enemy to you is an enemy to me,” Jin reached his hand up to Namjoon’s cheek, “But dragons are dangerous, Joon. I-I wish I could help, but-!”

     “I will be protecting the land we will soon raise our child on,” Namjoon kissed Jin’s forehead. “You do the most important part and stay here to protect our child, alright?” he stepped back, smile fading as he reached into his shirt and grabbed an symbolic necklace that had been wrapped around his neck. It was an amulet all chiefs wore and it had been passed down from father to son for generations. It was more of a family bond symbol than a chief symbol. A bond held by this necklace so that whatever happened to the loved one who gifted the necklace to the other, they would always be together, not only connected by the moon that watched over the clan but by the dragon shaped pendent on the end of the necklace that had been passed along by the warriors of the clan for generations.

He hung it over Jin’s head and let it fall over his chest, watching the dragon symbol lay perfectly over Jin’s shirt just over his heart. Jin looked down at the necklace and reached to touch it with the tips of his fingers, “What is this?…”

     “It’s uh..” Namjoon sniffled and felt himself choking up. He hated leaving Jin. He wanted to just stay here with him, but this world was keeping them apart for now. He wanted to introduce him to his village quickly before he left so Jin would be protected by his people, but he knew they wouldn’t react well to a dragon being in their village at this time, pregnant with the chief’s child or not. They would kill him and their baby while Namjoon was away, claiming it would grow up to be a demon like it’s father for sure. Namjoon placed his hand over his heart and continued, “It’s a necklace. The moon will watch over the both of us and connect us while I’m away, but this necklace,” he reached over to touch Jin’s hand that was still hovered over the dragon pendant, looking into Jin’s eyes with tear filled ones, “This necklace will keep me right here with you even when I’m an ocean away.”

Jin’s eyes widened and his lips parted as he let out a soft gasp under his breath. His eyes became glossy with tears just like his alpha’s, “I have nothing to give you… to make sure you remember me.”

     “You’ve given me too much for me to forget,” Namjoon smiled and stepped back again, hearing the sounds of horns to call all the men and women wanting to fight the dragon down to the boats since they were to leave soon, “I’ll try my best to make it back to you, so wait for me, ok?”

     “As long as it takes,” Jin nodded his head, trying to smile though he only felt like crying and mourning the absence of his alpha that was soon to come, “I love you Namjoon!” he called out, hoping he would be able to tell him that in person soon when he came back.

     “And I love you too, Jin!” Namjoon called out one last time before suddenly running off towards his village to join his clan on their journey to defeat the dragon before it could come back and finish their village off. Smoke was all around the shoreline now and ash was falling from the sky even in the forest far from where the village was.

Jin watched as Namjoon disappeared into the trees, just as he always did when Jin would watch from afar in curiosity, wondering if this sweet and handsome human would ever fall for him enough to want to be a family with him before mating season was over. He was surprised things worked out like this. He was surprised he was lucky enough to become the alpha human’s mate. He pressed one hand to his stomach and the other to the necklace Namjoon had placed on him to promise his return, praying that he would see his lover again hopefully before he gave birth to their child.

And until then, Jin would have to try to survive in his human form to keep him and his baby alive for when Namjoon came back to them.

Chapter Text

Origin Pt. 2

The story before the story. Part 2 of 2 parts.

Nine long months had passed since Namjoon had last seen Jin. Nine long months since he had left to defeat the dragon that had burned half his village to the ground. He had starved for days on end sometimes, froze in the winter and sweat in the sun on the sea, but the day finally came when his men managed to hunt down and kill the dragon, beheading it after a long battle and finally winning in their clan’s name. Namjoon hated the idea of cutting off the creature’s head, but this was how his people were going to show their families and friends waiting back in their home village that these nine months were worth it.

That ten men and women dying in the process were worth it.

Namjoon tried not to think about how many orphans were now waiting for him back at the village. How many wives and husbands and fathers and mothers would be heart broken or childless. It was hard at first not to feel guilty for not being able to save some of the people in his clan that he swore to protect when he became chief, but when he thought about his own lover and child waiting for him back on the mainland of his village, it became all he could think about at all.

When their ship neared land on the last day of their journey and Namjoon could see the rebuilt houses in the village and the smell of honey and cooking meat, he felt a wave of excitement flush over him and cause his nerves to build together in the pit of his stomach. He smiled when he saw his people running to the shore to greet their loved ones they had missed for almost a whole year when they saw the familiar boats reaching land. People were crying and kids were cheering, and some women were holding babies that had been born in the time their husbands were gone. It made Namjoon wonder if he’d find Jin holding a baby when he got back to him. Or had Jin not given birth yet? Had he made it back in time to at least witness the birth of their child?

Namjoon felt the uneasy tension around him from the members of his clan that had fought alongside him, wanting to see their families but knowing they had work to do before then. Namjoon was also just as uneasy to see Jin though, so he tapped a few on the shoulder and muttered out with a smile, “Just tie the ship up and be with your families tonight. Tomorrow, we will debrief with them.”

The men’s eyes widened and a few of them thanked him while others just broke down into tears because they were so happy to be with their loved ones. He waited until they were close enough to shore before grabbing rope and tying up his own boat to one of the docs, having a few men help him make sure they were secured to land before he call out to his man with a laugh, “Now go to them before they swim to you! This is a time of celebration!”

The men and women still alive from their rough and dangerous journey cheered and all piled out of the boat to run through the shallow salt water to their family they had missed all these months. Namjoon got off last, not wanting to put himself first before his people though he was only being held back by a small string from breaking out into a full on sprint towards his lake in the woods where he knew Jin would be.

He walked past families finally being reunited or people finding out they would never reunite with their family again. He tried to keep his head held high as he walked through the village and towards the woods, only wanting to see the one person he left behind nine months ago that had been waiting for him all alone with their child growing inside of him.

Before he could get away from the village completely though, a toddler ran up to him and tugged at his fur cloak, tears welling up in his eyes as he asked, “Ch-Chief, where’s mommy and daddy?”

Namjoon’s eyes widened when he looked down and saw Yoongi, the son of two powerful vikings who were the first to volunteer to kill the dragon. They had led the attack bravely, but… neither of them made it. They didn’t even have a chance to say their final words or wishes before the dragon mercilessly burned his father to ash and tore his mother to shreds. Namjoon hadn't even thought about their three year old waiting at home for them until now.

He looked around for the elder that was looking after Yoongi while his parents went away to fight the dragon, and he muttered out an answer awkwardly, “Uh… You-Your mother and father…” he looked back down at the teary eyed toddler and bit his lip, deciding to kneel down on the ground and look the little boy in the eyes to tell him the truth about the world he lived in. There was no sugar coating for vikings, and he should be proud of his parents’ sacrifice. Namjoon held the toddler’s hands in his own and spoke softly with a smile, “Your mother and father were two very brave people, and because of them, we were able to kill the dragon and save our village and you.”

     “But where are they?” Yoongi asked, bottom lip trembling as he still kept looking around for them.

Namjoon swallowed thickly and tried not to cry as he picked the toddler up in his arms and held him close, “They live in Valhalla now with Odin. They will forever be celebrated as two of our bravest fallen heroes.”

     “V-Valhalla?” Yoongi spoke softly, but then his eyes widened when he realized what that meant. He let out a short gasp and then cried out, holding onto Namjoon tighter, “N-No!!! Mommy! Daddy!”

An elder ran over to Namjoon and Yoongi and spoke quickly, “I’ll take him back to my home to calm down, Chief Joon. He’ll understand soon that this is to be expected with those dragons.”

     “Not all dragons,” Namjoon tried to correct her, but the old woman only shook her head and scowled, picking up Yoongi and wiping away his tears, “No… All dragons deserve to die for what they have mercilessly done to us. Yoongi is an orphan now because of them.”

Namjoon didn’t want to argue with her right now. Knowing her, she would drag him all the way back to her cottage along with Yoongi to continue this fight until he agreed to personally go out into the world and kill all the dragons, so for now, he only nodded his head and started walking towards the woods again, “Most dragons then. But not all. Some are kind, so please teach Yoongi that since I assume he is now in your care.”

     “I’ll teach him what I believe,” the elder spat out and started to walk away, but Namjoon couldn't care less at the moment. He felt like he was going to drop to his knees and stop breathing all together if he didn’t see Jin within the next twenty minutes.

His walk turned into a jog which turned into a run which turned into a full on sprint until he reached the middle of the woods where his and Jin’s lake remained. He looked around for Jin, heart beating fast with adrenaline from his run and also fear that he wouldn’t find Jin as he called out his name, “Jin! Jin, I’m back!” his voice echoed against the trees that had turned from a mossy green into an auburn red color from the season, and he called out again for his lover, “Jin, it’s me, Namjoon!”

His breathing was heavy and quick, and he couldn’t tell if it was from exhaustion or from panic. He waited a few minutes, searching for any kind of sound to indicate where Jin was before calling out his name again, more desperate this time, “Jin! Please answer!”

Tears fell down his face as he thought about what could have happened with Jin trapped in his human form. Did a wild beast attack him? Did he die in childbirth? Did their child die as well?... Namjoon fell to his knees and brought his hand to his heart, biting his lip and muttering out, “Please… Please be alive. You are the thing that has kept me fighting all this time, so please-!”

Namjoon heard a wolf howl and hurried up to his feet again, pulling out his sword that had been attached to his belt and holding it up just in case it was a pack about to attack him. When he saw the wolf though, he noticed how it was standing alone in the fallen leaves, panting and wagging its tail as if to tell him it was friendly. Confused though still cautious, Namjoon lowered his sword, “I don’t know if you can understand me, but I’m looking for a dragon. Do you know anyone named Jin?”

Namjoon felt foolish for speaking to a wolf. Of course a wolf couldn’t help him, and he was sure three more would appear from behind it and attempt to attack him in just a moment if he continued on, but when the wolf howled again when Namjoon said Jin’s name, he couldn’t help but freeze and ask with a titled head, “Wait.. Jin?”

The wolf barked this time, tilting its head towards a direction behind it before getting up and turning away from Namjoon. Namjoon would have just let the wolf roam off and away from him since it probably lost interest, but when the wolf froze and turned back to him as if to make sure he was going to follow him, Namjoon lowered his sword completely and asked, “Is… Is Jin that way?”

The wolf didn’t reply. It probably didn’t even understand him, but when the wolf turned away and started walking again, Namjoon decided to trust his gut and follow, hoping more than anything that it would lead him to Jin.

He followed the wolf through the autumn forest, doubting his decision more and more the longer he tracked on. The wolf constantly kept looking behind itself to see if Namjoon was still following him though, so that always made Namjoon continue to have hope until they reached a den.

It was a cave carved into a mountain with vines covering up the entrance like a thin curtain. Leaves were all around it, hiding it perfectly from anyone who walked passed without looking closely. He wondered if Jin was in there or if this really was just a cave full of wolves that he should have been wiser than to follow a wolf back to.

He didn’t dare get closer to it until he heard the sound of a few wolf puppies practicing their howling over the soft sound of a baby crying. He straightened up when he heard a human baby cry within the den, but he knew immediately… It was his baby, wasn’t it?

He ran ahead of the wolf and into the den past the hanging vines, calling out softly for his lover, “Jin?... Jin, are you ok?”

     “Namjoon!” Jin finally replied when he saw his long absent lover enter the cave. His voice was tired and strained, and Namjoon could see by the light of the fire made in the cave that he was sweating with blood on him and around him, but he seemed happy and well enough to show how glad he was to see his mate. He smiled and held his baby close to his chest who was wrapped up in cloth from his tunic, “You… You missed his birth only by a day,” he looked up at Namjoon with eyes glossy from tears but a smile still on his face, “I’m so happy you’re finally back to see him in time. I heard you calling my name and all of my stress instantly went away.”

     “I’m so, so sorry,” Namjoon kneeled beside Jin and hovered a hand over Jin’s shoulders, his fingers trembling as he sniffled and spoke through tears, “I’ll never leave you again, I’ll never be gone for that long. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to be here for you through it all o-or even here when t-the baby,” he looked down at their baby who had now stopped crying and was staring up at him with curious eyes and puckered lips.

Namjoon fell silent and looked down at it, noticing it’s pale skin, dark brown eyes, and tiny hands that poked out from the tunic Jin had wrapped around it to keep it warm in the cave he had recently given birth in. The baby… his baby broke out into a toothless smile and giggled a little, causing Namjoon only to cry more as he smiled and reached out to pet his baby’s head, “It’s so happy… I didn’t know babies started laughing so soon. They usually only cry and cry until they can talk instead,” he laughed a little and leaned down more to play with his baby’s tiny hands that were reaching out for him.

Jin watched with a content smile as his lover gently played with their child just a day after he was born, and he sighed softly, “He made it an easy pregnancy and birth. He must have known you were away because he gave me no troubles at all. He just," Jin touched his hand to his stomach and then to his baby, "Made me very happy...”

     “So he’s a boy,” Namjoon looked up at Jin with a grin, “We had a baby boy?”

     “We had a baby boy,” Jin confirmed it and laughed a little. His voice was still weak from childbirth, but he seemed healthy enough for Namjoon not to be worried about possibly losing Jin still. Namjoon was surprised Jin managed to make friends with a family of wolves and convinced them to let him use their cave to give birth to his child, but he was happy he was able to do it and be safe in such a vulnerable time. Jin held his baby closer and bit his lip, “Namjoon, I… I didn’t know when you were coming back, so I went ahead and named him… You can change it if you want, but I named him Jimin. It was the name of a little boy I met around four years ago that made me decide I wanted a human child because they were so adorable and sweet,” he smiled shyly, “Do you like it?”

Namjoon looked down at their baby and whispered the name to himself, “Jimin…” not even a few seconds passed before a smile broke out across his face and he nodded his head, “I love it,” he leaned down to kiss Jimin’s forehead, “Our son… Our very own son that we will raise into a-!”

     “A human,” Jin interrupted Namjoon and closed his eyes, “And only a human… Dragon attacks are becoming more frequent up North and I fear he’ll meet an ill fate if he grows up trying to use his powers. Plus, I can stay in my human form, but he is just a baby and can’t keep up with my dragon form.”

     “Can he switch into a dragon form? And what powers does he have?” Namjoon asked, staring at his baby whose nose scrunched up before he suddenly sneezed and flashed into a tiny baby dragon for half a second and then flashed back. Namjoon’s eyes widened in shock from what he just saw and he looked up at Jin with his mouth slacked open, “He can transform just like you!”

Jin laughed at his mate’s surprised reaction and he nodded his head, “For now, yes. He can’t grasp his form right now, but he’ll remain human after a few months even if he sneezes or anything else that may cause him to flash into his dragon form now. Transforming into their recessive form is too dangerous for half-lings… it could kill them because transforming isn’t natural for them. But they can still produce fire I think! That will help him survive.”

Jimin nuzzled up against Namjoon’s hand that was still against his head and closed his eyes from being so tired since he was only born yesterday. Namjoon couldn’t help but coo at how cute his and Jin’s newborn baby was. He was so small despite being born from a great viking chief and an even greater dragon. His parents both knew he would grow into something great though. They could already tell just by how their love was still strong for each other after nine months of not seeing each other in their struggles to survive. If their son grew up with an amount of love in his heart even half as strong as what they held for each other, then he would be able to do anything. They were sure of it.

After a few minutes of petting his son's hair and nuzzling up to Jin who he had missed for too long, Namjoon leaned his head on his shoulder and said, “Come back to the village with me. I want to introduce you two to my people. This isn’t a secret I want to hide any longer, Jin.”

Jin only laughed and dismissed Namjoon, “And what would they say about me? A man giving birth? They’d know I was a dragon and burn me before our son could even reach a week old. And think about what they would do to Jimin if they knew he was half a ‘beast’?” he frowned and looked down at his baby, protectively now, “I said we will raise him as a human to make sure he lives a safe life, but it defeats the purpose if they know his father is one of the ‘fire demons.”

     “You’re not a fire demon, Jin,” Namjoon argued, but Jin only shook his head, “You may think that, but your village doesn’t. I’ve heard them walking through the woods and speaking about my kind. They came in here to hunt down dragons and kill them just to send a message that vikings aren’t to be messed with. I was lucky wolves let me take shelter in here to hide because surely if they saw me and the fact that I was pregnant, they would have killed me three months ago.”

Namjoon’s eyes were wide in shock as Jin told him this. He looked down and bit his lip, “I’ll protect you both. I’m here now, so I can-!”

     “You are not a big enough shield from the hatred most humans harbor,” Jin sighed and looked down at his baby, “We are fine in the woods, Joon! Safe from the humans who believe all dragons are the same and all dragons deserve to die. I’m not ready to trust your village, yet, Namjoon. I’m not ready to allow our baby around them...”

Namjoon felt his heart sink to his stomach when he heard Jin refusing to let him bring the both of them back to his village. He looked down at their son, not even two days old but already looking up at his parents with eyes full of curiosity and a toothless smile on his face every time his dragon father pet a smooth hand over his head. Namjoon felt tears forming in his eyes when he thought about how he and his family were never truly going to be able to live together, but he reluctantly let Jin have his way for now. He knew fighting with a dragon wasn’t the wisest thing a man could do, and when that dragon was his lover and the father of his child? He didn’t want to risk anything. So he nodded his head and spoke under his breath, “Fine… I’ll build you two a home out here when you can live, and no on will be allowed this far out so you'll be safe. Only I will be able to visit you out here everyday.”

He didn’t want Jin and his baby to be in these woods at all, far away from him where other clans on this side of the shore line could find them and kill them for whatever reason that came to their minds. He wanted his family to be by his side and living with him in the village, but that was not what Jin wanted. Not with the strained relationship between dragons and humans that was only growing more and more tense.

And when Namjoon went back the next day to his village, he noticed just how horrific his people’s view on dragons had changed. Their houses were painted with dragon blood and they wore scales on their clothes like trophies, some even wearing fanged necklaces around their necks proudly since they were taken from their first ever dragon kill that happened while Namjoon and his men had been away to kill just the one dragon that attacked their village. His people glared up at the sky with a look of pure hatred when a dragon flew over their village or swam by the shore line. Some even went out of their way to kill them, throwing rocks at them, tearing off their wings, or even drowning them in nearby waters if they weren’t sea dragons.

Namjoon tried to shut down this hatred, but it had grown to be the way of life. His people told him of the great war that was soon to reach their village, and they refused to lower their guard now when they knew dragons would come soon to attack them all. It was then when Namjoon knew Jin was right about it being a better decision for him to stay in the woods with their child. Humans and dragons were once again to be against each other if they weren’t already. He could feel it. And the last thing he wanted was for Jin and their baby to get caught up in the middle of it and die.

~(***)~

Time passed for the couple and their baby. In the quiet time his village took to rest from the previous nine months of separation from their families, Namjoon went out into the woods everyday to build Jin and their baby a house about the size of an average home in his village. He would build it while Jin sat by the pond and nursed their child, telling him the story of how he begged his father to fall in love with him so they could make him. Namjoon always laughed and took a break to sit beside Jin and let their little Jimin know that it only took a few weeks for him to know he was going to end up loving Jin for the rest of his life. He would hold Jimin and tell him his side of the story of how he and Jin fell in love. How Jin was a beautiful dragon who Namjoon was happy to befriend, and it was a dream come true to make a family with him.  

He finished building their beautiful house in the woods in a matter of two weeks, complete with a small kitchen with a circular wooden table in the center and three chairs tucked under it, two for Namjoon and Jin to sit in and one that was built higher and smaller for their baby to sit in when he was big enough to sit up on his own. There was a restroom built on the inside, a shelf filled with toys that would soon belong to their child, a wardrobe built for clothes Namjoon would bring to Jin, a bed Namjoon made sure was big and comfy for Jin as he deserved, and a cradle for their baby that was next to the bed.

Jin loved the house, even tearing up at what he thought was a show of affection from Namjoon when really it was just Namjoon ensuring his lover and child stayed comfortable and safe when he wasn’t around. And when he was done with the project of making this little house in the woods for his secret family, he spent as much time as he could just appreciating and taking in every moment with them just in case he was pulled away from them again into a war that Jin still claimed was coming closer and closer towards them with every passing day.

No war came for now though. Not when Jimin finally started staying awake for longer periods of time and always giggling about the strangest things like when Jin and Namjoon kissed in front of him or when Jin shifted into his dragon form to go hunt for dinner while leaving their baby with his chief father. Jin would always look down at their small human baby and press his face close so their baby could reach up and pet his smooth scales, giggling and squealing out in joy from the fact that his father could turn into such a beautiful creature.

No war came even when Jimin took his first bites of mashed apples mixed with honey and cinnamon when he was six months old. Namjoon wrote down the exact day certain milestones happened, even the little ones, like when Jimin first went through a full day without crying, or when he first clapped, or when he rolled over onto his stomach for the first time ever and crawled a few feet before rolling back onto his back again and giggling.

And no war came when Jimin was nine months old, a baby still full of bubbly happiness and able to call Namjoon ‘pa’ when he saw him and Jin ‘da’ when he was in an energetic mood and felt like trying to speak syllables he always heard his parents saying when they cooed at him and tried to get him to say their name first. Jimin had looked up at Jin and squealed out ‘dada’ first, so he won that battle, but the day Namjoon begged Jimin to call him appa at least just once and the giggling baby finally said ‘a-a!’ was the happiest day of his life.

One weekend when Namjoon had no responsibilities with his village since things were quiet and peaceful, he went to the forest claiming he was going hunting when he was really going to take Jin and Jimin to a beach that was hidden away from humans so they could be safe and finally away from their little pond.

Namjoon dressed them warm since the air was still cold on the beach, and he led them to the shore on a morning when the air was so quiet, they could hear the hum of dragons snoring in the trees. He held Jimin in his arms the whole way there, watching the trail ahead but mostly having his eyes on his one year old as the little boy bounced in his arms and looked up at the trees in awe of the birds and smaller dragons that flew around up above.

Jin’s hand was holding Namjoon’s free one, and he was smiling and looking over his lover’s shoulder at their baby, “He likes to crawl off on his own a lot now. When I bathe in the lake, I have to bring him in the water with me and hold him in my arms or else he’ll crawl away and try to explore the woods.”

     “And I feel like you hold him with you now because he went too far once?” Namjoon raised an eyebrow and lifted Jimin’s face up to his own. “Did daddy lose you?”

     “I did not!” Jin whined and laughed a little, “Jimin, tell appa I did not lose you!”

     “Na, na, na!” was Jimin’s only response, a smile on his face as he flapped his hands and hit Namjoon’s shoulders lightly. Namjoon only laughed and kissed Jimin’s forehead, “Na, na, na? Can you say pa, pa, pa?”

     “Appa, pa, pa!” came Jimin’s bubbly reply which made his two parents melt and wrap him up in their arms as they continued to walk towards the beach, cooing and humming out how their child was the cutest thing ever. Jin practically started crying just from how happy he was that his son he had with Namjoon was too adorable for words to describe. He almost didn’t want Jimin to ever grow up. He just wanted him to remain small and happy and cute forever.

But a war was coming soon. He wanted Jimin to be able to defend himself at least a little bit, so he hoped he’d have a chance to raise him into an independent young viking so he could be safe even if he ended up on his own when he was older.

Jin and Namjoon lay out on the cold beach shaded by storm clouds though no winds were strong enough to make any dangerous waves today. The water was almost completely still save for few smaller waves fumbling onto the sand like a babbling brook against a rock. A blanket was underneath the couple as they lay in each other's arms and held their child who was napping since he had been awake the whole journey to the beach.

Namjoon pet their son’s soft black hair and muttered out to Jin, “There’s… battles… occurring on an island just a sea away now. Dragons are attacking villages and others are being sought for and slain just because humans are now fearing anything that breathes fire. They don’t want to risk one burning their village, so they kill them before they can even think about it.”

Jin froze and frowned at this, his eyes landing on their child as he sighed and replied in a soft voice, “I’m afraid he’ll see war before he can even walk,” Jin sniffled and sat up, “I’m going to be killed when the war reaches here, Namjoon. I know I-!”

     “I said I was going to protect you right?” Namjoon sat up with a serious expression, “Jin, I’m not going to let you die. I’ve told you that so many times, and I thought you knew I was strong enough to do so. That’s why you chose me, right?”

     “No, I chose you because you were different from the other humans,” Jin sighed and tilted his head, “And because you were hot, but more-so because I knew you would be a good role-model to our child and love him as much as I love you.”

He was hoping speaking so light-heartedly would help Namjoon accept the truth, but Namjoon didn’t laugh how he usually did. He didn’t even smile. He just frowned and thought about what they were previously talking about before shaking his head and continuing on that topic, “We will find away. And until then-!”

     “-And until then we should enjoy our son together,” Jin smiled, “The reason why I chose you is because we both knew there was going to come a day when I wouldn’t be helping you raise him. That’s why I needed to find someone I knew I could trust to love and raise him without me in the picture,” Jin pet Jimin’s hair lightly, and the little boy started to wake up from his father’s touch, “Plus, don’t think it’s just humans who are merciless. Dragons will come and kill me for being a traitor and mating with a human. Then they’ll kill Jimin just to torture me as well.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “You mean our child is going to be wanted by both sides of the war? He won’t be safe anywhere?”

     “He’ll be safe with you,” Jin spoke as Jimin smiled and crawled up on his father’s lap, babbling happily as he always did when he first woke up from a nap. Jin smiled and picked him up to kiss him on the forehead, “As a human.”

Before Namjoon could continue arguing with him about this, he stood up and started to carry Jimin over to the ocean, “Want to look for seashells Jiminie?” he looked back at Namjoon and smiled innocently as if he didn’t just cut off a very important conversation that was causing Namjoon to feel sick to his stomach right now. He saw Namjoon glaring back at him and he laughed a little, whispering to their child just loud enough for his lover to hear, “Appa is very angry right now; we may need to find a crab to place on his head to warn people that he’s choosing to be crabby today.”

Namjoon’s mouth fell open and he rolled his eyes, “Really? Telling our son that I’m crabby?”

     “Well I’m sure Jimin wants to know why his father is acting grumpy on a sea trip that is supposed to be a fun family memory,” Jin bent down to unlace his boots and toss them to the side in the sand before stepping into the ocean water that was warm enough to comfortably walk around in, “Come in the water!” he called out to his husband, “Take off your shirt too so I can see another reason why I fell for you.”

He could see a smile growing on Namjoon’s face finally, but turned around before he could see it in its full glory. He stepped further into the ocean until he was waist deep, his pants soaking at this point though he was more focused on how Jimin was doing. But of course as always, he was laughing and splashing his hands against the surface of the water, “Shi! Shi!”

     “Yeah, the sea! Can you say Ocean?” Jin dipped Jimin a little deeper into the water and then lifted him up again since the baby always loved it when he did that, “Say Ocean, Jimin!”

     “Da, da!” Jimin replied, which was cute, but Jin only laughed a little and shook his head, “No, Jiminnie, Ocean! Say O-shi!”

     “Dagon!” Jimin giggled, his voice coming out with a squeal though the word only caused Jin’s eyes to widen as his heart dropped down to his stomach. He didn’t even have time to react before Namjoon was shouting out from the shoreline, “Jin behind you! Dragon!”

Jin quickly brought Jimin close to his chest and turned behind him as he started to step back, seeing a sea dragon swimming towards him from underneath the water. He cried out and started to run back, already shouting to Namjoon, “Take Jimin! Take him before anything happens, please!”

Namjoon sprinted into the water, shirt half off though he couldn’t care less about his clothing when he grabbed Jimin from Jin and ran back up into the sand to allow Jin to quickly transform into a dragon before his eyes and stand up against the sea dragon that had been preying on him and Jimin. Jimin started crying when he heard his father let out a loud roar in his dragon form that sounded like a rip of thunder in the sky. Namjoon wanted to cry as well, but he just held Jimin close and hushed him, whispering to him that everything was going to be ok because his daddy was a fierce dragon that could never be hurt.

The sea dragon raised its head up from under the water, roaring back at Jin as it showed off it’s glazed over eyes and vicious fangs that sent chills down Namjoon’s spine. Just thinking about what could have happened if Jimin or he hadn’t noticed the dragon’s fins showing above the surface of the water scared Namjoon more than anything.

Jin was a land dragon that mainly dwelled in forests, but even out of his habitat and in the other dragon’s element, he still fought ferociously, using his wings to beat down on the dragon and then diving in for its long snake like torso to sink his teeth into it as a warning bite. Namjoon had never seen Jin fight another dragon before. He had never really seen him fight at all. Jin was always so calm and merciful towards other animals and dragons, letting them play around his child and sometimes even letting them eat from their leftovers when they were done eating a meal. But now? Jin was protecting his child. And to do that, he had just become the scariest dragon Namjoon had ever laid his eyes on.

Jin didn’t end up killing the dragon, but he definitely made a point that his family and especially his baby was not something to be messed with by sending it away with a trail of blood following behind it from where Jin had managed to bite or scratch him. Jin raised his wings and waited for the dragon to disappear into the deeper waves much father out at sea before finally transforming back into a human and turning to Jimin and Namjoon with wide eyes, “Is Jimin ok? Was he hurt?”

     “He’s fine,” Namjoon assured him and kissed Jimin on the forehead to hush his crying, “Daddy is fine, Jimin. He kept you safe, and he’s alright.”

Jin hurried out of the water and towards Namjoon and Jimin, smoothing his hand over Jimin’s soft head and kissing him on the cheek, “I’m sorry if I scared you baby,” he took the crying child into his arms and held him close when Namjoon handed Jimin over to him so he could take off his fur-coat and wrap it around Jin’s shoulders since he had lost his clothes when he transformed. Jin sniffled and continued to press his lips to Jimin’s wet hair as the baby calmed down from crying now that his father was here to hold him. Jin kept his eyes closed, “Jimin… I love you so much… Daddy loves you so much…”

When Namjoon was done covering Jin up with the fur cloak that hung down to the ground and managed to cover most of him up and keep him warm from the cool air on the beach, he wrapped his arms around his family and muttered to Jin, “You did good, Jin. You did good…”

Jin shut his eyes and tried his best not to cry. He was just scared about how if he had reacted just a split second later, his baby and him would have both been dead and his alpha would have been left all alone because he let his guard down in a war filled world with dangerous dragons around every corner ready to kill him and his child for looking human.

And just thinking about how he was the one that almost caused his baby to die, Jin burst into tears and buried his head into Namjoon’s shoulder, leaning in close to him with their baby now calm and between their chests as he cried out, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

     “Don’t be,” Namjoon assured him and rubbed his back soothingly, “You did so good.”

Within an hour, Namjoon and Jin were holding hands and sitting down on a blanket, watching the sunset on the beach as a fire crackled in front of them and kept them warm despite the night time wind dropping in temperature. Jimin was asleep beside Jin, wrapped up in a wool blanket and curled up inside a basket cradle fast asleep after his parents calmed down and Jin sang him to sleep.

Jin’s hand was wrapped tight around Namjoon’s as he stared off at the sun setting behind the sea. He had his head leaned against Namjoon’s shoulder and was lost in thought until the viking muttered out, “You know… you say you will put Jimin in danger if you stay here when the war reaches us, but what you did today? I would never be able to do with Jimin. If that was me holding him in the water and having to face a dragon that was about to attack us, we’d probably both be dead right now.”

Jin kept his gaze towards the fire, not knowing how to respond since he didn’t want to argue with Namjoon about this again. He only ended up squeezing Namjoon’s hand and agreeing with him for now, “I guess I am capable of protecting him too,” he turned to Namjoon, “But if I die, I saw how you handled him and that makes me feel proud of how I made such a good decision in choosing a father for my child.”

     “Jin, don’t talk about dying,” Namjoon frowned, wrapping an arm around Jin’s waist and pulling him close, “We’re going to raise our child, ok? You’re going to see his first steps, you’re going to help him learn to talk and read and write-!”

     “I don’t know how to read or write,” Jin argued, and Namjoon laughed a little, “Then I’ll teach you both how to read and write! We’ll go on more beach trips like this, I’ll marry you in my village when you feel safe enough to meet my people, and then we’ll watch Jimin grow up with the other viking children, laughing and playing safely just how you always wanted.”

Jin smiled, “You’re really not going to give up on bringing us into your village, are you?”

     “Never,” Namjoon grinned and kissed Jin, “Now since Jimin is asleep, how about we take advantage of the fact you have nothing on, hm?” he ran his hand down Jin’s thigh and towards his groin, “You look so sexy with your hair all wet like this,” he ran his fingers through Jin’s hair and Jin blushed, looking like he was going to curl up shyly and melt into Namjoon’s hold, but he only he raised his eyebrows and responded back slyly, “So many other parts of me are wet right now because of you, and all you can focus on is my hair?”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Oh wow, not so shy with me anymore are you?”

     “How could I be when-!” they both froze and turned to the side when they heard a little voice sing out, “Dagon!”

Namjoon stood up quickly when he saw Jimin standing up with the help up of his cradle, giggling to himself and taking a step towards a little dragon that had crept out of the woods towards him in curiosity. Jin’s eyes widened and he held Namjoon’s hand quickly, “Wait. The dragon won’t harm him, it’s just curious.”

Namjoon bit his lip and stayed where he was, deciding to just wait and watch as his lover requested as their child let go of the basket completely and took that first ever second step towards the dragon, reaching out his tiny hands towards it and giggling out again, “Dagon! Dagon!”

The dragon ducked its head down and froze for a second when Jimin reached for it since it was cautious of the dragon halfling making weird sounds and flapping his hands at him, but it didn’t lash out in fear. Jin smiled to himself and watched as the dragon sniffed Jimin’s hand and made sure he was kind before nuzzling up to him and growing comfortable in his presence.

Jin laughed a little and leaned on Namjoon, “The dragon’s only a baby itself! It probably wandered off from its mother as baby dragons normally do and found another little dragon his age.”

Jimin giggled and played with the dragon now, still standing on his own which was a surprise to the two parents as well since he had never done that before. The fact that he could also now get out of his cradle was worrying, but they were choosing not to focus on that right now. They just watched and held onto each other as Jimin looked back at them and laughed, “Dagon!”

     “Yes, dragon,” Jin nodded, “You made your first friend, Jimin. I’m so proud of you!” he turned to Namjoon and hummed softly, “And looks like you were right. I did get to see our baby’s first steps!”

Namjoon’s expression softened and he held on tighter to Jin, “And you’re going to see so much more… Just you wait, baby. We’ll always be a family.”

~(***)~

Namjoon was back in his village after that weekend, taking care of common problems such as a neighboring feud between two farmers who kept stealing each other’s livestock or a few dragons getting into some villagers’ gardens. It was all stuff he felt his people could handle on their own, but they always came to him for help. He always wanted to complain about it or tell them to deal with it on their own, but he knew that part of being chief was to take responsibility of situations for his people even when the situations were childish or unimportant. His father always did it with a smile, so he would too.

One night after Namjoon had come back from visiting Jin and Jimin and sitting by the pond with them as he held Jin and watched Jimin crawl around them trying to uproot every dandelion he found, he had chosen to eat dinner alone, not being able to focus and have a conversation with any of the other men or women in his village since he was still thinking about the fact that Jimin had walked his first steps that weekend. He was writing about everything that had happened last weekend in his journal, from the journey to the beach, to the dragon attack in the water, to the last night they were there when Jin and him walked along the shore line with Jimin walking between them, holding their hands for support but still probably being able to manage to do it on his own.

He smiled to himself as he wrote about that last part, becoming so immersed in the memory that he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard an older woman speak softly, “Writing about those trees you visit everyday? One would think the woods would grow boring for a man who has travelled to different far off lands, but you seem to be attached to something deep in there.”

Namjoon sighed and closed his book so he could turn to the elder with a smile, “Is it so bad your chief is one with the Earth?”

     “You’re supposed to be one if with moon, Namjoon,” the elder placed her hand over his heart as she always used to when he was younger. She practically raised him when his mother died and his father was off at war. She practically raised his father too when he was a younger chief as well. She was there for him during his ceremony to become chief, and here she was being there for him now, offering him words of advice as she continued to speak, “You should be one with your people, but you’re one with something far out there that isn’t us. What is distracting you?”

He had a family.

He wanted to tell her he had a family. A lover who was a dragon and a child who was over a year old now. He had been hiding this from his own people because he feared they would kill them. Could he tell the elder this? How would she react? She was always kind towards the dragons unlike other elders. She would be kind towards his family… Kind towards Jin and Jimin.

Namjoon opened his mouth to tell at least this one person he trusted his secret that he had been hiding for a little over two years now, but before he could, he heard a scream of terror erupt from outside the village dining hall that made his heart freeze and eyes widen.

     'Fire in the East woods!'

He immediately stood up and stuck his journal into his belt before leaving the elder and running outside to see smoke already filling the air and a golden blaze set over the town from the nearby fire that was coming from where Jin and Jimin were. Namjoon let out a shuttered gasp and shook his head, “No… No!”

One of his men ran up to him, blood on his face and a deep cut across his arm when he shouted in panic, “There was a dragon! A dragon and a human child! They were in a house in the woods when our-!”

     “What were you doing in the East woods?” Namjoon suddenly shouted at him, using a tone more vicious than ever, “I banned our village from using those woods, so what were you doing there?”

     “Namjoon please,” the elder stepped up beside Namjoon, “Can’t you see he’s badly wounded?”

Namjoon’s eyebrows furrowed, “You faced your fate for disobeying me. Now, what happened to the dragon and the child?”

The man was shaking in fear either from the attack he just escaped from or Namjoon’s wrath, but he managed to answer in a trembling voice, “I stabbed it in it’s human form, but the demon is still in there!”

Namjoon felt his blood run cold when he thought about how Jin might be dead. He almost wanted to throw up or cry, but he stayed strong and walked past the man, eyes on the fire as he thought about the ways he’d torture and murder him if he found Jin or Jimin dead in the forest. He started to run towards the woods when he overcame his shock, but before he could, he saw someone emerge from the tree line, running fast with his black cloak wrapped around him and trailing behind him as he ran across the mossy field with their child in his arms.

Jin was alive. Jimin was in his arms.

Namjoon cried out in relief and ran faster towards them, crying and breathing heavily until he reached Jin and practically rammed into him to wrap his arms around them and hold them close, “Oh my God, I thought you were dead! I thought you were dead, Jin, I’m so sorry! I’m going to kill the man that found you two and hurt you. I’ll kill him and set him as an example for anyone who wants to dare go near you again.”

     “The war reached us,” Jin coughed and buried his head into Namjoon shoulder. Their baby was crying, but neither Jin nor Namjoon could hush him at the moment since they were crying too. He started walk further away from the woods while leaning on Namjoon, and he continued to speak, “A dragon came and tried to k-kill Jimin for being half-human, and then another clan on the island tried to kill us both when they stumbled upon us while hunting for dragons. I-I killed them and I was going come here to tell you, but one of your men tried to kill me before I could! I-I didn’t kill him because I didn’t want to be an enemy to your people, but I had to fight to protect Jimin!”

     “I’m sure those are just coincidences and not the start of a war-!” Namjoon tried to say, but Jin shook his head, “Dragons are migrating away from here, Joon. I’m the last larger dragon left on this island, but I’m not going to be able to stay. Jimin and I almost died three times today, and if we stay here, we won’t make it to next week.”

They walked up to the village and Jin started trembling in fear when he saw humans all around him now, carrying weapons they would probably use to kill him if they knew he was a dragon. People still shot him strange looks though, wondering who the sobbing man leaning on Namjoon was with blood all over him and a baby in his arms. Namjoon shot glares at them if they stared too long, but Jin knew he couldn’t stay here. And it was obvious he couldn’t stay in the forest anymore either.

Namjoon led him towards his house away from the rest of the village and spoke softly now that they were out of danger, “Stay here with me then. You can pose as a human who had a child with a women who died, and I’m helping you take care of him.”

     “Your men have already seen me,” Jin sniffled and shook his head. “In human form. They will know.”

     “I’ll kill them. Whoever saw you, I’ll kill them so-!”

Jin placed a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder and shook his head, “That’s not the kind of chief you are, and I don’t want to be the one to make you a monster to your people,” he handed Jimin to Namjoon and kissed their baby on the forehead, “I was stabbed, but I’ll survive because I burned the wound shut. Jimin was unharmed thankfully too.”

     “Jin…” Namjoon looked up at Jin with scared eyes, “You’re not leaving.”

     “Not forever, no,” he watched as Jimin calmed down and looked up at them with big eyes. He smiled to himself and pet Jimin’s hair gently, “I could never be away from him forever. But I need to leave until it’s safe to come back. I can’t put you or him in danger, ok?”

     “Jin, no-!”

     “Namjoon, we’ve gone through this,” tears were in Jin’s eyes as he tried to pretend he was strong and that doing what was for the best for his family and their safety was something he was so willing to do, but in all honesty, he wanted to stay and be with his family no matter the risk. He didn’t want to part from his alpha and baby even if it meant they would die. And he was sure that if he stayed here any longer, he’d probably give into that shameful thought, but he stepped back and told himself to be strong.

Namjoon stepped forward to follow him back, eyes wide like a scared child not wanting to be left alone in the dark, “Jin, no, please don’t leave me! I can’t raise him without you; he needs you!”

Jimin started crying too when he realized Jin was backing away from him. He reached out for him and started squealing and crying out for him. The sound of Jimin screaming out ‘Da’ brought Jin to tears and he ran up to them again to kiss Jimin and rub their noses together, “I love you, Jimin. I’ll always be with you, ok?” he sniffled and straightened up, quickly taking off his necklace that Namjoon gave him so long ago and slipping it on Jimin over his little head, “With this amulet, we’ll always be connected. You’ll always have me, and when we meet again, we’ll love each other just as much as we do now no matter the amount of time that has passed.”

Namjoon cried out and grabbed Jin’s arm, “Don’t do this, Jin. We can still be a family!”

     “Raise him as a human. Tell him he had a human mother, so he doesn’t doubt his place among your people. This necklace will give him strength without me just as it did for me when I was without you,” he looked up at Namjoon with tears falling down his cheeks and leaned up to kiss him, “I will always love the two of you more than anything, and I will find my way back to you.”

Namjoon closed his eyes and kissed Jin back, knowing that the inevitable was happening so there was no point in arguing, “I’ll wait for you, Jin... You are my only love, so don’t make me wait long.”

     “I won’t,” he stepped back and offered a smile though it was still small since he could only cry and stare at his family that he might have been seeing for the last time. Ash was falling over the village from the nearby fire, his baby’s screams were louder than the sound of his heart beating faster than ever before, and Namjoon’s tears would forever be an image engrained his his mind.

He couldn't look at it any longer. 

He had to leave before he changed his mind and risked their lives.

Jin sniffled and turned on his heel, hurrying out of the village before he could be sighted by anyone who had seen him transform into his dragon form in the woods during the attack. He ran up to the shoreline and looked back at Namjoon one last time, his tears shining underneath the moonlight and becoming the last Namjoon saw of his human form before he turned back into a dragon and flew off quickly before anyone could notice his presence and try to shoot him down with arrows.

Namjoon wiped tears away from his eyes and watched as Jin’s figure became just a speck in the night sky, flying away with promises to return though he wasn’t sure how much time would pass before the day they reunited. How long would the war last? Would he survive? Would Jin survive? …Would Jimin survive?

He held Jimin close, hushing his cries and kissing his forehead as he muttered out through tears, “Shh… Jimin… He’ll be back, I promise. You won’t even remember his absence when you grow older ok?” he sniffled and tried to smile, bringing his son’s face up to his own before he kissed him on the cheek and whispered, “And until then? I’ll keep you safe just how he wants,” he held Jimin close and closed his eyes, “We’ll both wait together…”

Namjoon waited patiently for the first few weeks as the war traveled towards them and took its course. He told the elder the truth about Jimin and Jin, and they both agreed together that it would be best to raise him as a full human for now, letting him believe he had a mother who was taken away. Namjoon only agreed to this though because he thought Jin would be back before Jimin would be old enough to even be able to ask questions.

But years passed. So many years passed, and as dragons fought the humans, burning their villages down in order to kill the hunters that had provoked them or hurt them and their offspring in the first place, dragons started being killed off one by one too. The ocean was red with blood of all species, and Namjoon couldn’t help but think Jin was one of the many that had died. He was now in Valhalla with no way of ever reaching Namjoon or Jimin.

And it was because of this belief that Namjoon chose to move on from waiting. It was easier this way… thinking Jin was dead instead of hoping every day that he’d be able to make it back to him. So he held this mentality as he raised Jimin as a full human, telling him that his mother disappeared during a battle between humans and dragons and was always assumed dead. He let Jimin grow up thinking what he wanted about dragons. The only dragon Namjoon really cared about was Jin anyway, so with him dead, what was the point in aiming for peace between the two species?

He let Jimin hate dragons. He let Jimin believe he was a full human. He let himself think Jin was dead.

But little did he know, Jimin was always secretly fascinated by dragons, outcasted by the kids his age because he always wanted to spare little dragons when he saw them in the woods or on the beach. Little did Namjoon know, Jimin harbored a secret about himself that he knew he wasn’t human, holding powers in him that only dragons held though he never understood how he had them if he had a human mother as his father claimed.

And little did Namjoon know… that Jin was far from dead. 

And a story that was going to be passed down for ages to come was about to begin years later when their son was much older and Jin finally returned home. 

Chapter Text

Jimin the Short

Island of Yulae, North of the Galanaer Sea

Seventeen Years after Jin left

Jimin woke up to the sound of his father’s voice, soft and low and also annoyingly loud and ruining probably the best dream jimin had had in a while as he shook him awake and shouted out in panic, “Jimin, dragons are attacking! Do you feel the heat from the fire? They are getting close, we don’t have much time!”

     “Let them take me,” Jimin groaned out and rolled over to the other side of his bed in a tired attempt to escape his father’s voice. He pulled his black wool covers over his head and shut his eyes in hopes of falling asleep again since he knew Namjoon was just joking as he always did when he woke him up. Just yesterday, he came in and threw himself on top of Jimin as he frantically told him about how the village was on fire. The day before that, he had woken him up with stories of a plague that killed the entire town. Jimin had been scared when he was seven and his father had first come in and woken him up in a panic as a joke, but after ten years of him doing it, Jimin knew it was a false alarm.

And he was assured it was one today when his father fell into a fit of giggles and flopped onto the bed next to him as he whined out, “What are you doing sleeping until noon, Jimin? Other vikings your age have been out working in the fields for hours already! At least try to greet the sun before it sinks under the ocean again.”

     “Mmm but why would I want to greet the sun when it is the moon that guides my path and watches over our village?” Jimin mumbled out, smiling and peaking one eye open at his father since they both knew he was just using the old villager figure of speech in order to get his way and continue to sleep the day away. He nuzzled his head deeper into his pillow and sighed out happily, “Also, don’t compare me to the others my age working out in the fields when you’re still refusing to allow me to lift even a finger. I’d be up right now if you weren’t so protective~”

     “Hey, don’t use that card on me!” Namjoon slowly peeled the covers off of Jimin to start coaxing him out of bed, “Working is too dangerous, Jimin. It's away from home, and being out in the open on the fields or far out in the ocean fishing is just a death wish to be preyed on by a dragon and eaten alive,” he huffed and got up off of the bed, “My goal is for you to live to see the day you get to be the chief of this village, and that just won’t happen if I let you go off and put yourself in danger.”

Oh no, Jimin didn’t want a lecture this early in the morning; he had heard it so many times before.

Stay away from the ocean. Stay away from the fields. Stay away from the woods. Stay close to me. And stay safe.

It was a lot of ‘stays’ because his father was so paranoid about him dying like his mother to dragons, but Jimin could never bring himself to be an obedient son of the chief and listen to him. Why stay when you could go and explore the land around you like a real viking? He was going to be chief someday and he needed to act like it! Even if it was behind his father’s back.

He faked a smile and got up out of bed, raising his hands up, “Alright, you got me up and I’m alive! I’ll go greet the sun, and,” he reached over to his bedside post and grabbed his day shirt and fur cloak he always put on to wrap around himself when evening came and the day became colder. “I’ll also stay safe, appa.”

     “Good, Chim,” Namjoon smiled and leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead, “A dragon came up from the sea last night and messed up one of our battle boats pretty badly, so I’ll be fixing that today. Will you please stay in the village?”

Jimin nodded his head though he never had any intentions of staying in the village where nothing exciting happened, “Of course! Good luck with the boat!”

He slipped on his boots and watched as Namjoon smiled and turned to walk away, his fur cloak following behind him like a dark shadow of a great warrior who had been leading his clan in a war against the dragons for many years now. All Jimin had ever known was war because of it, but it was a war they were winning. It was a war he wanted to help win too, but that was probably the one thing he would never be able to do behind his father’s back. He didn’t know the first thing about slaying dragons and he certainly didn’t know the first thing about facing any kind of real danger.

A few minutes later after his father left to perform a few of his duties as chief, Jimin was hurrying out of their home with a dagger hidden in his belt and was rushing to the dining hall where he knew the rest of the vikings his age would be eating lunch right now. The air was damp with the smell of salt water and meat cooking over a fire, the forest surrounding their village was alive with birds singing and harmonizing with the sound of ocean waves crashing against the rocky shore nearby. This was Jimin’s home and really, his whole world. His father said that of all the places he had visited and fought on, this was the most beautiful place on earth and the safest. Jimin was sure he would never be able to leave it.

He ran down to the dining hall and struggled to open up the tall wooden doors that concealed those inside from the natural sunlight. He grunted as he pulled the doors open but didn’t lose his momentum as he scanned the busy hall for his best friend who always served food to the vikings who worked all day.

The room was dark save for three large chandeliers that hung down from the ceiling with candles bright enough to light up the whole room for men and women to see their food and each other as they conversed. A few paintings were hung up around the room that elders had painted over the years and some were even paintings of great kings and queens people in their clan had seen in their travels. The clothes royals wore were funny, but Jimin always admired the scenery around them. The velvet cushions they’d be sitting on and the gold around their neck and in their hands. It made him wonder if his father was really right about their home being the most beautiful place on earth because Jimin found just the room behind these people more beautiful than anything he had ever seen around the village.

He spotted his best friend currently serving a group of rowdy vikings their bread and stew, laughing with them and handing them their bowls before he sent them on their way. Jimin grinned and hurried over to him, grabbing a bowl from the table near the stew pot and holding it up to Taehyung, “Make it a big meal, I skipped breakfast to sleep in-!”

     “Jimin!” Taehyung cut him off to jump at him and wrap him up in his arms, “Why did you sleep so late? You missed Yoongi; he was just here eating, but he left a few minutes ago!”

     “What?” Jimin gasped, “No, are you serious?!” he slumped into Taehyung’s hold and whined out, “I rushed down here hoping to see him. It’s like he doesn’t even realize he’s the whole entire reason I run down here every day at meal time!”

Taehyung snickered and patted Jimin on the back, “That’s because he doesn’t. He probably thinks you run down here because you're such a pig when it comes to my food," he took Jimin's bowl from him to fill it up with stew, "And I'm pretty sure he thinks that you’re madly in love with Jungkook because Chief Joon is pushing you to marry him.”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “Don’t remind me, I’m still trying to convince him otherwise. There will be a union between our two clans no matter what because Kookie and I are good friends, but no offense, I don’t want to kiss him,” he scrunched his nose up in disgust, “Yuck.”

     “Why are you saying no offense?” Taehyung asked, handing Jimin his bowl so he could eat quickly before the two of them ran off to break Namjoon’s safety rules for the day.

Jimin smiled slyly at Taehyung’s question and leaned over the pot, “I think you know why I’m saying no offense~”

     “I really don’t,” Taehyung awkwardly looked down at the stirring pot in front of him.

Jimin laughed under his breath and continued to pester his best friend as they went to go take a seat off away from the other vikings, “I know you like him. Every single time he visits our village with his father, you’re gawking at him as you serve him his meal. It’s not something to be ashamed of either, I can admit that Jungkook is good looking and that is coming from someone who is already in love with a particular sexy dragon slayer.”

Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh a little at this though he definitely wanted to roll his eyes and maybe throw a loaf of bread at Jimin for teasing him about his unrequited crush, “I guess we’re both helpless romantics. You’re going to be forced into a marriage while being in love with someone else, and I’m in love with the person you’re being forced to marry.”

     “Please, this isn’t as tragic as you’re making it,” Jimin sat down at their table in the corner and started to eat the stew, “My father is pushing this, but in the end I’ll get what I want. He always gives me what I want.”

     “Freedom?” Tae challenged Jimin’s statement and Jimin coughed a little, looking down, “I’m still working on that.”

He went back to his food so he could finish and hurry out of the hall with Taehyung to maybe try to find Yoongi and watch him from a far for an hour or two since he was always doing something that showed off how skilled he was. He wasn’t as muscular as some vikings were in their village or even Jungkook who looked like he ate push-ups for breakfast and lifted up whole boats in his sleep, but he was definitely their most skill dragon slayer. Driven by pure hatred and a passion for wanting every single one of them dead, he was the one that led their people alongside Namjoon into battle. He was their bravest warrior apart from the chief himself which was why Jimin was so damn confused why he wasn’t allowed to marry him instead of Jungkook.

He was about to make this point to Taehyung and then maybe try to change the topic to how hot Yoongi was when he glared at him, but before he could, someone slammed their hands down on their table and asked in a loud voice the two of them recognized as their only other friend in their village, “What’s up baby vikings! I’m glad you too finally decided to greet the day!”

     “Hey, I’ve been up since the sun emerged from the sea to make you this meal, so be nice,” Taehyung huffed and Hoseok rolled his eyes, sitting down beside him at the table, “Well while you’ve been putting little herbs and potatoes into broth, I’ve been out fishing and a damn dragon jumped out of the water and almost took my hand off.”

Jimin’s eyes lit up immediately, “Did you kill it? Was Yoongi there with you?”

     “Actually yes he was!” Hoseok happily replied, “He killed it, and as he was killing it, he said, ‘Please Odin let this be the act that makes Jimin notice me so we may be married and have kids by next summer’!” his expression deadpanned, “Nah, Yoongi let me almost fall out of the boat with the dragon and then when I finally killed it, he laughed and said even the dragons were annoyed by my blabbering.”

Jimin frowned, “You’re so mean…”

     “I’m so mean?” Hoseok gasped, “Did you not just hear my whole story? Do I need to repeat it again cause you were too busy daydreaming about that arse?”

Taehyung sighed and leaned on his elbow, “He’s going to get himself killed in battle one day getting distracted by his thoughts of Yoongi.”

     “That’s probably why his father won’t let him go out there,” Hoseok whispered and Jimin hit his hand down on the table to pout and whine out, “I’m right here, ya know? If I went out into battle, I’d want to fight my hardest to show off to Yoongi, so I’d actually be really helpful.”

     “Ok noodle arms,” Taehyung smiled and Jimin’s mouth fell open in shock that his own best friend was turning on him now, “Tae, your arms are even more noodle-y than mine!”

     “Which is why you’re both not allowed out in battle,” Hoseok added, lifting his head when he heard a horn calling all the workers from outside to get back to their jobs in the village. He sighed and got up before giving a lazy two fingered salute to them, “Good bye baby vikings~ Yoongi told me not to tell you guys this, but since he was so mean to me today, I’ll let you know that he’s training and strengthening himself for the next two hours in the forest. Shirt off action, a serious expression, and wet hair. Do what you want with that information.”

Jimin gasped and stood up straight from the table, “Oh my Odin, Hoseok, thank you! When I’m chief, I’m giving our village a holiday in your name,” he quickly hugged the viking and set his bowl down in the bin that the women who cooked and cleaned the dining hall for the village would take and wash in the wash pond behind the hall later today, “Come on Tae, I don’t want to miss a second of this!”

The two ran down to the forest and to the clearing in the woods Hoseok told them to go to to catch a glimpse of Yoongi practicing on his own. The sun was high in the sky now and some of the fog had lifted to make the air around them as they ran so much brighter and warmer than before.

     “Jimin!” Taehyung called after Jimin from a few feet behind him, gasping for air and trying to shout for the shorter boy to slow down though he knew he’d only be ignored with how excited Jimin was to see Yoongi for the first time today and shirtless.

Jimin looked back at him and grinned, laughing a little when he saw how Tae was panting hard with every step and finally shouting out to him, “Taehyung, catch up instead! I don’t want to miss it!”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and quickened his pace, running up alongside Jimin to keep up with him as they made their way to the clearing in the woods that Hoseok had sent them too. Yoongi had started coming out here to practice on his own when he was thirteen and first started helping the village fight the swarms of dragons that would sometimes come to raid their livestock and cause chaos in the town. He had managed to kill three dragons the first time he was given a sword and told to protect the village, and ever since then he had killed more dragons than any other viking in the history of their clan.

Jimin secretly sometimes came out here to watch him which was why he found the clearing so easily despite Hoseok’s very vague directions, but each time always felt like the first when he watched Yoongi learn a new move or wipe sweat off his forehead.

This was probably really creepy of him to just watch the man he knew he was in love with from the tree-line of the forest, but his appa always told him that that was what his mother would do when Namjoon was younger and it had worked out for them, so he wasn’t too worried about it.

He ducked low when he heard a sword hit a tree and Yoongi’s low grunt accompany it, and he crawled over to a bush that was closer to the clearing and was big enough to hide the both of them. He waved for Taehyung to stay close to him as he whispered, “I’ve come here alone once or twice and you have to stay absolutely quiet, even when you see how beautiful his abs are, ok?”

     “You really think that’s a-!” Taehyung took a deep breath and wheezed again from running, “-problem for me?”

     “Trust me when you see him, you’ll-!” Jimin started to assure Taehyung but suddenly caught sight of a smaller black dragon, one that was barely the size of a bear cub but was long and decorated with beautiful scales that were sharper on the end. This kind of dragon usually minded it’s own business, given the nickname ‘Neut’ for it’s neutrality in the dragon and human war. It was willing to kill either side if it was messed with but it was all around a pretty tame dragon.

Jimin smiled and cooed at it, “Taehyung, there’s a Black Neut behind you!”

     “What?” Taehyung shrieked a bit too loudly so Jimin quickly hushed him and reached his hand over to the tiny dragon to have it sniff his hand, “Hush up, it’s not going to hurt you unless you try to attack it.”

Taehyung leaned away from it and shook his head, “I don’t trust any kind of dragon. If it plays with fire, I’m not going anywhere near it!”

     “And yet you’re best friends with me?” Jimin raised an eyebrow and smirked, lifting up his hand and creating a fire in his palm that took shape and then breathed life, dancing around his fingers and then disappearing back into his hand after a few seconds, “For two years, I've played with fire around you and you don't seem to get scared."

     “You’re different,” Taehyung pouted, “You don’t have scales and creepy eyes. You can just do that one cool fire thing.”

Jimin earned the Black Neut’s trust and held it in his hands when it jumped up into his palms. It licked and rubbed his smooth scaly head against his arm and he giggled to himself, “Ah, I wish I could bring one of these back to the village and keep it around as a friend.”

     “Oh sure, and have it kill everyone when it decides it doesn’t like us anymore?” Taehyung rolled his eyes, “Dragons are bad.”

     “Not Neuts-!” Jimin tried to argue, but Taehyung shook his head and crossed his arms, “All dragons. Bad.”

Jimin rolled his eyes and without thinking, shot a little fire spark at Taehyung, something harmless but still just enough of a sharp feeling against his skin to cause the boy to jump and squeak out in surprise, rubbing his arm that the spark of fire hit and whining at Jimin, “Dummy, what was that for? I share the opinion of everyone in the-!”

     “You know, if you two are going to spy on me, at least be quieter about it,” they heard a low voice mutter out from beside them on the other side of the bush, causing the both of them to jump a bit and stare up at the brave viking warrior that had heard and spotted them in their hiding place. The Black Neut was frightened by the sudden presence and ran off and out of Jimin’s arms, but Yoongi had still seen it, rolling his eyes and turning away back towards his clearing, “Jimin, petting a dragon like that makes me question if you even know your place in our clan. We’re supposed to hate dragons.”

     “I do!” Jimin assured him, getting up now that he knew he had been spotted. He knew he was being reprimanded by the older viking, but he couldn’t help but feel giddy by the fact that Yoongi was talking to him at all. How cool was that? Yoongi noticing him? Ah, he just knew he was going to be thinking about this moment for the next few weeks! He stepped over the bush and followed Yoongi out into the clearing, “But I’m not afraid of little Neuts. They really mean no harm, so why should I have to kill them?”

     “Because all dragons are viscous deep down,” Yoongi turned around to him with a scowl, “From giant mountain dragons that could take one step on our village and destroy us in a second to little ‘Neuts’ who are probably just waiting for the right moment to join the war. Your inability to understand this is why your father barely even lets you leave your house.”

Ok, Jimin wasn’t so much liking this talk anymore even with Yoongi being the one talking. Taehyung walked up beside Jimin as he shifted his weight on one leg and crossed his arms, frowning as he bit his lip and spoke softly in reply, “Yoongi, I wasn’t hurt by the dragon even when I held it. That has to mean something, right? Maybe it’s you all that have an inability to understand the fact that some-!”

     “Jimin, do you know why I have to protect you? Why your father made me swear to guard you with my life in his place?” Yoongi asked, picking up his shirt to put it back on and shoving his sword back into his belt. Jimin could see it in Yoongi's eyes what a chore it must be to deal with him because of how weak and foolish he probably seemed just because he was a little bit compassionate towards the hellish creatures. 

Jimin couldn’t help but continue to frown as he shrugged and replied, “Because dragons-!”

     “Because you’re weak,” Yoongi answered, running his fingers through his hair that was wet from sweat. Jimin could see a tattoo showing through his shirt of their clan’s symbol. He had gotten it at an English shore he visited two years ago to prove an eternal loyalty to the chief, Jimin’s father, and has since then gotten a few others: his mother and father’s names, the dragon that had killed them sketched into his shoulder, and something written in old Norse too on his collarbone. All tattoos were minimalistic yet beautiful, and Jimin wished he could admire them up close and ask what Yoongi’s Norse tattoo meant, but he wasn’t close enough to the viking for that yet, and hearing the words leaving his mouth right now, he feared he’d never be, “Your father sees how you prefer to spend your time gawking over me, and he also probably sees how you spare dragons and naively think of them as your friend when in reality, they’d kill you in a heartbeat.”

     “Hey, that is no way to speak to the chief’s son!” Taehyung stood up for Jimin. “Aren’t you loyal to Chief Joon? You should start acting like it.”

     “I’m loyal to Chief Namjoon which is why I protect his son despite my lack of respect for him,” Yoongi answered coldly, causing Jimin to finally let out a trembling breath and step back, “You know what? I’m going back to the village on my own. I don’t need you to escort me.”

He turned to start walking back before he could possibly start crying, but Yoongi followed him anyway, “There are dragons lurking in these woods. I’d hate for them to see you as easy prey and-!”

     “I’m not easy prey just because I give them a chance!” Jimin suddenly turned back around to shout at Yoongi. “And you say I’m weak, but I can do so much more than you could ever dream of doing,” he raised his hand, feeling fire rising up to his palm to create a spark and then a dancing flame just to show Yoongi how strong he really was once and for all, but before he could Taehyung grabbed his hand and forced it shut, “Jimin, let’s go back to the village,” he furrowed his brows at Yoongi, “We don’t need you to escort us back, we know our way.”

Yoongi bit his lip, now realizing that the two younger boys were mad at him for only saying something rightfully true about how Jimin needed to be protected because of his naive ideals. He knew when to back off though especially with Jimin mad at him for once. Taehyung was scary to have mad because despite being an orphan an elder found alone on the island who had grown up weaker and less interested in viking activities, he had a glare that sent chills down even Yoongi’s spine, but Jimin being mad? Now that was uncharted territory. He was always too busy swooning over him to get mad at him, but the look he just gave him as he raised his hand and almost did something that Taehyung prevented made Yoongi curious as to what Jimin would have done if he hadn't been stopped.

He wasn’t curious enough to continue on trying to anger him though, so he sighed and turned away to keep practicing, taking his sword out of his belt again, “If you believe you are capable, I won’t argue.”

Jimin huffed at this even though he usually found his arrogant attitude adorable - because he knew Yoongi was kinder deep down to people he was very close to - but right now, he was only irritated that Yoongi still wasn’t even noticing him despite his efforts to gain his attention. He turned on his heel and started stalking through the leaves the other way, “Tae, let’s go back to the village. We have to help out with making dinner anyway…”

When Taehyung started walking by his side, Jimin didn’t look back again as he made his way through the woods to a spot that wasn’t the village but a small patch of green grass and flowers on a cliff that looked over their home on the shore. He and Taehyung had found it one day when they were only ten years old and exploring the forest. They talked for hours on their little spot on the cliff until a search party Jimin’s father sent out for him had eventually found the both of them and brought them home. That… That was the first time Jimin had seen his father cry or at least the first time he could remember. Namjoon was so worried a dragon had gotten to him or he had gotten lost forever, and he held Jimin so close that night, making Jimin realize that despite being chief, his father was human too. And he was probably still hurting from when his mother disappeared and just didn’t want the same to happen to Jimin.

Which was why Jimin never fought back against Namjoon’s rules. He understood why he had them, and sure he broke them behind his back, but he would never argue against the man. He just hated the look on his face when Jimin showed the slightest hint of wanting to leave the safe place of their home. It was a look that made even Jimin feel sorrow in his own heart for reasons he was sure he would never know.

Jimin rolled down into the grass and looked up at the sky that was brighter than most days but still cloudy with a hue of grey and a chance of rains at any moment. He hated the rain, but he smiled and took in a deep breath of the air around him, loving the smell that came before and after a storm. There was nothing like it.

     “I needed to come here after whatever just happened back there with Yoongi,” Jimin sighed out as Taehyung laid down beside him, looking up at the clouds as well and adding to the topic of the stubborn viking who always failed to give Jimin the attention he wanted, “He’s just playing hard to get, you know? You just have to be patient.”

     “I’m eighteen and he’s twenty-two, it’s not like we have time to play hard to get,” Jimin bit his lip, “I just don’t know what I’d do if he loved someone else. I’d literally rather die than see him smiling and being happy with another person in the village.”

Taehyung narrowed his eyes and turned to Jimin, “Don’t say that, you’ll be happy with whoever you end up marrying whether it's Yoongi or not. And maybe then you won’t be dumb and show the dragon slayer the fact that you can produce fire from your hand,” he reached over and thumped Jimin on the forehead, “What were you thinking?”

Jimin’s winced from the thump and whined out, “I’m sorry I just got caught up in the moment! I wanted him to realize I was just as powerful as he was, maybe not in brawn, but with cool fire powers, but-!”

     “He wouldn’t have thought it was cool or powerful. He would have killed you,” Taehyung deadpanned, causing Jimin to roll his eyes, “No, I’m the chief’s son and plus, this whole fire thing doesn’t associate me with dragons.”

     “It’s dragon-like.”

     “But I’m not a drag-!”

     “But it’s a dragon power.”

     “Fire yielding is not a dragon trademark-!” Jimin tried to argue, but Taehyung interrupted again, “Yes it is-!”

     “Stop interrupting me!” Jimin finally huffed and sat up, crossing his arms and pouting as he stared back at Taehyung who was still laying down and smiling since he knew he was right and Jimin was wrong. Jimin was keeping this a secret for a reason even from his own father because he knew very well that people would think he was one of the fire breathing beasts which was not the case, but they wouldn’t even give him a chance to explain. They’d say he was a hell child and kill him without a second thought because they’d fear he’d use his powers for evil just as dragons always did.

Jimin looked away from Taehyung and sighed softly under his breath, “I just… I just want Yoongi to see me as something other than weak, but I feel like my only admirable trait is my fire,” he sniffled and turned back to Tae, “And my good looks.”

     “And your funny personality,” Taehyung added, “And I’m sure he notices all of these things, but the fire is the only thing you have to keep hidden. And I think that is fine because it puts you on the same playing ground as everyone else. If everyone knew you had cool powers, you’d have all the guys and girls begging to be with you and that just wouldn’t be fair for us normal humans with nothing fun and new about ourselves that set us apart from the rest.”

Jimin laughed a little and raised an eyebrow at Tae, “You’re making me want to just show everyone my power.”

     “Please don’t,” Taehyung sat up and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I want my best friend to live until he one day wins over the love of his life with his charm, beauty, and whit and absolutely nothing else.”

     “You think I can do it?” Jimin smiled, once again feeling hopeful that he could earn Yoongi’s attention someday. “I will literally let him take me right here as much as he wants if that’s what he wants and what it will take for him to love me-!”

     “Eww, Jimin, this is our spot, no!” Taehyung grabbed a few flowers from the ground and threw them at Jimin, “You’re a virgin, you’d totally cry if that was all he wanted from you.”

     “I will take him on the beach, at a pond, on a rock, in my bed, in your bed-!” Jimin continued on all while Taehyung whined and begged him to stop until suddenly Jimin could feel the presence of someone walking behind them. He stopped talking abruptly and snapped his head around in fear of a larger dragon being behind them, but what was there was much much worse.

Yoongi.

Jimin shrieked and jumped up, slapping Tae on the shoulder and quickly shouting out, “Yoongi! Hi! Uh…” his eyes were wide and his heart was beating a thousand times a minute, “What are you doing here?…. How long have you been standing there?”

     “Oh, not long,” Yoongi answered nonchalantly which probably meant that he didn’t hear anything… thankfully...hopefully... He stepped forward and looked around the small little meadow Taehyung and Jimin had snuck off to, and he continued speaking, “I knew you guys wouldn’t go back to the village, and since it’s my job to protect you, I had to make sure you didn’t take any detours or get attacked along the way.”

     “Aww,” Jimin smiled and placed his hands on his heart, “So sweet~”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at this and turned back towards the trees, “Not really, but let’s get going. I don’t trust either of you near a cliff.”

Judging solely on earlier, one might think that Jimin would get angry at this and try to prove the fact that he was so much stronger than Yoongi thought he was, but after Taehyung’s pep talk, Jimin was going to go a different route. Despite the insult, he only smiled and happily ran up next to Yoongi, wanting to walk beside him as he led him and Tae out of the woods and to safety like the gentleman and protector he was.

Jimin leaned towards him and hummed out happily as they walked through the forest, “So… come here often? To the woods?”

     “Yeah,” Yoongi gave a quick response, looking to certain landmarks between the trees that told him where he was going.

Jimin could always tell just by the distant sound of a creek always to the left when he was close to the village and also the smell of smoke that became thicker in the air around him when he grew closer and closer. He didn’t need landmarks. He knew the forest like the back of his palm, and could find his way back home with blindfolds on. Bet Yoongi couldn’t do that, huh?

     “I bet you couldn’t walk all the way from here back to the village with blindfolds on,” Jimin laughed a little, bumping Yoongi flirtatiously though the warrior only stiffened up and sighed, finally turning to Jimin though to say, “I bet you couldn’t go an entire walk back to the village without speaking!”

Jimin’s eyes widened at his words, “Are you serious?” he scoffed, “You don’t think I could do something as simple as that?”

     “Oh yeah, you totally couldn’t,” Yoongi grinned, “In fact, I dare you, no, I challenge you to try to be completely silent all the way to your house.”

     “Challenge accepted!” Jimin excitedly declared and shut his mouth, proudly walking on as he started the challenge, knowing full well that he was going to win so easily. He also knew that this was Yoongi’s way of shutting him up, but what was he going to do? Say no and argue again? If Yoongi wanted silence, he was going to give him silence.

Whatever made him fall in love with him in the end.

They walked the rest of the way to the village in silence thanks to Yoongi’s challenge and Jimin’s obedience to the hot dragon slayer, and it ended when Jimin walked up the cobblestone steps to his cottage and gave a silent wave to his best friend and protector who had walked him up to the door. He gave a thumbs up to Yoongi when he walked inside and finally opened his mouth to say, “I won your challenge! Now you owe me a conversation at breakfast time tomorrow.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “What?” he shook his head quickly, “No, no, Jimin, that’s not what the prize of the challenge was. There was no prize at-!”

     “My rank is higher than yours in this village and this is the one time I will use it on you,” Jimin spoke in a serious tone. “As reward for me winning the challenge you set for me, you have to talk to me at breakfast tomorrow,” he stood up tall and looked down at Yoongi just like the way he always saw his father look down at those he was trying to command if they were wanting to disobey him. His father was a kind chief, but sometime he needed to give his people a push in the right direction with a little force, and that was what Jimin was going to do right now.

He puffed out his chest and curled his hands up into fists, frowning at Yoongi and practically glaring at him too until finally, the dragon slayer caved and rolled his eyes, “Five minutes. If you arrive after I’m done eating, I’m not going to wait for you, and the clock starts as soon as I fill up my bowl with food.”

Jimin grinned and nodded his head, “I’ll be there. Thank you for walking me home, Yoongi.”

     “Mhm,” Yoongi turned and scowled at Taehyung who had been right behind him. As soon as Jimin closed the door to his house and left the two of them alone, he spoke to the thinner boy in a serious tone of voice, “Please tell him to stop pursuing me.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened in a feigned shock, “H-He’s pursuing you? But what would he see in you?”

     “I don’t know, but I know he likes me and he needs to understand that he and I would never be able to happen,” Yoongi started to walk past Taehyung, seeming unbothered by this fact he just said though he was still frowning, “His father wants him to marry the viking prince from the village east of here on the island, and I will respect the chief’s wishes above all else. He can’t just flirt with me and expect me to do things like sit down and talk to him or flirt back with my loyalty to his father conflicting with what he wants from me,” he paused when he heard Hoseok calling his name from the doc, and he turned towards the ocean to wave at him and call out that he would be down there with them in a few seconds. 

Before he could walk away from Taehyung though, he turned around one last time and said, “Tell him to go along with his father’s wishes and fall for future chief Jungkook instead. He’s much better suited to lead a clan alongside Jimin anyway and as chief, Jimin needs to do what is best for his people.”

    “Wait, would you be with Jimin if his father wasn’t pushing his marriage towards Jungkook?” Taehyung asked, excited to tell Jimin all of this stuff Yoongi was saying tomorrow morning when he was up bright and early to go meet with him to talk over breakfast.

Yoongi didn’t answer his question though, he only frowned at Tae's words and finally started walking away with full intentions of not stopping again to say anything else to Taehyung. Tae was hoping he’d hear some kind of chance that Yoongi was interested in Jimin, but it only seemed like it was quite the opposite. The dragon slayer would probably never love the overprotected future chief, and that was that.

~(***)~

When Jimin heard his father walk through the door after the long day of work fixing the battle boat, he ran down the wooden steps to greet him excitedly, “Appa, guess what!”

Namjoon was laying his fur coat over one of the chairs in their dining room before he turned and grinned at his son when he heard him speak, “What is it, Chimmy? Do anything exciting today?”

     “Yeah, I won a challenge Yoongi gave me, and guess what the reward was?” Jimin sat down in their rocking chair by the fire and rocked in it faster than it was probably meant to go, but he was too happy to care.

Namjoon seemed confused why Jimin was hanging out with Yoongi of all people - and how - but he mused at the thought of the challenge and a reward as he sat down in one of the other chairs by the fire, “Hmm… Did he give you a lesson in sword fighting?”

     “Nope!” Jimin shook his head, laughing a little, “He actually agreed to sit with me at breakfast and talk to me like…” Jimin blushed and looked away, “Well like a first date!”

Namjoon’s smile fell and he straightened up a bit, “A-A date?… With Yoongi? But why?”

     “Well I don’t really want to talk about why with you because that’s weird, but I really like his umm…” Jimin coughed a little, “Personality? And looks. In fact, Appa…” here it goes. The moment he needed to just tell his father that he didn’t love Jungkook nor did he want to love Jungkook. If there was anyone he wanted to marry, it was Yoongi, “Appa, I think I love him?”

     “Love?” Namjoon questioned and laughed a little, shaking his head, “No, you don’t love him, Jimin.”

     “Yes I do,” Jimin frowned, “What I feel for him is how you said you felt when you described to me how you fell in love with mom.”

     “That was different. We had a time limit-!”

     “Well I’m not getting any younger, and I definitely don’t want to finally marry him after you force me to marry Jungkook,” Jimin interrupted.

Namjoon’s eyes widened at this, “Force? Jimin, I’m not forcing you to marry Jungkook, but really, marrying Yoongi is not a wise choice! He’s a warrior for our clan, and he’ll be here one day but dead the next if something goes wrong in battle.”

     “We all could die at some point in a dragon attack,” Jimin argued, “Even here where you think it’s safe. If this is about dying, Jungkook could die, you could die, I could di-!”

     “Jimin please don’t speak like that,” Namjoon closed his eyes and leaned forward more as he spoke in such a serious tone that he always used when he was scared or worried for his son, “Jungkook… O-Or anyone that stays here and doesn’t go out there into that war is safe, but Yoongi is not safe.”

Jimin shook his head, “Appa, I’m sick of ‘safe’. You’ve made sure I’m safe all my life which believe me, I’m so thankful for, but I think love is something that is safe no matter what you try!” he tried to smile, but he really didn’t want to lose this argument. This was his future he was trying to bargain. This was his relationship with Yoongi. He wasn’t even sure if it would ever happen or if Yoongi would ever feel the same, but he knew it was worth it to fight to at least try and know that there was a possibility he’d be able to marry him if he wanted.

     “Love isn’t safe, Jimin,” Namjoon started to raise his voice, “Love hurts when the one you loves leaves and never comes back, and I don’t want that to happen to you!” he was shouting now, tears brimming his eyes as he stood up and looked down at Jimin who was still sitting but not rocking anymore. He was on the edge of his seat, knee shaking with nerves as he looked up at Namjoon with a shocked expression, surprised that he was yelling at him about this, “If you marry Jungkook, the two of you will be as far away from this war as I can place you. He is a hunter, not a dragon slayer, and he will keep you h-happy and safe more inland where no dragons can find you. Yoongi?…” Namjoon sniffled and shook his head, “He goes out there head first into danger without a second thought, and that is going to get him killed one day. I don’t want you to suffer from the heart break when that day comes.”

     “I get that what happened to mom scares you, but I think I would suffer from an even worse heartbreak if you didn’t let me marry him at all,” Jimin spoke softer now, knowing not to challenge his father with memories of his mother he never knew. He could never even describe her, only saying she had short black hair and big eyes before excusing himself to his room and slamming the door just at the thought of how maybe she was still out there, suffering…. barely surviving… dying as he thought about her.

Namjoon stepped back and shook his head slowly, “Not being able to love someone because they aren’t right for you is much better than not being able to love someone because they are dead,” he picked up his sword he had left by his chair and cleaned it off on his pants before setting it down on the table, “We’ll talk about this in the morning, Jimin.”

     “No, in the morning I’m going on that date with Yoongi,” Jimin dared to say as he stood up from his chair to walk upstairs to his room, “I understand you want to keep me safe appa, but one of these days you are going to have to let me do what I want or I’m going to leave on my own and disappear just like mom did.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened as he heard these words which were followed by the sound of Jimin running up the rest of the way to his bedroom and shutting his door with a slam. He winced at the noise and wiped his tears away, feeling bad about how Jimin was still so angry about him not wanting him to pursue a relationship with the dragon slayer he had come to fancy over the years, but he knew it was for his own good….

...But what would Jin say if he were here?

     'You aren’t the Alpha I fell in love with.'

     'I wanted you to raise our child happy and give him free will.'

     'I wanted you to teach him how to protect himself, not shield him from any danger so that when it inevitably reached him, he wouldn’t know what to do.'

Namjoon knew he was failing as the parent Jin had wanted him to be… He knew Jimin wasn’t happy…

But at least Jimin was still here with him. At least Jimin was alive.

And wasn’t that what Jin wanted him to do? Keep Jimin alive? As long as he was doing that, he’d continue doing whatever he could to make sure that was always the case.

Chapter Text

First Flight

Jimin could barely sleep the whole night as he thought about the five minutes he was going to get to spend with Yoongi in the morning. The things he’d say to him during their first real conversation he had been dreaming of since he was twelve and realized Yoongi was the most beautiful thing on this earth. Jimin had never even thought about romance before or anything like that since he had always just explored the village and played like a child should with his best friend out in the fields and in the woods, but as soon as he saw Yoongi protecting his village from a swarm of dragons, something in him latched onto the idea of Yoongi being the perfect one for him and he had stuck with it ever since.

And he wasn’t going to stop until Yoongi finally at least acknowledge him or told him to give up.

But hopefully that would never happen because Jimin was so so so in love with him.

As soon as Jimin first heard two of the blacksmiths in their village getting to work in the early hours of the morning when the sun still hadn’t risen yet, hammering metal against a wooden table and shouting joking taunts at each other about their rivaling businesses, Jimin snapped awake and sat up quickly, not even having to blink away his sleep since he was so overwhelmed with the excitement that came from knowing he was going to get to talk to Yoongi one on one within the next hour or two.

He hopped out of bed and quickly put on his clothes for the day, wearing his best outfit since he wanted Yoongi to focus on him and only him as they spoke. He slipped on some black cloth pants and a white shirt that he had cut to make more revealing - his father had gotten mad at him for ruining a perfectly good shirt but he couldn’t find it in himself to be sorry for doing what he felt would catch Yoongi’s eye the most - and he draped a black fur cloak around his shoulders before also stepping into some black boots that tied around his calves.

This was the outfit he definitely wanted to marry Yoongi in.

Not that he had thought about their wedding before, but he definitely wanted to marry him in this exact outfit as they held hands over the black rocks on the shore where people were normally united in marriage. The sky would be partially cloudy so the sun was out but the air was still chilly enough for him to wear his cloak, the waves would be drumming softly against the rocks around them, and not a single dragon would be in the sky or the sea to ruin the moment.

Ok, so he had totally thought about every second of the wedding, and he was sure it was going to be the best moment of his whole life, but the first step was his first conversation with Yoongi and how well that went, so he hurried downstairs and made sure to keep quiet so his father wouldn’t wake up and stop him from going out. There was no way Namjoon would actually keep him here to prevent him from seeing Yoongi, but just in case his father did try to sit him down and talk to him about their unfinished argument last night, Jimin snuck around as much as he could because he didn’t want to risk missing his time with Yoongi because of that conversation.

When he reached the door and opened it up to the dimly lit morning of his quaint village on the shore, he hurried out without looking back, excited that he managed to get up and ready in time to be there before Yoongi so he could get his full five minutes with him. He headed off into the morning air, his black boots trekking across dirt trails and wet moss where the only thing keeping him from slipping was rocks in the road along the way.

The two blacksmiths of the village were still hammering away at weapons they were creating for the warriors of the village. Maybe one of them was making a new sword for Yoongi that Jimin could bring up during their conversation, and he could only imagine how amazing it was going to look in the viking's strong hands as he killed dragons and protected the people of his village. Jimin almost wished he could go to battle with him just to see for himself what that looked like, but he knew if he were to do anything out in battle with Yoongi, he’d want to fight alongside him and be a team…

That would be a dream come true for Yoongi to notice him as someone that was strong enough on his own to fight alongside him like a real future viking chief did.

Jimin ran up to the doors of the dining hall where no one else seemed to be yet. He knocked on the big wooden doors, and Taehyung opened up them up from the inside for him, the sunlight barely peaking over the ocean by the time he made his way inside and sat down at a table he knew would be away from any groups of vikings that could disturb his first conversation with the village dragon slayer. He cheerfully looked around the empty dining hall and asked with the sound of his voice echoing off the stone walls as he spoke, “Has he tried to sneak in yet to eat?”

     “Nope!” Tae replied happily, “No one has come in and out of here except for the cooks and you!”

Jimin grinned and folded his hands together, “The plan is set then. I have a list of things I’m going to talk about, and I'm going to try to use two flirtatious lines one of the elders taught me.”

     “Ooh, practice on me!” Taehyung sat down on the table and excitedly leaned forward, a smile playing on his lips until he heard Jimin excitedly say his line he was planning to use on Yoongi, “I lost my leg in battle. Guess what I’m walking on?”

Taehyung’s eyes widened, “Oh, so you’re getting right into the dirty stuff first thing?”

     “I knew that one sounded too crude,” Jimin huffed and tried again, “Are you the night? Because my day isn’t complete without you~”

     “Now that’s…. better,” Taehyung tilted his head side to side before hopping up from the table since he knew he would have to get to work soon, “Maybe you should just try being your actual self around him. Like… talk to him like you’re talking to me! Just don’t show him the whole fire thing.”

Jimin sighed and nodded his head, “So no flirtatious lines yet?”

     “Or maybe ever?” Taehyung offered with a smirk. He ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair and assured him, “You’re hot; you don’t need pick up lines. I say you talk to him like a friend and see how it goes, and just don’t make it seem like you’re trying too hard,” the door to the dining hall opened up and Yoongi and Hoseok were the first ones in. They were laughing and shoving each other until Yoongi scanned the room and saw Jimin, his smile immediately falling.

Well this was awkward. Yoongi obviously didn’t want to see him.

Jimin wanted to just leave and try to talk to him later when he was a better mood to see him, but he was afraid that would never happen if they didn’t talk now. If Yoongi didn’t see the normal friendly side of him that Tae was telling him to be, he would forever think Jimin was just some annoying kid with a crush on him. He had to stay calm, stay happy, and stay seated until Yoongi fulfilled his end of the promise and sat with him for five minutes. He had to prove that he was so much more than what Yoongi thought he was.

He lifted a hand up at Yoongi to give him a small wave in which Yoongi only nodded at before turning away and making his way over to get a bowl of food. Taehyung ran over to the big stirring pot to help Yoongi quickly get his meal and send him on his way quickly over to Jimin so he wouldn’t waste time walking over slowly to the table. He quickly poured breakfast into Yoongi’s bowl and whispered, “He’s not going to obey his father’s wishes to marry Jungkook, so be nice to him and give him a chance.”

     “He may not obey those wishes, but I will,” Yoongi grumbled back, but turned towards the table to make his way over to Jimin anyway. Hoseok started to follow him, but Taehyung quickly held him back and muttered out, “No, no, this is their time alone.”

     “But Yoongi told me to stay by hi-!” Hoseok started to explain, but Taehyung’s grip on him tightened, “For the next five minutes, they are going to talk alone. You can stay here and eat or help me serve food, ok?”

Hoseok pouted for a moment but knew not to disrupt them as Yoongi wanted him too. He was Jimin’s friend after all and knew how much this probably meant to him, so he complied easily and sat down with a bowl of breakfast to eat while waiting for Yoongi to be done talking with Jimin. And Taehyung also sat beside him to wait, counting up to five minutes in his head to make sure Yoongi didn’t leave early and cut Jimin’s time with him short. He knew his best friend's chances with the dragon slayer were slim, but by-Odin if Jimin didn't get at least a fair shot with him right now in this five minute conversation, Tae was going to raise Hell. 

Yoongi could feel the eyes of Hoseok and Taehyung boring into him, and he knew he shouldn’t have trusted Hoseok to help him out since he was too soft for the smaller viking that wanted to talk to him. He should have known that Hoseok would stay behind and let Jimin have what he wanted despite it being meaningless since there was an impending marriage that would keep them from ever being anything anyway.

Still though, Yoongi decided to keep up his end of the deal that took him by surprise, and he sat down to eat breakfast with Jimin. He was going to remain silent for as long as possible, but that was kind of hard when Jimin immediately started talking to him and asking him questions he was obligated to answer, “Good morning, Yoongi! What do you have planned today?”

Yoongi took a bite of his breakfast to make sure he finished his meal quickly so this conversation would end as soon as possible - Taehyung gave him a bigger serving than usual on purpose for this reason but he wasn’t going to complain about it - and answered the young future chief, “I’m going to go fishing. Also maybe run the shore with Hoseok to keep in shape.”

     “Oh wow, that’s really cool,” Jimin smiled, “I’m going to go to the woods.”

     “You’re not allowed,” Yoongi immediately replied, taking another bigger bite of his meal. This conversation needed to end faster.

     “Ok, but are you going to stop me?” Jimin leaned forward, “You and I both know those woods aren’t dangerous. I should show you around sometime. I actually found a house-!”

     “Namjoon says especially not to go near there,” Yoongi interrupted. “Trolls-!”

Jimin laughed, “You believe in trolls? He told me trolls live in the woods too, but I have yet to see any.”

Yoongi finally set down his bowl and shook his head, “And that’s where you’re wrong,” he pointed his spoon at Jimin and spoke gravely, “I was hunting with your father one day in those woods, and when we stumbled upon that house, he was so scared he teared up.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “You think it’s the trolls?”

     “Oh, I know so,” Yoongi’s expression turned grave serious, “What else could make a chief cry like that?”

Jimin knew the answer to that… but he was more focused on the trolls and Yoongi actually talking to him than the past his father seemed to want to forget but always remembered every time he looked at Jimin. A conversation about a house cursed with trolls was a weird first conversation to have, but he was just glad they were speaking to one another. He smiled and shrugged, “You’re so right. It must be trolls,” he leaned closer though, “But I’m still going out there. They don’t mess with me.”

     “Probably because you’re friends with the little hell demons that even they fear,” Yoongi rolled his eyes and took a sip of water from his cup.

     “I’m not friends with dragons, I’m just nice to the neutrals when I see them,” Jimin pouted but saw Yoongi starting to eat quickly again so he hurried to change the topic before his time ran out, “But I don’t want to talk about dragons with you. Yoongi. Why won’t you give me a chance?…. M-My father made it so men can marry if they so please, and I know you like men, so-!”

     “I just don’t like you,” Yoongi decided he wasn't going to make it through the whole meal like this and quickly stood up, “I mean, I just don’t like you in that way. I’m glad that we could have this talk today so I can tell you that straight forward, but I need you to stop pursuing me. Jungkook wouldn’t want this, your father doesn’t want this, and neither do I.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What?…” he started to get up with him, “N-No, I’m going to get that fixed! I’m not going to marry him. I want to marry-!”

     “Stop,” Yoongi demanded, staring Jimin down now with a warning glare. “You’re father is chief. Respect his decisions.”

Jimin fell quiet, knowing that he looked like that little kid with a crush right now that he strived so hard not to be. He looked down and stepped away from Yoongi, “If…” wow, this wasn’t going how he planned at all. In fact, he honestly thought they’d walk away from this talk holding hands and marching to his father to demand to be married, but instead…. instead Jimin was going to say something he’d regret since he knew it would make Yoongi mad and not want to be with him even more, but it had to be said, “If you don’t like me just say so, but don’t make me feel bad for not wanting to marry someone I don’t love.”

     “You’ll learn to love him,” Yoongi sighed and turned around, signaling Hoseok to follow him out, “Come on, Hobi. Five minutes are up.”

     “No they aren-!” Hoseok tried to say, but Yoongi cut him off, “You guys count too slowly. I had been counting in my head the whole conversation.”

Jimin glanced at Taehyung with a sad expression and Taehyung hurried over to his best friend to be with them as the two vikings walked out, Yoongi hurrying to leave the dining hall as Hoseok tried to keep up behind him, awkwardly trying and failing to talk him into stay a little longer. Yoongi was gone, and Jimin was so sure now that the viking would never see him the way he wanted to be seen….

And why did he feel so sick about this? It felt… It felt like he had chosen Yoongi as the one and only person he wanted to be with and now his only option was completely gone. But he had other options right? He could learn to love someone else as Yoongi suggested. Maybe he could go along with his father’s plans though that would definitely hurt Tae, or maybe he could find someone else on the island. Hell even Hoseok seemed like a better shot at this point. Yoongi just didn’t even seem the least bit interested in him now; not even as a friend.

Taehyung wrapped his arms around Jimin and patted him on the back when they were left alone in the dining hall, reassuring him, “Maybe this talk was just good confirmation that he’s not worth swooning over all the time. He’s kind of an ass in my opinion, don’t you think?”

Jimin nodded his head and sighed, “And yet for some reason I still want him.”

     “It’s his eyes,” Taehyung frowned, “Good looks bring poor judgement, and his eyes are definitely the root of all evil. That’s probably why he never fails in battle. His enemies take one look into those things and have already lost.”

     “Just thinking about his eyes make me love him again,” Jimin leaned on Tae, but Tae was not going to have this. His best friend was not going to continue to love an ass, so he needed to help him take his mind off of it all. “Hey, stop thinking about Yoongi. He doesn’t deserve to be in your head right now, but you know what you should do instead?”

     “Wallow in my own self pity?” Jimin asked, his eyes widening in hope that Taehyung would just follow him back to the house and cuddle with him in bed as he whined about how Yoongi never even gave him the time of day despite his best efforts, but his best friend has something different in mind.

Taehyung grinned and shook his head, “Oh no… Something much better.”

Jimin grinned and leaned against Taehyung’s shoulder as they sat on their secret cliff that overlooked their village and the ocean, and he poked the stem of a pink flower into part of his crown he made a few minutes ago. He hummed a tune of an old song that had been stuck in his head from before he could remember and continued to decorate the crown that he and Taehyung were going to wear as they pretended to be princes of the forest later on that day to help distract Jimin from everything that happened this morning.

Taehyung tried to hum along to the tune Jimin was singing but kept missing notes and rolling his eyes about how Jimin’s tune changed every time he hummed that song on loop. It got so bad that Tae finally had to elbow him and complain, “Do you need someone to sing that song to you to jog your memory? You’re always changing up the tune, and it’s annoying when I try to harmonize with you.”

     “Wait, do you know it?” Jimin turned to Taehyung with wide eyes, “I think my mother always sang it to me, but the memory is so foggy, I only remember barely a few notes.”

Taehyung's expression softened when Jimin mentioned his mother and how he only just barely remembered her singing to him so long ago. He thought about if he had ever heard a tune like it, maybe from his own parents, but he couldn’t remember a single thing about them so he shook his head and replied, “You’re the only one I’ve ever heard sing it. Maybe ask Chief Joon. I’m sure he remembers your mother singing it to you.”

     “He doesn’t like talking about her,” Jimin bit his lip and looked down, finally straightening up to say with a huff, “I asked him a few months ago if he knew the song. I hummed it to him and told him the words had something to do with fire and war and dragons, but he claimed he didn’t know it which makes me so sure my mother was the one who always sang it to me. Or maybe she still sings it to me, and that’s why it’s always stuck in my head, you know?” he grinned and got up on his knees, “Like, every time she sings, her tune gets stuck in my head!” he fell back into the grass again and laughed under his breath, “She must be singing right now then.”

     “Does Namjoon ever describe her?” Taehyung asked, having heard the description so many times though he knew this was a good distraction for Jimin right now.

He smiled and laid down in the tall grass beside his best friend and listened to him speak in a happy tone of voice that he always used when he tried to remember the other half of himself that had disappeared so long ago, “He describes her differently every time, and I always feel like he’s telling me lies about what she looked like. Like he’s hiding something important from me… But there was this one time when he was drunk from a victory feast and described her with tears in his eyes, and that was the one time I felt like he was actually telling the truth.”

Taehyung smile widened, “And? What did he say?”

     “She had short hair and big eyes, pale skin and a burning gaze that intimidated him the first time they met. Her name was Jin which must be short for something more feminine, but that was the one time he had even given me her name and I have a feeling that won’t happen again,” he smiled to himself and continued, “Jin one time saved me from a dragon attack when I was only a year old, Jin made the worst jokes ever and had the loudest laugh that always made my father fear for predators being attracted to the noise and attacking us, and Jin never let me out of her sight… She loved me…. She still loves me,” he placed his hand to his dragon necklace that had been around his neck for as long as he could remember and frowned, “But I have a feeling I’ll never get to meet her.”

     “Well if she’s alive then maybe she’s trying to make her way back to you right now,” Taehyung assured him. “If she’s singing then she must-!” Taehyung was cut short when he felt two strong hands grip onto his shoulders from behind and shove him down to the ground, causing him to gasp and shout out in fear before he looked up and saw who had pushed him down.

His eyes widened, “Jungkook, what are you doing here!?”

He struggled to get out of his death grip as the younger viking from a different clan laughed and continued to pin him down, “What if I was a dragon? I didn’t even try to sneak up on you two, but I could have totally eaten you if I wanted to!” he finally let Taehyung go and flopped down beside him in the mossy grass that was still damp from the last storm.

     “You mean you don’t want to eat Tae?” Jimin asked with a smirk which caused Taehyung to smack him on his shoulder and Jungkook to cough awkwardly and ask as if it wasn’t obvious that he had just as big of a crush on Taehyung as he had on him, “So, future husband, how are you today?”

     “Oh, are you Yoongi?” Jimin asked, “Because he’s my future husband.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened and he perked up a bit, “Wait did you get your father to agree to call this whole idea off? Because no offense, but I’d rather our clans fall into war than marry you.”

     “Oh no offense taken because same here,” Jimin nodded his head eagerly, “I’d much rather marry a dragon killing hunk than a village idiot.”

     “Actually I’m the future chief of the neighboring tribe who is the best hunter on this island and has twice as many muscles as Yoongi,” Jungkook coughed and looked away as if he wasn’t the one to compliment himself.

Taehyung laughed awkwardly, not knowing what to say in this conversation since he was just that one person watching his two best friends who were both future chiefs being forced to marry each other talk about how much they’d prefer to be with someone else. Jimin obviously wanted to be with Yoongi, but who did Jungkook want to be with? It must be someone from his own clan since Taehyung couldn’t think of anyone from this clan that interacted with Jungkook enough for him to be in love with them… Taehyung didn’t even know who his competition was, but he already he knew he was jealous of them more than anything.

He coughed and spoke up nervously, not sure if saying this would make his crush obvious for Jungkook, but he took a chance anyway and said, “I think Jungkook is definitely more charming than Yoongi, Jimin. I bet he also treats the person he loves with respect and kindness which is something Yoongi doesn’t do,” he gasped and turned to Jungkook, “Kook, you’ll have no idea what happened this morning! Ohh, you're going to kill Yoongi.”

     “Weren’t we trying to forget it?” Jimin whined, but Jungkook's expression brightened in interest so Taehyung had no choice but to continue to spill about what happened earlier that day, “Yoongi and Jimin sat down to talk at breakfast for five minutes because Jimin won a bet and earned it yesterday, and Yoongi just flat out tells him it’s never going to happen and that he should respect his father’s decisions and not his heart!”

Jungkook gasped and turned to Jimin, “He did not! How are you still smiling? The love of your life is a douchebag!”

     “Or just extremely loyal to my father which I can respect-!” Jimin started to excuse his crush’s harsh reactions but Jungkook quickly interrupted him while wrapping an arm around Taehyung and saying, “No, we will not allow you to keep liking him when he treats you like this! As your best friends,” Taehyung’s face was a deep red right now as Jungkook pulled him closer and continued, “we have to help you move on. I have people in my clan that you might like? We should all go on a field trip to meet my hotter and nicer friends, so that Jimin can find a new love interest and-!”

     “Make Yoongi jealous!” Jimin’s eyes widened with realization, “Oh my gosh, Kook, you’re a genius!”

     “Uh no, I was going to say you could fall in love with someone from my clan because I’m in love with someone from your clan and-!”

     “You’re in love with someone from our clan?” Taehyung’s eyes widened. He pulled away from Jungkook and opened his mouth to ask him who it was and why he hadn’t mentioned it before, but before he could, the smell of smoke filled the air and the sky became darker as the sound of roars and screams suddenly reached them from their little village on the shore.

The three friends turned to the direction of the village and froze in fear when they saw where all the smoke was coming from. Fire. Lots of it. And they couldn't see well from where they were, but they were sure they knew what was going on. The worst but most possible scenario that every village feared. 

Dragons were attacking.

Jimin cried out softly from behind Taehyung and Jungkook and stepped towards the edge of the cliff where he would be able to see the shore better, muttering to himself as fear swept over him like a wave of nausea, “Appa…”

     “Jimin, let’s go to my village that is deeper in the mountain where it’s safer,” Jungkook started to say, but Jimin shook his head and started to slowly step towards the trail that led down to the village when he saw a large dragon towering over their village with what looked like twenty other dragons behind it, either circling the village in the air or crawling up from the sea and onto the shore line where people were already fighting. Jimin couldn’t see who exactly was on the front line right now, but he knew Namjoon and Yoongi were always the first to be out there protecting the village.

He held his hand to his heart and watched as the bigger alpha dragon that led the group set fire to part of the forest on the other side of the village before roaring at the other dragons to proceed to attack. Jimin couldn’t just leave for safety. Everyone thought he was weak because his father protected him but he knew he had something that none of the members of his clan had. He had the power of fire.

It wasn’t that powerful since he could only produce a spark and sometimes a small flame, but it was definitely something more than what the others had.

And no future chief should ever leave their clan to save himself when they were dying off and struggling.

Without a second thought, he darted way from the cliff and into the woods that led to his village while shouting out to Jungkook, “Go take Tae to your clan for safety! I’ll be right there, but I need to make sure my father is safe first!”

     “Jimin you’re going to get yourself killed!” Taehyung shouted at him, starting to run after him until Jungkook suddenly grabbed him and held him close to keep him from also risking his life in the battle that had sprung up on their village so suddenly.

Jimin was already running down the mountain with no chance of being stopped by his two best friends. Jungkook was scared he was going to lose a friend today, and even though Taehyung knew the power Jimin held, he couldn’t help but fear that as well.

Jimin could care less though that he was running face first into danger with only his puny fire powers and a small dagger attached to his hip. He was watching dragons of all sizes and shapes attacking his village and all he could think about was how he needed to save his father and Yoongi. He needed to fight alongside them and help them win, because he’d rather die with them than live and be without his clan. Namjoon could get mad at him all he wanted, but he wasn’t going to stand on the sidelines or hide anymore. He was going to fight with his people because he was one of them too.

He didn’t stop running until the air was dark with black smoke and the sky looked like it was night even though it was barely lunch time. He could hear the growls and snarls of dragons all around him the closer he got to his village, and he could feel the heat of their fire itching through his clothing and wrapping around his skin. The dragons were capable of killing him. They were capable of eating him or tearing him to shreds just for the sake of it, but he wasn’t going to turn back around.

When he spotted Hoseok emerging from his house on the outskirts of the village with an axe in hand and a shield in the other, he ran up to him and quickly asked, “Have you seen my father? I need to help you guys!”

     “Woah, no, Jimin, you need to go somewhere else,” Hoseok hurried to grab Jimin before he could run off, “The dragons decided to take the battle to us this time, so you need to head to Jungkook’s clan. You’ve been there, so you know the way, right?”

     “I-I’m not going to run and hide like al-!”

     “Look, I don’t have time to argue, just go get somewhere safe!” Hoseok pushed him in the direction of the woods again and ran out towards the shoreline to quickly kill a dragon that had spotted the both of them and was running at them.

Jimin watched with wide eyes as the dragon with red scales and sharp white eyes screamed at Hoseok in a high pitched tone and open it’s mouth to shoot fire at him, but Hoseok cut its head off before it could do anything. Jimin gasped and stepped back, feeling like he was going to throw up from witnessing the creature’s death even though it was trying to kill his friend and his clan. He shouldn’t feel bad for the poor thing, so why did he feel absolutely devastated about the lost life? Why did he feel like it didn’t deserve to die so suddenly like that?

No, he couldn't let himself dwell on stuff like this. A good viking never dwelled on anything at all, and he knew he was going to see much worse stuff going into the village, so he had to stay strong and be prepared for that. 

He moved on and headed deeper into the village before Hoseok could stop him, walking through the smoke and the fire towards the shoreline to try to find his father and crush.

     “Appa!” he called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to let his voice carry out more, “Appa! Yoongi! Where are you!?”

A dragon scurried past him on all fours but didn’t attack since it was too occupied with raiding the houses for vegetables and dead animals rather than feasting on the flesh of vikings. It was probably a neut dragon anyway that came out from the forest to take advantage of the stronger dragons attacking the village and distracting the humans. Jimin was angry the dragon was coming out of nowhere to steal from them, but it really was the least of his worries at the moment.

He had to focus on one thing at a time right now.

     “Appa!” he called out again, sweat dripping from his forehead from how hot the village was now. He caught a glimpse of his father down by the shore fighting off three dragons at once, but before he could even think about running to go help him, he heard a larger dragon land behind him, causing the ground to shake slightly underneath him before he heard a growl escape from under the dragon’s breath.

His eyes widened and he slowly turned behind him to see that a dragon had landed in the middle of the village where he was, its eyes yellow and scales an odd shade of pink though that did not make it look any less horrifying. Jimin’s eyes widened and he grabbed his dagger, stepping back slowly and speaking in a calm voice so the dragon wouldn’t freak out and burn him to a crisp right where he was standing with one blow of fire, “L-Look, I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m afraid you might want to kill me so that will leave me with no choice but to fight back!”

He lifted his dagger up, knowing that it was nothing compared to a mighty dragon like this one, but he knew he had no choice but to try, “If you come at me, I will not hesitate to s-slit your throat!”

The dragon snarled at this and leaned closer, causing Jimin’s whole body to shake as the dragon’s mouth grew so close he thought he was going to be eaten whole in a matter of seconds. He bit his lip to keep himself from crying and he stood his ground, “If you don’t hurt me, I won’t hurt you. You can trust me….”

The dragon leaned even closer and…and sniffed him. He stiffened up and froze when he felt the dragon press the snout of his nose up to him and breathe in, and he wasn’t sure if this was like a pre-meal ritual for dragons or the dragon was really placing its trust in him. He glanced down at the dragon’s intimidating yellow as and asked warily, “So is this a truce? You’re not going to kill me?”

He watched as the dragon tilted its head and huffed out under its breath. Jimin bit his lip and slowly lowered his hand holding the dagger - he felt like he wouldn’t need it anymore with this dragon - as he asked, “You trust me? I won’t hurt you…I actually-!”

Before he could finish speaking to the dragon, he heard someone call out his name in a low shrill of terror, causing the dragon to put up a cautious stance again and knock him over with their wings as they roared out at the person who was running over to them.

Yoongi.

Yoongi had his sword in hand and was already raising it in the air as he shouted again, “Jimin run towards the woods with the rest of the children before you get yourself hurt!”

He swung his sword at the dragon, causing the dragon to fly back in panic and roar at him in retaliation. Jimin’s eyes widened when he looked up at the dragon that was frightened and on guard again. Just a moment ago it was completely calm, but now it was ready to kill the both of them, he was sure.

     “It wasn’t going to hurt me!” Jimin still shouted though, hoping that the dragon would calm down once more if Yoongi also proved that he wouldn’t hurt it. Jimin shoved his dagger back into his belt and lifted his hand up to the dragon, “Look, see? It’s not going to-!”

     “You idiot!” Yoongi screamed at him and rushed to push him back and away from the dragon. “Stop making things harder for everyone else by trying to make friends with these monsters! They are evil and you are weak and nothing will change, so stop almost getting yourself killed over trying to prove anything otherwise!” Yoongi’s words felt like daggers that shot through Jimin’s heart as he heard them. Yoongi was definitely stressed beyond compare with his whole body covered in blood and sweat and maybe even tears though Yoongi would never admit it, but Jimin knew that was he was saying was true….

He was weak… And this dragon Yoongi was about to kill?… Was just a monster attacking their village.

He sniffled and looked down, “Fine. I’ll get out of everyone’s way if you want me to so badly,” he shoved his way past Yoongi and towards the shore where his father was, only one dragon next to him now because he had managed to kill the other two since Jimin had last seen him. He stormed off in his direction as Yoongi shouted out after him, “Jimin, wait! Go to the forest, not the shore!”

When Jimin kept walking, Yoongi sighed and muttered out to himself as he turned to face the pink dragon again to kill it, “That fucking dumbass….”

He raised his sword to slit its throat in one go, but before he could, the dragon snarled at him in a low growl and knocked him off to the side before bounding after Jimin. Jimin wasn’t even half way to the beach when the dragon caught up to him and scooped him up in its mouth by the collar of his shirt, taking him off the ground and away from his village that had now become a battle field.

Jimin’s eyes widened when he felt the sharp teeth against his back and the pull of his shirt as he was lifted off the ground. Things only grew more terrifying when he watched the ground underneath his boots slowly start to move farther and farther away from him as the dragon used its mighty wings to lift him up. He struggled and tried to get out of the dragon’s grip before it lifted him up too high, but by the time he was twenty feet in the air, he knew he didn’t have a chance against the beast. He was going to be taken to wherever the dragon was probably planning on eating him and this was his last moments in his village.

In one last moment of panic, he shouted out his father’s name, “Appa!” Namjoon was still in battle, but when he heard his son call his name, he immediately slit the dragon he was fighting with’s neck and turned to the sound of Jimin’s voice, his eyes widening when he saw a dragon had gotten a hold of him.

     “No..” he whispered out and stepped towards where the dragon was starting to head. The forest. Why was he taking him there? What was he going to do to him? He started taking his steps faster, tears burning his eyes as he started gaining more and more speed until he was running in a full on sprint, shouting out his son’s name, “Jimin hold on, I’ll make it to you! Just fight, ok! I know you’re strong enough, so fight!”

The sky was too smokey for him to have a clear image of the dragon, but it was big and definitely a stronger class of dragon. It was too large to be a neutral in this war and had wings too powerful looking for it to be harmless. It was probably after Jimin to hurt him, and so Namjoon was going to have to do everything in his power to save Jimin and bring him back. The village was his last priority now and Jimin was his first.

He just hoped Jimin would hold on until he got to him.

He didn’t know what he was going to do if he lost him…

~(***)~

     “Let me go!” Jimin shouted out, struggling in the dragon’s grip and looking down as the dragon flew farther away from the village and towards a clearing in the woods where a small pond and the house the village had been banned to go near was. Jimin didn’t know the area well or if it was safe to even try to land there, but he knew landing from this height into a body of water that wasn’t the ocean was better than landing on a tree and being stabbed by a branch or killed by the impact.

He didn’t want to be taken back to this dragon’s nest and fed to dragon babies or whatever this dragon was planning, so he did the only thing he could think of at this moment and pull his dagger out of his belt, waiting until the dragon was about to fly over the pond and then turning quickly to stab it in the shoulder in hopes of making it let him go.

Just as he expected, the dragon roared out in pain when he stabbed the blade of the small dagger into his skin, and when he opened his mouth to cry out, he let Jimin go in the process, causing Jimin to fall before he could think about his next steps. Jimin’s eyes widened when he realized he was falling before he could even think about landing right, and by the time he looked down to try to find the pond, he was half way to the ground and realizing a bit too late that he was nowhere near it anymore. When he stabbed the dragon, it must have swerved away from the pond, because now he was looking face down at a patch of trees and three large boulders around them.

He shouted out in fear and shut his eyes, not knowing what else to do since he knew he couldn’t fly or try to fight his way through the air to land somewhere else. This was it... This was the moment he died. This was the last moment he was ever going to-!

The wind was knocked out of Jimin when he was yanked back so hard and so fast by a force from up above him that swooped down to scoop him up in his mouth again. Jimin looked up to see the dragon once again biting down on the collar of his cloak this time with a determined look in its yellow eyes. Jimin cried out in both fear and relief for the dragon saving him, but he wasn’t sure which one he preferred more - dying now by landing on boulders down below or being torn to shreds by a family of dragons later?

Wind blew through his hair and smoke that had already travelled all the way here from the village burned his eyes as the dragon quickly flew him away from the boulders and towards the pond again, finally letting him go when they were only a few feet above the middle of the pond and then dropping him right there before it flew to the edge and landed there in the grass.

Jimin flailed around in the water for a second, having been put through a whirlwind of actions until he was finally just dropped into the deep part of a pond he was told trolls had a curse over. Plus, a pond this far out in the woods was bound to have a few smaller water dragons in it, so he justly freaked out and swam for his life until he reached the edge of the pond opposite from the dragon who was now sitting down and staring at him with an amused look on its face. Its pink tail was relaxed behind him and dipping into the pond every time it slowly swayed back and forth. It ruffled its wings into a comfortable position and licked at the cut Jimin’s dagger left in him all while keeping eye contact with Jimin the whole time.

Jimin’s hair was wet and dripping over his face, so he quickly slicked it back and stared at the dragon to make sure it stayed on its side of the pond. He slowly picked himself up and out of the water, his clothes feeling so heavy from being soaked in the mucky pond water, but he managed to work up enough strength to drag his upper body out with just his arms as he shouted to the dragon, “Just keep your space, ok? I’m sorry I had to stab you, but I was scared! You can’t just pick people up like that!”

The dragon huffed and suddenly stood up, causing Jimin to shriek and hurry out of the water the rest of the way in a desperate attempt to escape. He only miscalculated how heavy he would be from his water soaked clothes when he got up and ended up falling over as soon as he tried to stand which earned a laugh-like huff from the dragon who was slowly stalking over to him again like a predator lurking by in tall grass and watching its prey.

Jimin knew he was the prey, and he also knew that like all little creatures being stalked by a great beast with sharp claws and piercing eyes boring into him, he had no chance.

Jimin cried out and stayed on his knees where he was, sitting and staring at the dragon as he spoke under his breath, “I know you’re a dragon and you can’t understand me, but p-please let me live…”

The dragon kept creeping closer, not showing any sign of remorse for Jimin despite having saved him from a dangerous fall earlier.

     “My father…” Jimin continued, wiping his eyes and trying to be the brave viking he always thought he was, “I can’t disappear on him too. He has lived every day fearing that I would meet the same fate of my mother, and I need to at least tell him I’m going to die, so he doesn’t just spend the rest of his life wondering what happened to-!”

The curious look in the dragon’s eyes disappeared completely when he mentioned his mother and the dragon growled again, stalking closer until he finally just pushed Jimin onto his back in the grass and pressed his weight down on his chest, the sound of his growls drumming faster than the sound of Jimin’s heart beating against his chest.

His eyes were dry again from the hot dragon breath beating into his face, and he stared up at the dragon with wide eyes and a loss of breath, feeling its claws digging into his skin on his chest as it leaned in close and…. and froze.

It’s eyes were now focused on something else behind Jimin that he couldn’t see, but it seemed shocked… maybe even scared though Jimin couldn’t read the wide stare very well on the beast.

What was behind him? Another scarier dragon? A hunter? Yoongi to his rescue again?

Jimin pressed his head against the dirt and looked in the same direction as much as he could to try to catch a glimpse of what was causing the dragon to freeze up, but all that was there was the abandoned wooden house that Namjoon had strictly told no one in the village to go to.

Why was the dragon afraid of the troll house?…Was it really that cursed? Yoongi said even Namjoon cried when he stumbled upon it, so of course even dragons would be afraid too…

Jimin stared back at the dragon, feeling its weight shift off of its chest thankfully since he felt like he was about to be crushed underneath him. He let out a deep breath of relief and relaxed for a second, just wanting to let air flow through his body again before he desperately tried to escape once more. He closed his eyes and heard the dragon shifting above him though he could still tell it was hovering over him for reasons he was too tired to care about now. He knew he had to escape back to his father soon though to assure him he was ok, so he started to open his eyes to get up, but before he could, he felt a pressure on his chest again. A smaller pressure though, something lighter yet still strong enough to let him know that something new was on top of him.

Jimin thought it was the dragon. Maybe it was only resting its hand lightly on his chest now that it was too scared to attack him, but when he felt a hand against his face, his eyes shot open and he looked up to see a man that was now hovering over him, black short hair and big round eyes that Jimin felt like he had seen in dreams though he knew he was probably just going crazy for thinking that right now due to how much he had been through in the past ten minutes.

The dragon must have transformed into this man, but why? Why was he now caressing his face too?

Jimin bit his lip and stayed quiet, thinking about how the dragon was much less scarier in this form than the other though his gaze was still intimidating. He didn’t move a muscle and just let the man stroke his cheek gently with the wet palm of his hand before saying so softly under his breath, “So he let you grow up thinking you were human…”

     “H-Huh?” Jimin breathed out, tilting his head in confusion as he stared up at him still since he didn't want to look away from his face in fear of the man turning back into a dragon while he wasn’t looking and also because he was completely naked everywhere else. Jimin gulped and brought his hand up to his cheek to slowly try to peel the man’s hand off of his face as he asked softly, “Do I know you?”

The dragon smiled sadly and shook his head, tears finally falling from his glossy eyes, “I left so long ago, I wouldn’t expect you to... I doubt your father ever mentioned me either.”

     “You know my father?” Jimin’s eyes widened, his voice still coming out weak from panting since he was still so scared about talking to a dragon while also being trapped underneath him.

The dragon’s sad smile fell completely when Jimin asked about him knowing his father, and he looked down, quickly lifting a hand up to his eyes to wipe his tears away, “I…” he cried out and looked around himself, suddenly breathing heavily and nodding his head to himself, “I’m finally home aren’t I?” he turned to Jimin again and sniffled, “Jimin…” he laughed a little but only ended up sobbing out again before he leaned forward and wrapped up Jimin in his arms, bringing him close to his chest and holding him tight, “I’m so sorry for leaving you… I’m s-so sorry. From the day I left you and your father and every moment after that I spent missing you and wishing I was here to raise you a-! Ah!” the dragon cried out when he felt Jimin press his hand to his back and burn him before quickly pushing himself away from his hold, his eyes wide with shock and his breath heavy and fast paced as he freaked out about how a dragon just locked him in an air tight hug and started crying over him.

     “You must have me confused with someone else!” Jimin quickly reached his hand up to the button of his cloak to take it off since he knew with how wet it was, it would only drag him down when he moved to sprint back to the village and away from this delusional dragon. He created a fire in the palm of his hands and held it in front of himself as a warning to the dragon that was in his human form and now thankfully just as weak to fire as he was, “Please…” he glanced at an opening in the forest he knew would lead him back to the village and with the smoke in the air, he was glad he knew just how to get back without even having to look at the path in front of him.

He leaned his body in the direction of the path and spoke to the dragon who was finally over the pain and now was just staring at him with a sorrowful expression, saying in as stern of a voice as he could manage, “Don’t follow after me or else I will not hesitate to use this on you!”

The dragon’s expression made his heart hurt for some odd reason. He felt like he was doing something wrong. Like he was betraying his past self or someone important in his life by running away from this crying man or threatening to hurt him if he followed after him. But what else could he do? This island was not this dragon’s home, and he was certainly not close in anyway to a dragon. Especially not his father.

It wasn’t his fault this dragon confused him for someone else!

So without another thought, Jimin shut his eyes to ignore the teary eyed look on the man’s face and turned on his heel to sprint off in the other direction with no plans to look back even when he heard the dragon cry out his name after him. He had to get home to his father. Dragon attack in the village or not, he knew he’d much rather be in his appa’s arms to assure him he was safe than some random dragon’s arms that he didn’t trust.

Chapter Text

Here to Stay

Jimin felt like he was going to throw up as he ran back to the village as fast as he could and away from the dragon. He had tears in his eyes from the smoke all around him, so he had to resolve to just shutting them as he ran and only blinking them open every few seconds to keep himself from running into a tree. He ran as quietly as he could, desperately wanting to shout his father’s name but being too scared to make a sound since that was what caused the dragon to land beside him and then take him away in the first place.

The sound of dragons roaring and growling had died down quite a bit compared to how loud they were when they first attacked. Was the surprise battle already over? Had his village managed to kill them all?…

Or were the dragons just not needing to be loud anymore because they had killed off Jimin’s whole village?

He felt his breath leave him as that fear filled his heart more than anything else. He cried as he ran and screamed out his father’s name when he emerged from the woods and could finally see the village fully now. His stomach was cramping from how hard his body was working itself and his legs were on fire, but he didn’t stop running. He wouldn’t let himself stop running until he knew his village, and more importantly his father, was safe.

The village wasn’t on fire by the time he reached it, just smokey and filled with a red hue from the forest that was still burning beside it in the background. Jimin covered his mouth and nose with the collar of his shirt so he could breathe as he ran to the beach where he last saw his father, the bodies of the dragons he killed still laying where they had been slain.

Where were the rest of the dragons? Where were all of the humans?

Jimin turned and circled around himself to try to see if there were still some warriors left fighting, but he couldn’t even find dead bodies. Had they joined the rest of the villagers in retreat to go up to the mountain for safety? Jimin tried to find the clear path that his father had made for the people of their village to follow in case of a dragon attack like this, hoping he’d find someone still staying behind and looking for him. He stepped towards it and squinted through the smoke to see the opening of the trail that hopefully wasn’t ruined by the fire, but as soon as he took a step back towards the village to try to see it, someone spoke from the left of him, “Oh thank Odin, Jimin!”

Even with a panicked tone, Jimin could tell it was Hoseok.

Jimin turned to him a breathed out in relief that the first person he saw was a friend he knew. He smiled and stepped towards him, “Hoseok! I-!”

Yoongi appeared from behind him, walking slightly faster and eventually passing Hoseok to get to Jimin as he shouted out, “You are so fucking lucky you’re alive. See what happens when you think one of those beasts is your friend?!”

     “Woah, Yoongi, calm down,” Hoseok grabbed the viking by his shoulder to keep him from running at Jimin with full force while shouting, “You don’t know what he’s been through so let’s just let him breathe.”

     “Yeah, I-!” Jimin tried to speak again, but Yoongi cut him off, shoving his shoulder away from Hoseok’s grip, “No, what he went through is his own damn fault, I’m not going to coddle him like a child even though that’s exactly what he is,” Yoongi growled out and turned to Jimin with a glare. “I told you to go back into the woods you dumbass! So why did you run out to the beach, huh? What about you makes you think you’re invincible when really you’re the weakest-!”

     “Stop talking to me like a child, I hate it when you do that!” Jimin was the one to interrupt him this time. Without thinking, he grabbed a sword that had been left in the sand on the shore and swung it forward quickly to pointed it at Yoongi’s neck as he continue to mutter out in a low challenging voice, “Don’t act like you’re so high and mighty either because I saved myself while you did what, huh? I trusted that you would kill the dragon when I turned my back on it, but you failed and you almost got me killed!”

Yoongi frowned even more if that was possible and grabbed his sword from his belt, “Are you wanting to challenge me? Because if you are trying to say I’m the weaker one, then I will so gladly prove you wrong.”

     “Guys, please-!” Hoseok awkwardly put his hands up to try to defuse a fight that would most certainly get their future chief killed and their best dragon slayer exiled or killed as well by Jimin's father afterwards, but Jimin thankfully ended it before it could begin. He lowered his sword and stepped back, “I don’t have time for this. I'm looking for my father. Do you know where he is?”

Yoongi lowered his weapon too, but he still chose to glare at the shorter boy for challenging him in the first place, “Do you really think he wouldn’t chase after you after seeing you being taken by a dragon? He ran to the woods to try to save your ass, but I guess you managed to annoy even a dragon into letting you go now.”

Before Jimin could get offended by that, Hoseok quickly spoke up, “Jimin, you should head up the mountain towards the safe base with Yoongi-!” he paused and shook his head, “I’ll escort you up the mountain actually where the rest of our people are, and Yoongi can go searching for Chief Namjoon who I’m sure is fine.”

Jimin shook his head and clenched his hands into fists, “No, I’ll go find my father myself.”

     “Don’t think I’m going to go with you to protect you in those woods that are probably crawling with those demons,” Yoongi spat out, and Jimin stopped and glared back at him for a moment just to say under his breath, “I’d rather die by the hands of a demon than spend another second having to hear you vomit out your ego every time you speak,” he grit his teeth, “I can’t believe just this morning I had wanted to marry you of all people,” he turned back towards the woods to start storming up the mountain where he left the dragon again, shouting to them not to follow him, “Don’t you guys dare follow me! I’m just going to find my father, and I do not need a body guard to keep me safe in the process!”

The two friends that were watching the future chief leave with a storm cloud of anger practically following him watched in silence for a few moments until Hoseok realized that Jimin really was brave and crazy enough to go out there on his own without any hesitation. He turned to Yoongi and sighed, “Really? That's how you treat your future chief?”

     “If he’s ever chief, it means the rest of us are already dead, so why should I care?” Yoongi retorted and Hoseok clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, crossing his arms and shaking his head, “You should follow after him.”

     “Nah,” Yoongi muttered out and shoved his sword back into his belt before turning towards the still burning forest that they needed to walk through to meet up with the rest of their people who were all hopefully safe and alive, “Let him get himself killed. That’ll teach him a lesson.”

Hoseok sighed again, “You’re unbelievable, you know that? The poor kid has the biggest crush on you.”

     “Well not anymore,” Yoongi replied, the tone of his voice sounding more like a pout, though that could just be because of how angry he was from the fact that dragons bested their village and graced a successful attack that thankfully didn’t kill anyone though it did destroy a lot of property. He started walking away but not until he added, “Better he gets it through his mind now than later that this isn’t some fairytale, and if he’s going to be a chief, he’s going to have to do stuff he doesn’t like. And for him, that thing is marry the other village's future chief and ensuring peace on our island. Maybe one day the child will understand that.”

~(***)~

Jin wrapped the black cloak the boy had left on the ground around his shoulders and looked down at the grass underneath him, wet from the rain that fell on this island every day and warm from the heat of the fire from the dragon attack. He shouldn’t be crying right now. With over seventeen years away from his baby, of course he had grown up not remembering their short time together or knowing who he was. And he shouldn’t be sad about how Namjoon never talked about him either…

This was what he wanted. He wanted Jimin to grow up safe, and strong, and loved, and human. Of course Namjoon couldn’t tell him he had a dragon father if he wanted the boy to grow up thinking he was just like everyone else in his village. Namjoon did exactly what Jin wanted, and now Jimin was all the things Jin had hoped to see in his child. Strong, brave, and smart. Smart enough to run away from a dragon smothering him and claiming he was his father. 

After a few minutes, Jin was reminded of the burn on his side and the stab wound still bleeding on his shoulder from Jimin trying so desperately to get away from him. He tried not to get hurt by remembering that fact, but more tears fell from his eyes anyway as he finally picked himself up to move from his spot on the ground.

He shouldn’t have tried to get close to his son. He especially shouldn’t have tried to explain anything either.

After ten years went by of him never being able to make it home, he gave up on trying to find Jimin and Namjoon. He didn’t want to look for them anymore because he knew something like this would happen. And in his opinion, the only thing worse than never being able to see his family again was them not wanting him back.

Jin stood up and glanced at the little wooden house he used to live in with his baby that loved him so much. That life seemed like a lifetime ago, the house his alpha made for him now overgrown with vines and grass, the baby now grown up and not even recognizing him, and his alpha… still alive at least but he was sure Namjoon probably hated him for being gone so long.

He walked over to the house and admired how it still stood so strong despite having been left vacant and alone in these woods to age for so long. He touched his hand against the damp wood of the door, afraid to push it open to see what was inside though he wondered… was everything left how it was? Did Namjoon ever come here in frustration and tear apart everything? No, he was too kind for that even when angry at Jin for leaving him to raise their son alone…

     “This place is just how you described it so long ago when we first met,” Jin heard a voice say from behind him and turned around quickly to see the alpha dragon who led the attack just moments ago, a woman with dark skin and her hair kept in tight braids that trailed down to her shoulders. Even as a human, Jin was intimidated by the confident way she stood and smiled despite being covered in battle scars and burns. She crossed her arms and looked around at the pond beside the little house Jin was standing in front of, “So this is where you raised your baby?”

Jin nodded his head slowly, starting to take off the black fur cloak for her to wear instead of him since he was just an omega and he had to serve the alpha no matter what, “How did you know this was where I-!”

She raised her hand up before he could take it off all the way, “No,” she requested, “Please, wear the cloak instead of me. I’m leaving soon anyway since the attack is over and I have to lead the pack back home.”

Jin bit his lip and looked down.

Oh right.

He had to go home.

She continued with a sigh, “I just wanted to say goodbye to one of my oldest friends first before we parted ways for good, I’m guessing.”

     “What?” Jin suddenly looked up, eyes wide, “You’re expecting me to stay? But the war-!”

     “Doesn’t need you to fight in it anymore,” she interrupted, “Jin, you’ve done your part for many years. The least I can do in return is bring you back home,” she smiled and stepped closer to the omega dragon who had a look a pure shock and confusion on his face, “I found this place while scouting any possibly dangerous territories one day and had a feeling it was the little house by the pond you always described as your old home. I even saw your half-dragon boy giggling with a dragon on the cliff. Seems like a close friend.”

Jin was still confused, barely able to register that last part as he shook his head and asked again, “You’re wanting me to stay? A-And why did you attack the village if you knew this was where my alpha and baby lived?”

     “You were the only one actually attacking,” the alpha argued, but then rolled her eyes and added, “Actually a few dragons disobeyed orders and tried to eat a few of your alpha’s men, but they got what they deserved and were killed. The ones who obeyed my secret orders though only flew around to create a frenzy that would make you believe we were attacking.”

     “And why?” Jin tilted his head, “Why make me believe this was an attack? Why not just lead me here?”

     “Would you really have let me drag you to another island that might have your alpha and baby on it? I know you stopped wanting to look for them years ago when you faced too much false hope and feared their reaction when they saw you. I knew you wouldn’t willingly come here in fear of disappointment, so I got you here under the premise of us needing to attack a dangerous clan and I let it all play out from there.”

Jin looked down, “I…” he felt the stinging of his shoulder from his own son’s knife and sniffled, “I can’t be here, Ashanti. If you saw how it went, you would realize-!”

     “I see the blood and the burn mark, I think I can guess how it went,” she laughed a little, “Your precious baby isn’t so precious now, is he?” she could see Jin's eyes becoming wet with tears now, so she closed the gap between them and wrapped Jin up in her arms, “He’s strong just like his omega father. And I think he knows he’s different if he burned you without hesitation,” she pulled back once again and placed her hand to Jin’s chest just over where his heart would be, “You both have the same heart, and he will realize that if you stay.”

     “But-!” Jin tried to protest, but Ashanti’s eyes flashed with a yellow glare as she demanded him this time, “Stay.”

She stepped back, “This is where we part ways, Jin. You weren’t meant to be on the dragon side of this war and you know it. You weren’t meant to be on any side at all.”

     “But what am I supposed to do?” Jin asked, growing frustrated with how his closest friend was shutting him out of the pack. He was just an omega. He had to obey her orders no matter what he wanted, but the last thing he wanted to do was have to confront Namjoon again after all these years. Even more-so, he definitely didn’t want to have to see the look of disappointment on Jimin’s face when the boy realized that he was his father and that his human mother he had probably been yearning for for years never existed.

Ashanti crossed her arms again and raised her brow, “You’re so smart when it comes to the strategies of war but so clueless when it comes to your personal life,” she huffed, “For starters, enjoy being back with your family even if it starts off rough. I’m sure your alpha will be more than happy to see you,” she laughed a little under her breath, “I saw a glimpse of him out on the shore, and I must say, you chose-!”

     “Jimin!” they heard a voice call out frantically from just twenty yards away, “Jimin if you can hear me, make a noise! F-Follow the sound of my voice!”

Jin could recognize that voice anywhere. He had heard it in his dreams since the day he left, and if he wasn’t here standing beside his old house where they used to raise their baby together, he would think he was imagining Namjoon’s voice now too. He wasn’t though. The voice was growing closer and his heart rate picked up as he grew more and more anxious to see his lover after so many years. He stepped back and shook his head in panic, “Ashanti, I can’t-!”

     “Hush, love,” she stepped towards the pond and started to transform back into a dragon, “Take a deep breath and let him kiss you first before you get scared.”

     “He’s not going to-!” Jin started to say, but Ashanti ignored him and turned into her large dragon form that was three times bigger than the trees around them, already spreading her wings to start flying away before Namjoon could get a chance to confront her.

She roared out as a final good bye to Jin and flew away to join the rest of the pack that was leaving the island and heading towards their nest. Jin’s eyes widened as reality set in and he realized he was being left behind by the alpha and friend he had followed for years, and when he saw a human run into the clearing, he quickly backed up into the shadows of the trees behind the house, hoping that the darkness and smoke would cover him enough for Namjoon to just leave and give him more time to think about what he would even say to him after so long. And he also needed to look at himself in the reflection of the pond before just going up to him. It had been so long since he had transformed into a human. What if he was ugly? What if Namjoon didn’t like what he saw now? What if his memories of Jin were sweeter and more beautiful than he was in reality?

He didn’t want Namjoon to be disappointed. He couldn’t handle both his child and his lover rejecting him in one day.

Jin hugged close to the side of the house and watched as Namjoon ran to the center of the clearing and looked up at Ashanti in her dragon form and flying away. He cried out and screamed at her, “You fucking demon!” Jin felt his blood run cold when he heard the viking shout those words, words Namjoon would have never said the last time he saw him. He watched as the chief fell to his knees and threw his sword down to the ground, crying out their son’s name again, “Jimin…. I swear if you hurt him, I kill you and everything you love!” he screamed out that last part while looking up at the sky where Ashanti could barely be seen now. He stood up again and turned around himself to shout out, “Jimin, please, just tell me you’re ok! Come out, it’s alright!”

When he realized where he was, the place where Jimin was born and where Jimin was raised for the first year of his life, taking his first steps, saying his first words, clapping when his parents kissed, and taking big bites of applesauce, Namjoon broke down into tears, crying out his baby’s name that he was sure he finally lost, “J-Jimin… Jimin, I’m so sorry…”

He fell to his knees again, unable to keep himself up as he continued to cry, “I-I’m so sorry…”

Without thinking, Jin took a step out from the shadows quietly, wanting to hug his mate though he wasn’t sure what he’d say. Jimin is ok? He stabbed me and ran away while shouting I was crazy, but he’s absolutely fine?

…I’m sorry for kidnapping him?

Namjoon bent forward and pressed his hands on the grass, still muttering out apologies to Jimin for not being able to protect him.

Jin reached his hand out to Namjoon, still a few feet away though he didn’t dare move. He was frozen scared. He didn’t want to do this. Not in the dark or after a dragon attack or with Namjoon crying and thinking their son was dead or forever gone…. But if not now, then when would Jin ever build up the courage to confront him again?

     “Jimin ran back to the village,” he finally said with a shaky breath, his words trailing away before he could finish his sentence because he became too scared by the sound of his own voice. Did… Did he really just speak? Did he really just talk to Namjoon? Those… Holy shit, those were his first words to Namjoon in over seventeen years.

Namjoon’s head snapped up to him, still tear filled though they were wide now as he asked, “Who…” he bit his lip and sniffled, “Who are you?”

Would Namjoon not recognize him either? Would he be in denial about Jin ever being part of his family?

Jin was scared that was the case, but he took a deep breath and stepped forward more anyway, hoping that Namjoon would be able to see him clearer the closer he got though he stopped after just taking a few steps because he didn’t want to go through the same reaction Jimin gave him just a few moments ago. Still though, at this closer yet still far away distance, he managed to smile nervously and reply to Namjoon in a soft voice, “I-It’s me,” his smile grew when he saw Namjoon’s eyes widen even more. He started to laugh a little but then he only began to cry as he continued to speak, “I’m sorry I made you wait so long-!”

He couldn’t even finish his apology before Namjoon suddenly snapped up from the ground and closed the distance between them in less than a second, wrapping him up in a big hug and shouting out in shock, “Y-You’re back!” in his excitement he knocked Jin to the ground, causing them both to fall though neither of them cared now as Namjoon held him bone-crushingly tight and whispered out his name because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, what he was feeling, “J-Jin… Jin… Jin, you’re finally back,” he sobbed out and pressed his face into the crook of the dragon’s neck, “I thought you were dead. Why did you take so long to come back? Why-!” he shook his head, “Never mind, I don’t want an answer right now. Just….” he lifted his head to stare into Jin’s eyes, needing to wipe his own first because they were filled with too many tears for him to see clearly, but when he saw his lover clearly and finally underneath him and in his arms again after so long, he only tilted his head and whispered so softly, “Say something…”

     “Where do I even begin?” Jin asked, lifting a hand to cup it around Namjoon’s cheek and feel his skin underneath his own once again.

He smiled and leaned up to kiss the viking, not sure what he was doing since moments ago he was sure Namjoon would hate him, but now… Now, Namjoon was kissing him back and holding him so tight he could barely breathe. Namjoon pressed deeper into the kiss so Jin didn’t even have to lift his head anymore. He cupped his hands around Jin’s face instead and kissed him so hard, Jin felt his head pressing down against the soft ground beneath him though there was no way he could complain because he had been wanting to be kissed like this for so long by Namjoon.

He had dreamed of the moment they would reunite over and over again, and though the moment definitely started differently than he had hoped, this was definitely how he wanted it to end.

     “I missed you, my alpha,” he spoke again Namjoon’s lips, his body reacting in ways he forgot felt like now that he had his alpha on top of him. All desires had been shut off when he was away from him for these past many years, but now they were back and Jin wanted to have Namjoon remind him of how much he loved every bit of him all night long to make up for the time they lost together.

Namjoon hummed out against his lips as Jin let his legs spread apart for Namjoon so he could allow him to fit between his thighs as they continued to kiss, “I missed you calling me that, Jin,” he slipped his hand under the cloak Jin was wearing to feel his waist and trail it down to his thigh, his fingers shaking with excitement and anticipation as he spoke, “I missed everything about you. Your eyes, your laugh, your jokes, your thighs, your smile, and I-!” he sniffled and leaned forward to crash his lips into Jin’s again, “I’m taking you back to my village and this time you can’t say no, ok?”

     “But what if-!”

     “Jin, you can’t say no,” Namjoon’s eyes were wide with desperation as he pleaded with Jin, searching his eyes for hesitation as he asked a question that was one of his greatest fears right now, “You’re here to stay, right?” he sniffled and continued to rub his hand up and down Jin’s thigh to keep feeling his soft skin that he missed so much under his rough palms, “B-Becuase I don’t think I can handle you leaving Jin. You can’t just show up after seventeen years and then-!”

     “I’m staying,” Jin nodded his head, his eyes sincere as he looked up at his lover, “I might not ever leave your side again if you’ll let me stay by it at all times.”

Namjoon sniffled and his face broke out into a grin as he nodded his head and replied, “As if I’m even going to look away from you now that you’re finally back in my life. And you need to see Jimin! He was just a baby when you left, but now, he's so beautiful and adventurous. He has your intimidating stare and definitely your lips too... A-And he loves to make jokes just like-!”

     “Appa!” they both heard a younger voice call out before a familiar boy came running into the clearing, shouting out his father’s name frantically only once before he saw the sight in front of him: his father laying between the dragon’s thighs and cupping his face in his hands with their lips so close together though right now they were both only staring at Jimin with shocked expressions on their faces. 

Jimin tilted his head and looked at his father only, refusing to look the dragon in the eye, “Appa?… You know this dragon?”

Namjoon’s froze and glanced back at Jin, realizing the position he was in and awkwardly replying with, “Oh I…” he smiled upon seeing his lover again. Yes, he had no idea how to explain this to Jimin after years of lying to him, but how could he be scared when Jin was here? When Jin was underneath him and just as beautiful as the day he left? He laughed under his breath and smoothed the palm of his hand over his lover’s cheek again, “I guess I have a lot of explaining to do.”

     “You think?” Jin whispered, a smile spreading across his face as well anyways, “He doesn’t even know he’s-!” he bit his lip and turned to Jimin, “Or maybe he does since he burned me to get away from me.”

     “He what?” Namjoon turned to Jimin, finally getting up off of Jin just for now since he knew he needed to give his son some sort of explanation and now he wanted one as well. “Jimin, you burned him?”

Jimin felt his heart drop down to his stomach when his father asked him about his long kept secret, but he didn't let himself waver yet. He stood strong and spoke confidently, “No, you need to explain first, appa. What’s going on?”

Jin sat up with Namjoon, covering himself once more and leaning over onto him since the omega in him wasn’t ready to part with his alpha when they only just now found each other again. He didn’t speak up or say anything though. He wanted to. He wanted to just put it out there that he was Jimin’s father, but he knew that Namjoon was the one to raise Jimin these past seventeen years. Namjoon knew their son more than he did, and he knew how to handle this situation more as well.

So he stayed quiet and listened as Namjoon beckoned Jimin to come closer as he spoke calmly and seriously, “Jimin, I haven’t been honest with you… at all…. for your whole life really,” he quickly paused and added, “Just about one thing, actually.”

Jimin’s eyes narrowed and he stepped closer, “Appa, what are you talking about? Get… Get away from the dragon and-!”

     “Your mother never existed, Jimin,” Namjoon finally just blurted out, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly after he let out the truth that he had been wanting to say since Jimin was little and starting asking so many questions about who Namjoon fell in love with and lost in the span of a few years. He stood up now to step over to Jimin slowly as he continued to explain, “All those years when you asked me about her, I just… I made up some story I knew would make you believe you’re human and also keep you from going out and searching for him, but this dragon is your real father. H-He had to leave because of the dragon war, but he’s back now,” tears fell from Namjoon’s eyes when he was reminded of how Jin left him or possibly because he was finally getting to tell the truth to his son, but he looked back at Jin who was now getting up too and he smiled, “He’s back, and we can finally be a family again.”

     “What?” Jimin stepped back when Jin joined his father’s side and leaned on him again. “B-But he’s a man! This is making no sense!”

     “I’m an omega dragon,” Jin was hurt that Jimin didn’t like the idea of him being his father, but he tried to speak softly as maybe a mother would or how he used to speak to his baby so Jimin wouldn’t be too disappointed about this news, “I’m able to have children if an alpha mates with me, and that alpha is your father. We both fell in love and then had you in these very woods. You and I lived out here in this little house because we had to stay hidden from Namjoon’s village with the tension between dragons and humans growing stronger. One day though, a dragon tried to kill you for being half-human, so I had to give you up to Namjoon and leave for your safety so you could at least fit in to one side of the war that was starting.”

     “No….” Jimin muttered out, shaking his head, “No, you’re lying. I don’t see it.”

     “Jimin, you were just a baby,” Namjoon stepped forward and placed his hands on Jimin’s shoulder, “I don’t expect you to remember it, and I’d tell you to ask the elder who helped me raise you since she knew, but she sadly passed…all while shaming me that I didn’t tell you from the beginning that you were different.”

Jimin’s eyes widened when he found out that the elder who helped raise him had known all along that he was half-dragon if this all was true. He remembered how she was like a mother to him until he was six, always assuring him that he was stronger than the other kids thought because he held something within him that they didn’t. He thought maybe it was compassion or a sweet personality, but was she implying something else? Also thinking back to the first time he accidentally used his powers, she wasn’t even surprised at all, was she? Her eyes didn’t widen; she didn’t gasp or shout. All she did was calmly explain to him how to control it and keep it hidden since the other villagers wouldn’t react kindly to it at all. She ended up dying a few weeks after that from an illness, but he had remembered her words and kept it hidden even from his own father since he feared what his reaction would be…

He feared his dragon hating father would think he was one of the demons he fought every day because of these powers that Jimin thought he had randomly…

But turns out his father loved a dragon? Not just that, he mated with one and had Jimin from it? Jimin was half-dragon?

This was all too much.

Jimin stared at the dragon in front of him and beside his father, fitting the description of what his father described all these years. Someone with big eyes, short black hair, and a pretty face with an intimidating stare. Jimin swallowed thickly and thought about how this man was claiming to be half of him. This dragon was the reason why he had powers… this dragon was his mother he had been yearning for for years, though he was absolutely nothing like what he wanted or expected.

Jimin bit his lip and thought about what he had expected. A woman with a big laugh and a funny personality, someone who had apparently stalked his father in the woods until he invited her out to speak with him, someone who was brave and loved him more than anything, and…

oh.

Her name was Jin wasn’t it?

Was this dragon’s name Jin? If it wasn’t, then did that mean that there was still a woman out there named Jin that was possibly his mother? Namjoon was drunk when he mentioned Jimin’s mother’s name for the first time ever, and that was the first time he knew his father truly meant what he was saying about his mother, so if this dragon’s name wasn’t Jin, then Jimin could still hold hope that his real mother he imagined was out there! His real mother named Jin was just a beautiful human who was somewhere else and not a dragon who he couldn’t even imagine as someone who had him and took care of him or loved him.

     “What’s your name?” Jimin asked, ready to find out that this all was some kind of twisted joke. Jimin knew his mother’s name, and when he found the woman with the name Jin, he’d know he found her. But this dragon in front of him? Was definitely not his mother.

     “Jin,” the dragon ended up replying, smiling shyly.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he felt his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach when he realized that his father wasn’t joking when he said this dragon was Jimin’s real father. He looked between the two of them and saw them holding hands, and then when he thought back to how he first found them, he realized that his father wasn’t joking when he said he loved this dragon with all his heart.

This… This was the mother his father had cried over almost every night for years. This was the mother his father described only when he was drunk because only then was it harder for him to keep up with the lie that Jimin had a conventional human mother. This dragon was half of Jimin.

This dragon…. was half of him.

Jimin was half-dragon.

Jimin let that fact settle in more than anything, looking down at his hands that held the power of what he now knew was demonic. He wanted to throw up when he realized that was half-dragon. He was half the enemy and his father never bothered to tell him? Was he an embarrassment to his father? Did his father not trust him? Was that why he never wanted him out in battle? Was that why he never wanted him to learn how to protect himself because he feared Jimin would become their village’s worst enemy?

Jimin stepped back, asking in almost a whisper, “Why did you lie to me, appa?” he sniffled and wiped away tears that were falling, “I-I’m half monster, and you never told me?”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Jimin, no, dragons are not monsters!” he gripped onto Jin, fearing that Jin would be mad at him now for having raised a child that thought this, but Jin only held him back and whispered, “It’s ok, I wanted you to raise him human. This isn’t your fault.”

     “Yes it is!” Jimin argued, having heard Jin’s words. “Why raise me human when I’m not one? Appa, I never fit in and you knew that! Why didn’t you tell me?! And you!” he turned to Jin, “If you loved me so much, then why did you leave? Why did you not want me to know about you or half of what I am!?”

     “You would have died before you could even walk on your own if I had stayed,” Jin looked down, tears now falling from his eyes at what Jimin was saying. “Leaving you was the saddest day of my life, but I had to do it to make sure you stayed safe!”

     “Safe?!” Jimin shouted, stepping back and shaking his head again. “The truth would have kept me safe! T-Two parents would have kept me safe,” he clasped a hand over his mouth before he could cry out. “This really can’t be happening… I…” he glanced at Jin one last time, trying to think about what it would have been like to have him in his life raising him, but he couldn’t imagine a single thing with him. He couldn’t imagine being held by him, having his first steps with him, or even loving him. He sniffled and turned on his heel, wondering which direction was going to lead him to Jungkook’s village because the only two people he wanted to see right now were his two best friends who would hopefully assure him that everything was ok despite being half-monster.

He stared back at his father one last time, studying the distraught look on his face as he realized his son was about to run away, but Jimin didn’t change his mind about needing to leave. He couldn’t stay here any longer right now without going insane, so he quickly muttered out to him, “I have to go; I can’t be here right now,” before running off in the direction of Jungkook’s village, knowing he’d reach it in thirty minutes if he ran as fast as he could, and the two friends that would greet him and talk to him about this would help him forget or maybe be able to process this situation better.

When he left, Jin looked up at Namjoon and sniffled, “I’ve been gone too long for us to be a family, Joon. Maybe…” he looked down and sighed out, “Maybe I need to leave because-!”

     “No,” Namjoon squeezed his hand and pulled him in close to his chest to hug him, “I told you you’re not leaving again, you hear me?” he breathed in the scent of Jin that he missed so much and sighed out in relief that this really wasn’t a lucid dream or a hallucination. Jin was finally back again, and Namjoon couldn’t even worry about Jimin’s reaction right now because his lover that he had yearned for for so long was finally back. He wanted to cry out again, but instead, he just kissed Jin’s neck and whispered, “I’ll take you back to my village tonight. Jimin headed off to a neighboring village where he’ll be safe, so for now, I think it’s time you finally live with me as you should have all those years ago.”

Namjoon started to lead Jin out of the clearing, but Jin quickly held him back and shook his head, “Joon, I shouldn't live in your house with you and your son if he hates me. We should just take this slow, and-!”

     “Our son,” Namjoon interrupted him to correct him, “He’s your son too, don’t forget that,” he frowned, “And he’s not going to learn to love you if you aren’t around to remind him of the short time you two spent together, so follow me, Jin. We’ll become a family again, I promise you.”

     “We can’t-!” Jin tried to argue, but Namjoon kissed him and brought him into his chest for a hug to silence him and also say, “We can’t at least try unless we do this together. I missed you so much, Jinnie,” Namjoon pulled away, revealing to have tears welling up in his eyes and falling down his cheeks though he smiled and said through a laugh under his breath, “You really think I’m going to let you go again?”

Jin smiled and shook his head, “No.”

He should have never been worried about Namjoon’s reaction to seeing him again. Of course the man still loved him the same way he did all those years ago, so confidently and whole-heartedly. It was hard for Jin not to just melt in the palm of his hand once again, though it wasn’t like he was trying not to.

As soon as he felt Namjoon’s palm laying flat against his lower back, saw the man’s face just inches away from his, and heard his words, Jin knew he wouldn’t be able to last another second without him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resist following him back to his village, so he smiled and nodded his head, “I don’t think I’ll be able to keep myself from following you everywhere now anyway.”

     “Good,” Namjoon sighed out in relief now that Jin wasn’t arguing wit him anymore.

He squeezed the dragon’s hand and finally started to lead him in the direction of their village that was now empty of people though everything would be back to normal tomorrow when the fire cleared and everyone was sure they were safe. For now, the village belonged to him and his omega, and he was going to be sure to make up for the time he had lost with his lover. He was going to do everything he had yearned to do these years where they were apart, and this time, he was never going to let Jin go.

Jin was here to stay now.

Jin was finally part of their family again. 

Chapter Text

Forever and Ever

Jimin felt like he had been running all night by the time he finally reached Jungkook’s village and approached the chief’s quarters in the dead of the midnight where things were so much quieter and calmer than they were in his village on the shore. His father really wasn’t lying when he mentioned how safe this place was, secluded from the outside world and more importantly…dragons.

The village was completely dark when he arrived upon it in the forest, looking like it had faired a dragon attack before he came, but he knew blowing out all the candle lamps around the village was a precautionary move every village did when they were told of a dragon attack nearby.

Though seeing through the dark was hard, Jimin managed to find his way to where he knew Jungkook lived, hoping that he and Taehyung would be there so he could not tell them exactly what happened but definitely cry to them about how terrible it was.

Jungkook didn’t live with his father in the chief’s quarters, so Jimin barged in there without even knocking, already crying from either exhaustion or horror of what his life apparently was now, and he rushed over to where Jungkook was sleeping. He ran over to him and shook him awake, sitting on the edge of the bed and crying out when the younger boy woke up and turned to him, softly asking for an explanation for his crying in a yawn, “C-Can I sleep here tonight?” he saw someone else moving in the bed and watched as Taehyung woke up now too, slowly realizing what was happening and then hurrying to sit up and hug Jimin as he continued to cry, “So much shit happened tonight, and I can’t go back to the village… I-I can’t. I can’t do it.”

     “Jimin what happened?” Jungkook ended up getting out of bed, hurrying over to grab a candle so he could light it and see Jimin better just in case he had any injuries. As he left to go get a candle though, Jimin buried his face into Taehyung’s shoulder and whispered, “I’m a monster… Tae, I’m a monster. I’m a demon.”

     “What are you saying?” Taehyung asked softly, holding Jimin’s hand in his own and pulling back to look him in the eyes now that Jungkook was coming back with the light, “Tell me. What happened? Is everyone in our village ok?”

Jimin nodded his head and sniffled, eyeing Jungkook who was sitting beside him. Only Taehyung knew about his powers. Only Taehyung was willing to not kill dragons even when they scared him…. Jimin could only trust Taehyung at the moment. He had to stay quiet for now and just tell them vaguely what happened. He sniffled and climbed up more into the bed in Taehyung’s arms, answering to the both of them now, “Everyone is fine I think. The d-dragons are gone….” he looked down, knowing that that wouldn’t explain why he was crying hysterically right now, but with his mind so foggy and jumbled up right now, there was no way of him thinking up any other excuse except for the truth. He decided not to even try, and he just shook his head and muttered out gruffly, “I need to sleep… Can I go to bed? Is there a place where I can-!”

     “Just lay down here,” Jungkook offered and eyed Taehyung for a moment for reasons Jimin wasn’t sure of though it seemed like Taehyung wasn’t sure what to think of the stare either. He still nodded his head though and helped Jimin lay down in bed, “Yeah, lay between us. You’re safe now, Jimin.”

He knew he was safe now, surrounded by his two best friends that he was sure he might have cock-blocked though he couldn’t care less about that at the moment. He laid down between them and tried not to think about how he’d have to face the dragon claiming to be his father at some point though…

He’d have to face himself and the monster he was too.

But for now, he tried to fall asleep, still crying though he was now being held by his two best friends that were comforting him and offering strong words of assurance though they were probably confused about what was going on. Taehyung took off his overcoat and his boots before pulling the covers over the three of them, cuddling Jimin and whispering to him about how no matter what happened that night, he wasn’t a monster. Jungkook fell silent when he heard those words coming from Tae’s mouth. He was confused why Taehyung was having to say that to Jimin, but he didn’t pry. He only added on to his words and whispered to Jimin as well, “Someone like you could never be a monster, Jimin. You’re the kindest person I know… You’re not a monster.”

You’re not a monster…

Jimin fell asleep to those words, hoping and praying in his heart more than anything that they were true.

~(***)~

The next morning when Jimin woke up and remembered last night's events, he didn’t cry. No, instead, he was angry. He was fucking pissed. What the fuck happened last night? It had to be some kind of trick or lie being told to him.

That dragon… no. That monster... was not his mother.

He woke up alone in bed since Taehyung and Jungkook were probably already at breakfast in his village, so he quickly got up and got dressed to go get Taehyung and hurry back to their village. He felt sick deep down about the fact that he was going to have to confront that monster again at some point, but he wasn’t going to just let it waltz into his life and tell him he was part of the race the humans were against. He was not an enemy. He was not a monster.

He hurried into the dining hall of Jungkook’s village, a smaller one than his back at home but definitely built more beautifully, made of cobble stone and dark wood that could only be found in the center of the forest. It was brightly lit on the inside and buzzling with people since there was always less to get done in a forest village. Despite it being crowded, Jimin found Tae easily and grabbed his shoulder as soon as he walked up to him, “Tae, I need to speak privately with you.”

     “Oh, Jimin, you’re up! I was going to wake you, but Tae said to let you sleep,” Jungkook turned to Jimin with a smile, his friends still trying to talk to him despite him turning his interest to the young chief that had finally made his appearance.

Jimin could hear a few of Jungkook's friends giggling and whispering about how his future husband must have spent the night with him which was annoying to Jimin since he didn’t want anyone thinking he felt that way about Jungkook, but he ignored them for now to reply to him, “It’s fine. I think Taehyung and I have to get back to our village though especially since it was just attacked last night," he turned to Taehyung again, "Tae can we please talk?”

     “Sure?” Taehyung awkwardly replied, nervous by Jimin’s furrowed brows and scowl, but he got up anyway and followed his friend out of the dining hall and towards a patch of trees where no one was near, “You seem really pissed off. What’s wrong? And also what happened last night-!”

     “I'm kind of freaking out right now, so I’m going to make this quick,” Jimin interrupted him in a mutter. “I found my mother last night.”

Tae’s eyes widened and he gasped happily, “Oh wow, Jimin, that’s amazing!!”

     “Oh yeah, it is!” Jimin faked a smile as he spoke in a sarcastic tone but then scowled and added, “Except my mother is actually a father who is a dragon.”

Tae snorted a laugh, “Ok.”

     “I’m not kidding,” Jimin deadpanned, staring Tae down with a serious look on his face. He felt like he was glaring at his best friend which was probably uncalled for, but it was the only thing that made Taehyung realize that he really wasn’t playing. His mother. Was a guy. Who was a dragon.

     “Oh shit you’re really not,” Taehyung’s smile finally fell, and he looked down at the ground in shock. “So this is why you have powers then, right?” he looked back up at Jimin, “You’re half-dragon?” he gasped, “Oh by Odin, you’re seriously half-!”

     “Shut up!” Jimin clasped a hand over Taehyung’s mouth to quickly shut him up. He glanced around to see if anyone heard, and when he realized he was in the clear, he sighed and spoke softly once more, “Look, I’m freaking out Tae. I don’t want to be half-monster, and I refuse to think I am. There could be so many other reasons as to why I have these powers, a-and I’ll get to the bottom of it, ok?”

Taehyung nodded his head, “Yeah, no we will. I agree, I can’t imagine you being half-dragon anyway. That’d be scary, and that’s one thing that you’re definitely not.”

     “Thank you,” Jimin sighed and turned around, “So I should either go back to the village to confront my father and that thing about the lies they are telling me or live here for the rest of my life in denial about whatever happened last night,” he placed his hands on Tae’s shoulders, “You have to help me decide.”

     “Go back to the village, duh,” Taehyung replied as if it was easy.

     “No,” Jimin shook his head and Taehyung quickly grabbed his shoulders in return, “Jimin, you have to go. Don’t you have any burning questions? Like, what if it is real? Why did they separate? Why did your dragon dad leave you? Or… Or is he your dragon mom? Is he ok with being called that? I feel like he would be since he birthed you, and mom to him might just mean the person that had the baby in a relationship instead of a female-!”

     “Ok I’ll go,” Jimin blew out air through his lips and rolled his eyes as he let out a sigh, “This is dumb. He’s not my dad, mom, or even distant relative, but I know my appa isn’t crazy a-and he seemed to love him. I don’t approve of it, but I know I can’t stay here and ignore it.”

He started walking towards the dining hall again and Taehyung ran up beside him, “I’ll be there with you to get to the bottom of this as well. And if it is him, I mean, at least you won’t think your mother was a cryptic that disappeared in a tragic way?”

     “Yeah, my mother was just a guy that left me,” Jimin looked down, now suddenly realizing that if the dragon really was his father then…. then that meant that he was the one to leave Jimin and Namjoon all alone… His mother didn’t die…. he left Jimin by choice.

He and Taehyung went back to the dining hall to tell Jungkook they were leaving which was protested though Taehyung made sure to promise they’d hang out soon to tell him what was going on before he pushed Jimin out of the hall and hurried him back through the forest towards his village on the shore. As they walked, Jimin grew more and more nervous about seeing the dragon named Jin again. He was scared he would have to face the truth at full force now that this dragon was back and his father was on its side.

Taehyung could tell he was scared, so he held his hand and tried to change the subject for a moment to get Jimin’s mind off of what was happening, “So I got to talk to Jungkook a lot last night while we were falling asleep in his bed.”

     “Ah,” Jimin was still too engrossed in his own thoughts to care about the relationship he had been trying to get together for years, but Taehyung continued anyway despite Jimin’s obvious lack of interest at the moment, “Yeah, he described the person he was in love with to me, and…” he giggled a little and looked down, “I think that person is me. I mean… who else in our village has light brown hair like me? It’s unnatural, so-!”

     “Tae, if I’m really a monster, do you think people will hate me? Do you think even Jungkook would be scared to be my friend?” Jimin interrupted Taehyung to ask, his eyes now welling up with tears again that immediately alarmed Taehyung as Jimin’s best friend.

He hurried to grab both of Jimin’s hands now and shake his head with a serious frown on his face, “Jimin, you’re sweet and everyone knows it. You’ve always said it yourself that not all dragons are monsters. You’d definitely be one of the friendly ones and I’m sure your dad-slash-mom is too.”

      “He tried to kill me before realizing I was his son,” Jimin admitted softly and Tae sighed, “Alright, you know what? We need to go to the cliff and talk about things. You shouldn’t go down to the village yet until your mind is clear and I can convince you that no matter where or what you came from, you’re still who you have always been on the inside and out, ok?”

He wouldn’t accept another answer from Jimin. Without waiting for a reply, he led him to their cliff instead of the village and sat him down on the dewey grass that wasn’t so damp as much as it was dry and black from the smoke that was still lifting from their village even now. They were high enough for the black air not to affect them so badly, so they could freely sit down and speak without any problems.

And here, Taehyung said, “You were always half-dragon. You do know that, right? You just now discovering what you are doesn’t change your personality.”

     “I know, but that just means that this whole time, my appa-!”

     “-has loved you? Protected you as a human and as his son because that is what you are?” Taehyung tilted his head, “He’s not scared of you. Especially if he had sex with a dragon to have you.”

Jimin shut his eyes and puckered his lips up in a pout, “Tae, I’ve been trying to avoid thinking about how I was conceived all day…”

Taehyung laughed a little and patted his best friend on the back, “Dragons can turn into different creatures, so I’m sure he just turned into a human male and-!”

     “I don’t want to imagine it at all,” Jimin whined out and sniffled, causing Tae to laugh again, this time louder. Tae’s laugh was contagious so Jimin couldn’t help but laugh too. He laughed a little at first but then it grew louder and harder, and he had to bury his head into his hands, “Eww, I can’t…” he snorted and shook his head, “My dad and a dragon is so gross,” he groaned out and leaned onto Tae, “You should have been there when I found them after they reunited. He was on top of him and kissing him, and it was so-!”

     “Jimin, I don’t want to imagine it just as much as you!” Tae squeaked out and raised his hands, “I was nervous just walking through the woods alone with Jungkook last night, I can’t even imagine kissing him. I don’t know how you imagine that kind of stuff with Yoongi.”

     “Oh, I hate him now by the way,” Jimin replied, pulling his knees up to his chest and puckering his lips out in a pout as he thought about last night and the things Yoongi said to him. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and sighed, “He’s mean.”

Taehyung turned to him and tilted his head, raising an eyebrow and edging him on to continue, “But…?”

     “Nope,” Jimin shook his head, “That’s it. He’s mean. I’m giving up on him because I don’t want to be with someone like him.”

Taehyung gasped and laughed a little under his breath, “Oh thank Odin!! You deserve so much better,” he grinned and looked out at their village that was already getting back to work to restore it after the attack. Yoongi was probably down there, directing people on where to go and what to do all while grumbling about how he hated dragons. Tae narrowed his eyes as he thought about the grumpy dragon slayer and sighed while turned to look back at Jimin to his side, “And now that you know you’re half-dragon, you shouldn’t be with a dragon slayer anyway. That’s like… cannibalism or something.”

Jimin shuddered at the thought of cannibals, something his father told him about when he was younger that was apparently a real thing in other islands farther south of Europe though there was a rumor the trading vikings always joked about how the royals ate those who wronged them. The thought of cannibals always scared Jimin, but was that technically what his relationship with Yoongi would be?… Of course he wouldn’t eat his kind, but… but killing his kind was just as bad, wasn’t it? It'd probably be wrong for him to even be friends with him now, wouldn’t it?

Oh… But Yoongi didn’t even want to be friends with him though, so there was no reason to even worry about this.

Jimin was about to just nod his head and agree with Taehyung while also maybe declaring that he wasn’t even going to think about Yoongi ever again, but before he could, he felt a presence behind him and quickly turned around to see Jin walking up to them out of the lining of the woods with clothes on now and a shy smile on his face.

He had a brown fur cloak that dragged behind him in the dry grass and the rest of his clothes looked borrowed from Namjoon, hanging loose over his body though it still looked good on him for some reason. Maybe because of his broader shoulders, though when Jimin looked at them, all he could see were the dark hickeys peaking out from under the collar of his shirt and his cloak.

Jimin scrunched his nose up at the thought of how Jin got those, but he tried not to think about it too much even as the dragon approached them and addressed them in a tone of voice much softer than last night though a bit raspier from things Jimin, again, didn’t want to think about, “A friend of yours… I think his name was Hoseok?… told me you’d be up here. I just…” Jin huffed and looked out at the same view the two friends had been staring at. He smiled a little, “Ah, no wonder why you disappear to here all the time. I was worried you were unhappy, but this is just a beautiful-!”

     “Why are you here?” Jimin cut him off, wondering why the dragon would seek him out even when he knew Jimin didn’t want to speak to him nor did he want to pretend like they were family and everything was ok.

Jin bit his lip when Jimin interrupted him, sad that his son he had dreamt of seeing again for years seemed to hate him, but he wasn’t angry. It was understandable. Jimin didn’t remember him nor did he really imagine him when he thought of a parent, so seeing him and being told that they were family was probably a hard pill to swallow.

He answered Jimin sweetly as if he wasn’t phased by it though he was sure Jimin could see it in his eyes that he was, “I… I’m just here to talk to you a little. I know this all must be very confusing for you, so if you have any questions, I can-!”

     “Jimin, you should talk to him,” it was the… other boy that chose to interrupt Jin this time, actually saying something that was helpful though.

Jin eyed him, not sure what to think since he could sense the same thing Ashanti did, and it didn’t seem like Jimin knew the truth. He didn’t let himself dwell on it for long though since the boy got up before Jimin could protest it and told him that this was good for him before smiling awkwardly at Jin and hurrying away.

Jin turned to Jimin with a confused but also mildly amused stare, “You must have told him everything, I’m assuming?” Jin spoke, braving to sit next to Jimin despite his better judgement telling him to let the boy still have his space. He glanced back at where Taehyung was now walking into the tree-line to head back to their village, not even bothering to look back at them as he left. He chewed on his bottom lip lightly and couldn’t stop himself from adding, “Is that boy a close friend of yours?”

     “Best friend,” Jimin answered, a frown still on his face, “And yeah, he knows everything. He knows what I am despite being human too. I trust him more than anything, and he has always watched my back since he was the only person to know…” Jimin paused and looked down at his hands, sighing and muttering out the next part, “He was the only person to know I could create fire. I was always too afraid to tell appa, but I guess maybe if I told him, I would have found out a lot sooner that my whole life was a lie and I have a dragon dad instead of a human mom.”

      “You’re disappointed?” Jin asked, laughing a little as if this was a joke, but he paused in anticipation, wondering if Jimin would actually admit it to him that he was disappointed.

He held his breath and waited for the reply, thinking that would help though his heart still sank when Jimin subtly nodded his head and awkwardly replied under his breath, “I’m not exactly happy…” his paused since he felt bad for saying that despite his words being whole-heartedly true. He made sure to add anyway, “And I’m sure you’re actually ok since my dad likes you and was happy to see you again, but I just find it hard to be ok with being the son of… of-!”

     “The enemy…” Jin finished what Jimin was trying to say for him since he knew that was what the boy was thinking. He frowned and brought one knee up to his chest to keep there as he muttered out, “I know you’ve been taught to think dragon’s are the enemy your whole life, but I promise you we’re not evil. We’re not demons like everyone thinks.”

     “No, I know,” Jimin countered. “I actually like dragons, but I just… I just don’t want to be thought of like that. I don’t want people to look at me and think I’m the enemy or I’m a demon.”

He was lucky he had such a caring person like Tae as his best friend, but Hoseok… Yoongi… the rest of the people of his village… they would all hate him if they found out what he was. They would try to kill him too which was probably why his father kept the truth about him a secret for so long. He didn’t feel comfortable staring at Jin like this when he was being told that he was his ‘mother’ all along, so he looked to the edge of the cliff in front of him and told himself that this conversation would thankfully be over soon as Jin replied, “That… That was a reason why I wanted you to grow up thinking you were human if you ever had to be raised by your father. I didn’t want you to feel like an outcast,” Jimin could hear Jin choking up on his words, so he finally turned to him again as Jin continued to say, “The hardest day of my life was leaving you. And every day after that was even harder with me always having to convince myself that you were safe without me.”

Jimin noticed how Jin was starting to cry, and without thinking, he reached up to wipe one of his tears away. He froze when the tip of his thumb touched Jin’s face and he awkwardly explained himself, “I… don’t cry. I don’t want you to cry. I’m alive now, so what you did was for the best I guess.”

     “But you don’t even remember me,” Jin breathed out, “We used to be inseparable… You’re father lived in the village while you and I lived out in the woods in the house he built for us,” he smiled at the thought though his bottom lip was trembling and he had to dig his nails into his skin to keep himself from crying out again, “You loved Namjoon so much; you even said his name first, but…” he sniffled and laughed a little, “Sometimes when he held you, you’d cry and cry until you were given back to me. It always made Joon feel terrible, but it made me proud, you know?” he turned to Jimin who had brought his hand back to his lap when he started speaking but at least now he was looking him in the eyes as he spoke and listening intently, “You were my baby that I worked so hard to have; of course I wanted you to love me more…”

Jimin looked down at the ground, feeling tears prickling his eyes though he didn’t know why. Why did he care? He didn’t know this man… He didn’t…

But Jin was his father.

     “-And I used to sing this song to you-!” Jin started to say, and Jimin snapped his head up to him, “What song was it? Do you remember?”

Was it… Was it the song Jimin had always had stuck in his head since before he could remember?

Jin seemed surprised by Jimin’s sudden interest, but he overcame it quickly to smile and happily answer his son about the one thing he was curious about so far since they had first started talking, “You used to cry a lot when we were alone or it was dark out, and Namjoon told me that singing sometimes helped calm babies down. Now, dragons never sang to their young; my mother never sang to me, so I just kind of made up the words and put a tune to it and hoped you would stop crying and listen to me…” Jin smiled to himself and looked down, “It worked every time.”

Jimin looked down and scooted closer to Jin only barely an inch, not really sure what to think anymore though he couldn’t help himself from asking, “Do you think you remember it enough to sing it?”

     “Remember it?” Jin asked, noticing how Jimin scooted closer and feeling his heart beat faster with a joy he never thought he’d be able to feel with his son being close to him again. He laughed a little and shook his head, “Jimin, I sang it every time I was scared in battle or cried myself to sleep because I missed you so much. The song is embedded so deep in my heart, I don’t think I could ever forget it.”

Jimin smiled and looked to him, waiting for him to sing it, and Jin grew nervous. As a baby, Jimin could never get enough of his singing voice, always babbling along with him and giggling as he always did even just after being born. Jin was scared Jimin wouldn’t like his voice now. Jin was scared Jimin would hear it and grow irritated that he still couldn’t remember a thing about Jin. Jin was scared Jimin would lose interest when he heard the lyrics or the tune that he sometimes changed up depending on his mood.

He was scared… but seeing his son staring at him with an anticipating gaze and a soft smile pushed him to sing to him for the first time in seventeen years anyway, hoping that the song that used to always assure them that they would have each other even in the darkest of times would be the song that brought them together again after they had grown apart for so long.

Jin took a deep breath and looked away with a blush, starting to sing,

'Please stop crying ‘cause baby I’m here,

to hold you close and hold you dear

I’ll sing to you in the dark of the night

hoping my voice can be your new light

Listen to me and remember my song

You’re made from love and you’ll grow up so strong

I’ll always be here even if we’re apart

I’m within you in your dragon heart’

Jin shut his eyes and thought about how he’d always hold Jimin so close as he sang those words, protecting him from the night or the thunder or lightning. He felt invincible as he sang that, feeling as if the song itself was a spell that cast away all evil from him and his baby. He stopped singing when he felt himself choking up a little on the lyrics and turned to Jimin for approval or to see if maybe he recognized the lyrics, but Jimin’s soft smile had only started to fade by the time Jin turned to him.

Jin wavered for a moment, scared as to why Jimin was starting to frown, but before he could ask him what was wrong, a tear fell down Jimin’s cheek and he muttered out, “You…. You would always sing it to me during thunderstorms…The loud noises would always stop by the time the song was over.”

     “You always fell asleep before the song was over,” Jin felt himself crying again, but he didn’t dare wipe his tears away. “Do…Do you remember that? The storms?”

Dragons could remember everything from the moment they hatched, but Jin always assumed Jimin was different because he was born human and therefore probably had more human traits in his main form… but could he really remember their times together?

Jimin shook his head though and muttered out through a shaky breath, “I only remember your voice…. and the sound of thunder behind yours that always seemed to fade away when you sang,” tears fell from his face and towards the grass on the ground, so he quickly wiped his cheeks dry of tears and looked down, “Hearing you sing that made me remember how low and soft your voice always was when you sung,” he choked up on his words and looked away, “You… You really are my father.”

     “I am,” Jin breathed out, thankful Jimin could remember that song. Even when spending time with Namjoon last night, Jin had woken up sick to his stomach this morning about how his own child rejected him, but he never expected his silly song he made up for Jimin one night to be the thing to make him remember it all.

Jimin’s breath hitched sharply and he suddenly wrapped his arms around Jin, holding him tight as he spoke eagerly now as if he was trying to say as much as he could before he burst into tears, “I’ve always had that song stuck in my head ever since before I could remember. No one on the island had heard it before, not even appa. I knew it was our song. It had to be our song.”

     “It is our song,” Jin laughed a little and hugged Jimin back, holding him so close and taking in the scent of the baby he used to hold just like this until the war pulled them apart… But he was never never going to leave again…

Never.

~(***)~

When night came and the sky was covered with an indigo blanket decorated with stars, Jimin couldn’t believe he had hated Jin the previous night. He couldn’t believe he shed tears over the fact that they were related when after a whole day of talking to him and learning about his past he couldn’t remember, he was in love with him all over again.

     “You’re nothing like appa!” Jimin laughed as they started to make their way down from the cliff and back towards the village since Jimin had told Jin about the search parties his father would probably set out for the two of them if they were gone for too long. They walked close by each other, still laughing as Jimin continued, “You seem so wild compared to him! He’s very cautious and super protective of me. I’m not even allowed to go into the woods.”

     “I can’t even believe that, because your father used to put you in the most dangerous situations,” Jin replied with a chuckle, “I swear, I thought for a few days when you were first born that maybe he wanted you to get yourself killed, but then I just realized that he was just a young dad who had no idea what he was doing with a baby.”

     “He still doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Jimin sighed as they came closer and closer to the village. He made sure to add after that though, “He’s a really great dad though. I never once doubted that he was trying or that he loved me… I just always knew that he was hurting. He wanted you back so badly.”

     “Well I’m here now, and I’m not leaving,” Jin replied and nudged Jimin with his shoulder, smiling, “First order of business will be letting you go out into the woods whenever you want.”

Jimin grinned, “If you can convince appa-!”

     “Oh please, I convinced Joon to fall in love with me in less than a month, I can convince him to relax a little and let you do what you want,” Jin spoke smugly, carefully avoiding saying anything about how he also convinced Namjoon to mate and have a child with him in less than a month too, but he was sure if Jimin thought about it hard enough, he’d be able to realize that as well. And Jin would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of that.

Jimin laughed at what Jin said though and moved himself a little closer so that his shoulders were now seldomly brushing against Jin’s arm. At first, Jin thought it was just an accident or some kind of trick of the mind that maybe they were walking closer together, but after the third time their arms brushed against each other, Jin knew Jimin had moved himself closer… Just as he was when he was only a baby, Jimin wanted to be as close to Jin as he could.

When they walked up to the village, Namjoon ran up to greet them before they could make it up to the house where they were planning to talk more while the rest of the village was at dinner. Though Jin had a dreaded feeling Namjoon would excitedly coax him to dinner to meet his clan that he had been wanting him to meet for over seventeen years now, Jin was never going to complain about seeing Namjoon’s face or feeling his touch as he greeted him with a hug and a kiss before huffing out almost in a whine, “You said you’d go speak to him, but you were gone most of the day.”

Jin chuckled under his breath and pressed his forehead to Namjoon’s as they hugged, “We had a lot of catching up to do.”

     “Appa, I remember,” Jimin spoke up from beside the two of them.

This caused Namjoon to finally pull back from Jin with a bewildered expression and stare at Jimin with wide eyes, “What?” he raised an eyebrow and turned to Jin, “He remembers what?”

     “Me singing to him when he was a baby,” Jin answered and lifted a hand to run his fingers through Jimin’s soft black hair. He smiled and pulled his son close, “He remembered our song. Can you believe it?”

     “No…” Namjoon still stared at Jimin with a shocked look on his face though a smile only started to grow in his expression until he finally sang out happily and stepped forward to wrap Jimin up in a hug as well, “This makes me so happy! You have no idea how I was hoping that you’d somehow see a sign that he was really your father… It seems like Odin has been hearing my prayers lately,” he held his family in his arms and stared at them proudly, “We’re finally all three together again! We need to celebrate!”

And as if those words were a string that drew back a curtain to the rest of the village, Jin and Jimin finally noticed the music being played loudly from the dining hall where torches were lit up with fire on the outside of it. From beyond the big opened doors showing off the brightly lit grand hall, they could see people dancing to the sounds of the rebec, drums, and flute, laughing and singing songs of war as if their village hadn’t been close to ruin just the day before.

     “What on earth are they celebrating at a time like this?” Jin wondered out loud, tilting his head to the side since he was curious of how humans celebrated since he had only been to two human parties in his life time and had only cautiously watched from afar instead of joined.

Namjoon suddenly pulled him and Jimin closer towards the dining hall though, laughing and explaining to them, “I ordered a celebration! We may have been attacked yesterday, but my love has returned and my village must show him a good time.”

Before Jin could grow nervous about being near so many humans or try to turn away, Namjoon pulled him towards the dining hall along with Jimin and led them both into the party behind him, still holding their hands even as he walked through the door and everyone paused to cheer for him.

Jin immediately moved closer to Namjoon, trying to hide behind him though too many eyes were on him now for him to be able to successfully hide. He still tried his best though, pressing his body up to the back of Namjoon and keeping his gaze down on the ground since he was afraid of looking the humans in the eye and being discovered.

Jimin, on the other hand, separated from Namjoon and ran over to Taehyung to secretly tell him about everything that had happened in a completely different tune than earlier that morning.

The music started back up and Jin let out a breath when everyone went back to their previous conversations, food, music, or dancing. A few people eyed him with scrunched up noses since they didn’t recognize him and he was latched onto their chief, but Namjoon didn’t allow him to be bothered by them as he held Jin closer to his side and rested his head on him so lovingly and whispered, “I thought this would be the easiest way to introduce you to my people. A meeting is too formal, just letting them see you around the village is too informal, but a celebration in your honor? Perfect. It sets the right tone too.”

     “And what tone is that?” Jin asked.

     “That you are the most important person to me, and they should treat you as such,” Namjoon answered with a grin, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, “Welcome home, Jin.”

He pulled Jin up to the main table only fit for the chief viking and his right hand men in war. Namjoon’s oldest friends sat at this table along with a few elders, and he knew Jimin, Yoongi, Hoseok, and Tae would someday sit here too when his generation was gone, but for tonight? Jin sat beside him in honor. And that would remain his seat for as long as he stayed which was hopefully forever and ever.

He took Jin around the table to meet his closest friends, introducing him as someone from a clan on a different island that he had fallen in love with and finally found last night during the dragon attack. They had at first raised an eyebrow up at the idea of Namjoon being in love with anyone besides Jimin’s mother, but they didn’t waver for long since questioning their chief was never a wise choice for any viking no matter the size or the age. If they had anything to say about it, they locked it up deep inside of themselves and only smiled and congratulated the two on finally finding each other again.

Jin was proud of himself for talking to so many humans confidently as if he was one of them, and when he and Namjoon got to their seats, he almost patted himself for a job well done leaving a pretty normal impression on his lover’s friends, but before he could, Namjoon placed a hand on his back to make sure he stayed standing and suddenly raised his arm to gain the attention of the whole crowd of people partying in the dining hall. Jin’s eyes widened and he turned to Namjoon as he shook his head and muttered out, “Joon, I probably don’t even look decent enough to-!”

      “Baby, you look beautiful,” Namjoon interrupted him with a grin and turned back to the room that was now completely silent and staring at him once more. He squeezed Jin’s hand tight down by his side and spoke to the room with such a dignified and confident tone that made Jin feel something deep within him that reminded him of why he had chosen this man to be his alpha just in case he forgot, “Everyone, listen to these words I am about to say, because they might just be the most important words to leave my mouth ever!” he turned to Jin and stared into his eyes with a bright smile, trying to convince himself that this really was real life and not just a dream that felt all too real. “This celebration has been called for a multitude of reasons really,” he turned back to the room, “We all survived through a brutal dragon attack and our houses still stand as well.”

Everyone cheered at that, pumping their fists up in the air and tapping each other on the backs if they played an important role in defending their village against the dragons. Jin tried not to feel out of place when he heard a few vikings shout slurs against dragons, but it was hard when he heard things like, ‘I’ll kill every last one of them!’ or ‘Bloody creatures deserve to all burn down where they came from’. He smiled anyway, knowing that in order to survive, he had to act human. He couldn’t show offense… If Jimin could go all this time knowing he had dragon powers in a dragon hating world, Jin could too. He had to set a good example for his son.

Namjoon continued, “Our village will remain strong and I thank you all for that, but one more thing I would like to celebrate tonight is the return of my lover from so long ago. With our trials came at least one triumph, and that is Kim Seokjin. He will be part of our clan from now on, living and providing for the village alongside me.”

Jin smiled awkwardly and raised a hand up to greet everyone, “I will work hard to find my place here, and I hope to get to know you all soon.”

There were a few murmurs of what happened to Jimin’s mother and if Namjoon had given up trying. Jin almost thought that it would be too hard to live here with the false story Namjoon put up for so long to protect their son, but then he heard a voice from the back of the room shout, “You’re so handsome! Are you going to hopefully represent our village?”

Jin’s cheeks heated up in a blush and he turned to see Jimin’s friend in the back of the room beside Jimin, smiling and giving him a thumbs up.

Oh. Oh yeah, he knew the truth.

Was he helping out because he was Jimin’s friend or was he helping out because of what he was?…

Jin narrowed his eyes at him for a second, but then decided to smile since it seemed like he was helping him for now. He breathed out nervously and looked to Namjoon with an awkward smile, squeezing his hand for support and whispering, “This wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”

     “They’re going to love you-!” Namjoon started to say, but was interrupted by another familiar shout from the back of the room as well, “This is definitely something to celebrate. Our village needed someone with shoulders like his!”

It was Jimin.

Jin laughed a little and mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him before someone else beside him shouted, “Let’s dance!” he raised his glass, his smile was wide and shaped like a heart as he continued to speak, “Everyone raise your cups to our village standing strong, and to our newest tribe member, Jin!”

Jin didn’t know the boy who seemed to be Jimin’s age standing next to him, but he was grateful for Jimin and his friends speaking up for him to make this whole situation less awkward. He watched as everyone then raised a mugs as the boy requested and all shout out in unison, “To our village! And to Jin!”

Namjoon handed a mug to Jin and held his own firmly in his hand as he started to raise it, saying softly to just Jin as he stared deeply into his eyes with a small smile, “Welcome home, Jin. May it be your home forever and ever.”

     “Cheers to that,” Jin whispered back, raising his mug as well to join the rest of the village.

After that, the music started back up and a few pairs of humans went out to the middle of the room where no tables were to move in strange ways with each other to the beat of the music. Jin’s eyes widened since dancing around each other like this was a mating ritual for dragons. He turned to Namjoon in shock and asked, “This is what your humans do at celebrations?”

     “Dancing?” Namjoon asked, somehow not seeing what was wrong with such a show in front of a crowd.

Jin took a sip of the bitter tasting liquid in his cup and shook his head, “That’s a mating ritual,” he heard Namjoon snort into his mug from beside him, so he turned to him with a serious expression on his face as he repeated his concerns, “This is dangerous. What if someone someone gets in the way of the alpha? How do you control what-!”

     “Jin, have you seriously never danced before?” Namjoon took Jin’s hand and put down his mug before he started pulling Jin in the direction of the 'mating grounds'. Jin tried to go against Namjoon’s pull and resist going out there, but Namjoon was stronger than him, pulling him out in between all of the mating couples and holding onto Jin’s hips to pull him in close.

Jin looked away, a blush creeping across his face as he muttered out, “Namjoon we already mated. We don’t need to do this.”

     “Dancing isn’t mating,” Namjoon laughed, “It’s just something fun that we do with people we love,” he leaned forward to kiss Jin though, not caring about the witnesses all around them, “Though I wouldn’t mind mating with you after this once again.”

Jin chuckled under his breath and shook his head, “Silly, we can't do it again. You’re already my alpha.”

     “Ah, but I barely remember,” Namjoon rolled his eyes and cupped Jin’s hand in his own to allow him to twirl around with some guidance with his hand though so the dragon knew what to do with ease. When Jin was back around and staring at him again, Namjoon continued speaking, “I need to be reminded of what the love of my life is like in bed.”

     “You were reminded last night,” Jin grinned and pressed his forehead against Namjoon’s, “But when breeding season comes around, you’re definitely going to be in for a surprise at how needy I’ve become without you. My body will be so excited to have you near me again.”

Namjoon shut his eyes and hummed out, “And when is breeding season?”

     “Four months from now,” Jin grinned, “Maybe we can go visit our little cottage in the woods for a week? Relive old times?”

Namjoon nodded his head eagerly at that, his grip on Jin’s waist tightening, “Jin, I think I want to relive old times with you tonight,” their lips were so close as they now swayed in the middle of all the dancing vikings that were hollering and shouting above the music and singing. Everything was quiet though to Jin. Absolutely silent. All that was in front of him or around him was just Namjoon and their beating hearts that were pounding against their chests that touched every time they swayed. Jin stared deep into Namjoon’s sharp eyes he had always remembered so vividly when he missed him at night and dreamed of him, touching his hips the way he did now and holding his body so firmly as if to keep him from fading away.

      “Jin…. I know I kept you up all night just last night, but if you don’t mind-!” Namjoon started to whisper, but Jin was too eager to comply, so he interrupted with a happy nod, “Please, Namjoon,” he laughed a little, “Dragons don’t truly need sleep,” he kissed him and let his hands trail from Namjoon’s chest all the way down to hard on he already had for Jin in his pants, “Especially when it’s their alpha keeping them up.”

Namjoon felt a chill run up is spine when he heard Jin say that, his cheeks tinted with a pink hue of a blush. He held onto Jin tighter and leaned forward to kiss him again, and he knew if he didn’t get him home to tear off his layered clothing and see the body of his lover purely naked underneath him or on top of him or really anyway he wanted to do it. Namjoon just needed Jin more than anything right now. He needed to be closer to him than this. He needed to put his love into some kind of physical action towards Jin as soon as possible or he was sure he would burst out crying instead.

     “Let’s go,” he took Jin’s hand and immediately dragged him away from the party, almost forgetting that there was a celebration completely since he was about to have the guest of honor in his arms and moaning his name in five minutes. He turned to Jin and grinned when he saw that the dragon was equally excited, probably relieved to be leaving, and walking close to Namjoon on their way out. Being this close to Jin made Namjoon’s heart do flips in his chest, so he couldn’t imagine what he was going to be feeling in the next few moments.

He finally had Jin back, and he was going to make sure they made up for their years apart. And if they managed to do so in the first two nights he was back? Then he wouldn’t be surprised, because when he told Jin they were going to stay up all night, he meant it with all his heart.

~(***)~

Jimin had watched his parents leave the party early as he was dancing with Taehyung along with almost everyone else in the dining hall. They had a look on their faces that told him he was going to have to spend the night with someone else tonight, so he leaned in close to Tae and whispered, “Looks like I might need to spend the night with you tonight,” he laughed a little though he was trying desperately not to think about his two fathers and their midnight activities back at home too much.

Taehyung nodded his head in understanding though, “You saw that too? I could practically sense the tension between the two of them; I honestly thought they were going to rip off each other’s clothes right there!”

     “Eww!” Jimin laughed and stuffed his face into Taehyung’s shirt out of embarrassment, “I don’t even want to think of them doing anything past kissing.”

     “Their making another little Jimin,” Taehyung whispered with a sly look on his face since he knew exactly what he was doing, “You’re going to have a little brother after tonight-!”

     “Stop!” Jimin interrupted him, laughing but also gasping when he saw someone walk through the big wooden doors of the dining hall. His eyes were wide and he quickly flipped Taehyung around as he announced excitedly, “Looks like someone couldn’t keep his hands off you after last night!”

Taehyung froze when he saw Jungkook walking in, dressed up in his leather boots and black cloak that made him look like a 'sexy fucking king', Taehyung’s words in his mind exactly. He grabbed onto Jimin’s hand and muttered out, “Oh shit, I want him right now. Like last night when we kind of cuddled, I had to desperately hide how hard I was, but do you think it’d be fine now to just take him out of here as soon as he shows up and ride him ‘til morning?” he turned to Jimin, “kind of like what your dad is doing to your appa-!”

     “Gross,” Jimin sighed, “Gross to everything you said from the moment you started speaking,” he still slapped Tae on the ass anyway to get him to start walking over to the young future chief, “But go for it. At least one of us needs to get the man of our dreams by the end of the night, and I’m rooting for you.”

Taehyung grinned and started walking away, only turning back to Jimin to say, “While I’m getting dick, can you do me a favor and not throw yourself at Yoongi?”

Jimin gasped, “I’m so surprised you would even-!” he pouted, “Can I not at least talk to him?”

Tae shook his head, “Nope. Go dance with Hoseok instead. You two are both really good dancers so try to one-up everyone on the floor.”

     “I mean….” Jimin shrugged and scanned the room for Hoseok who was sitting down on a bench with Yoongi. He grinned and looked back at Tae with a thumbs up, “I’m on it. Hoseok and I are going to show these people what real dancing is.”

He and Taehyung parted ways, Tae hurrying over to his crush who definitely liked him back and Jimin making his way over to one of his best friends and his crush who definitely didn’t like him at all. He stepped up to their table where they were sitting at and talking, and he sat across from Hoseok, “Hey, you wanna dance?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes and got up, “I don’t dance,” he nudged Hoseok’s shoulder with his hand, “Come on, Hobi, let’s just-!”

     “I wasn’t talking to you,” Jimin countered, reaching across the table to touch Hoseok’s hand, “I was asking the dancer if he wanted to dance with me.”

Hoseok grinned and nodded his head, “And of course I’d want to dance with you chimmy!” he got up and turned to Yoongi, “You can leave without me. I’m going to dance with our village’s cutest little chief!” he wrapped an arm around Jimin and spun him towards the dance floor, leading him out gracefully away from Yoongi who had accidentally rejected him but only ended up looking like a dick since Jimin wasn’t even talking to him.

Jimin grinned because of this, and he didn’t dare look back at Yoongi despite his expression probably being hilarious to see. He wanted the other viking to think he was the last thing on his mind even though he was still sadly the first. Jimin was going to move on though. He was going to start dancing with others who actually accepted him like Hoseok, and maybe, one day, he’d be able to find someone he liked just as much as Yoongi.

Yoongi stared in shock at Hoseok dancing with Jimin in the middle of the dance floor with everyone else. They were laughing and holding onto each other as they sometimes took a moment to show off a new move they made up or just dance with each other and gained the attention of other pairs who became entranced in their talent.

Jimin didn’t even bother to ask him to dance.

Now Yoongi wasn’t angry about this. He was thankful, really. Years of being annoyed and bothered by the kid having a crush on him, he was glad he was finally getting a break… So why was he staying and watching in hopes that Jimin would eventually ask him to dance?

No, that was dumb.

He stood up from the bench and took one last sip of his drink before turning away from the dance floor. He was happy Jimin was finally over him. He was probably just bothered that Jimin must hate him now after how he yelled at him on the field, but if that was what it took for him to finally stop latching onto him like a leach, he was glad he did it. Jimin had Jungkook… or… Hoseok or whatever. Yoongi could care less. As long as it wasn’t him or his problem.

He left the dining hall and stepped out into the cold night air, looking out at the sky to see if any dragons were still lurking by after the attack. He was glad to see the sky completely clear, but froze when he heard a soft groan behind him before someone muttered out, “J-Jungkook I didn’t know.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at the name and he turned to see Jungkook pressing Taehyung up against the wall and kissing his neck. His eyes widened and he heard Jungkook’s reply, “I guess this was why Jimin was always so frustrated when I told him I was sure you didn’t like me back,” he chuckled a little and ran his fingers through Tae’s hair, “I’m going to convince my father to call off the marriage, ok? You and I, we’re going to get married in-!”

     “Like Hell you are,” Yoongi spoke up from where he stood, his eyebrows furrowing as he stepped up to them and watched as they both turned to him in shock and quickly backed away from each other. Yoongi grit his teeth together in annoyance before continuing to speak, “And Taehyung, really? You’re Jimin’s best friend and you're screwing him over like this with who he is supposed to be married to one day? How long has this affair been going on? How long will it continue to last, huh? Were you going to continue hurting Jimin even after Jungkook got married-!”

Before he could finish, Taehyung quickly waved his hands up in front of him to catch Yoongi’s attention and explain, “Woah, Jimin knows about us. You really think I would do this without him pushing me towards Jungkook and telling me to go for it? When will you get it through your own mind that he doesn’t want to marry Jungkook?”

     “Yeah, we’re just best friends,” Jungkook spoke up with a smile, “He has knows about my crush on Tae for years and I have known about his crush on an asshole for even longer. Well…” Jungkook smiled smugly and shrugged, “He doesn’t like this particular ass anymore, but he’ll move on quickly I’m sure.”

Yoongi knew the two of them knew he was aware of the fact that he was the asshole Jimin liked. It was so obvious that even a village idiot wouldn’t be able to ignore the signs, but he wasn’t aware that Jimin completely moved on… Why was he even thinking about that?

He rolled his eyes and turned around, “Whatever, I’m too tired for this,” he paused though and turned around to glare at the two of them, “But Jungkook if we weren’t friends, I’d march you right up to chief Joon to tell him what you’re doing despite his future plans for you.”

Jungkook fake gasped and held on tighter to Taehyung, “Oh no, and make me less eligible for a marriage I don’t want to be part of?”

Yoongi chewed on his bottom lip and scowled, keeping himself from saying or doing anything he’d regret by just turning around and walking away in silence since he knew he didn’t have the strength to hold himself back. They were all stupid kids. Taehyung was being an idiot for sleeping with his best friend’s future husband, Jungkook was being an asshole for caring more about his desires more than his duty to Jimin, and Jimin was being both for letting the two become lovers when his marriage with Jungkook was inevitable and would end up hurting all three of them in the end.

But what was it to him?

Sure he was friends with Jungkook and Jimin was the chief’s son, but that was about it. Jimin wasn’t talking to him - which was great - and Jungkook wasn’t exactly the type to take words of advice to heart, so the situation was probably going to sort itself out by force by the two current chiefs who wanted this to happen. And Yoongi? Wouldn’t be a part of it.

He walked back home to his little hut by the sea, far enough away from the center of the village that he couldn’t hear the sound of the music in the dining hall or people laughing, but even in the darkness and the silence of his room, one thought still bothered him.

Why didn't Jimin ask him to dance?

~(***)~

Namjoon stepped into the house with Jin following behind him, similar to what they did the previous night when the village was empty and Namjoon had already taken off Jin’s cloak and could feel his naked body in his arms. Now, Jin was still clothed, but Namjoon was working hard to take everything off of him all while closing the door to their cottage and leading him upstairs to his bed.

Jin helped him by taking off his clothes as well, and by the time they reached the soft cotton bed that was still a mess from last night, they fell into it with nothing on, Namjoon already flipping them over so Jin was underneath him and he was on top, holding and kissing him. Jin’s lips were so plump underneath his and still just as soft to kiss as they were so many years ago. Namjoon lifted himself up and trailed just his finger tips across Jin’s soft lips, staring at them for a second before looking up into Jin’s eyes and whispering, “You’re finally back.. I still can’t believe it.”

     “I honestly keep thinking I’m in a dream too,” Jin replied, letting his hands trail from Namjoon’s upper back down to his waist. He shifted his legs apart when he felt Namjoon reaching over for a skin ointment he always used to make sex easier for Jin that was in the bedside drawer. As Namjoon did so, he kissed and left more marks on Jin’s neck as he continued to speak, “And with Jimin remembering me by my voice, it all just seems too good to be true.”

     “It’s true though,” Namjoon sat up a bit to rub the ointment on his length and then onto his fingers before he pressed them into Jin’s entrance, slowly and one at a time to make sure Jin was ready for another night of being as close as possible as if it was their last night.

Jin shut his eyes as Namjoon stretched him out, knowing he was already prepped from last night still though the feeling was always a surprise to him. He marked Namjoon’s neck this time as the chief moved his fingers within him in ways that prepared him for the more desirable length that was to come.

     “I can’t believe we are doing this in a village filled with humans,” Jin laughed a little to himself, “If my pack could see me now, I think they’d either kill me for being a traitor or praise me for being so brave.”

     “Woah, you’re not a traitor,” Namjoon looked him dead in the eyes with a serious stare. “You can’t be a traitor if you had a family on the human side first before joining the war.”

     “I was a dragon first,” Jin countered with a smile still on his face, lifting his hand up to touch the cheek of his lover that seemed scared that Jin was going to leave again, “But I’m not ever leaving again, Joon. I was brought to you by an alpha herself. She won’t let you, Jimin, or I be hurt by at least the dragons she has control over on the dragon side and that’s a lot. I can be here now because my baby is safe.”

Namjoon relaxed a little thanks to Jin’s words that calmed him, “Our baby isn’t so much a baby anymore though…”

     “I talked with him today, and I can confidently say he still is one,” Jin chuckled a little under his breath, “He’s adorable. You raised him well.”

     “I wish you raised him too,” Namjoon replied, falling quiet to hear Jin’s gasp when he replaced his fingers with his cock and slowly pressed in.

Jin’s eyes widened and he gripped onto Namjoon’s shoulders for support as he subtly tried to spread his legs farther apart to make the first slow thrust easier to take in. He held his breath and decided to shut his eyes, muttering out softly, “Every time we do this, it’s like the first time…” he leaned up and kissed Namjoon on the lips, humming out when his thrusts became smoother and more pleasurable as he hit a spot that made Jin lose all sense over what they were even talking about before.

He couldn’t even think as Namjoon picked him up in his arms and held him closer as he thrusted deeper into him, his movements gradually becoming quicker and harder as he kissed Jin’s neck sloppily and moaned out his name in between soft grunts. Jin wrapped himself as much as he could around Namjoon as he was held by him and kissed and touched in ways he missed so much. He came eventually and allowed himself to relax a little just so he could appreciate how beautiful Joon was, so many years after they had met but still just as handsome as the first day he saw him in the woods. They spent so long apart, but Jin still felt like he was the luckiest dragon in the world to have an alpha like this.

     “What was that word you mentioned once?” Jin asked when he felt Namjoon’s warm cum spill into him and send a funny feeling up his spine. He hummed out and tightened his legs around Namjoon’s waist to keep his dick inside of him for a moment as he continued to speak to his alpha who was still blinded by lust, “You said it was the strongest way for two humans to be bonded for life?”

     “Marriage?” Namjoon asked, finally recovering from his climax to reply to Jin in a soft pant.

Jin smiled and nodded his head, “Yeah… I want to get married.”

Namjoon froze and looked down at Jin with a surprised look on his face, “Wait really?” he grinned and sat up a bit, pulling out of Jin and leaning back on his knees, “Jin, I… Let’s get married right now.”

Jin sat up and laughed a little, “Sure, but didn’t you say we need witnesses? I don’t think-!”

     “No, no, we can totally do it right now. Just get cleaned up and ready. I’m going to go grab something,” Namjoon hurried out of bed and slipped on his under clothes again before rushing downstairs away from Jin. Jin was confused where Namjoon hurried off to all of the sudden, but he did what his alpha said and cleaned himself off, wiping the cum off his stomach with a rag and putting his clothes back on. He had expected to be in bed a little longer with this whole ‘marriage’ thing, but he was still excited to see what humans did to be bonded with each other. It was Namjoon’s culture, so he was happy to get to be a part of it.

He was putting on his shoes when Namjoon came running back up the stairs and put his boots back on as he excitedly spoke, “We have people to witness the ceremony in the dining hall right now. They’re drunk so they won’t question a thing.”

     “Is that normal for marriages?” Jin asked, wondering if all marriage ceremonies were thrown together last minute like this.

His question made Namjoon grin though and tilt his head, “Depends,” he threw on his black cloak and hurried over to his wardrobe to pull out a white fur cloak for Jin, “The brown coat you’re wearing is too casual for a wedding. This is the finest coat I have,” he draped it over Namjoon’s shoulders and bent down in front of him, “It’s perfect for what we’re about to do, but the most important part of this whole thing is what you will have to wear for the rest of your life.”

     “The rest of my life?” Jin questioned, “Is it a necklace?… Like what you gave me all those years ago?” he smiled a little, remembering how he gave it to Jimin before he left and Jimin was still wearing it even now. It was funny to know that a piece of him was with the boy this whole time and even he had forgotten about it. He wondered if he would get another piece of jewelry symbolic like that, but before he could think about another necklace with just as much meaning as the last one, Namjoon held up a crystal ring in front of him, taking his hand and saying softly, “This ring was my mothers. She and my father wore these until the day they died, and I hope we can do the same though a little less tragically,” he laughed a little, “Rings are a symbol of us being bonded, kind of like a mark.”

Jin’s eyes widened and almost sparkled when he looked at the shiny ring made of sterling silver and a white moonstone in the middle. He reached his hands out for it as he whispered softly, “Oh my, Namjoon… This is beautiful…This is such a wonderful tradition that humans have.”

     “Get ready to learn about the honeymoon then,” Namjoon joked and stood up after he slid the silver ring onto Jin’s finger and then the black molten gold ring over his own. “Let’s go get married, shall we?” he held Jin up and held his hand down by their sides before kissing him just once before they were supposed to go up in front of the people of his village and claim themselves as married…. finally.

Jin grinned and nodded his head, “May our human marriage make our dragon bond even stronger.”

The two raced back down to the dining hall, completely sober but giggling the whole time as they slipped on damp rocks and took breaks underneath trees to kiss and remind each other of how much they loved each other just in case they forgot. They fell silent though when they entered the dining hall again that was still buzzing with laughter, loud music, and the sound of boots hitting the wooden ground with every heavy dance move.

The room grew louder when the pair entered again with cheers which they both welcomed until they got up to the front of the room again and Namjoon held up his hand for their attention to say, “I would like everyone to please witness what is about to happen! I am going to-!”

     “Oh, wait!” Jin interrupted, scanning the room for Jimin until he found him in the middle of the crowd next to his heart shaped smile friend and staring at both him and Namjoon with a confused stare. Without explaining what he was going to do, he broke away from Namjoon and hurried towards Jimin the crowd, running up to him and holding his hands in his own before he asked, “Jimin, is it alright if I marry your father?” he hugged him and whispered into his ear so no one else could hear, “We’re already bonded, but we never got the chance to get married and we want to do it now that we can.”

He was sure Jimin would maybe ask a few questions or have some doubts or at least hesitate to answer, but instead, all the boy did was laugh and nod his head, “Of course, Jin,” he hugged him back and whispered to him softer now, “We’re finally a family again, right?”

Jin pulled back with wide eyes, grinning so wide his cheeks felt sore after just a few seconds and he nodded his head, “Right.”

He ran back up to Namjoon and took his hand again, assuring him that he may proceed so Namjoon could continue to speak to the room of villagers waiting to hear what their chief was doing with the newcomer. He announced that he and Jin were in love and getting married before he then called up an elder to recite the long time used verse that officially united them together as the rest of the crowd in the dining hall watched.

As Jimin watched on, grinning and trying not to cry as he thought about his father finally getting to be with the man he always loved who was his father that he had finally gotten to meet today, Jungkook and Taehyung walked up behind him. Taehyung wrapped an arm around Jimin’s waist and muttered out, “You’re family is happily put together again, Jimin… This is so amazing.”

     “Yeah, it is,” he turned to him with a smile. He noticed a love bite on Taehyung’s neck and snickered under his breath, “Looks like my parents aren't the only two love birds getting a happy conclusion tonight, hm?”

     “Huh?” Taehyung asked but then followed Jimin’s gaze and blushed, “Oh…” he smiled and nodded, “Maybe I have something to tell you when you stay with me tonight because I’m guessing your house is off limits for the time being with those two around.”

Jimin laughed again and nodded his head, “I can’t wait to hear about it.”

     “Hey Jimin, what’s going on? Who’s that guy?” Jungkook poked Jimin and nodded up at Jin and Namjoon who were now holding hands and staring at each other so lovingly as an elder recited a verse to them about how not even a dragon could tear them apart with a love as strong as theirs. It was what every elder said at every wedding on the island, but Jimin found it ironic that it was a dragon that made this all happen. Jin was the one that pursued Namjoon and Jin was the one to finally come back.

Hoseok answered Jungkook for Jimin since he was so engrossed in the ceremony, “It’s a guy chief Namjoon found and welcomed into the clan last night. He says they knew each other a long time ago.’

     “And they’re getting married?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow. He nudged Jimin again and asked even softer, “Are you ok with your dad marrying a man he has only just united with last night?”

     “Yes,” Jimin nodded with a smile and turned back to his parents that were finally together again after too long. “It seems like they’ve been in love a whole life time.”

Chapter Text

Six months later…

     “Jungkook! Taehyung!” Jimin ran down the hill from his cottage towards the beach, jumping over stray rocks on the path and running straight through the tall blades of grass without even looking down to watch his step as he made his way to his two friends who were sitting down by the beach together. Jungkook didn’t live in the village with him and Tae, but it might as well have been that way with how much time he spent here with Taehyung. After they found out they liked each other the same night Jimin’s parents got married, they had been almost inseparable.

This presented kind of a problem for Jimin since his two best friends always ended up making out during sleepovers or sneaking away while they hung out to kiss or do other things more intimate in places more private which was kind of gross, but it was fine. Jimin had Hoseok! And Jimin had Jin. He was spending a lot of time with Jin these days to make up for the years he grew up without him.

Taehyung and Jungkook were laying out on a blanket on top of the sand when he ran up to them. They were staring out at the ocean with rough waters from the winter air that enwrapped their whole island quite violently this time of year. It wasn’t snowing yet, but Jimin was sure the ponds would ice over in about a month or two and frost would cover the ground with how cold it already was.

He wrapped his cloak tighter around his body and called out his friends’ names again to gain their attention now that he was closer, “Kook! Tae! Turn around!”

They heard him this time and looked up at him, now watching with an amused smile on their faces as he ran the rest of the way to them and flopped down beside them on the clay dirt of the beach, not wasting a moment even in his exhaustion to say, “The marriage is off!” he grinned and wrapped his arms around Tae, “Between Jungkook and I! I’m allowed to marry whomever I want now!”

Taehyung eyes widened and he gasped happily, “No way, Jimin, really?” he turned to Jungkook and beamed, “That means that we-!” he paused and blushed, “I mean, that is, if you want to-!”

     “There’s no doubt in my mind that I do,” Jungkook smiled and held Taehyung’s hand, looking to Jimin though to say, “I can't believe our fathers both agreed to call the arranged marriage off… How did you convince them?”

     “Obviously Chief Jin was the one to do it,” Taehyung answered for Jimin, “He’s so intimidating.”

Jimin laughed and nodded his head, “Yeah, he taught me how to do his stare, and I used it on Hoseok to make him do my morning chores yesterday. It was hilarious!”

    “Wow, he’s so cool,” Jungkook sighed and leaned on Taehyung, “No wonder why Chief Joon is in love with him… He’s pretty, funny, and scary-!”

     “Are you in love with my dad?” Jimin asked, eyes widening in a feigned shock that caused Jungkook’s face to turn a deep red hue before he quickly shook his head and hurried to argue, “N-No, I just think he’s cool, that’s all! He’s…” Jungkook huffed and crossed his arms, looking back out at the crashing ocean waves, “I’m not going to say anything if you guys just keep making fun of me.”

Jimin and Taehyung snickered amongst each other at how easy it was to make Jungkook flustered, but they decided to end it there, especially when the sound of two swords clashing could be heard further down the shore where Hoseok and Yoongi were practicing fighting. Jimin went quiet when he noticed them… Yoongi… he frowned and turned away, “Day number one-hundred and seventy-four, I am still…” he sighed, “Who am I kidding, I’m still trying not to be in love with Min Yoongi.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and Jimin pouted and whined out in defense, “He’s been nicer recently!”

     “Because you haven’t talked to him,” Tae sighed and nudged Jungkook, “Isn’t that right? I’m sure if he talked to him, he’d go right back to hating him again.”

     “As a friend of Yoongi’s, I should say-!” Jungkook started to speak, but Taehyung clasped a hand over his mouth, “I never want to hear you start a sentence with that ever again. We are not ‘friends’ of Yoongi’s, ok? He called Jimin weak, said he was just a child, and constantly yelled at him for no good reason. I mean, do you not remember when he yelled at us when we first got together?”

Jungkook sighed and looked down, “I think he just wanted to protect Jimin. He thought we were going behind his back…”

     “Yoongi only cares because he follows my appa around like a lost puppy,” Jimin sighed and glanced back at Yoongi again, frowning when he saw his muscles… and his tattoos on those muscles… and how his hair had grown a little bit longer recently because he hadn’t set aside enough time for himself to have one of the elders cut it. Unlike a few of the younger vikings, Yoongi was clean-shaven with short hair, refusing to let anything grow out long because he wanted to keep himself looking like the chief who was also the same with no beard and his hair shorter than most viking chiefs.

Jimin would complain about the old-fashioned look, but it fit Yoongi nicely…

He hated how it fit Yoongi so nicely…

If only Yoongi were ugly. If only Yoongi were some gross goblin that only came to the village once a month and didn’t understand their language. Then it would finally be so much easier to move on.

Jimin found himself staring again, staring at the boy he hated so much but he knew he loved deep down. Like if Yoongi randomly walked up to him one day and claimed he loved Jimin, Jimin would tell him he loved him back in less than a second flat. Just thinking about it made him happy that in a different universe, there was a Min Yoongi who was in love with him, but he knew that would never happen in this reality. He was stuck with a mean Yoongi who hated him.

Jimin pouted and was about to open his mouth to voice how frustrating it was that he couldn’t even at least be friends with Yoongi, but before he could, he noticed something out in the water in between where he was sitting beside Taehyung and Jungkook who had already gotten back into another conversation with each other and Yoongi and Hoseok who were still mock fighting. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes to try to see it better, noticing the smooth body of the creature with a tail that splashed in the water behind it as it came up on land.

It… It was a dragon.

A smaller dragon. A little fat sea dragon to be exact, but it was only a light blue sea neut. Jimin had only seen one once or twice before, but they were cute with their big beaty eyes and slimy body that always felt so soft to touch.

He smiled and turned to Tae, about to nudge him to tell him that they should go over to try to pet the little creature, but before he could, he noticed how Taehyung was already talking to Jungkook about something else… something about weddings in the spring time as opposed to winter time. Jimin bit his lip and got up, knowing they wouldn’t notice if he just left for a quick second to go touch the dragon. He didn’t want to tell them because he knew Jungkook would freak out and tell him it wasn’t safe while Taehyung would be too scared to even attempt to touch it, so this was definitely a solo mission.

He stood up and hurried over to the neut sea dragon before bending down in front of it and smiling happily, “Hey little neut! I’m Jimin,” he tilted his head and reached his hand out, remembering what Jin told him about how dragons communicated when they were in different animal forms and couldn’t speak normally by touching each other in some way and letting the other dragon enter their mind to speak to them without having to move a muscle or say a word. There was also a sign language between dragons that involved full body movements and dances, but Jin claimed he preferred this way and Jimin thought this was much more fascinating as well. 

Jimin tried it on Jin a few months ago, touching the palm of his hand to Jin’s forehead while he was in dragon form and allowing him to enter his mind to speak. Jin had said ‘I love you’ which was always powerful to hear since it was coming from someone that Jimin knew he had needed his whole life, but to feel those words being spoken from within him was something entirely new and special. He almost threw up because he was so excited to be able to do that as a half-dragon, but he hadn’t had a chance to try it out until now.

He touched his hand to the dragon’s forehead much to the dragon’s shock, but he let it enter his mind as he shut his eyes and muttered out, “I’m half-dragon, so you can trust me.”

The dragon’s beaty eyes widened and he could hear it gasp from within his mind. He giggled a little and nodded his head, “I had that same reaction when I found out I was half-dragon too.”

     “Is this island safe?” the dragon asked, it’s voice higher pitched and younger sounding, making Jimin guess that maybe it was a younger dragon venturing away from its family. He would have loved to invite it onto shore to see his village and maybe meet Jin so Jin would be able to see that he could talk to other dragons now, but knowing that this village would kill the poor baby dragon as soon as the first person caught sight of it, he smiled sadly and shook his head, speaking out loud, “Not really for a dragon… I just fit in because I look human, but the people here are mean to our kind.”

The dragon’s eyes widened and it backed up a bit, “I should leave then… I don’t want to die like-!”

    “Jimin, back away from that thing!” Jimin suddenly heard a familiar voice shout, and he heard the dragon gasp in fear and cry out that there was a mean human now standing beside them both. Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned to see Yoongi already swinging his sword down at the baby dragon, so without thinking, he grabbed the dragon and hurried to cover it up with his own body, shutting his eyes tight in anticipation for the pain of the sword to drive into his back, but after a few seconds, no sharp feeling of pain or a deep cut that might have possibly killed him came.

He was scared, his breaths coming out heavy and quick and his heart beating even faster as the dragon pushed itself away from Jimin and plopped back into the ocean before swimming out and diving deep away from the dangers of the island that came from Yoongi and Yoongi only.

Jimin peaked his eyes open to make sure the dragon made it, and he was sure it only managed to escape because Yoongi was now focused on how he almost killed Jimin. Jimin felt a hand to his back that was trembling along with the rest of the body, the sound of Yoongi’s voice followed in panic, “I almost killed you…. What were you thinking?”

     “What was I thinking?” Jimin whimpered, trying not to cry though he was so scared that he had come dangerously close to an unimaginable pain because Yoongi tried to kill one of his own without hesitation. Yoongi tried to kill one of his own…

Jimin’s eyebrows furrowed when he thought about how Yoongi just tried to kill a harmless dragon for no reason and he looked back at the viking to shout, “Are you serious?! What was I thinking?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at Jimin’s sudden aggression, but he didn’t back down. He only backed away and answered confidently, “Yes, what were you thinking risking your life for that demon? Why would you not want it to die for even breathing?”

Jimin felt his heart drop down to his stomach and honestly that comment alone made him want to cry. Why would he not want a dragon to die for even breathing? Dragons were doing something wrong by breathing now? What, so that meant Yoongi would want Jin dead if he found out he was a dragon even though he was the sweetest person in the whole world? He would want him dead because he was born in the first place? Born into a race that Yoongi hated for absolutely no reason… Jimin was part of that same species… Yoongi wanted Jimin dead for just breathing as well. For just simply being born, Yoongi would kill Jimin in a heart beat just like he almost did to that poor dragon that was just trying to find a spot that was safe.

Jimin’s whole body was shivering and he was sure tears were already falling down his cheeks that were tinted with a slightly pink color from the cold winds around him, but he faced Yoongi all the way now, straightening up and glaring at him as he shouted, “Would you kill me if I was a dragon? Cause I’m breathing? Would you do it, Yoongi? You almost did.”

     “Jimin, I didn’t mean to almost hurt you, and I stopped because-!” Yoongi started to explain, but Jimin interrupted him, screaming out, “Just answer the damn question!”

There was silence that filled the air between them along with a tension so thick it could be cut with an axe. Their friends around them were now watching them, having already showed concern when Yoongi almost slammed his sword down into Jimin and now worried something was going to escalate now that Jimin, the boy who was almost never angry, was screaming at Yoongi.

Yoongi swallowed his spit quickly and let out a short breath before responding carefully, “Dragons are dangerous, Jimin. That dragon was dangerous!”

     “It wasn’t hurting me!” Jimin let out a frustrated cry. “It was just a child dragon too, it wasn’t going to do a thing to me!”

     “It would have if I didn’t step in,” Yoongi argued, shoving his sword back into his belt and holding out his hand to help Jimin walk away from the water where more dragons could be lurking, “Now calm down and come on. I’m sure it has parents that will come here to finish us off for scaring their offspring. You need to get home and-!”

     “Yoongi, you have to stop killing dragons,” Jimin interrupted him, shaking his head and refusing to take the hand of a dragon slayer. If Yoongi knew the truth about him, he would kill him without a second thought. “They aren’t evil. Some of them are nice, and you need to realize that!”

Yoongi let his hand fall back down to his side and frowned, “Are you serious? All dragons are bloody demons, and you’re just too childish to accept the truth,” he watched as Jimin's glare grew increasingly more intimidating as Jimin took a step forward towards him. Though a chill ran up his spine when Jimin grew closer, he continued anyway, “Why are you always so partial to those monsters anyway? All they do is hurt anything in their path and kill people you love before they eventually kill you!”

He raised his voice so much as he spoke, that by the time he was done, he was yelling. Jimin was taken aback by the fact that Yoongi was shouting at him out of no where for sparing the poor creatures life, but what hurt him more were his words. Yoongi wasn’t just dehumanizing dragons… he was dehumanizing him now. He was insulting him and Jin along with all the other dragons out there now, and Jimin couldn’t help but… but be so angered by it.

He still wanted to cry when he heard someone he couldn’t help but still love call him and his kind ‘demons’ and ‘monsters that only killed and hurt’, but instead of crying, his hands clenched into fists and he suddenly shouted back, “You’re just as bad, hurting and killing them without even giving them a chance to prove they are different! The only difference between you and dragons is that you’re praised for being a murderer!”

     “You take that back,” Yoongi growled out and stepped up so close to Jimin that he could feel his breath beating against his face as Yoongi continued to say in a growl, “Don’t you ever compare me to one of those demons-!”

     “Stop calling them demons!” Jimin screamed out and pushed Yoongi to the ground without thinking. Once Yoongi had toppled over though, there was no going back. Before he could recover from his shock of being knocked over, Jimin hurried to get on top of him, digging his knee into the dragon slayers stomach and grabbing his shoulders to keep him there as he continued to shout, “I hate you! All you do is judge those who are different from you, thinking that you’re mightier than all! Well you’re not! All you are is a miserable orphan with anger issues and-!” before he could finish, Yoongi swung a fist at his face and punched him off of him and to the ground, quickly switching their places so he could straddle Jimin now instead and growl out as he grabbed his face in his hands and spoke in a low tone of voice, “Don’t you ever talk to me that way again, you hear me? I may be an orphan, but at least I’m not a son who brings shame to my father. That’s all you are. You’re weak, you’re stupid, and all you’re probably good at is whoring around which in no way embodies what a chief is supposed to-!”

       “Yoongi that’s enough!” someone suddenly called out from beside them before Yoongi was pulled off of Jimin by force and dragged back. Jimin wasted no time to follow them though and grab at Yoongi’s clothes to pull him closer and swing a fist at him in return just to have the last blow, but before he could, someone grabbed his arm and held him back, shouting, “Jimin, calm down! Why are you two attacking each other?”

Jungkook was holding his arm and Hoseok was holding Yoongi back, struggling to keep him calm as Yoongi kept trying to fight himself out of his grip. Jimin did the same, shouting out and hitting at Jungkook to let him go so he could hit Yoongi again, “I’m going to kill him!” he shouted without thinking, “I fucking hate him!” he almost pulled himself out of Jungkook’s grip with one forceful hit against him, letting himself move forward to swing a fist close to Yoongi’s face though he couldn’t quite hit him as he shouted out again, “I fucking hate you!”

      “Oh, it looks like you’re finally feeling something for me that’s returned whole heartedly,” Yoongi growled out and Hoseok hit him on the head, “Yoongi shut up. That’s your future chief right there.”

     “Some chief he is, he-!” Yoongi started to say, but Taehyung stormed up in between him and Jimin and interrupted him with a shout, “And some protector you are, punching the person you are supposed to protect and always calling him weak or a disappointment? Jimin is not a disappointment to Namjoon. He is everything our chief wants him to be, and I’d love to hear what he would have to say if he found out about what you just said and did to his son.”

Jungkook’s grip on Jimin was tight, but he couldn’t help but stand there in shock at what Taehyung said to stand up for his best friend. Though he was friends with Yoongi, he couldn’t help but be proud of Taehyung. He was going to grin and back Taehyung up, but seeing how scared Yoongi seemed to be for disappointing Namjoon, he quickly held himself back from saying anything against Yoongi and tried to end the fight completely instead, “We should just end this here while we can. No one needs to get in trouble or-!”

     “Ah!” Jimin interrupted him with a cry of pain before he suddenly fell down to the ground.

Jungkook followed him, still holding his arms though he had followed him in worry of what was wrong with Jimin. Jimin was holding his hand over his eyes, wincing in pain and whispering under his breath, “They hurt. I don’t know what’s happening…”

      “Jimin!” Taehyung called out his name and hurried over to him, bending down in front of him and turning to Yoongi with a glare, “What did you do?!”

Yoongi’s eyes widened when he realized that he could have possibly really injured Jimin, but he shook his head in confusion, “I only punched him! What’s wrong?”

Taehyung turned back to Jimin to see if he was bleeding or bruising anywhere, but when he peeled away one of Jimin’s fingers to try to see his eyes, he was met with a yellow light that caused him to gasp and rock back on his knees away from Jimin. His eyes widened and he made sure Jimin kept his eyes covered and he said, “Jimin, I’ll go get Jin, ok? Keep your eyes covered-!” he started to say, but before he could finish, Jin was already there and bending down beside Jimin to take him from Jungkook and help him up.

     “Jimin, it’s ok, you’re fine,” he helped him up and buried his son’s head into his chest, rubbing his hand in circles on Jimin’s back before he glared at Yoongi and growled out, “I’m sending Namjoon out here to deal with you. He’ll handle this how he sees fit,” he didn’t wait for a reply from the group of boys standing before him on the beach, three of them just bystanders and friends of Jimin that pulled the fight apart, but the one in the middle being someone who Jin could now only naturally see as an enemy since he was an enemy of his son.

He turned Jimin around and started walking back up to the house with him holding a hand over his eyes and muttering out, “Just keep your head down, Jimin. You got angry beyond words or wanted to seem threatening because your eyes did a dragon thing where they glow yellow.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned to Jin, “What? Really? Does it always hurt this much for you?”

Jin glanced at Jimin with a look of confusion for a second before frowning and shaking his head, “No it only hurts for you right now because you’re a halfling, and it’s your first time. I’m sure your powers hurt when you first got them, and this is the same way.”

He stepped up to the house and opened the door for him and Jimin before stepping inside and calling out to Namjoon who he had left eating breakfast because he had a feeling deep in his heart that his son needed him. He was right, either because of a maternal intuition or dragon intuition or him just being paranoid, but he was glad he checked. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if Jimin got discovered and hurt… thankfully he had Tae in the moment though Jin was still trying to subtly figure that boy out.

He closed the door behind him and called out Namjoon’s name as he brought Jimin in and uncovered his eyes now that they were in the privacy of their home. They were glowing bright yellow, and Jin couldn't help but notice tears falling down Jimin's cheeks from whatever happened on the shore that Jin only managed to catch the end of. He was glad Jimin hadn't been too visibly harmed, but he still called out to Namjoon again in a shout though his husband hadn't answered his first call of his name, “I need you to go down to the beach and tell Yoongi that he’s not allowed to go near Jimin anymore!”

     “No, don’t do that,” Jimin hurried to say as he sat down on one of the chairs beside their fireplace, holding his head in his hands and looking up at Jin to grunt out, “I don’t want this to be a big deal. It’s fine. Yoongi and I don’t like each other, and everyone has kind of just accepted it.”

     “But I don’t want you to-!” Jin started to argue but was interrupted when Namjoon walked past them to put his empty breakfast bowl away but caught a glimpse of Jimin’s glowing eyes and yelped out in surprise, “Oh wow, what uhh…” Namjoon pointed to his eyes, “What happened there?” he glanced at Jin, “A dragon thing? He has glowing eyes now?”

Jin sighed and nodded his head, “He got angry and felt threatened, so it happened on accident,” he then frowned, “Please go down to the shore and tell Yoongi that if he threatens my son again, either you or I will tear him apart and then banish him without one of his limbs, ok?”

     “I…” Namjoon seemed reluctant to agree, but Jimin knew that if Jin wanted something, his father always worked to give it to him no matter how he felt. That was one thing he had learned over the past six months. He bit his lip though and assured Namjoon that he wouldn’t have to banish Yoongi for anything, “It’s fine, Appa, you don’t have to.”

     “No-!” Jin started to protest, but Jimin waved his hand up, “Please, no, that’s so embarrassing!” he frowned and turned to Namjoon, “Please. I’m already made fun of for being weak, don’t make them make fun of me for having my parents fight for me! Appa please,” he pouted and lowered his gaze, “Nothing happened. I started the fight anyway.”

Jin’s eyes widened, “You what?”

     “I…” Jimin huffed and looked away, muttering out in reply, “He was going to kill a dragon and so I shouted at him and pushed him down to the ground… I just… I hate him so much! He never thinks about anyone except himself and how much he wants to kill dragons, and it hurts me now because I think about Jin and me, and… I don’t like it when he yells at me about how they are monsters and deserve to be dead… It makes me so sad or angry.”

Namjoon nodded his head in understanding, looking to Jin who returned his stare with a soft gaze. His eyebrows unfurrowed now that he knew Jimin had started a fight but for reasons he never wanted his son to endure. Jin’s frown softened and he waved his hand at Namjoon to still go outside to talk to the boys waiting for him on the shoreline, “Just… go tell them that they should continue about their day and try to forget about what happened and move on. I’m going to stay to talk to Jimin.”

Jimin tensed a bit and looked down, afraid that he would be scolded for losing his temper with Yoongi and risking giving away his secret about being a dragon. He held his breath as Namjoon agreed to just go down to the shore to tell the boys Jimin was alright and let Yoongi off easy per Jimin's request, and when he left the house, Jimin tensed up again and apologize to Jin for losing control to at least show that he felt guilty about it before Jin told him about how what he did was wrong, “I know I shouldn’t lose my temper about dragons and risk our real identities, but I just lost it on him that one time… I don’t know what it is about him that makes me so angry,” he paused and bit his lip, blushing and looking away as he admitted, “Actually I do know what makes me so angry about him, but I promise I won’t do it again. I’m sorry if I-!”

     “Woah, Jimin, you seem so tense,” Jin interrupted him and placed a hand on his shoulder before sitting beside him and continuing, “I’m proud of you for sticking up for our kind and saving an innocent dragon. I'm also proud of you for getting glowing eyes. You are the first half-dragon I’ve watched grow up, so everything is just as new to me as it is to you. And now that I know your eyes can glow, which is amazing by the way,” a smile grew on his face, “I can teach you how to control it more.”

     “Really?” Jimin raised his eyebrows, his eyes not hurting anymore now though he could guess it was because his eyes faded back to their normal color. He was glad he wasn’t being reprimanded for his actions, but Jin still managed to ask a question that Jimin ended up feeling sick about anyway, scootching himself closer to his son with an amused smile and asking, “So why do you hate Yoongi so much, hm? You’ve hated him since I got here, but I sense something between you two that tells me there’s something deeper.”

     “There’s not,” Jimin lied with a frown, “I hate him. We were never friends.”

     “Hmm…” Jin's smile only widened and he looked away, “You’re blushing.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he raised his hands to his cheeks, about to refuse to even think that he was blushing, but he felt how hot his cheeks were and knew there was no way he could get around it. He pouted and huffed, “It must be a dragon thing…”

     “Yeah, you’re so pink, I’d think that maybe your scales are coming in,” Jin ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair and laughed a little, “But something dragons are very good at actually is reading other being’s behavior in their expression. We talk in our minds, but sometimes we only need to read an expression to know how someone else is feeling,” he smiled, “That’s how I always know when to hug appa or when it’s ok to bother you and ask for more details about your crush with a dragon slayer.”

Jimin had calmed down for a few seconds from the feeling of Jin running his fingers through his hair and speaking to him in such a calm voice that he always loved to hear, but his face only grew red again when Jin talked about his crush on Yoongi again. Jimin’s eyes widened and he whined out, “I do not-!” Jin’s smile was growing again. He was finding this amusing because like he said, he could read Jimin’s expression and know just by the way his eyebrows raised at the thought of Yoongi that there were still feelings harbored in his heart for him no matter how much he hated or at least wanted to hate him. Jimin gave up. His eyes narrowed and he huffed, looking away and raising his hands to his cheeks again as he admitted, “Ok fine, I did… but that’s in the past,” he looked down at the ground and frowned, “He’s always been mean to me and never even interested, so when I found out I was half-dragon, I just used that to tell myself not to try anymore. Me being half-dragon and him being a dragon slayer…. that would have never worked out.”

     “Well… he’s not a half-dragon slayer, is he?” Jin asked, “I think maybe it could work out if he didn’t care about the half-lings.”

     “I don’t want him killing any version of me,” Jimin replied, his voice calmer now that he had gotten the truth out that he liked Yoongi and was now just discussing it with his father… his friend… the only other person on this island who understood him. “I don’t want to feel like one day he may wake up and fear me too. I need someone who loves every part of me and doesn’t just look past it. Like how my appa loves you. He loves you because you’re you and because you’re a cool dragon as well as a sweet human, and he wouldn’t want you any other way,” Jin blushed this time and looked down, thinking about his sweet husband who still clung onto him every day like it was the first day he came back all over again. He ducked his head a bit and tried to fight back the urge to go find Namjoon and just hug him until he understood without words how much Jin loved him, but first, he leaned on Jimin and assured him, “You’ll find someone like that someday. And maybe it really is Yoongi-!”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “It definitely isn’t,” he laughed a little, “And you hated him five minutes ago. You need to hate him with me.”

     “Ah, I didn’t hate him,” Jin argued lightly, “I was just angry he hit my son, but I can never hate,” he reached over for Jimin’s hand that was resting in his lap and held it in his own as he continued to speak in a soft voice, “You will face those who will hate our kind no matter where you go, but all you can do in return is show them kindness and hope they change their mind about you after given time,” his precious baby that was all grown up now was just as sweet and caring as he was when he was a newborn, so gentle with everything and in awe of the world around him. His eyes were just as piercing as beautiful as they always were, a little narrower than as a baby but still so wide eyed as he stared at Jin.

Jin smiled and added one more thing, “Yoongi will change his mind I’m sure if you spend more time with him. And if he comes to love you on his own, he too will love you for every bit of you and not want to look past a thing.”

Jimin’s frown disappeared as Jin spoke and he thought about everything he had done in the past to get Yoongi to like him. He had always tried to get him to be attracted to him, but he never truly tried to be friends with him. And now that he wasn’t trying to get Yoongi to like him as a lover, all he did was glare and snap at him… Maybe… Maybe he needed to just try to be friends with him first? Stop flirting but also stop fighting because neither had gotten him anywhere…

He looked down, “Maybe I should try to be his friend before anything else… I just… I’ve liked him ever since I was like twelve when something just clicked in me and I knew he was right for me,” Jimin chewed on his bottom lip and turned to Jin, “Do you think it’s a dragon thing to fall in love with someone so hard that it’s impossible to shake it even when they’ve never been anything but mean to you?”

Jin’s eyes widened, “…What?”

Jimin laughed a little and shrugged, “I say I hate him, but I still can’t shake the feeling that I love him. I know it will never happen, but my mind always tells me there’s hope, and…” he laughed again and shook his head, “It’s stupid… Tae felt the same about Jungkook too, so maybe it’s just a crush thing, but he was lucky with Jungkook while I’m unlucky with the village grouch.”

     “You’ll get over it,” Jin put a hand warily on Jimin’s back, now spacing out and looking on the ground with a shocked look frozen in his expression.

Jimin noticed it and tilted his head, “Is something wrong?”

     “Huh?” Jin asked, biting his lip and immediately shaking his head, “No, no, everything’s fine. You should clean yourself up though. You have sand on you and dinner is soon,” he offered a small smile and stood up, “I’m going to go see what’s taking Namjoon so long, ok? I’ll be back soon.”

     “Oh…” Jimin shifted in the chair, not really fond of the absence of his father so soon in the conversation, but he relaxed a little when Jin said he’d be back and agreed to clean himself off, “I’ll go down to the bathhouse and wash myself too.”

Jin nodded, “Alright, I’ll see you after that then,” he stepped towards the door and turned the knob, making sure he said one more thing before he left, “Jimin, I love you for everything you are and so does your father. You know that right?”

A smile grew across Jimin’s face and he happily nodded his head in reply, “I know! I love you both too. More than anything!”

Jin felt his heart jump in his chest and he grinned, so happy that he was back with his family. Everyday he was reminded of how glad he was to finally be home again, and everyday he also wished he had never left in the first place. He opened up the door and looked at Jimin one more time, his beautiful son who was nothing short of perfect, kind, and loving.

     “You’re everything I could have ever hoped for in a son,” were his last words before walking out the door, feeling himself melt when he saw Jimin’s eyes brighten at the words. Turns out maybe he needed to hear those words too, and Jin could only thank his parental intuition for helping him always know what his son needed at all the right times.

He walked down to the shore where Namjoon and the other boys still were, talking in a less serious conversation it seemed like when he made his way up to them. Jungkook smiled when he saw Jin, and Hoseok did too, the two taking to him because they thought he was, in Jimin’s words, “strong and pretty”. Jungkook bounced in excitement as he was the first one to speak to Jin, “Chief Jin, we should fight!” he pulled out his sword and stepped up to Jin, “I’ve been practicing and I think I’m going to kick your ass this time!”

     “You’re threatening the chief in front of his husband who is also the chief?” Yoongi crossed his arms with a frown. “Jungkook, I told you, even if he isn’t your chief, you still hang out here and should respect them as if they were.”

     “Oh no, it’s fine, really,” Jin raised his hand and awkwardly smiled at Yoongi before turning to Jungkook and furrowing his brows, “That’s cute that you think you can beat me after what happened last time. Are you sure you think you’re ready to challenge me again?” He had faster reflexes, always seeing Jungkook coming before the younger even decided what his next move would be. That was the biggest advantage he had over the young viking and quite an unfair one too since he was a dragon and Jungkook was only a human, but it was fun to sword-fight the boy and have him stare at him in awe afterwards when he was beaten once again.

Namjoon smiled at how Jin was challenging the younger vikings of the town, and he wrapped an arm around his waist, kissing him, “How’s Jimin? He ok?”

     “Yeah, fine, it was just the migraines again,” he lied for the others listening and then turned to Yoongi, “I came out here to apologize to you because I snapped at you thinking you hurt Jimin but apparently he started the fight and was only in pain because he fell ill again.”

     “Jimin falls ill a lot?” Jungkook asked, always remembering Jimin as the healthiest person he knew, but Taehyung suddenly nodded his head and spoke up confidently, “Yeah, he gets migraines a lot too. I had a feeling that that’s what it was.”

Wow, Taehyung was always to the rescue. Jin tried to remain cautious of him because he had yet to come clean about being a dragon to anyone, but maybe he was just scared. Jin was in the same situation, only telling his family and not daring to let anyone else know. Taehyung hadn’t let a single soul know, not even Jimin or Jin who he was aware were like him, but Jin was going to give him more time to trust in them. Maybe things would change, but for now, he was always sticking up for Jimin, so Jin appreciated it.

He smiled at Taehyung but changed the subject, turning to Yoongi with his smile already falling as he spoke in a serious tone, “Can I actually speak to you in private for a moment?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he pointed to himself, “Me?” Jin could sense the fear in his body, and he smiled a little as the brave and strong dragon slaying boy was fearing the dragon only in his human form. Yoongi awkwardly coughed and nodded his head, “Yes, Chief, we can talk,” he glanced at Namjoon for approval, and though he wasn’t sure what Jin was up to, he let Jin go and patted him on the shoulder, “Be back before I miss you, ok?”

     “Alright,” Jin giggled a little and started to walk away, only gasping though when Namjoon suddenly grabbed his hand again and pulled him back, “Too late, I miss you already,” he smiled and kissed his husband, “Don’t be too long, baby.”

     “I won’t,” Jin assured him and kissed him on the cheek, making a mental note to do so much more to him later for that move he just pulled, but for now, he needed to talk to Yoongi about something… important. It wouldn’t seem important now with the conversation that they were about to have, but he knew it would help out a lot in the long run.

He was a dragon. He knew what needed to happen for Jimin’s sake, and by experience with the half-dragon’s very handsome dragon father who fell in love with him in less than a month, he knew how to make it happen.

Jin finally stepped away from his husband and alpha and waved his hand for Yoongi to follow him in the other direction alongside the shoreline towards the recovering forest on the East side of the island that had been burned in the false attack that brought him here. Yoongi followed him quickly on request without hesitation, always being obedient to his chiefs no matter whatever the reason because he always made it a point to remain loyal to them and always be on their good side though he also made it a point to be short with their son who was going to be his future chief.

Jin walked in silence with him for a few moments, making sure he was out of earshot from everyone else before he began to speak with his hands holding each other behind his back, “So, you and Jimin kind of hate each other, don’t you?”

     “Is that what he says?” Yoongi asked, his voice sounding irritated, so Jin only shook his head slowly and replied in a calmer tone still, “It’s just from what I gathered. Jimin isn’t too fond of you, and I’m assuming you’re the same since you punched him.”

     “I’m sorry I punched Jimin today, but he was on top of-!” Yoongi started to defend himself, but Jin hushed him and raised a hand up to his lips to make sure he shut up so Jin could make it clear what this talk was about, “I’m not reprimanding you. I simply want to ask something of you, and you can’t tell a soul about our conversation afterwards or else I’ll be very disappointed in you, ok?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at the idea of being a disappointment to one of the chief’s of his village and his scowl faded as a serious expression took its place and formed solidly from there as he replied, “I promise that the words spoken between us will remain a secret.”

     “Good,” Jin smiled, “I think you will be a good influence on Jimin, and I think you should try to be friends with him.”

Yoongi frowned again, “What? Not only would I, and no offense, absolutely hate that, but I think he would too.”

     “Oh, so you’re not willing to do as I say?” Jin raised a brow, trying hard to laugh when he watched the dragon slayer become flustered and quickly try to explain himself or make up some justifiable reason for saying no to his chief, “I mean, you love your son, right? And he hates me, so why force us together? We both were on the edge of killing each other today!”

     “So stop trying to kill him,” Jin responded as if it was that easy. “I want you to be his protector. I want it to be your job to protect him with all your might-!”

     “Chief Joon already has me doing that, and Jimin never even wants it,” Yoongi argued, rolling his eyes and looking back at where they were. Hoseok was walking back to his house on the other side of the village, Namjoon was making his way up to the dining hall to probably speak to some of his friends, Taehyung and Jungkook were once again cuddling on the sand, and Jimin… Jimin…. “The only thing Jimin needs to be protected from is dragons, and he seems to be friends with them. It’s impossible to even trying to save him because he’s always shouting at me about how dragons aren’t bad. Isn’t that just… a little strange to you?”

Jin could see why Jimin was frustrated, having to deal with someone who killed first and asked questions later when it came to dragons. But the funny thing was… Jin could also see how frustrated Yoongi was as well by the fact that the person he was told to protect didn’t want him to save him from the thing he had always been taught to fear the most. It was really just a misunderstanding… but a misunderstanding that could be fixed. At first when he heard Jimin talking as if he was fated to a dragon slayer, Jin could only feel dread and sorrow for his son since he knew how cruel dragon slayers were to dragons even if they ended up being a loved one.

His own sister had married a dragon slayer a long time ago since she believed they were they were fated and had fallen in love with him. Afraid of being judged, she pretended to be a human and had children with him, but when they were toddlers, they’d accidentally burn things or have glowing eyes when they didn’t get their way. He wanted to kill them, not even hesitating despite them being his own children because he did not see such demonic creatures as his offspring. He accused Jin’s sister of cheating on him with a dragon, but she revealed her true form to protect her children… And her and her children ended up dying anyway.

He didn’t want that to happen to Jimin. He was so happy that he managed to find Joon who was so kind and gave a chance to all creatures with gracious mercy, but Jin wasn’t sure about Yoongi for his own son until now.

All Yoongi wanted to do was protect Jimin. Though Jin would remain wary of him, it seemed like if it really came down to it, Yoongi would continue to protect Jimin even if he knew he was half-dragon because Yoongi was loyal to the village and would do anything for Jimin despite possibly hating it. And if he did hate the dragon half of Jimin at first, he’d learn to love it.

They were fated after all. These things tended to work out.

Jin shook his head to Yoongi’s previous question and turned to start walking back to the village so they wouldn’t go off too far and worry Namjoon, “I think Jimin has a soft spot for dragons because he has a kinder heart than most. One that forgives those for deeds easily and gives them a chance… and mercy. He definitely got that from Namjoon.”

     “At least Namjoon kills dragons,” Yoongi grumbled out which caused Jin to chuckle and reply, “I guess he does… He didn’t kill one though. Therefore, he too holds mercy towards them too.”

     “He didn’t kill a dragon once?” Yoongi’s eyes narrowed and he looked to Jin, “Are you serious?”

     “What, you think a man with a kind heart isn’t capable of being chief?” Jin raised an eyebrow and frowned, “Yoongi, what makes a man a great chief is his kind heart, which is why you should be so excited for Jimin. He will protect you all and lead this village into an era of peace with his kind heart. You should give him a chance.”

Yoongi chewed his lip and looked down, awkwardly messing with the handle of his sword and blushing as he spoke under his breath, “I’ll protect him if that is what you want me to do. And if he doesn’t want me to kill a dragon, should I just listen to him or-!”

     “Yeah, listen,” Jin looked up at the village that had been his home for the past six months and smiled to himself, feeling butterflies in his stomach as he thought about the first night he came back, and then the next night after that when they got married, and then their honeymoon, and then every single moment afterwards with his alpha and son, Jimin… He lifted his hand up to his heart and continued speaking, “You may learn a few things that you might appreciate in the long run,” he looked this boy up and down, not sure what it was about him that made Jimin’s heart choose him, but he hoped he’d find out someday soon.

He hoped Yoongi was to Jimin like Joon was to him, kind and loving, cute and funny, willing to do anything for their love to never die. 

Only time would tell, and he hoped he was making the right move by forcing the dragon slayer to spend more time with his son in hopes of them gaining a friendship they needed to have in order to start their seemingly long journey to love and eventually bonding.

It made Jin nervous and excited both at the same time that his son was already in the stage of his life where he was finding a mate he was fated to and would someday bond to him for life. Things were different for humans than they were for dragons so Jin would have to play this cautiously, but he was excited to be here for at least one important moment of Jimin’s life and not miss it.

And because he was here, he was going to make sure he did everything in his power to make sure his son was happy.

He and Yoongi parted ways, Yoongi deciding to go home to his cabin to wash off before heading to lunch in the dining hall while Jin went ahead towards it to meet up with Namjoon again.

His alpha was indoors as he said he would be, drinking with a few friends of his and laughing at a joke one of them must have said, but the conversation he was deeply involved in suddenly became the last thing on his mind when he caught a glimpse of Jin walking and pumped his hands up into the air as he happily shouted out, “Hey, Jin, just in time! My men were asking about you!”

     “Oh were they?” Jin raised a brow and smiled as he walked up to the table of the current age great vikings, the ones that led most of the village’s battles so far and were training the newer generation of great vikings and dragon slayers like Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok.

One of the men laughed and handed Jin a mug of beer as he walked up to the table, drunkly and laughing out and singing in reply, “Oh we definitely were! We always want to know what our more handsome chief is up to.”

Jin blushed and turned to Namjoon who chuckled and held his hand in reply, “They’re already drunk this morning. Maybe we should leave them and head back to our place to freshen up anyway?”

One of his friends whistled from behind him while another one added a perverted joke that would have made Jin snort out a laugh if Namjoon didn’t roll his eyes and hop off the table to start dragging him out of the dining hall, “Come with me before those drunk idiots say something they’ll end up regretting,” he pulled Jin out of the dining hall, but instead of leading him towards their house, he started leading him towards the woods where they originally met, prompting Jin to ask, “I take it we’re not freshening up?”

     “Jin if you do something else to make yourself more beautiful, I’m going to mistake you for a god,” Namjoon squeezed Jin’s hand, knowing that he won him over with that line alone before he led him up the rest of the way to the pond where their little house was. It had since been renovated because Namjoon and Jin had come up here during breeding season and wanted to be in a comfortable spot that also brought back memories of their beginning family back when they were younger.

It also helped to have a bed when Jin was dripping in slick and begging for his alpha to impregnant him to end the heat that that burdened him during breeding season that came only once a year. It was a side of Jin that Namjoon had never seen before, a side that Jin was at first embarrassed to show him, but he loved every part of it. From Jin whining if he wasn’t at least cuddling him at all times to the mornings when he woke up to Jin’s lips wrapped around his hardening length, Namjoon loved every bit of it.

Jin laughed when he and Namjoon reached the little cottage they hadn’t visited since breeding season two months ago. He was about to ask Namjoon if they had washed the sheets since then, but before he could, Namjoon grabbed his waist and kissed him passionately, subtly pushing him down to the ground in a way that Jin barely even noticed he was falling until he was on his knees in front of Namjoon and being pushed onto his back to look up at his alpha who was hovering over him.

He tilted his head and grinned, “What are you planning, Joon? You whisked me away from our village to do such an act like this in broad daylight?”

     “No one’s watching,” Namjoon sat up on his knees and lifted Jin’s shirt to reveal his nipples that hardened in the cold air that overtook his body like a wet blanket in the winter. Jin bit his lip and spread his legs apart for Namjoon to fit through, hoping that he’d find a place in there quickly so Jin wouldn’t be so cold anymore.

Namjoon only stayed where he was though, the tips of his fingers trailing over Jin’s nipples, playing with them for a few seconds before he let his hand smooth over Jin’s soft skin down to his stomach. It stayed there and Jin knew exactly what Namjoon was thinking.

     “Do you think…” Namjoon bit his lip as if the question was hard to ask. As if any question about a family was a hard question at all when it came to Jin. He smoothed his thumb across the skin on Jin’s stomach as he tilted his head and asked with a shy smile and eyes full of hope, “Do you think we’d ever be able to have another baby?”

Jin smiled.

He was always so good at guessing what Namjoon was thinking or what he was about to say. He was always so easy to read, though not to anyone else except for him which was his favorite part about it all.

     “Dragons can have many children throughout their life. Once we have our first active breeding season, we are able to bare children until we die,” Jin informed Namjoon, reaching his hand down to his stomach to hold it over Joon’s hand. “I’d love to have a child with you that we'd finally get to raise together.”

     “But…” Namjoon suddenly said, raising an eyebrow in anticipation for what Jin was planning on saying, causing the dragon to laugh, “But what?”

     “Oh, I just know you’re going to add something I’m not going to like by the sweet way you’re speaking to me,” Namjoon sighed, causing Jin to giggle again, “Don’t look so sad,” he lifted his finger up to his alpha’s chin, “Chin up, baby. I just don’t think your village would let me, a male human, get pregnant without batting an eye. They’d realize I was a dragon and kill me.”

Namjoon frowned and looked down, “This war has been keeping us from what we want for too long, hasn’t it?”

      “I’m finally with you and Jimin, so I have no complaints,” he felt a warm feeling in his heart and hummed out, “And this may not mean that much to you since you are human, but guess what I get to help Jimin with?”

Namjoon looked down at Jin, unable to keep himself from smiling as he admired his husband topless and underneath him as he guessed, “His eyes since they glow now? Or his powers?” Jin’s grin widened and Namjoon could only guess that he was no where close to the answer with the proud way Jin remained silent, waiting for the correct answer. Namjoon laughed a little and leaned back, “I don’t know; you’re going to have to tell-!”

     “I get to help him and Yoongi get together,” Jin announced excitedly before he could finish, “Can you believe it? Jimin doesn’t know it, but he has been fated to him. The signs are all there. He has apparently been in love with him for almost five or six years now and hasn’t had much luck, but I’m going to make Yoongi see how wonderful he is. I’m going to-!”

     “Woah, Jin, what?” Namjoon frowned and leaned back a bit, “Don’t you think maybe it’s just a crush that never went away because it was his first one?”

Jin’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he shook his head slowly, “No, I’m pretty sure I know the difference between someone having a crush or choosing their alpha.”

Namjoon’s eyes widened and he spaced out for a moment, only coming back to mutter out in a weak voice as if he was sick, “An alpha…” he looked down, “Yoongi cannot be Jimin’s alpha.”

     “You don’t really have a say in the matter,” Jin sighed and sat up since obviously now wasn’t the time to lay down in the grass with his shirt off beneath his husband. They had to talk about their son and the person he was potentially meant to be with, “Joon, you shouldn’t worry about things though. When a dragon becomes attached to someone without even realizing it, it’s for a reason. Yoongi may be a little rough around the edges, and trust me, I hated him this morning for how he treated Jimin, but… there’s something about him that Jimin has fallen in love with.”

     “Honey, he’s a great kid,” Namjoon bit his lip and looked Jin in the eyes with a serious gaze, “But he hates dragons.”

Jin shrugged, “Jimin can change that. He can get closer to him, and convince him-!”

     “No,” Namjoon shook his head, “Dragons did something terrible to him… Something that can’t be forgiven, and he was raised by people who fueled that hatred and raised him to be the dragon slayer he is. Sure, he’s willing to protect Jimin with his life now, but the moment he’d see Jimin’s powers or glowing eyes or I don’t know… Can Jimin get pregnant?”

     “It’s possible, but rare,” Jin answered, still calm, but this comment only caused Namjoon’s hear to jump a bit in fear before he shook his head adamantly and continued in a serious voice, “Jin, baby, he can’t be with Yoongi. Yoongi would kill Jimin as soon as he found out what he truly is.”

Jin frowned, “But they’re fated.”

Namjoon could see his husband upset that something he believed was so important to dragons wasn’t going to work out because of their difficult and dangerous world, and his expression softened. He rested his hands on Jin’s shoulders and leaned forward to kiss him gently, “We’ll wait and see what happens… Maybe you’re right… maybe I’m wrong… but I know Jimin will find someone he loves eventually. Someone who will love him just as much as we love each other, and they will be just as happy in that marriage as we are too.”

     “I hope so…” Jin looked away, obviously disappointed in the truth that he couldn’t trust the fact that Yoongi was possibly Jimin’s alpha that he subconsciously chosen, thoughts of his sister only making him more worried about his son who was being pulled into a love that could be deadly. With a feeling in his heart that lingered all too long for him to be in the mood for anything intimate with Namjoon right now, he was about to admit that he wanted to go back to the village to be with Jimin and make sure he was ok after his fight this morning, but before he could, Namjoon leaned down and kissed him on the lips, letting his hands trail down from Jin’s waist down to his groin as he whispered, “I’m sorry I’m so protective over him… I just want to keep our family happy and alive.”

Jin closed his eyes and kissed his husband back, letting a small smile form on his face as Namjoon lifted his head to stare into his eyes again. Jin reached a hand up to cup his cheek as he muttered out softly, “This is why my heart chose you.”

Namjoon nuzzled his cheek into Jin’s palm and nodded his head, “And my heart chose you because you are so beautiful and smart… and caring for our son in every way possible,” he kissed Jin once more, “And we don’t need to have another baby either, Jin. Just as long as we keep Jimin safe, I’ll always be happy with what you and I have,” he ran his fingers through his husband's hair, “No matter what our world is like between dragons and humans. No war can keep us from having everything we want, because we already have everything we need right here in the family we have now.”

Chapter Text

Dragon Lover

Jimin’s day had started off pretty terrible with a fist fight with Yoongi, but by dinner he was actually feeling better than even before. He had gone to the bathhouse and washed himself off and spent the rest of the day with Jungkook and Taehyung who stopped planning their wedding for the time being to place all of their attention on Jimin. Even Hoseok checked up on him and ended up joining in on a game Jungkook had made up when they were younger where one of them was supposed to chase the others around and touch the other players to freeze them until everyone was frozen and the player won.

It was a childish game in Yoongi’s eyes probably, but to Jimin and his friends, they loved playing it. It was definitely what he needed to get his mind off of everything anyway.

At dinner, Jimin was still in high spirits, sitting with his friends and drinking from a tall mug of alcohol that kept getting refilled by the others who had grabbed a mug to try to seem more like the adults but ended up not being able to stand the bitter taste. He was challenging a few older vikings to a chugging contest, drawing attention to him and eventually loud cheers from the whole dining hall when Jimin won against even the infamous village drunk. Hearing everyone cheering him on helped Jimin completely forget about today and any prior feelings of disappointment, anger, or sadness he had felt before.

Fuck Yoongi! Jimin was the fastest drinker!

Jimin tapped out after his forth win, just wanting to hang out with Taehyung, Jungkook, and Hoseok before Jungkook had to go home and also starting to get a bit too drunk to be able to keep up his winning streak. He slammed his empty mug down on the table and sang out in a drunken slur, “Today is the best day ever! I don’t have to marry Jungkook anymore, I got to hang out with you three in the woods, and I won four chugging contests in a row!”

     “Today is definitely your lucky day,” Jungkook laughed and started to get up, looking outside at how the sun was setting before he sighed and muttered out, “Ah, I should probably start heading home. My father doesn’t like me being by the shore at night where dragons can attack easily.”

     “Oh, do you want me to walk you home?” Taehyung stood up with him, smiling as he offered to protect his boyfriend on the walk home though that was an obvious excuse to anyone listening that he just wanted to spend a little bit more time with Jungkook before he left. Jimin smiled at the two as Jungkook held his hand and helped him up from the bench, saying with a soft giggle peaking through his smile, “I don’t want you to have to walk all the way back here by yourself, so we’ll just part at the border, ok?” he leaned in close, “Maybe there, I can give you a very passionate goodbye kiss.”

     “Oh, I love the sound of that,” Taehyung kissed his cheek and turned to Jimin to give him a short wave, “Jiminie, I’ll be back in an hour. You’re fine to make it back to your house on your own, right?”

Jimin leaned on Hoseok and took a sip from his empty mug, frowning when he remembered that he drank it all and this was his seventh mug so he probably needed to stop, “Yeah, I’m totally fine!” he slurred out his words and hugged Hoseok, “I have Hobi here to talk to me while you two make out in the woods.”

Taehyung and Jungkook blushed, but they didn’t have to say anything before Hoseok patted Jimin on the shoulder and assured the couple, “I’ll make sure he makes it home in one piece. You two be safe as well.”

     “We will!” Taehyung called out as Jungkook started to lead him out of the hall, whispering to him something that made him giggle before they walked out the door completely and into the night air to walk home.

Jimin watched them leaving, finally letting go of his mug and wrapping an arm around Hoseok to mutter out, “I used to wish that was me and Yoongi… I totally don’t now though,” he sniffed and shook his head, “He’s a dick. And he's only a dick to me too which is something I don’t understand, but I don’t care about that anymore. Or him.”

     “You know…” Hoseok spoke hesitantly, afraid to stand up for Yoongi though he did want to make something clear with Jimin, so he would somehow understand Yoongi’s personality or feel a little less hurt by the whole situation, “He’s always just trying to protect you. He just gets frustrated that you never want his help. You always get angry when he tries to kill or push away the thing you’re supposed to fear, and he doesn’t understand why.”

     “Not all dragons are-!” Jimin started to repeat himself for what felt like the fiftieth time today, but before he could, someone sat down at the table and interrupted him, “Hey you two, how are you? Where’s Tae and Jungkook? They’re not going to get mad at me for stealing their spot, are they? I just wanted to sit down and talk to you guys” his smile was fake and he laughed nervously, looking excruciatingly awkward though it seemed like he was trying his best to be… nice?

Jimin had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t starting to see things when he watched Yoongi sit down across from him on the bench where Taehyung and Jungkook were previously sitting. And then he really had to pinch himself when Yoongi smiled at him and spoke in a sweeter voice than he thought the dragon slayer was capable of. He straightened up and narrowed his eyes at Yoongi while muttering out to Hoseok, “I actually think I drank too much after all.”

Yoongi smile that he attempted immediately fell and he huffed, “Really?”

Hoseok had been confused why Yoongi suddenly tried to play the nice card with the person on this island he hated the most, but seeing Yoongi glaring and speaking to Jimin with a grit once more made him realize that he wasn’t dreaming or suddenly drunk either. Still though, he didn’t want to be here for whatever was about to break out between the two that fought like cats and dogs, so he quickly stood up and muttered out an excuse for himself to be allowed to leave and go far far away from the danger zone, “I’m going to get you a bit of food for you to sober up, ok Jimin?”

     “What?” Jimin’s eyes suddenly widened and he whined out for Hoseok to stay with him, “Are you really gonna just leave me with-!” and Hoseok was gone in the crowd of people still eating dinner in the hall. His supposed friend had left him alone… with Yoongi.

     “Look, I’m not here to fight you,” Yoongi decided to be the first to speak before Jimin could get the great idea to just get up and leave the hall entirely to go home and escape Yoongi’s presence. It looked like those were the only words he needed to hook Jimin in too, because Jimin turned to him with a surprised and confused expression on his face as he tilted his head and asked, “You mean, you’re not planning on punching me and calling me a whore?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “You know, you were the first to shove me to the ground and call me a pitiful orphan or something like that,” he frowned, “You’re seriously a hypocrite if you’re angry at me for that.”

     “I guess I’m a hypocrite then,” Jimin huffed and crossed his arms, puffing his lips out in a pout and turning his chin up and in the other direction, “I’m angry at you, and a simple apology is not going to change that!”

     “Well what will?” Yoongi leaned forward, frustrated that it seemed so hard to get the kid who had an annoying crush on him for who knows how long to forgive him. What was he going to have to do to gain his ‘friendship’? He just needed to do what Chief Jin and Chief Namjoon wanted and stay close to him to protect him, but he couldn’t do that if Jimin was huffing and whining about how much he was mad at Yoongi.

He watched as Jimin grew shocked and confused again by his question, uncrossing his arms and shifting his body to face Yoongi once again as he tilted his head and asked softly, “You’re seriously willing to work hard to earn my forgiveness?” he pursed his lips and furrowed his brows, seeming to be deep in thought before he came to a decision in his mind and shook his head, “No, you want something. What is it?”

     “Huh?” Yoongi asked, “I just want a truce between us and you think I want something from you? What could you possibly have that I might want?”

Jimin blushed at the question and awkwardly looked away while practically panicking out the words, “W-Well I don’t know! It might be a dare too! Or maybe you were told that if you gained my forgiveness, you would be promoted by my father or something!”

     “No, do you really think that lowly of me?” Yoongi asked but then didn’t pause to wait for an answer because he was very much aware of how he had treated Jimin in the past. Instead he just shook his head and sighed, already regretting trying to talk to the impossible and utterly childish future chief, “You know what? I’m just laying this out there. I want us to be friends. That’s it. Is that enough?”

     “No,” Jimin answered and Yoongi’s eyes widened, “No?” he scoffed, almost laughing because this was so irritatingly comedic, “Are you serious?”

Jimin shrugged and nodded his head, seeming sure of his answer, “Yeah. No. You can apologize, but I know you’re not going to change.”

     “Yes I will,” Yoongi hated how Jimin was now using the power he held over him in this situation to make him practically beg for forgiveness, but he knew he couldn’t give up for pride’s sake now. Not when he had to continue to be by Jimin’s side to protect him on his parents’ orders for who knew how long now. For the rest of his life? For the rest of Jimin’s life? For the rest of the two chiefs’ lives? Honestly, and this was terrible to say but he really meant it deep down, he wished all three were short if his time with Jimin from now on was going to continue being anything like this.

Jimin still didn’t seem sure of Yoongi, his eyes narrowed at him in skepticism as he asked, “Really? Will you like dragons from now on?”

Was he serious? Was the little dragon-loving brat seriously going to hold something that any sane person in their village felt over Yoongi’s head in order to gain his friendship with him again? Yoongi rolled his eyes, “You can’t be serious.”

     “Great!” Jimin started to get up, “I take that as a ‘no’, so I’ll be leaving n-!”

     “Wait!” Yoongi lunged forward and held Jimin’s hand to keep him sitting on the bench, “Hold on, are you really trying to make me like dragons? I’ve hated them my whole life just like everyone else on this island, so why should I be forced to like them to be friends with you?”

Jimin frowned and looked away, “If that’s how you’re going to see it then I think I’ve wasted enough time here. I’m going-!” before he could finish speaking, Yoongi’s hand gripped his tighter as the other boy grit his teeth and growled out, “You know what, I’ve been nice to you about this strange love you have for the beasts for long enough. I have never once told your father about how you hold them and talk to them as if they are your friends or you understand them and I have never once made fun of you behind your back even though you are a freak for liking them.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What the fuck, Yoongi, just let go of me! This is why I can’t stand you!”

     “No, I want you to see that I’m not the crazy one,” he started to stand up on the bench, pulling Jimin up with him from the other side of the table, “You are,” he lifted up Jimin’s arm and shouted out to gain everyone’s attention over the crowd inside the hall for him and Jimin who were now standing up on their wooden table they were sitting at, Yoongi straightening up as tall as he could manage for everyone to see him and Jimin standing beside him with a mortified look on his face, “Everyone! Did you know that you’re future chief thinks dragons are our friends and should be given a chance despite their history with us?”

People immediately gasped or murmured things about this news all while staring up at Jimin like he was a walking personification of the plague, whispering things that Jimin could hear like “Oh, some chief’s son is he?” or things that hurt Jimin more than anything, “I always knew there was something off about that child.”

He continued to listen to things the elders started saying about him, the people who cheered for him just minutes ago were now jeering about him, and the hurtful comments he couldn’t help but take to heart were amplified in his mind and echoed around him until he felt sick.

     “People who sympathize with dragons are freaks.”

     “Doesn’t he know that those monsters are the enemy?”

     “I feel sorry for his father when he gets word that his own son is wanting to be friendly with those murderous beasts.”

Tears threatened to fall from Jimin’s eyes when he heard that and when Yoongi turned to him with a proud smile, “See? You always get mad at me, saying I’m the bad guy, but literally everyone in our village hates dragons. It’s in our blood! Dragons are the enemy so-!” before Yoongi could finish, a surge of anger ran through Jimin and he used his free arm to punch Yoongi in the face as hard as he could, hoping to see the dragon slayer fall off the table away from him though he realized a second too late that Yoongi’s grip on his hand was still tight enough to drag him down with him to the ground.

He quickly tried to help Yoongi gain his balance or catch himself on the ground before they could both fall to the floor, but it was no use before they suddenly hit the ground with a loud thud, Yoongi on his back and Jimin right on top of him. Yoongi’s eyes were wide and he took in a deep breath when he looked up and saw Jimin’s face just inches away from his. Jimin’s eyes widened when he also realized how close their faces were to each other… how close their bodies were in general.

Holy shit he was right on top of Yoongi while laying down, their hand still intertwined and their lips just inches apart. His heart beat faster than what felt like ever before he felt something unrecognizable run its course through his body, making him want Yoongi more than anything. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to kiss him and do things to him that were not even socially acceptable to think in public, but he wanted Yoongi right now so bad, and-!

     “Why did you fucking punch me?” Yoongi broke him out of his thoughts and quickly pushed him off of him, his face flushed red with what Jimin was assuming was probably anger, so he decided to build up a defense and push back just as hard, “We’re even now for you punching me earlier you fucking prick.”

That’s right. Yoongi was a prick. There was nothing desirable about him. He just embarrassed Jimin in front of his village he was supposed to rule whenever he got older, and honestly? Jimin wanted to punch him again.

He quickly got up off of him and brushed dirt off of himself from the dining hall floor, muttering out as Yoongi also got up beside him, “I hope one thing you learned from this evening is that you and I?” he paused, making sure Yoongi was looking to him so he would see his glare in his direction - the piercing glare that Jin taught him - “Will never ever be friends.”

Yoongi scoffed and looked away, shaking his head, “You know what? Good. I don’t want to be friends with a dragon lover anyway.”

     “And I don’t want to be friends with a dragon slayer,” Jimin huffed and started to step away, “Have fun being exiled from this village when I become chief you fucking ass,” he flipped him off and turned to walk away but not fast enough to avoid hearing Yoongi call out one more thing after him, “Yeah ok, and good luck being chief with a village who knows you're an unrespectable friend of the enemy!”

Jimin paused and turned around to Yoongi, still glaring at him as if that would successfully stop his tears as he growled out in a low tone just loud enough for Yoongi to hear, “Fuck you. You’re not a hero to our village, you’re a coward, and that’s all you’ll ever be especially to me!” he turned on his heel and pushed his way out of the dining hall, finally feeling tears fall from his eyes as he tried to ignore how much his heart hurt and how he hated that he and Yoongi fought, but he knew that standing up for who he secretly was on the inside mattered so much more than any crush or love he felt for the viking. 

He could not be a lover or even a friend to someone who saw him as nothing but the enemy, and had to keep reminding himself of that no matter how much it hurt to fight him. He knew Jin told him to be nice to Yoongi and try to convince him through kindness that dragons were good, but there was no convincing with Yoongi. He was impossible, and Jimin just needed to make peace with that…

From now on, he wasn’t going to so much as look Yoongi in the eye. He wasn’t going to acknowledge him, talk to him, touch him, or even think about him.

Yoongi though dragons were the enemy? Well Jimin thought the real enemy was Yoongi.

~(***)~

     “Well it looks like we’re finally at the boarder,” Taehyung sighed, still finding it in himself to smile though since Jungkook had promised to kiss him passionately here before they parted. He always hated it when Jungkook left, but he always loved the way the other viking said good bye, passionately and so… well so amorously.

Before Taehyung could even look back at the man whose hand he was holding, Jungkook pressed him up against a tree that was beside him and kissed him hard immediately, not wasting any time as if they had a limit to what they could do tonight.

Taehyung shut his eyes and kissed back, sucking in air through his nose to be able to last longer with his lips connected to Jungkook’s for however long the other boy wanted to explore the roof of his mouth with his tongue. He loved kissing his boyfriend’s plush lips, but what he loved even more was when Jungkook reached his hand into Tae’s pants and played with the in between of his legs before undressing him and dropping their items of clothing away from them, one by one.

Taehyung let Jungkook do what he wanted to him, finding himself on the ground beside the tree in a matter of minutes with both of them exposed to the air in the empty forest around them. Jungkook had pressed himself into Taehyung’s mouth, asking him to lick his length and make it wet enough to use all while petting Tae’s hair with one hand and positioning his cock to lay comfortably in the other boy’s mouth with the other.

It wasn’t long before Taehyung could feel Jungkook in between his legs and jumping ahead of himself to excitedly push into him all the way, causing Taehyung to cry out which only then made him freeze and check on his lover, asking him in a gasp, “Oh, I’m sorry! Did I go in too fast?”

Taehyung shut his eyes and gripped onto the grass underneath him as he nodded his head and muttered out, “Go a little slower for the next few seconds, but you’re fine…”

     “Are you sure?” Jungkook asked, the moonlight shining on his worried eyes as he stared down at Tae. He leaned forward and kissed him, starting to slowly pull out again before he slowly pushed back in, afraid to hurt his boyfriend again.

Taehyung nodded his head confidently though, opening his eyes to stare up at Jungkook and the beautiful stars in the sky up above him as he offered a smile and answered him, “I am. I love feeling you inside me like this. It’s… comforting,” he giggled a little and looked away, blushing and continuing to speak, “Maybe comforting isn’t the right word, but it’s definitely nice knowing that I love you and you’re mine.”

Jungkook chuckled to himself and nodded his head along with Taehyung’s words, glad he was feeling fine enough to speak to him like this as they had sex, “It’s definitely a great feeling to get to see you like this after so long of loving you and thinking you would never love me back. Half a year ago, I almost thought you and I could never happen, but,” he leaned down and kissed Taehyung again, “Here we are.”

Taehyung grinned and reached his arms up to hang them around Jungkook’s neck as the viking picked up the pace inside of him. He leaned up to give his boyfriend a love bite on the neck before repeating his words back to him in a fond tone of voice, “Here we are…”

In a matter of seconds, Jungkook managed to find his prostate, hitting it hard the first time and then continuing to hit it harder and faster when Taehyung moaned out his name and begged him to continue hitting just that spot. Taehyung’s legs wrapped around Jungkook’s hips to help him reach deeper into him, and his arms fumbled for a comfortable spot to rest, but he ended up just grabbing the grass underneath him as he arched his back and moaned out Jungkook’s name louder than before along with a string of profanities that would have caused Jungkook to giggle if he wasn’t so busy desperately chasing his own orgasm inside of Taehyung.

Tae shut his eyes when he felt himself reaching his climax, finding it at a steady rhythm that matched up with Jungkook’s thrusts and soft grunts he let out every time he thrusted inside of Taehyung and felt a deeper pleasure balling up inside of him in the pit of his stomach.

Taehyung could feel it. He could feel himself about to cum and he knew Jungkook was close too, but just as he was about to tip over, a chill ran up his spine and a circle of fire suddenly wrapped itself around them, creating a light in the night brighter than a simple candle or handmade light.

He felt Jungkook bite his neck and lick across his skin, about to leave a trail of marks that led down to his chest as he cummed into him, but before he could, Taehyung shouted out in fear and pushed Jungkook away from him and out of him, struggling to gain his balance or sense and stand up as he stammered out a panicked cry, “I think a dragon is here! A d-dragon,” he turned around himself and tried to find out where the fire came from but there was nothing around him.

No fire breathing reptile with wings and sharp fangs. Nothing wanting to kill him.

Was it Jimin playing a prank on them? No… No, Jimin couldn’t produce that much fire.

What-!

He felt Jungkook wrap an arm around him and pull him close before using his cloak to put on the ground and stamp out the fire before it grew and destroyed the forest. He looked around himself once more with furrowed brows and clenched teeth before muttering out, “I think maybe we should end this here for now just in case we did make a beast that secretly lives here angry,” he turned to Taehyung who was already hurrying to put his clothes back on again, “Baby, should I walk you back to the village? I don’t want you to be alone going ho-!”

     “No, I don’t want you having to walk alone all the way back to your village either without me, so we should just both part here before the dragon decides to show himself,” Taehyung spoke timidly, still scared about the fact that he was so close to a dragon that actually shot fire at him either as a warning or a failed attempt to kill him and Jungkook.

He slipped on his shoes and watched as Jungkook started getting dressed too, not even bothering to whine about their intimate time being ruined by a dragon because anyone with half a brain on this island knew that if something shot fire at you, you ran away without asking any questions.

When they were both done gathering their things and calming down a bit from their initial shock and fear from what had happened, Jungkook brought Taehyung into his arms one more time for the night and kissed him, holding him close and muttering out, “We’ll redo what we started some other time and maybe in a safe place,” he tried to chuckle but he was still shaken up by the fact that a dragon had created a ring of fire around them. How did it do that without showing itself?… Why did it do that?

Taehyung nodded his head and stepped away, “Be safe, Jungkook… I don’t want to lose you to any monsters out here at this time of night.”

     “You really think you’re going to lose me?” Jungkook scoffed and pulled away from Taehyung, looking past him to see that the village was close enough for Taehyung to run to and be safe in on his own. He smiled and started to step back towards his own village that was a little farther though he knew he’d be able to make it to just fine as well, “The only thing I get lost in is your eyes baby.”

     “Oh wow,” Taehyung snorted out a laugh and rolled his eyes before turning on his heel to walk away, “That was bad. You’re lucky I love you, Kookie.”

     “And I’m lucky to love you back!” Jungkook called out, watching Taehyung safely making his way back to the village. He walked backwards towards his village slowly, making sure nothing followed his lover that was capable of making rings of fire. Thankfully it seemed like Tae was alone, so he turned on his heel and started hurrying back to his village before anything could follow him either.

What happened was an abrupt and scary ending to their night, but for some odd reason, he couldn’t even be mad or worried about it. As long as Taehyung was safe, he was fine. As long as he and Taehyung loved each other, he was fine. As long as he knew he was going to be with Taehyung the next day, he was the happiest viking in all the land. And he was the luckiest man in the world to be able to marry him someday now too. 

~(***)~

Jimin hurried home and swung open the door to his house, slamming the door behind him and panting out heavily as a way to keep himself from crying more than he already had on his way home. He wiped away the last of his tears as he kicked off his shoes and grumbled out, “You’re the enemy you fucking-!”

     “Jimin?” he heard a soft voice behind him ask, and he shrieked out, jumping up and away from whoever had just walked up behind him, turning to see who it was as he spoke in a panicked voice, “Ah, I-!” he paused when he saw Jin in his night clothes, staring down at Jimin with a worried look in his eyes.

Since when was Jin so stealthy as a human?

Jimin let out a sigh of relief and put a hand over his heart as he continued to let out recovering breaths, “I didn’t realize you were home? I thought maybe you’d still be with my father taking care of things around the village as the sun sets.”

     “Ah,” Jin nodded his head and looked away, blushing a little as he moved a strand of hair out of his face and behind his ear. His hair was short and black, but a few strands had grown just long enough to be annoying and always in his face. Jimin liked the look on him though… And he knew his father like the hairstyle on Jin too, always messing with it through his fingers as he ran his hands through Jin’s hair and stared into his eyes.

Jin smiled and continued to speak, “I overworked myself in a way today, and so he let me come back to the village to rest,” he changed the topic and stepped closer to Jimin, noticing that his son had been crying which was something that added onto his worry on top of the fact that Jimin had slammed the door so hard the house shook and he had been muttering out profanities to himself about someone else. “Are you ok? What happened?”

     “Yoongi happened,” Jimin mumbled out in reply, wiping his eyes of tears again and looking away. “He’s an asshole, and-!” he sucked in his breath and shook his head, “No, never mind, I don’t want to talk about it,” he shut his eyes, “I just want to forget about it. Yep, that’s what I’m going to do. Forget about him.”

Jin wasn’t sure how to respond. He knew the two were definitely fated mates, but how could they hate each other multiple times in a day. How could they have always hated each other but care so much about each other? It was confusing to Jin… He had only ever loved Namjoon and things had been so easy for them. Sure maybe they argued a few times over silly things like whether or not they should be training their son to fight enemies or protecting him from them. He and namjoon even once argued about whether or not they should sleep in one morning, but Jin never once doubted his love for Namjoon.

Jin tried to think about what Namjoon said back in the woods, how these things may be different for their halfling son afterall. Maybe he didn’t have a fated mate. Maybe he just fell in love with the wrong person and was trying to fall out of it because he was slowly discover how they couldn’t get along for the life of them.

He put aside this whole mate thing for a moment and offered up his arms to his son, assuring him, “Maybe forgetting him is what is best right now,” Jimin hurried into his arms and pressed his head to Jin’s chest, wrapping his arms around Jin’s waist and muttering out softly, “I just hate how I still love him no matter what he does to me.”

A mate’s curse.

Still though, Jin tried not to see too much into it and closed his eyes, running his fingers through Jimin’s hair before leading him up the stairs to his bed where he should have been resting an hour ago. Instead he was crying and smelled of sweat and alcohol, a scent Jin didn’t like smelling on his baby. It made him seem all grown up… It reminded him of how much he truly did miss.

He laid Jimin down and crawled into bed with him, keeping an arm wrapped around him as he spoke soft and assuringly just as Jimin always liked. He calmed down so easily to it, Jin had wished he was this easy to calm down when he was a baby.

He laid beside his son, staring into his glossy eyes and smiling as he rubbed his palm gently across Jimin’s pale cheek to wipe any last tears away before they could dry on his skin and whispered, “It’s strange how hard it is to hate someone you have already come to love, hm?”

Jimin’s breath hitched softly at the mention of the word ‘love’ again, but he nodded his head and agreed, “It’s terrible…”

     “Well it’s good in some cases,” Jin smiled, “Good for me at least. Namjoon already loved me once so he couldn’t come to hate me for leaving. You already loved me once so you couldn’t hate me for leaving you either.”

     “You left because you had to,” Jimin argued, but Jin only pulled him close under the covers and shook his head, “Leaving is leaving. I should have found another way.”

     “I don’t think I’d be alive if you didn’t do what you did,” Jimin pressed his face into Jin’s chest again and let out a shuddered breath, “I love you, Jin…. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me to protect me. You left the love of your life to keep me safe, and for that I’ll-!”

Jin chuckled a little and kissed Jimin on the forehead, “Baby, you’re acting like you aren’t my whole world! Of course I’d do whatever it takes to keep you safe… I always will.”

Jimin smiled to himself, forgetting about Yoongi’s ‘tough love’ for the time being when he was reminded of Jin’s fatherly love for him. He nuzzled up closer to his dad, “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you stay with me from now on too. I never want us to be separated again, dad,” he called Jin dad for the first time, catching himself choking up on his words as he looked back up into Jin’s eyes through the darkness of the small bedroom, “Appa and I need you so much.”

     “We were always together,” Jin pressed his hand to Jimin’s heart, “In here,” his hand moved up to Jimin’s chin to lift up his face and look him in the eyes again, “And we always will be connected to each other that way. I’ll never leave you in your heart,” Jimin started to look down, but Jin place a hand on his cheek again to make him keep looking in his eyes, “In our song… In our memories we will continue to make with each other for as long as possible.”

     “But you’re never going to leave again, right?” Jimin asked, eyes searching frantically for an answer in Jin’s expression. He looked scared. Scared Jin would tell him he was leaving soon and never coming back, but Jin only ended up pulling him closer again and assuring him with all his heart, “For as long as I live, I will always be here with you in person.”

Jimin closed his eyes and let out a soft breath of relief that Jin could just barely hear. He didn’t say anything else after that, just wrapping his arms tighter around Jin and eventually falling asleep from his still slightly drunken exhaustion that took over him when he was finally in the comfort of his father’s arms and love and could fall asleep content.

Jin held him like this, humming their song to himself as he played with his son’s soft black hair and almost falling asleep himself until he heard his mate finally come home and walk up the stairs to find his family snuggled up together in bed. He paused and tilted his head at the sight at first, unable to keep himself from grinning and chuckling a little before he admitted, “I definitely had a dream like this once where I came home and you were back and holding Jimin in our bed just like how you are now,” he sat on the end of the bed and smoothed a hand over the curve of Jin’s waist and hip over the surface of the blankets on top of him, “My dreams have all been coming true lately since you’ve come back.”

     “Oh, are you a prophet?” Jin asked, still playing with Jimin’s hair and grinning as he looked up at his husband who was still sweaty from a day of work but just as sexy as he was this morning when they had their intimate moment in the woods.

Namjoon smiled but shook his head and leaned down to kiss Jin, “No, you’re just a miracle,” he stood up again and started to undress, “You have room for one more in that bed? I’ll wash up and get changed so I can come back in a few minutes to join you two.”

     “There’s room on the other side of Jimin,” Jin answered, watching Namjoon undress to the skin and hang everything up in front of his wardrobe, “He can be in between us like how he used to when he was a baby and slept between us sometimes.”

Namjoon grabbed a water bucket that he would have to take outside to fill up with water from the well and wash himself with, but before he could leave he stared back at his husband and child one last time, feeling his heart filling up with a feeling he knew well as love, “I’d want nothing more, Jin. This is another dream coming true.”

~(***)~

Jimin woke up in the warmth of his fathers’ arms, the two of them holding him on either side of him so close he felt like he had accidentally worn a warm coat to bed. He didn’t mind it though. It was comforting to have his family again, feeling their soft breaths against the back of his neck and his forehead. He didn’t want to stir from sleep or wake himself up anymore than he already had, but there was an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he needed to open his eyes.

Danger was near; he needed to open his eyes.

But what danger?

He opened his eyes and gasped softly when he saw dark yellow eyes glaring back at him. Jin’s face was behind the glow, frowning and furrowing his brows though he didn’t make a move from where he was, his hold around Jimin growing tighter and tighter to the point where his fingertips bruised into his son’s skin, but Jimin didn’t dare make a move either no matter how much it hurt.

His eyes were glowing yellow for reasons he wasn’t able to understand nor did he want to understand. The glow of his eyes illuminated Jin’s face and gave him a headache, but he at least knew he wasn’t angry. Why were his eyes glowing? He was so calm a second ago, but now anxiety and fear were all he felt, and he strived to be buried deeper into his two fathers’ embrace, but he feared not even that would be able to protect him from what was coming.

     “Jin?…” he bit his lip, finding it hard to speak with how dry his throat was from fear, but he managed to edge out his next words, “What’s happening?”

Jin finally moved, not by much but just enough to loosen his grip on Jimin's hims and wrap his arms around him to hold him closer in a protective way as he muttered out in reply, a low growl that Jimin had never heard come from his father before,

“He’s here.”

Chapter Text

Apart Once More

Jimin didn’t remember much between waking up in the glow of his and Jin’s eyes and running in a panic as a storm roared and struck around him, but right now, he was being dragged through the forest by Jin so close he kept tripping on the backs of his heels as they ran through the trees towards the pond he spent his first years at.

He looked back at his village that was enwrapped in large flames despite the rain, dragons everywhere and big boats filled with heavily armored vikings at the dock where the attack started. A dragon had swooped down and killed their lookout before they could warn the whole village, but Jin managed to run out and start waking the neighbors up, telling them an attack was happening and they needed to get up to defend themselves.

He also told Namjoon to wake up for the attack before telling him that he was going to take Jimin into the woods for safety. Jimin had gotten angry, saying that Jin taught him enough tricks for him to be able to defend himself, but Jin had made it clear that now wasn’t the time for him to show any signs of him being a dragon.

Now was a time to hide.

     “Jin, you’re hiding with me right?” Jimin asked when they came upon the clearing in the woods where the little lake was. Their house stood stronger than before since Jin and Namjoon had come out here a few times over the past six months to clean it up and try to make it look like how it did when it had first been built for their just starting family.

Jin didn’t answer him. He only bent down and reached his hands into the murky water, digging around and bringing up mud before he turned to Jimin and spread it across his face and through his hair. Jimin’s eyes widened and he started to pull back, but Jin grabbed his hands again to keep him in place, finally explaining himself, “I need to cover up your scent so any dragons they brought here to track down other dragons down won’t be able to find you.”

     “Jin, what’s happening?” Jimin asked, wanting to ask so many more questions too, but he felt like asking Jin one question at a time would get him more answers.

And Jin finally did answer him now, “Bad people…” his voice was trembling almost as much as his hands as he continued to smear mud across Jimin’s skin and clothes, “A bad man in particular is here, and he likes to attack islands and destroys villages all while taking any dragons they may have on that island by force. If he got to you, you’d be forced into a cage and tortured until you submitted to him and agreed to join his army and fight against any enemies he tells you to attack.”

He knew about this from stories other dragons told him of when they spent time on the 'King Viking's' island, trapped in a cage and being stabbed with spears every time they acted out. Some were even pregnant at the time and ended up giving birth inside their cages they were trapped in, and some even died, but Jin had thankfully never been there before. He was going to try his best to make sure Jimin never went there either. 

     “You’re going to hide with me right?” Jimin asked, pulling Jin out of his thoughts. “You can’t risk being caught too; you have to hide,” he felt himself growing sick when Jin frowned at that question and answered in the way he dreaded to hear as he helped Jimin into the pond water to cover up his scent completely, “I have to make sure appa doesn’t get hurt. I can defend myself as a dragon, but you’re still so young… They’ll gain the upper-hand on you quickly. I’m sorry Jimin.”

     “No…” Jimin glanced around himself, “I-I can help you! You said I’m strong, so why not now!?”

     “Because against anyone else you are, but to this man and his army? You are safer here,” Jin kissed his forehead and brought him in for a close hug, muttering out softly, “Don’t get out of the water until the smoke coming from the fire in the village has cleared.”

Jimin tensed up in Jin’s arms, “Please don’t leave…”

Jin pulled away, and Jimin shook his head, watching him shut his eyes to start to turn into a dragon as pleaded, “Please don’t go! You can’t leave me again!”

He was so sure Jin was going to transform and fly away from him without another word, but instead, he just stood there. Jimin almost thought that Jin had changed his mind thanks to Jimin's cries and would decide to stay, but Jin only had a confused look on his face. His eyebrows twisted with worry and he looked down, touching his stomach with a soft gasp under his breath before he shook his head and decided to run in the direction of the village anyway as a human instead of transforming into a dragon.

     “Jin come back!” Jimin screamed out after him, watching him run towards the village faster than ever before and never look back at him, already on his way to go fight alongside Namjoon to defend their village and child from the attacking intruders.

From what Jin told Jimin…. it sounded like there were high chances they could die tonight. Especially Jin.

Jimin grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes to see through the darkness and fog of the woods to try to find Jin now running farther off in the distance towards the village, but he was no longer visible to Jimin.

     “Stay put my ass…” he grumbled out and decided to get up out of the pond no matter how scared he was. He shoved back on his boots that Jin had told him to take off before stashing them into some bushes so they wouldn’t be ruined by the lake water. He shed off his coat that was dripping with water and bent over to wash his face off of mud in the water before standing up and turning back to the village that was still lit brightly with fire, “I’m not losing you a second time.”

He ran back through the woods to the village, running as fast as he could and quietly as he could so to not call any attention to himself for the attacking clan and dragons to find him. He ran all the way back to his house without getting caught and hurried inside through the back door, wanting to grab a sword or an axe before running out into the fight to make sure his parents stayed alive. He went through his father's things until he found a silver chest plate he could put on over his shirt to have some kind of protection in battle as well.

This would be his first battle….

He was nervous, but he needed to be brave. He knew how to fight. He knew how to defend himself. He knew how to deal with dragons because Jin had taught him everything he would need to know these past few months. He was going to be fine.

Jimin walked over to the chest where his father held their weapons for battle, knowing that Namjoon took an axe and Jin probably took a sword though there were plenty pieces in there for him to use comfortably. He started to rummage around carefully for a sword he had used before when Jin was training him how to rely on his instinct in combat, but before he could find anything he recognized, he felt a blade against his back and a thick accent from an Irish man say, “Oh you’re a tiny thing, aren’t ya?”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he gasped, turning around to see the man pointing an axe at him. He was a man with red hair and blue eyes, something that seemed otherworldly to Jimin since he had only known the black or brown hair and brown eyed people of his village in his life time. He stumbled back against the chest when he saw how close the man was with his weapon and he muttered out, “I-I don’t want any trouble…”

Not yet at least.

The man grinned and tilted his head, “Oh? You’re not much of a fighter?”

Jimin shook his head quickly and reached behind him to grab the first handle of a weapon he could get his hands on, replying a short, “N-No, I don’t want to-!” before he could finish, he swung the weapon at the man’s head and ducked so his axe wouldn’t actually hit him in the face. The man ducked before Jimin’s weapon could hit him, but he had been distracted long enough for Jimin to be able to just drop the weapon and start to hurry away from him and escape, almost managing to get to the stairs to run downstairs and out the door towards the fight where his parents were, but before he could, the man grabbed his arm and swung him against the bed on his stomach.

Jimin cried out in fear and quickly flipped himself around just as the man grabbed his hips and held him down on the mattress with the blade of his axe pressing down on Jimin’s stomach. He laughed at Jimin struggling underneath him and growled out, “Feisty... Maybe I should teach you a lesson, aye?”

     “I’m going to kill you if you touch me!” Jimin fumed out and tried to grab at the man’s face to burn him, but the man only ended up applying more pressure onto his stomach from the weight of the axe, so Jimin had to fall still to keep himself from getting cut and badly injured from the weapon resting in between his and the man’s body.

He was breathing heavily, staring up at the red headed viking and nervously waiting for him to make the next move. Jimin thought that maybe he’d get a chance to burn him again once he did something that required both of his hands and moving the axe away from his stomach, but instead, the man only needed one hand to to shimmy down Jimin’s pants to his knees and start to unbutton his own pants to pull out his length as he pushed up his knee to spread apart Jimin’s legs.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked up at the man in fear, realizing what his intentions were. His whole face grew red with embarrassment that the man had undressed him and was wanting to do unspeakable things to him, but it only fueled him with enough incentive to bravely move his hand up to the man’s face again despite the axe digging down against his stomach and burn his skin to try to escape.

He felt the man start to line himself up against his entrance in between his legs, but he couldn’t go any further than that before Jimin sent a surge of fire into his skin and burned half his face, screaming out when the blade of the axe finally dug into his skin and cut across his stomach. He held his breath and stretched his fingers to reach the man’s eye to burn it as well in attempt to kill him before he could kill him with his axe. The man was screaming in pain, too shocked to do anything except apply pressure to the axe on Jimin’s stomach, but before he could overcome his shock or Jimin could kill him, the sound of something cutting through the air could be heard over it all before his head was cut clean off and flew to the other side of the room with a trail of blood following behind it.

Blood splattered onto Jimin’s face as he stared up at the headless body on top of him in shock, not sure who just saved him though he was more focused on getting the blade of the axe far away from his stomach before the body could fall on top of him and slam the blade deeper into his skin.

He cried out as he lifted it off of him and laid it down beside him on the bed, getting ready to use it just in case the person that killed his enemy was another enemy he would have to worry about. Before he could think about fighting though, he quickly pushed the body away from him and sat up, panting and breathing heavily as he pulled his pants back up and looked to see who had saved him though he wasn’t too happy about who he found now standing in front of him with blood splattered across his body and a sword wet with blood in his hands.

Min Yoongi.

Jimin quickly finished pulling his pants up and grabbed the axe, not wanting to waste any time fighting him since he knew Yoongi would drag him far away from the battle happening in the village right now if he took a chance at a conversation with him right now.

     “Thank you,” Jimin gave a simple thanks and started to turn to run down the stairs towards his parents and the battle. He was slightly afraid why Yoongi was dripping with blood, but he couldn’t back down now. Not with his parents in danger out there.

He was about to take his first step down the stairs, but before he could, Yoongi grabbed him by the back of the collar of his shirt and pulled him back much like the now beheaded man did, though he only forced Jimin to face him as he said, “Hey, are you crazy or have you not seen what is happening out there? I had to come in here for a moment of refuge because there are blood thirsty dragons crawling everywhere out there.”

     “Well according to you from earlier tonight, I’m crazy, so I’m going out there,” Jimin started to pull away from Yoongi’s hold, hating how he was still talking down to him even after their fight tonight. He wanted Yoongi to show at least some kind of guilt or remorse for everything he had said, but the viking was still too stubborn for his own good… Jimin was the same way, but Yoongi was stubborn in a way that pissed Jimin off.

Yoongi’s grip only tightened around his wrist though and he took the axe from his hand in one motion, “No you’re not,” before Jimin could reach up to grab the axe back from him, Yoongi slammed it down into the wooden floor where it would stick until someone strong enough decided to pull it out, “You’re a brat, but I’m not letting you die.”

     “Look, I don’t care about whatever promise you made to my parents to protect me,” Jimin grit his teeth and tried to pull away from Yoongi again, growing more and more frustrated with how he wasn’t letting him go, “I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t lose them again, so stop keeping me from protecting them!”

     “I’m protecting you on my own accord,” Yoongi argued, “You’ll thank me later when you’re alive.”

Jimin huffed, debating on whether or not he should punch Yoongi again… He had punched Yoongi enough though and he knew Yoongi would get over it quickly and grab him again before he could pull the axe out of the ground and escape.

What was another good idea? What could he do?

He could distract Yoongi and take his sword that was in his belt now. It would be easy to slide it out, but he would need to take Yoongi attention off of it by doing something that would shock him so much, he wouldn’t realize Jimin was stealing his sword…

Jimin knew what would draw in all of Yoongi’s attention easily.

     “Yoongi…” he looked down, feeling as if there was a clocking ticking down from now to the moment it was too late to save Jin, so he made sure to make every action quick and worth it. “I need to help my parents, but if there’s anything I want to do to thank you, it's this,” he looked up at the dragon slayer and leaned up on his tip toes, closing his eyes and bracing himself to take him by surprise and kiss him. His lips pressed gently against the dragon slayer's rough mouth, but he managed to make it work and fit their bodies closer together. 

His finger tips danced lightly across Yoongi’s chest and trailed down to his sword handle since he knew he couldn’t waste any time. Yoongi would be pushing him off of him in a few seconds tops, so he had to slide it out and steal it before Yoongi could…

Oh…

Jimin felt one of Yoongi’s hands hold onto his waist gently and smooth down his hip, causing his hear to flutter the same way it did when he was even closer to Yoongi earlier tonight and on top of him. He felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, something similar to what he felt when he was aroused, but not quite. It was the same feeling that made him want to do a mess of a bunch of things to Yoongi just a few hours ago, and it was making him feel the same way now.

Yoongi started to kiss back, using his other hand to run his fingers through Jimin’s hair. Jimin was beyond confused why in the world Yoongi was suddenly reciprocating his feelings or acting like he liked him, but when he realized that Yoongi had melted into the kiss completely, he knew that his plan to distract the other viking was a success, and he slid the sword out of his belt easily before stepping away from him.

Yoongi reached out to keep holding Jimin, opening his mouth to ask softly why Jimin was pulling away so soon, but before he could, he saw his sword in Jimin’s hands and realized what had just happened. Jimin only kissed him to distract him… and he was stupid enough to kiss back.

     “Fuck…” he muttered out, also realizing that he just embarrassed himself by melting into a fake kiss with someone he was having to pretend like he hated for ego’s sake. Jimin grinned and Yoongi stepped forward, “Please just give it back to me and-!”

     “I’m going to go save my parents,” Jimin stepped towards the stairs and held the sword out in front of him, quirking up an eyebrow just to challenge Yoongi to go against him and see what happened when he messed with him while he had a weapon. “If you try to stop me, I’m going to tell everyone in our village that you melted into my fake kiss and whined out when I pulled away.”

Jimin only managed to see Yoongi grit his teeth in annoyance before he turned on his heel and ran down the stairs to go outside towards the battle taking place all across his village. Yoongi shouted out his name for him to come back, but he quickly stepped out and closed the door behind him, looking around at the fire burning down trees and buildings, dragons crawling along rooftops with sheep and other livestock in their mouths, people covered in blood and crying for help, and vikings from the other clan fighting their way past his village’s strongest defense.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he coward into himself for a moment, wanting to go back inside and just forget about this whole thing so he could go back to the pond and do whatever Jin told him to do, but before he could turn on his heel to run away from the gruesome and gory attack that he didn’t want to be apart of anymore, he caught sight of Jin down by the shore, fighting off a group of four men with just a sword. He needed help… He was going to get hurt. He was going to die.

Jimin didn’t speak. He didn’t call out Jin’s name or cry out for someone to help him. Without speaking or truly even thinking about his next actions, he started to move. He started walking towards Jin with his sword in his grip, not allowing himself to cower now that he saw him in trouble.

He glanced at a dragon breaking into a house on fire and grabbing a child in it’s mouth. The child screamed for mercy, hitting at the dragon’s face and crying out for her mother before the dragon set her down and flew away.

It saved her from the fire…

These dragons really were being forced to be part of an army, weren’t they? They were being told to attack, but they didn’t want to hurt anyone. Of course... because dragons weren't evil. Dragons were monsters or beasts like this clan wanted their village to think. They were good!

With that in mind, he ran past a few dragons stirring up trouble without any worries of being attacked. They were on his side. All he needed to worry about were the humans.

Jimin ran up to Jin and swung his sword at the neck of one of the vikings about to gain the upper-hand over Jin. He screamed out and shut his eyes as he cut the man’s head off and pushed his body down to the ground.

     “Jimin, I told you to stay put in the water!” Jin screamed at Jimin, grabbing him by the shoulder and jerking him back away from the shore and the other men trying to capture him. As soon as he had come back to the village, a dragon had caught his scent and alerted the clan of what he truly was. Some dragons were forced into this army, yes, but some?… Some were participating in this attack for purely their enjoyment only.

One of the men swung their axe down towards him, but he had felt the wind from the axe slicing through the air hitting the skin on his arm before the man came close. Jin quickly stopped his force with the blade of his sword, grunting and throwing the man back just far enough for him to be able to grab Jimin and run farther back.

     “I couldn’t let you leave me again!” Jimin shouted back at him over the loud noise of dragons growling and people screaming all around their village. Jin stormed up to the first couple of houses by the sand on the beach, still holding on tight to his son’s chest plate as he shouted out for his husband, “Namjoon, get your son off the battle field right now!”

     “No!” Jimin fought to escape Jin’s grip, “You were always telling me I needed to learn how to fight, and then I did, so why can’t I be out here protecting you and appa and our village just like everyone else!?”

Jin glared at Jimin, his eyebrows furrowing and his eyes starting to glow yellow only a little bit as he growled out, “I taught you how to fight so you could protect yourself in a worst case scenario, but the last thing I want is for you to go face first into danger with both dragons’ and humans’ worst enemy!”

Namjoon ran over to them and grabbed Jimin from Jin, “Jimin, you can’t be out here! The chaos around us is worse than ever before,” he held Jimin tight and grabbed the sword from him to hand to Jin instead, “Baby, you shouldn’t be out here either. I don’t want to-!”

     “Namjoon, I know what we’re facing more than you do, so I will stay and fight,” Jin argued.

Namjoon bit his lip and looked like he wanted to say something else to keep Jin from risking his life, but Jin grit his teeth and shook his head, “End of discussion. Get Jimin somewhere safe, and I’ll try to kill the man in control of this all.”

He turned on his heel to start walking away, and Namjoon’s eyes widened, “N-No, not alone!” he let go of Jimin and started hurrying away from him, but before he could, he remembered how Jimin needed to be somewhere safe and not stranded out in the middle of the danger filled village now without a weapon.

Not wanting to leave Jimin alone but also not wanting to let Jin go off on his own, Namjoon felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw Yoongi running by. His eyes widened and he shouted out in relief, grabbing the young viking’s attention by grabbing his arm and pulling him towards Jimin, “Yoongi, thank Odin! I need you to take Jimin into the woods where he’s safe. Not even I know if we’re going to make it through this one alive.”

Yoongi nodded his head and held onto Jimin for Namjoon now, “I’ll take him to Jungkook’s clan to spread the word about the attack to them as well.”

     “Good,” Namjoon nodded and looked back at Jin who had just used both of the swords in his hands now to kill two vikings that had come at him at once. There was no doubt that he was an amazing fighter, probably the best in their whole village, but there was no way he was going to let the love of his life go into danger without him by his side.

Without another glance spared at his son who was now in good hands, he ran towards Jin to join him in trying to find the leader of the attacking clan. He placed a hand on his back and muttered out softly, “You’re not leaving me again. We do things together from now on, ok?” Jin turned his head to him, surprised at first that Namjoon was beside him but then calming when he realized that he was safe next to him. He nodded his head and turned back to look forward at the boats docked on their shore, definitely holding the chief of the enemy clan inside, “We’re going to kill this man together then.”

     “Sounds like a plan,” Namjoon rested his axe on his shoulder and continued walking beside his lover, only losing his composure when Jin held his hand and spoke softly for the first time tonight, “Namjoon…. I think I’m pregnant.”

Namjoon felt his heart stop beating. He almost stopped in his tracks completely when he heard Jin’s words, but he didn’t let himself falter. Not in this dangerous area surrounded by flames with a pregnant husband he now needed to protect with his life. Instead, he squeezed Jin’s hand tighter and couldn't help but smile to himself despite being in the middle of a battle, “Looks like we’re finally going to raise a child together too.”

     “Let me go, I need to be with him!” Jimin yelled out, hitting at Yoongi’s shoulder and kicking him to try to get away. Yoongi had a tight hold on him this time though, gritting his teeth through the pain of Jimin fighting to get out of his hold. He shut his eyes and held Jimin closer as he shouted back, “Jimin, please just calm down! You’re only going to get them hurt if they have to protect you from something you aren’t ready for!”

     “When won’t you realize that I’m stronger than you think I am?” Jimin asked, now crying out of frustration that Yoongi wasn’t letting him go to his parents. He continued to struggle in his grasp, wiping tears away from his eyes and looking frantically around them for any dragons and vikings from the other clan that might attack them at any second while they were distracted with each other.

Yoongi continued to hold onto him though, replying to him in a calmer voice than what he normally used, “Jimin, I’m not calling you weak. I’m not saying you can’t handle this, but this…” he looked around him, panting heavy breaths as he saw the fire and large dragons everywhere…destroying his town…killing his friends and other villagers just like dragons always did. “This is too much for even me to fight against. This attack is going to wipe out our village.”

     “Let me get Jin and appa to follow me to safety then,” Jimin cried, watching them walking over to one of the large ships docked on their shore. They were suddenly attacked by a group of men but successfully fought them off together within seconds, having many close calls that Jimin couldn't bare to watch. He hit Yoongi again, harder this time since he wanted to go help them, “I-I can’t lose them… N-Not when w-we finally became a family!”

     “Jimin…” Yoongi’s voice came out soft and he pulled Jimin back towards a house that wasn’t on fire just so they wouldn’t be in the center of the chaos anymore out in the open. He wiped away the younger boy’s tears and cupped his face in his hands, “Jimin, they’ll be fine.”

Jimin shook his head, “No, they won’t be fine,” he started to raise his voice, hitting Yoongi again, “You need to let me-!” before he could finish, Yoongi crashed his lips against Jimin’s, his hands tightening around the younger boy’s cheeks as he pressed into the kiss and then trailed one hand down to Jimin’s waist.

Jimin kissed back at first, having always dreamt of this moment since he first began to love Yoongi. He always knew it’d be something amazing, the first time Yoongi would initiate a kiss with him. He always dreamt it would be surrounded by fire and the shouts of the people all around the village. Of course, he thought the fire would be a bonfire and the shouts would be sounds of joy, but this worked too….

No, actually, no it didn’t.

Yoongi pulled back to see Jimin’s shocked eyes as he stared up at the older viking, breathless and not sure what to say though his body was still tense since he wanted nothing more than to escape Yoongi’s grasp and be with Jin.

Yoongi could see that, searching desperately across Jimin’s expression to see what he felt and only coming back with the desperate urge to get away from him. He bit his lip and laughed nervously, “Now we’re even. No one kisses me just as a distraction and gets away with it.”

Jimin frowned, but he wasn’t given a chance to respond before Yoongi suddenly handed him his axe and muttered out, “Go fight alongside your parents.”

He started to turn away, but Jimin was still shocked that he would let him go this easily and out of nowhere even after given clear orders by his chief to hold Jimin and bring him somewhere safe.

     “Yoongi…” Jimin began, but Yoongi waved him off, “Just go, I need to try to find a new weapon somewhere now.”

He walked away and Jimin smiled to himself, realizing that the village prick might not be such a prick after-all… But there wasn’t going to be a village after tonight if he didn’t fight alongside his parents, so with a new determined look on his face, he turned towards where they were on the shore and ran over to them, shouting out, “Don’t try to send me away again, I can handle myself!”

Namjoon snapped his head to Jimin with wide eyes and immediately started to protest, pushing him away, “Jimin, you can’t do this! Not now!”

     “But appa, I can help! I’m stro-!” Jimin argued back, but Jin decided to cut their argument short for now and believe in Jimin’s capabilities since trusting him to watch their back was a better use of their time than fighting, “Jimin, kill anyone that comes at you without hesitation no matter what, ok? No powers. Don’t let them know what you are.”

Jin believed in him….

Jimin smiled and nodded his head eagerly, lifting his axe up again, “I won’t. I’ll fight well, I learned from the best.”

Namjoon frowned and turned to Jin, but it was obvious his husband had made his final decision and there was no stopping it. There was no telling his son what he could or couldn’t do anymore either, because even if he sent him away he’d just keep on coming back. He looked to Jimin with a half glare in his stare as he muttered out, “I hate that you are putting yourself in danger, but if you want to fight… then fight your hardest. I don’t want to bury anyone in my family by the end of this, ok?”

Jin leaned forward and kissed him in reply, “Yeah, don’t make us have to bury you either.”

A man then ran at them, wearing a helmet and chest plate for armor and letting out a yell that sent chills down the couple’s spine. He didn’t even get a chance to swing his sword at them though before their son hurried over to him and sliced his axe across his stomach in one deep motion. Jimin pushed the man down to the ground to let him bleed out, proud of his work and turning around to his parents to grin, “I have your back,” he felt his heart swell inside his chest when he saw Namjoon grin proudly at him and Jin beam at his son he was probably so happy to have in his life again. Jimin set his axe down on the ground, “I’m determined to become just as good of a chief as you two some-!”

Before he could finish, Namjoon and Jin’s eyes widened and Namjoon shouted out his name in fear before Jin suddenly shoved Jimin out of the way and stepped forward to kill a man that had crept up behind Jimin to kill him. The man was already injured, barely able to keep himself up when Jin swung one sword at him and then stabbed him in the chest with the other.

Jimin saw how close the man was to stabbing him through the back though, so his previous feeling of pride immediately faded as Namjoon wrapped his arms around him and held him close, “Jimin, I hate having you out-!”

     “Taehyung!” Jimin didn’t have time to pay attention to Namjoon doubting his place on the battlefield when he suddenly saw his best friend being dragged from his burning house by two vikings and a dragon that was circling around them. He pushed his way past Namjoon to run to Taehyung’s rescue, but before he could, a dragon his size with dark red wings stained with blood, white clouded eyes, and razor sharp teeth landed in front of him, letting out a growl that escaped from deep in the back of its throat, a clicking sound making its way out that caught the attention of other dragons that started heading over to Jimin with white clouded eyes as well.

Jimin was scared. He didn’t know why they were starting to near him, but he had to remind himself that these dragons were being forced to do this. They wouldn’t hurt him if he didn’t fight… They were on his side.

He bit his lip and bravely lifted his hand to hold it up to the dragon’s face, wanting to touch it to speak to it and hear its thoughts. He closed his eyes to let the dragon know he was going to completely trust it, but before he could fully do so, the dragon let out a snapping noise and opened its mouth to attack Jimin. He didn’t have a chance to react, but he didn’t need to when a sword suddenly came down from beside him to chopped the dragon’s head off.

He cried out in shock and then shouted out in anger, “What-!? How could you-!” he thought it was a villager. Maybe Yoongi. Maybe some other ignorant viking who didn’t hold any feelings towards dragons, but instead, it was Jin.

His glare faded, but he still furrowed his brows in confusion, shouting out over the sounds of dragon growls around him, “Why?!”

     “Not all dragons are bad, but not all dragons are good either,” Jin muttered out, glaring down at the dead dragon who was now bleeding out on the sand. He grit his teeth and turned to Taehyung who was being forced towards one of the ships docked on the shore, his eyes turning into a full yellow glow as he growled out, “They found him,” before shoving Jimin back and speaking just as lowly, “Jimin, I love you and believe in you, but you need to leave. They are here to take any dragons on our island, and that includes you so-!”

     “Well what about you?!” Jimin shouted back, not stepping forward though in fear of being pushed back more. “You’re one too, Jin, you need to-!”

     “Yoongi,” Jin suddenly shouted out, seeing Yoongi kill a dragon on the shoreline to protect Namjoon’s back as he walked over to his family. Yoongi looked to Jin, avoiding eye contact with Jimin when the younger viking whipped his head around to glare at the dragon slayer for showing up at the worst time again.

Jin made his glowing eyes disappear before Yoongi could see it and he pushed his son over to him, “Take him into the woods and keep him there no matter what he says or does. If you don’t succeed, I won’t just remove you from your rank but I will kill you.”

Everyone’s eyes widened and even Namjoon was surprised as he tried to calm Jin down, “Hey, Jin, are you really threatening-!”

     “Do you want our son to be taken or killed?” Jin snapped at him, his hand on his stomach now as if he was trying to cover up an injury. Was he injured? Jimin didn’t see him get hurt, but had something happened when Jimin turned away for a moment to see Taehyung in trouble? He opened his mouth to ask Jin if he was hurt, but before he could, Namjoon stepped towards Jin and spoke in a soft voice that Jimin could still hear over the sounds of the battle, “You know I don’t want that, but you’re stressed Jin,” he looked down at Jin’s stomach and placed his hand over Jin’s, “You should hide with him and stop pushing yourself to fight,” his voice grew quieter so that Jimin and Yoongi couldn’t hear him, “My village could fall into ruin and ash, but none of it will matter just as long as you and Jimin a-and this baby are safe. You’re the only thing I need.”

Jin bit his lip and calmed down as his husband talked to him, nodding his head obediently along with his words, “I’ll go into the woods where it’s safe…”

     “Good,” Namjoon sighed out, “So let’s just quickly get out of here, and-!”

     “-After I save Taehyung from being taken by those bastards,” Jin suddenly interrupted Namjoon and turned on his heel to run towards the men forcing Taehyung towards the ship. Namjoon’s eyes widened and he shouted out in fear, “Jin, no, you’re in way too over your head!” he turned to Jimin and Yoongi with a pained look on his face, and in a split second decision, he spoke in a demanding voice, “Jin’s threat still stands Yoongi. Take Jimin to Jungkook’s village and don’t let him come back here until the smoke has cleared and the enemy ships are gone. You understand?”

Scared and also willingly obedient to his chief, Yoongi chose to obey Namjoon this time and hold onto Jimin, about to assure him that he’d do exactly what he requested, but before he could, Jimin shook his head and tried to find Yoongi off of him, “A-Appa we can’t leave Jin! I can’t leave Jin! I have to know if he’s safe!”

     “No, you need to keep yourself safe more than anything,” Namjoon furrowed his brows at Jimin and turned on his heel to start to leave, “Obey me Jimin, or I’ll make sure you never have any freedom after this!”

Jimin fell silent, tears falling from his glossy eyes as he glared at his father and tried not to look at Jin storming over to the men around Tae to kill them and save him. His bottom lip trembled when Yoongi started dragging him away and he muttered out softly, “I…. I hate you…” his eyebrows furrowed and a sob escaped from the back of his throat, “I hate you! You’ve never believed in me, and if Jin has to leave us again, I’ll never stop blaming you!”

Before he finished shouting, Namjoon already started sprinting over to where Jin was, raising his axe to help Jin kill the men around Tae. Jimin tried to watch just to see until Jin was safe and heading towards Jungkook’s village with him, but then he saw dragons starting to join the fight, overpowering his parents and roaring when they sensed what Jin was. Jimin tried to fight off Yoongi again to join the fight and save Jin, but before he could, Yoongi picked him up and forced his head down into his shoulder as he muttered out, “Don’t look, it will be easier.”

     “Take me back,” Jimin cried and punched Yoongi’s shoulder, sobbing out and shutting his eyes anyway since he was too afraid he’d look up and see something he’d never be able to escape from in his mind. He hated Yoongi for taking him away from his parents, but deep down, he was so thankful he wouldn’t have to see what was happening to them now that Namjoon forced him to leave.

He wrapped his arms tighter around Yoongi and decided to just cry into his shoulder instead of fight him, “Don’t let them take him from me…”

~(***)~

The next morning came like a calm after a raging storm. There was no more turmoil to fear, but there was an aftermath to mourn over. Jimin blinked his eyes open slowly and looked up at the wooden ceiling above him, licking his lips and scrunching his nose up in discomfort when he felt how dry his mouth was. He was about to choke out a name of anyone he figured would be beside him… Jungkook.. Yoongi…. Jin.

Jin.

His eyes widened and he sat up quickly, “Jin,” he breathed out and placed his hand over his heart as if he could feel for him there and know he was safe. Remembering the last thing he saw of his parents last night though, he wasn’t so sure about that anymore.

     “Hey, don’t push yourself this morning,” Jimin heard a familiar low voice speak to him, and turned to see Yoongi standing in the doorway, his armor still on and his face and clothes still stained and decorated with blood. His hair was tossled and greasy, and he ran his fingers through it as he stepped over to the younger viking still in bed, “The smoke is still clearing from your village, but I can see that the ships are gone.”

     “So we can go back,” Jimin bit his lip and peeled the covers off of himself. He didn’t remember how he got here last night. All he remembered was Yoongi carrying him through the woods, holding him close and panting into his ear while assuring him every time they heard a cry from their village that everything was going to be ok. Jimin fell asleep with his face nuzzled into the dragon slayer’s shoulder, and now he was awake, undressed from his armor and in clean clothes that Jungkook’s village must have provided.

Did… Did Yoongi undress him and change him? Did he tuck him into bed?

No, Yoongi wasn’t like that. And why was he even thinking about that right now? He had to get back to the village to see if his parents were ok. His feet landed on the floor and he stood up from the bed, “Let’s go back now.”

     “You should eat first-!” Yoongi started to say in more of a worried tone than a demanding tone, but Jimin didn’t have time to think about how Yoongi’s demeanor must have changed for him overnight out of pity. He reached over for his boots and slipped them on as he interrupted him, “I won’t be able to stomach anything until I find out Jin and Namjoon are ok, so it would be a waste of time. If you want to eat though, I can just go alone and-!”

     “Obviously I’m not going to let you head off alone,” Yoongi sighed, and handed Jimin his cloak from where it had been hanging on a rack beside the bed. He watched as Jimin quickly put it on and stood in front of him until the younger boy’s eyes met his own so he could say softly, “Please Jimin… prepare yourself for what you may find.”

Jimin frowned, trying not to think about the worst case scenario since Jin was freaking dragon and probably would have transformed into one to protect himself and Namjoon before he would let the two of them die to a few enemy vikings. He reached up to his neck and fumbled with the necklace that always connected his family together between his fingertips and spoke confidently, “They are alive. That is the only thing I will find.”

They started traveling back to the village a few minutes later after thanking Jungkook’s father for letting them stay there in the safety of his village in one of the empty homes for the night. Jimin had avoided Jungkook as much as he could since he still didn’t know if Taehyung was ok or not, but he could only do that for so long before he had to walk through the village to get into the woods that led back to the shore and was caught by Jungkook who had run out of his house, breathlessly asking, “Jimin! Jimin, is Tae ok? Did you see him during the attack? Do you know if he hid?”

Yoongi was walking beside Jimin, groaning softly under his breath when he heard Jungkook’s string of questions. He sighed audibly afterwards and stepped in between Jimin and Jungkook to say, “Look, Jimin doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t even know about his own parents. As far as we know, we might be the only-!”

     “Yoongi, shut up,” Jimin interrupted him, crossing his arms. “You really think that helps anyone?” he frowned and stepped out from behind him to speak to Jungkook, “Last thing I saw was my parents going over to help him, so that means he was in good hands. I can send him your way when I find him, ok?”

     “No, I’ll just go with you,” Jungkook started to lead them out of the town now, inviting himself back with them since his lover was in a town that could quite possibly be in ruin after last night. He didn’t know if he was hurt or fine or… or the unimaginable. But he was going to be the first to find out, that was for sure.

Jimin and Yoongi weren’t actually in a position to prevent him from coming along either with Yoongi not wanting to push Jimin anymore this morning since he might just be his new chief after last night and Jimin not wanting to keep Jungkook from seeing if their best friend was alive since he wanted to see the same thing.

They hurried down to their little village on the shore, barely saying a word to each other in spite of fear for what they might find of their friends and family until the grass and moss and dirty underneath their boots turned to sand and they knew they had reached the spot of the battle that Jimin knew would fuel his nightmares for many nights if he didn’t find his parents and best friend completely safe.

Jimin led the way to where he last saw his parents, walking in between houses and covering up his nose with the cloth from his shirt while looking down to avoid the smells of lifeless corpses and chard bodies and the sight of blood smeared on the walls of some houses like an abstract painting to tell the survivors the horrors of what happened here. He looked up only once on accident to see the town drunk dead on his own doorstep with an axe still stuck in his chest, and he coward into himself, afraid that his parents might have suffered the same fate.

Some people were still alive, probably most of them hiding in the forest right now though there were some children walking through the town in search of their parents and some women or men mourning the death of their spouses beside their dead body. Yoongi pulled away from Jimin and Jungkook and spoke under his breath, “I’m going to take the kids to a safe place before they can see anything worse than what they’ve already seen,” he hurried up to a little girl and bent down to her height to speak to her and hold her hand before leading her away from the shore where most of the dead bodies were.

Jimin stared at him as he spoke to her for a few seconds, watching as he spoke with a soft smile and stare and a voice that he could hear as gentle and trusting. He must have had a soft spot for kids or he at least knew how to deal with them in situations like these. Jimin had seen a few new sides to Yoongi over the past few hours… the side that protected him, the side that kissed him, the side that finally listened to him and let him go out into battle to protect his parents, the side that held him and ran away with him to Jungkook’s village, and…. and this side.

It was strange to think that there was more to Yoongi than just a disgruntled dragon slayer, but-

     “Jimin, your appa,” Jungkook’s words pulled Jimin out of his thoughts and he immediately snapped his head to his friend who was pointing at the bloodied shoreline. He was frowning and still glancing around him, but Jimin followed the point of his finger to see… thank Odin… Thank Odin at least his appa was there to tell him that maybe Jin was washing up or managed to run away and was completely fine.

He sprinted over to him and crashed down in the sand beside him on his knees to be at his father’s height as he turned to him and asked quickly, “Jin? Where is he? Please tell me he’s ok, appa… He’s ok, I know he is,” his questions turned into reassurances when Namjoon didn’t smile or answer him when he came up to him.

Namjoon was only staring out at the ocean and resting his arms out in front of him on his knees as he cried softly and shook his head. He didn’t say a word… but Jimin knew his father wouldn’t be crying if he still had Jin by his side. He was covered in blood and was bleeding out in some places with cut marks too big for Jimin to not feel nervous about. His father’s skin was paler than usual and his eyes looked tired, but he finally managed to say one thing under his breath, “They took him…”

Jimin let out a shuddered breath, trying not to cry just from those three words alone since at least his appa wasn’t telling him that they killed him instead, but it was still so hard to hear that he was… he was gone again. Their family was back down to two and Jin was who knew where having who knew what to him. He was sure whatever it was though, it was terrible.

      “And Taehyung?…” Jimin asked, unsure why they were taking Tae in the first place since he wasn’t a dragon, but he just had to make sure his best friend was ok since Jungkook was walking over and would find out soon.

Namjoon sniffled again and could barely whisper back in response, “He’s gone too…”

Another three words that hit Jimin like a hurricane. He touched his hand to his heart and bent over, heavily breathing out to prevent himself from letting out a cry as he turned to Jungkook and shook his head, letting the other boy know with just a look that if he didn’t want to hear bad news, he should turn around and leave now.

Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at first, but seeing Jimin shake his head, he frowned and muttered out softly, “N-No…” he fell on his knees beside Jimin, “No! No, where is he?! He wouldn’t just let him-!”

     “He’s gone,” Jimin spoke softly in a trembling voice, reaching out for Jungkook, “They-They took him along with Jin.”

     “No,” Jungkook shook his head, refusing to believe Jimin. He sniffled before a sob escaped from the back of his throat and he cried out, “No, we have to save them,” he turned to Namjoon, “Chief Joon, when are you sending ships out to retrieve them? When are-!”

     “Jungkook, let’s let one thing happen at a time,” Jimin and Jungkook both looked up to see Hoseok walking past them, blood in his hair and a big cut across his face. He was frowning and limping as he made his way over to his chief and bent down in front of him, speaking softly, “I rounded up the remaining people from our village. They need to see their chief.”

Namjoon sniffled and wiped his eyes, “They can’t see him; he’s not here.”

     “They need to see one of them… You,” Hoseok spoke patiently with him as if he understood what he was going through though he was just as clueless as everyone else on the island, “You should cleaned up and tell them that everything is going to be ok.”

     “But it won’t be-!” Namjoon tried to argue like a child, but Hoseok interrupted him, “It might not be, but you know they need to be told that it will,” he patted him and started to help him up, “They can’t see their leader pale and blood though so let’s clean you up.”

Namjoon finally realized that loss or not, he was still a leader and needed to take care of the people in his village who were still left, so he stood up and leaned on Hoseok. With all his injuries and fatigue, he could barely stand up and walk on his own, so Hoseok quickly grabbed for Jungkook and muttered out softly, “I know you’re going through a lot right now, but can you please help me?”

Jungkook was still crying and trying to wrap his head around everything that had just happened, but he managed to nod his head and get up, becoming Namjoon’s support on the other side of his body before turning to Jimin and asking softly, “Do you want to follow us?”

     “Yeah, you shouldn’t be out here,” Hoseok turned back to Jimin as well, struggling with his own injuries as he held his chief up, “Come on and-!”

     “I’ll stay out here for a few more minutes,” Jimin didn’t look at them, just out at the ocean that was completely still despite how angry it seemed last night. Blood was in the water beside the sand, probably attracting dragons and other sea creatures towards the shore though that was the last thing on Jimin’s mind. He bit his lip and sniffled, “I just need to be alone for a moment.”

His father didn’t say anything, in too much pain now that he was standing and trying to walk and also hurting too much to be there for someone, even if it was his own son. Jungkook was the same way and Hoseok knew not to push Jimin too much now that he had just found out about Jin and his best friend being taken by the enemy clan that had attack their village last night. He just turned and nodded at Jungkook to start helping their chief up to his room to clean and tend to his wounds while Jimin had a moment to himself to handle things in his mind.

Jimin didn’t look away from the sight of the ocean until he was sure the three of them were far enough away to not hear him start to cry when everything became too much. He… He should have stayed. If he stayed, maybe he could have saved Jin. If he stayed, maybe he could have followed them. If he stayed, maybe he could have been taken in Jin and Tae’s place which would have been so much better for the sake of their town and their family. Everyone needed Jin.

No one needed Jimin.

He reached his hand up to his necklace and gripped the pendant tight between his fingers, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought about the clan that should have taken him instead. Just thinking about what he could have done if he hadn’t been such a coward and obeyed his father at the worst possible time during the battle made Jimin so angry, he ripped the necklace off his neck and stood up before running towards the water and shouting out as he threw it into the ocean as far as he could. A sob escaped from the back of his throat and he shouted out again, thinking about the idea of never seeing Jin again. Never seeing Tae again. He couldn’t bare it. Just this one day without them was too much for him to handle, he couldn’t possible live a whole lifetime without them.

He sniffled and panted breathlessly as he glared out at the ocean where the clan was probably still sailing off with his dad and best friend to do unimaginable things to them. He grit his teeth and thought about all the things he wished he could do to the enemy clan for doing this to him. He wanted to chase them down and kill them all. He wanted to kill them all and save Jin and Tae or at least trade places with the two of them so they could come back here and be safe and happy.

He would do anything…

     “Jimin,” he heard Yoongi speak to him as a hand was placed on his shoulder and the dragon slayer was now beside him on the shore, “Are you alright? I saw your father on his way up from the shore, and could tell…”

     “He’s gone,” Jimin muttered out, furrowing his brows and turning to Yoongi with a scowl, “Him and Tae were both taken by the enemy clan.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “Th-They just took them? Why?”

Why.

Jimin thought the simple answer would be that they were dragons like Jin said, but Tae wasn’t a dragon, so why else would they take them? Was there something else that he didn’t know? Something that maybe even Jin wasn’t aware of? Who knew what was going through the attacking clans minds when they took his father and his best friend, but Jimin knew that Jin was scared for them both because they were dragons. He was scared because they were dragons and they were the targets of this clan.

Jin was taken because he was a dragon.

And if Yoongi knew that fact? He would care at all. He’d probably be glad the enemy clan rid his village of a ‘beast’ that only killed and never cared.

With that though, Jimin jerked away from Yoongi and glared at him with furrowed brows and glossy eyes, “I’m sure you’d rejoice if you knew.”

     “What?” Yoongi questioned, his eyebrows raising in shock as he tilted his head. He stepped after Jimin when the young boy moved away from him, “Jimin, let’s put this feud we’ve had for the last couple of months aside and just talk about what you’re going through. I lost my family as well; I understand-!”

     “People like you will never understand!” Jimin shouted out over his words in a cry, his hands balled up into fists and shaking at his sides. He felt a tear rolling down his cheek and quickly moved to wipe it before finishing off his shout, “Now that he’s gone, I’m all alone on an island full of people who will never understand,” and without another word, stormed off away from Yoongi, not sure where he was going to go that wasn’t a place that would remind him of Jin and Tae and hurt him more, but he just needed to leave.

He needed to be alone.

~(***)~

At dinner, Jimin sat alone.

Everyone in the village felt like they were sitting alone within the hall though, so many people having lost their loved ones in gruesome ways that they had to clean up all that afternoon. Jimin knew he was luckier than most, not having to see what the attacking clan did to Jin or Tae, but the thought that they were still alive at this moment probably being torture or hurt or forced to do things against their will hurt him more than anything. Especially since he kept thinking about how he should have stayed to protect them.

Only Jungkook sat at his table while everyone else was scattered amongst each other where they normally sat or were crowded around Namjoon and checking on him since he was still in pain and showing weakness for the first time since he was named their leader. They were worried of him breaking, but no one cared about his son that was hurting.

No, when Jimin let tears fall down his face as he stared down at his dinner plate and tried to work up an appetite, a few kids his age only scoffed and muttered out amongst themselves how weak he was for letting a battle bother him. He tried to cover his ears when he heard them saying things like, “It’s not like Chief Jin was his actual father. I don’t know why he cares so much,” and “He should have known Tae was going to die eventually with how weak he was.”

He buried his head in his hands when he managed to hear, “Honestly, Chief Jin has been great for our village. It should have been Jimin to disappear instead-!”

     “Hey why don’t you mind your own fucking business!” Jungkook suddenly jumped up next to Jimin and shouted out over all the kids their age talking about Jimin. He was shaking because he had heard the things they had said about Taehyung. He stood up in his seat and glared over all of them, standing fearless since he wasn’t friends with any of them and wasn’t afraid to make enemies to stand up for the one he loved, “We’re all hurting and your first reaction is to make fun of your future chief for mourning not one but two of his loved ones?!”

Jimin looked up at Jungkook and patted him softly, “It’s ok, Jungkook. You don’t have to-!”

     “No, they’ve always treated you like shit, but I’m not going to let them say anything about you or Tae especially now,” Jungkook eyed them all with a warning glare which caused them to fall silent. “Jimin and Tae are not weak. Jimin is reacting to what happened in a perfectly normal way and Tae is still out there fighting, I’m sure of it! And if your chief could hear how you are speaking about his son, I’m sure he’d love to give you this talk right now.”

     “And why are you talking to us instead, huh?” one of the boys asked with a slight laugh in the tone of his voice. He had been an orphan since he was younger, raised by one of the elders and colder than most though he only directed that towards putting down others instead of defending the town. “Now that your boyfriend is gone, you’re already moving on to who you were originally supposed to be with?”

     “What?” Jungkook scoffed and shook his head, confused how the conversation even came to that when he was only standing up for his best friend after they were putting him down. He didn’t want to start a fight right after an attack, so he started to sit back down as he shook his head and muttered out, “Jimin and I are just friends. I’m marrying…” Tae was gone… what was he going to do if he never saw him again? He looked down, not wanting to finish his sentence because he knew they’d tell him to give up. He didn’t want to hear that right now. He had hope, and he wasn’t going to let them take that away from him.

Jimin rubbed his hand on his back and glared at the boys that were already turning back around and laughing amongst themselves again. He turned back to Jungkook and spoke softly, “You learn to tune them out when you’re around them long enough. Thanks for standing up for me though.”

Jungkook nodded and looked down at his food again, “We have to get Tae back though, Jimin,” he bit his lip and looked to Jimin with tears in his eyes, “He’s not weak. He’s still alive and he’s going to stay alive until we find him again.”

     “He will,” Jimin nodded his head, sure that Jin was protecting him too. “And we will find them. No matter what.”

Yoongi stared at Jungkook and Jimin from across the hall, both talking to each other in whispers and soft touches after the outburst that happened between Jungkook and a few boys at the table beside them. Yoongi had heard a few people talking about Jimin and Tae and wanted to stand up for him since he didn’t want Jimin to hurt, but he had decided to give Jimin space and not say anything since Jimin was adamant about believing that Yoongi didn’t understand what he was going through. He was sure Jimin would have bitten his head off if he tried to say something, so why was Jungkook any different? Was it because he lost Tae too?

Was it because they were closer or they were supposed to be married once?…

Would they get that close again?

He watched as Jungkook started to cry to himself and Jimin reached over to hold his hand, whispering something to him again. Yoongi bit down on his lip so hard, he almost drew blood without realizing it before Hoseok finally snapped him out of his thoughts by asking, “You haven’t stopped staring at Jimin all night…” he sat down next to Yoongi with a bowl of food. He had been by the chief’s side all day, but Namjoon finally told him to please take a break for a few minutes and care for himself so Hoseok took this opportunity to check on his friends starting with the one that was sitting alone and staring deeply across the room at the chief’s son, “Are you worried about him?”

Yoongi shook his head and grumbled, “No… but it looks like maybe the wedding will be back on between the two future chiefs,” he nodded at how Jungkook was now hugging Jimin and crying into his shoulder as Jimin continued to speak to him. Hoseok sighed and shook his head, “Yoongs, they are just comforting each other. They both lost two people that were very important to them.”

As he spoke, Yoongi watched as Jimin suddenly stood up and held Jungkook’s hand to lead him out of the hall. He grit his teeth and finally tore his eyes away from them, “And now they are going to go comfort each other privately,” he turned to Hoseok and frowned, “With both of their loved ones gone, they are going to depend on each other more than ever before.”

     “Jealousy doesn’t look pretty on you,” Hoseok flicked the side of Yoongi’s forehead and stood up, “If you wanted Jimin to depend on you tonight then you should have tried to be his friend a long time ago.”

~(***)~

Jimin led Jungkook out of the stuff hall full of kids he could still hear making fun of him and Jungkook and Tae, and he led him towards the shore by his hand, the moon lighting the way to the water where the blood had been washed away and it looked like there was never ever an attack at all. Thinking that there was not a trace of the thing that took Jin and Tae made Jimin feel sick down to his stomach, but he had been thinking throughout dinner of ways he could fix everything. Of ways he could make up for not saving them or not being taken instead of them like everyone wanted.

They reached the wet sand down by the shore in completely silence between each other, the tips of their boots sometimes getting wet with the night waves rolling up to them on land as they both crossed their arms and stood beside each other and stared out at the world that held their loved ones somewhere.

Jimin thought he would have to be the first to speak since Jungkook was still crying, but he was surprised to hear Jungkook speak first in a calm voice as he breathed out the words, “My father finally approved of Tae and I’s marriage last night after I begged him for two hours. I was going to propose when winter came, but…” he sniffled and turned to Jimin, “What if I never see him again? What if they took him and killed him?”

     “Jin wouldn’t let that happen,” Jimin answered as if it was that simple. As if he believed his own words.

Jungkook raised the question though, “What if Jin is already dead too?” before realizing what he said and gasping softly under his breath before looking down and muttering, “I’m sorry… That was really insensitive of me to ask.”

Jimin shrugged and crossed his arms, “I get it… I’m going to get them back though. I don’t know how, but I will. Ok, Jungkook?”

     “Huh?”

Jimin sighed, “I’m going to find out where they were taken, and I’m going to save them. Jin said ‘it’s him’ when the clan arrived,” he turned to Jungkook with a determined look in his eyes, “He knew whoever he came, and I think he knew the leader. Other drag-!” he paused before he could say anything exposing and quickly corrected himself, “Other people might know him too and will be able to tell me information on him. Like where his clan is, where they take the people they kidnap, or what they do to them.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened when he heard Jimin’s words and he quickly fell into the hope that there really were answers out there. Answers that would play out like a map on how to get Taehyung back. He needed that more than anything, so he hurried to say, “I’m going with you.”

     “No,” he was surprised to hear Jimin’s reply. He frowned and watched as the shorter boy bit his lip and shook his head, looking down in thought about the plan he barely had in the making right now, “I don’t even know what I’m doing right now. I can’t talk to my dad because he doesn’t let me do anything, and I can’t really trust anyone except for myself for certain reasons only Tae and Jin knew about.”

     “What?” Jungkook questioned, “But you can trust me!” he was starting to grow frustrated. Of course he would though because he was being told he couldn’t go after the one he loved more than anything. Why wouldn’t he want to fight against anything or anyone telling him that? “We both loved Tae and Jin so much, and trust me, you need someone who can fight as well as I can.”

     “No,” Jimin answered again, turning away from Jungkook. “Trust me, you can’t come along.”

Jungkook practically whined out in frustration as he spoke after the other future viking chief, “Please, jimin! I can’t idly stand by while the love of my life is out there having who knows what done to him! I’m going to save him with you. I need to.”

Jimin frowned and rolled his eyes since Jungkook couldn’t see his face at the moment. He knew he couldn’t tell Jungkook anything because he was very aware of how Jungkook felt about dragons, but just to buy himself some more time, Jimin turned to Jimin and faked a smile, “Fine. We’ll leave tomorrow night then when everything has quieted down. I’ll figure out a plan before then, so just meet me at the shoreline when the sun starts to set, and we’ll go in secret ok?”

Jungkook let out a sigh of relief and grinned, “Thank you… and are we doing this without Chief Namjoon knowing?”

     “He would never let me go,” Jimin frowned and shrugged, remembering last night when he refused to let Jimin even stay and help Jin and Tae out of the battle… And look where they were now because his father refused to believe in him. He grit his teeth when he remembered the memory and he furrowed his brows as he looked up at Jungkook with a determined stare, “We have to take this into our own hands and do this on our own.”

Jungkook happily left after that to go back to his village and get ready for the journey that would begin tomorrow night just like Jimin expected. He naively trusted his words which was something Jimin appreciated as his best friend though he took advantage of in the moment because… this was a journey that would lead to dragon related things, he was sure of. This was a journey that would reveal Jin’s true form, and he couldn’t afford Jungkook finding out and suddenly growing afraid or hating Jin and him. He was thankful that the person to be captured with Jin was someone that already knew his secret, but Jimin couldn’t risk anyone else finding out.

He was doing this completely alone.

He looked down at a fire he was making dance in his hands as he stared out at the ocean under the dark skyline, thinking about how he was going to steal one of his village’s boats and somehow find his way back to Jin again. He would need some food, armor, and maybe a sword, but other than that, Jin taught him that being half-dragon took him a long way when it came to surviving.

All he needed was his fire, his ability to talk to dragons, and his will to do anything to get Jin and Tae back.

No brave strangers, no dragon slayers, no crushes, no friends or best friends, and no parents.

Just him.

And he was leaving tonight.

Chapter Text

Your Protector

That night, Jimin ran up to his house to grab anything he might need for his journey, packing food, weapons, and clothing he might need into a small boat as fast as he could so he wouldn’t get noticed by any of the villagers and be reported to his father before he could get the chance to leave. He made a few trips back and forth between the boat and his house before he had packed a few small boxes of vegetables and fish he knew would last him long enough to reach a trading island. He also knew how to fish and he was capable of hunting for food as Jin taught him, so he knew he didn’t need to pack much. He also didn’t need any weaponry besides his fire and a sword so that was all he packed, and as for clothing? He packed an extra cloak, but he was traveling south and knew it would only grow warmer the more he sailed away from his island.

With the power of Jin within him and a clear sight of where he needed to go and what he needed to do, Jimin felt prepared for this journey. He knew it was going to be rough, but he also knew he could make it. He was going to be strong for Jin and Tae. He was going to prove to everyone just how strong he was.

He stepped onto the boat and started to unhook it from the little wooden dock attached to their village. Bigger ships were around him, but he knew to choose for the boat that would go the most unnoticed as he exited port in a hurry at night. Most people were drunk or mourning within the village dining hall, but he still wanted to try his best to call the least amount of attention to himself.

His breaths were heavy as he thought about how he was really leaving his village for the first time ever to go find his father and best friend. He was leaving his father who had raised him with no warning, leaving him all alone for the first time ever, but he didn’t have a choice. He was sure Namjoon didn’t have any hope to find Jin again, so someone with hope had to go looking for him.

Jimin had to go looking for him.

Jimin grabbed a paddle to push his boat away from the dock and then steer him away from the shore so he could drift far enough out to open up the sail without being noticed. He was just barely able to push himself away from the doc before he felt someone hop onto the boat right behind him with a grunt, stepping closer to him and chuckling under his breath, “Awe, you’re having a little picnic on your tiny fishing boat?”

Jimin recognized Yoongi’s voice almost immediately and his eyes widened before he jumped and turned around to see the unwelcome dragon slayer walking around his boat. He stepped back and stammered out, “What the Hell are you doing here?”

     “Just making sure you don’t do something stupid like go out on some journey all alone on a tiny fishing boat to find your father and best friend,” Yoongi sat on top of a box of food Jimin packed and smirked, “That’s not what you’re doing, is it?”

     “Don’t you dare stop me or else I’ll kill you,” Jimin warned, glaring at Yoongi with a scowl.

Yoongi sighed, “Ah, and with what weapon? You only packed food,” he tilted his head, “Are you going to defeat the big bad viking army with a banana?”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “I don’t need a weapon.”

     “They won’t listen to words,” Yoongi countered, which caused Jimin to snap at him in reply, “I won’t use words!” he realized quickly that Yoongi was easily getting under his skin and causing him to lose his temper for no reason. Everything was going to be fine. Yoongi wasn’t going to stop him, and if he tried, Jimin was prepared to push him off the boat and into the water to buy him time to get away before Yoongi could succeed to hold him back.

He huffed out and sighed, continuing to untie the fishing boat from the dock, “Either get off or get stuck on this boat with me ‘cause I’m not getting off.”

     “Are you sure you want to do that?” Yoongi asked, causing Jimin to grow angry again just because he could imagine the smirk on the dragon slayer’s face without having to turn around to see it. He stayed with his back turned to Yoongi as he answered him with a short stammer of a reply, “I’m sure about every decision I make, and I don’t need you acting like you’re so much wiser than me.”

     “Jimin…” Yoongi started, standing up from where he had been sitting on the food crate in the boat.

Jimin could sense him coming close, so he quickly untied the boat and turned back to Yoongi with furrowed brows to let him know he was willing to challenge him to get him to leave him alone and let him go on this journey alone as he wanted, “You’re wasting your time trying to stop me.”

     “Jimin, I’m-!” Yoongi tried to begin once more, but Jimin interrupted him again, “Can you just leave me alone?! What’s so wrong with me wanting to find them again and-!”

It was Yoongi to interrupt him this time, stepping forward and grabbing his shoulders firmly to hold him in place as he shouted impatiently, “Fuck, Jimin, do I have to kiss you again to make you shut up?” he huffed and grabbed onto the dock to make sure the fishing boat stayed in place as he explained himself, “I know you’re going to leave no matter what anyone tells you, so I’ll just protect you while you’re out being stupid,” when he pulled the boat closer to the dock again, he leaned forward to grab a bag that was on the dock so he could hold it up as proof of his plans and let Jimin know, “I even packed a bag for this because I have no intention of stopping you.”

Jimin’s eyes widened in disbelief and he stepped back a bit, “W-What? Why though?”

     “Because I’m your protector,” Yoongi answered with a shrug as if the answer was as simple as that. He set his bag back down and stepped towards the food crate to pick it up and take it off the boat, an action that caused Jimin to freak out again, “Hey, what are you doing?! Don’t move my stuff!”

     “Relax, I’m just moving us to a bigger boat,” Yoongi spoke in an irritated sigh, pointing to one of the bigger war ships beside them. It would definitely be noticeable when they left, but if Yoongi was with him to sail quickly out of here, then…

No.

No, why was he seriously about to let Yoongi, someone he hated and fought with every moment they were together, on this journey with him? He shook his head and stepped in front of the other bags he packed to prevent Yoongi from moving anything else, “I’m not letting you go with me, so just put everything back and let me go alone.”

     “And let you die?” an amused smile spread across Yoongi’s face and he chuckled to himself, “Jimin, you should be thankful I’m helping you out like this. One storm in this little boat, and you’d die before you could even catch a lead on where Jin is. Just let me do my job-!”

     “You’re fired,” Jimin pouted, “You’re fired from your job, so just leave me alone.”

     “Only your father can do that,” Yoongi smiled, content with his point. “So tell him to do it when we find him, ok?” he pushed past Jimin and grabbed the rest of his bags before getting off the small fishing boat and starting to move everything to a bigger ship. Jimin followed him with every move he made, still skeptical of his plan and still arguing with him, “You should have protected Jin instead in the first place if you wanted to do your job right.”

Yoongi didn’t even bother to look back at Jimin as he stacked the boxes onto the new boat and responded to Jimin as if he wasn’t being more of a pest than usual right now, “Jin can handle himself just fine wherever he is,” he slung his bag onto the boat before stepping on and finally turning to Jimin with a smirk, “You, on the other-hand, are going to die out there if you don’t have me. Do you even know how to navigate the ocean?”

Shit, Jimin would be lying if he said he thought that maybe he could just rely on dragon instinct that would hopefully kick in at the last second and lead him through the ocean to Jin. He would also be lying if he said he even knew how to steer the warship, so he had to bite his tongue this time and just stay quiet, realizing Yoongi was right about him at least needing a little help.

It really would be a waste of time if he refused Yoongi now and got lost at sea, becoming yet another person his village needed to save.

He sighed and frowned, refusing to look up at Yoongi in defeat as he stepped up on the boat with him and muttered out, “Fine,” he huffed and looked back at his village that was still dead silent, still mourning the ones who were dead and those who were lost, “You’re coming, but you aren’t intervening in my plans, understand?”

He swore, if Yoongi backstabbed him in anyway, he would burn him or throw him over board. No one was keeping him from Jin. Nothing was ever going to separate them again.

Yoongi nodded his head and unraveled the ship from the dock, pushing off and letting the boat slowly separate from their land, this being the first time Jimin had ever so much as even attempted to leave his home he had been kept on for his own safety for so long by his father. It was a scary feeling, pushing off and feeling the boat slowly sailing out away from safety and towards the intimidating and possibly dangerous unknown, but he was eager to get Jin back again. Sure he was scared he wouldn’t like what he found when he did find him again, but he couldn’t find it in him to cower away and stay at home, letting whatever happened to Jin happen.

He was going to save him and they were going to be a family again. Everything was going to be fine.

As Jin said, they were always together in their hearts and connected by their song, but Jimin was going to make sure that they could always sing their song beside each other for as long as he lived. He just needed Jin to believe in him just long enough to stay safe and wait for him to save him.

Because he was coming for him… and he wasn’t going to return home until Jin was safe and with his family once again.

~(***)~

They set off in the night, quiet as a rare spring breeze that sometimes graced the air of their small northern village. No one had seen them leave, and no one had watched them disappear into the horizon of the night, heading towards things Jimin couldn’t even imagine though it filled him with a sense of fear and eagerness when he thought of all the stories his father used to tell.

Waterfalls the size of mountains, wars that killed thousands, villages dressed in colors and surrounded by music as people danced… The world was complicated. Jimin had no idea which story he would find himself in, but he was excited to finally do something besides be the innocent child of his village that was coddled from birth by his father. He was excited to be proving himself and going the distance to save his father and he was excited to see if the stories his father always told him were true.

They had been at sea for two hours when Yoongi finally spoke up to Jimin in a way that already made him wish to throw the dragon slayer overboard, “You should sleep now if you don’t want to be tired for the trading port we’ll stop at tomorrow,” he looked up at the stars and raised his hand up above his head in his vision to make sure their boat was going the right way before he turned his attention to Jimin and stepped down from the sail, “We both need to sleep. Our boat is heading straight for Brunswick, so by tomorrow afternoon we should see land off in the distance.”

Jimin narrowed his eyes at Yoongi and pouted from where he had been sitting on the edge of the boat and looking down at the water, “As if I’d sleep and let you steer us back to land where my father will be waiting to talk some sense into me.”

     “You're admitting that you need some sense talked into you?” Yoongi joked, but then his smile fell and he sighed, “But no, I didn’t waste two hours at sea with you just to bring you back. If I wanted you to stay in the village, I would have knocked you out back there in your little fishing boat.”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “I’m not sleeping.”

     “You’ll grow delusional if you don’t sleep,” Yoongi walked over to him and grabbed his hand to try to pull him away from the edge and the water since if Jimin fell in, it would turn into a situation far worse than a simple dragon or viking attack.

Jimin jerked his hand away from Yoongi’s but he got off the edge as the dragon slayer wanted and walked over to the center of the boat to sit there on the ground, “You can go to sleep. I’ll just sit here and make sure I’m not being betrayed.”

Yoongi sighed and sat down beside him, “Suit yourself,” he laid down in front of him and looked up at him, “You’re really just going to sit there and stare at me?”

     “Like a hawk,” Jimin glared at Yoongi, enunciating every word to get the point across that he was nothing but serious about watching Yoongi until morning came to make sure he didn’t steer them back around to the village.

Yoongi only rolled his eyes in response to this before closing them and laying on his back, attempting to fall asleep even with Jimin right beside him and watching him like a predator watching its prey. A few minutes passed by and Jimin almost thought that Yoongi had fallen asleep and really didn’t have any plans to sneak behind Jimin’s back and return him home, but before he could even think that he was in the clear, Yoongi let out a groan and sat up, shaking his head and muttering out, “No, this is fucking weird. You’re not watching me as I sleep.”

     “Huh?” Jimin wondered why he was suddenly having a problem with it now after around ten minutes of him just slowly drifting off without a word. Before he could question it further though, Yoongi suddenly stepped towards him and pushed him down to the floor before laying on top of him and sighing out, “Go to sleep. I’m not moving, and if I do move, I’m sure you’ll wake up and know that I’m up to no good, ok? Win-win, you get to sleep and feel secure about my motives, and I get to sleep and not be watched by your creepy ass stare.”

Jimin’s eyes widened at the fact that Yoongi was really proposing to just sleep on top of him the whole night. He bit his lip and tried to push him off, grunting and trying his hardest to just move Yoongi, but the viking was strong enough to stay in place like a rock. Jimin let out a strained huff of irritation and muttered out, “Yoongi. Get off right now.”

His eyes started to glow yellow, but he quickly shook the feeling away.

     “Nuh-uh, not moving ‘til morning,” Yoongi refused and wrapped his arms around Jimin, nuzzling his face into his shoulder and finally attempting to fall asleep once more.

     “Yoongi get off,” Jimin demanded again.

     “No,” he replied, causing Jimin eyes to glow bright yellow without warning this time which caused a migraine to grow in Jimin’s head and hurt him just as much as it did before when they previously fought and Jimin’s eyes glowed for the first time. He groaned out in pain and shut them before Yoongi could notice the glow, hating how easily he made him angry just with his bossy personality and god complex he probably had as a dragon slayer.

Jimin pouted and stared up at the stars, waiting for the pain and the glow to pass as Yoongi fell asleep on top of him. He tried to stay awake just so he could push Yoongi off when he had calmed down, but as time passed and the moment fell away to the back of his mind, he slowly started to drift off to sleep, listening to the sounds of the waves and the cold breeze aiding their ship in sailing through the ocean.

Yoongi was his warmth as he fell asleep, holding him and nuzzling his nose into his neck every so often which reminded Jimin of the dreams he’d always have involving him and the older viking. Just the thought of those dreams made his cheeks hot with a blush, but he couldn’t help but remember how he used to yearn for this kind of contact with Yoongi. He used to wish with all his might that someday, Yoongi would talk to him. Someday, Yoongi would kiss him. Someday, Yoongi would hold him like this and worry about him like this.

Everything that had happened tonight was technically a dream come true. Yoongi had spoken to him in a way that wasn’t filled with malice and judgement though he was still telling Jimin what to do and worrying about him because he thought he was weak. Yoongi had kissed him, not once but twice. Jimin still had no idea what his real reasons were for that though he was sure it was only to distract him or shut him up. And here Yoongi was, laying on him and worrying about him falling asleep. Yes, he was doing this as his sworn duty to Jimin’s parents to protect him, but it still meant something to Jimin.

It was a dream come true.

Yes, he had hated Yoongi so much these past few months, but just… something in him told him to live in this moment for all it was worth because this was what he had wanted for so long, and he loved it.

…he loved Yoongi.

He closed his eyes and decided to just take a breather for the first time today and fall asleep as Yoongi wanted. He sighed and wrapped one arm around Yoongi’s back, hoping he was fully asleep so he wouldn’t feel Jimin giving in to his demands.

Jimin calmed quickly underneath Yoongi, taking in his scent of sweat and sea water and wondering if tonight.. he’d dream of Yoongi again for the first time in a while.

And he couldn’t help but also wonder if those dreams would come true in the future as well in their silly little ways. Because though everything he had ever wanted to have happen between him and Yoongi was happening in ways he hadn’t pictured nor necessarily wanted, he still enjoyed every moment of it, and he had a feeling he’d only continue to enjoy more of the little moments like these in the future no matter what they meant for him and Yoongi’s relationship.

In these moments, he loved Yoongi without any regrets.

In these moments, he never wanted that feeling to end.

~(***)~

Taehyung woke up to the smell of blood and sea water that was sloshing around the dark room he was in as it moved and swayed in wave like motions. He felt sick especially when he opened his eyes and only saw darkness, but he only felt dread when he heard the growls of dragons all around him. When he saw yellow eyes glaring at him in a closer proximity than he had ever been to a dragon besides Jimin and Jin, he gasped and shouted in fear before hurrying up into a sitting position and hugging his knees close to his chest as he pressed himself up against the damp wooden wall of the ship.

His breaths were coming out short and hurried, his pants becoming more and more panicked as his eyes started to adjust to the darkness and he could see all the dragons packed in with him in the dark space, all growling and staring at him with hungry glares. He was about to just shut his eyes and hope that this was all a nightmare that he’d wake up from soon, but before he could, he felt a hand on his shoulder that would have startled him if a familiar voice hadn't followed it in a calm tone that washed over him like a warm wave of relief, “Taehyung, it’s ok. We’ll be out of here soon.”

     “Chief Jin?” he whispered in response even though Jin had used the volume one normally used when speaking. Jin was brave, but Taehyung wasn’t going to take a chance with this many dragons around. He looked up at him, trying to peer through the darkness to see a familiar face that would hopefully further calm him down as he asked, “What’s going on? Where are we?”

As if Chief Jin would know. He was probably just as scared and confused as he was since he had been taken too while saving him. He fought as much as he could, but a man grabbed him from behind and knocked him out. Tae was knocked out just a few seconds after and was waking up now in a place that was all new to Jin as well.

Despite probably being in just as much of a daze as Taehyung, Jin still tried to answer to his best knowledge, looking around him and saying as confidently as he could manage, “Seems like we’re in the bottom of a boat right now, so just hold still and be calm. The chief of this clan wants us to be part of his dragon army now, so he’s not going to hurt us.”

     “W-What?” Taehyung’s eyes widened at Jin’s words and he only grew more confused, “Dragon army?…”

Jin nodded and smiled, placing his hand on Tae’s knee now as he spoke with a soft chuckle, “It’s ok, I’ve known you were a dragon for a while now. I’m sure you had your reasons for keeping it a secret, but now that we’re in this situation, you don’t have to hide it anymore.”

Jin watched as the younger boy’s eyes widened even more and his breath hitched as he asked in shock, “Y-You think I’m a dragon?”

Was Taehyung still trying to keep up the facade that he was human? Jin tilted his head in confusion, wondering why the boy was still trying to pretend like he wasn’t a dragon even now when he had been captured as a dragon to be part of a dragon army and a fellow dragon was admitting that he knew his secret. Taehyung was a good actor, looking shocked and almost offended by what Jin was accusing him of being just like a human probably would if they were told they were actually a dragon, but… wait… but there was no way he didn’t actually know, right?

There was no way he had gone all this time without realizing he was a full-bred dragon in his human form this whole time, right? That was… That was unheard of. Dragon mothers and fathers always made sure their children never changed form just because things like this were possible, a baby dragon turning into a different species and then forgetting how to turn back or who they even were before turning. The dragon parents would have no choice but to abandon their child and hope it learned to survive on its own as that species until they grew old enough to comprehend what they actually were and learn to shift back. This was because dragons had brains that were more developed from the start while other species weren’t capable of memories or knowledge of their own identity until much later in life… humans being the slowest.

Was Tae a rare case of this?…. Had he really not experienced any powers showing through even with Jimin around?…

Holy shit….

Jin’s smiled faded and his lips parted in shock as he spoke his worries outloud and asked softly, “Oh… you really don’t know?”

Chapter Text

The Chief's Lost Son

     “Namjoon…” Namjoon heard a voice call out to him, speaking softly to wake him up as they placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his cheek.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up to see Jin smiling down at him, warm and beautiful as always though there was a new glow around him. Namjoon was surprised to see him back and unharmed by the vikings who took him, but he only smiled and reached up to touch Jin’s hand on his shoulder, feeling a wave a calm wash over him as he muttered out softly, “You’re back… I thought I lost you again.”

Jin hummed under his breath and tilted his head, asking softly, “Oh, you did? Because you couldn’t save me?”

Namjoon’s smile fell, remembering how Jin and him had been fighting when he had turned around for just a second and Jin had been taken by the viking clan and dragged away from him before he could protect him. Dragons swarmed around him and kept him from getting to Jin. He had managed to kill them all, but by the time he was done, Jin had been taken away and the boats containing him left, leaving Namjoon behind for a second time with no way to stop it.

     “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you again,” he muttered out, looking down and keeping his gaze lowered to his lap in bed until Jin forced his chin up with a finger and chuckled a little, “It’s alright, love. I always knew ever since I chose you to be my alpha that I’d meet an end like this. That’s why I needed to know you’d take care of our child and keep him safe.”

     “A-An end?” Namjoon asked, eyebrows twisting in confusion. He sat up and let his hand rest on Jin’s hip, “But you’re back, aren’t you? You’re safe, and we can raise both Jimin and our new baby together.”

Jin’s smile softened and he sighed, “I’m….” he bit his lip and reluctantly continued, “I’m not here for good, Joon. You couldn’t protect me, remember? Because of you, I died.”

Namjoon felt his heart break when he heard those words and tears formed in his eyes, “N-No… You’re not dead, though,” he looked up into Jin’s eyes, “Jin, that’s not funny. You know that’s my worst fear!”

     “Then you should have tried harder,” Jin frowned, “They raped me and killed our child before burning me alive,” he sniffled, forcing Namjoon’s hand off of his hip. Namjoon quickly looked down at his hand to see that it was now covered in blood. His eyes widened and he gasped, looking up at Jin with tears falling from his eyes, “No… No, Jin, I’m sorry!” his bottom lip trembled and he watched as Jin slowly started to fade away from his vision, “I’m s-so sorry!”

He leaned forward and grasped out for him, trying to keep Jin there with him though he was gone before Namjoon could shout anything else, completely disappearing without another word to Joon except for the fact that his death was his fault. He couldn’t protect him, and Jin was never coming back.

Namjoon opened his eyes and shot up in bed, screaming and shouting out Jin’s name in a fit of tears, breathing heavily from his nightmare and waking up in a pool of his own sweat that dampened the thin sheets covering his body. He huffed and huffed to try to breathe in panicked breaths as he looked around the room, trying to spot Jin though he knew he was only there in a dream… he was still gone. Possibly even dead because the Jin in Namjoon’s dream was right… Joon couldn’t save him. Joon failed and got him taken and now probably killed.

Seeing his bedroom still empty of his lover, Namjoon pulled his knees up to his chest and sobbed out, wiping his tears on his bedsheets and crying out Jin’s name over and over again, begging for him to come back by some miracle. He hugged his arms around his knees and buried his head into them, his whole body shaking as he thought about Jin and their baby that was all alone out there…

     “I’m so sorry…” he apologized again, rocking back in forth in bed and sniffling, “I love you, I’m so sorry…. I-I don’t know what to do, Jin,” his nose stung as more tears formed in his eyes and a sob escaped from the back of his throat again, “I don’t know what to do anymore… I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

~(***)~

The next morning, Namjoon managed to pick himself up out of bed since a chief couldn’t leave his village leaderless after an attack like the one that recently happened. He managed to get himself dressed and wipe away the tears that had dried under his eyes and on his cheeks from last night. He ran his fingers through his hair and drank half a glass of Norwegian vodka before feeling numb enough to take care of his people for the next few hours.

He made his way to Jimin’s room to make sure he was up for the day, knowing that he was probably also hurting from this because he had lost both his father and his best friend to the attack, but as future chief, Jimin had to make an appearance to the town too at least once today.

Namjoon knocked on the door and leaned against the wooden frame around it, “Jimin… Are you up?” he creaked open the door and peaked inside to see if Jimin was still sleeping, but when he looked within the room, all he found was an empty made up bed and a few of Jimin’s belongings missing from where they usually sat.

He stepped inside, confused why Jimin had tidied up the place even when he was so upset about the attack. Everything started to slowly and slowly become more confusing as Namjoon looked around and realized what was happening, noticing that Jimin’s cloak in the corner of his room had disappeared along with one of his bags and a few everyday items Jimin always used.

Where…Where was Jimin? Where did he go?

Namjoon’s eyes widened as he turned around himself and scanned the whole room, coming to the conclusion that Jimin had left. And where else would Jimin possibly go than out to sea to do something as foolish as try to find Jin and Tae to bring them back?

As soon as Joon came to that realization, his heart dropped down to his stomach and he immediately turned on his heel to run out into the village and call a town meeting, hoping and praying he was wrong about this. He… He couldn’t lose Jimin too. He thought he felt like dying when Jin was gone for a second time but just thinking about Jimin being out there on his own and suffering a similar fate to his father, truly leaving Namjoon alone forever, made it hard for him to breathe let alone go about his life as if his world didn’t come crashing down on him in a matter of days.

He called a mandatory town meeting as soon as possible, and within the next half hour, the remainder of his village from the attack was within the dining hall, looking up at him expectingly as he finally announced to them, “Jimin has disappeared! I am not sure where or when his last whereabouts were, but if anyone has any kind of information as to where he might have gone and how, I need you to speak up immediately!”

A murmur washed over the crowd, everyone saying something that either wasn’t relevant or wasn’t helpful to the situation whatsoever. Namjoon started to grow more and more impatient and irritate with how this meeting was only wasting time instead of helping him, and he almost shouted out over them all to be prepared to set out on their boats to start searching the whole ocean for his son, but before he could, one of the elders spoke up and said in a wary voice, “Chief Joon, Yoongi has apparently vanished as well! You don’t think those two are together, do you?”

Namjoon felt a little hopeful from the idea of someone as strong as Yoongi being with his son, but one worry came to mind when he thought of those two being alone together…. They hated each other. Why would they be together? Let alone… vanishing together?

He didn’t let his worries show as he nodded his head and spoke calmly, “I’m not sure where they are, but if something happened to Jimin and-!” before he could finish, one of his men suddenly came storming into the dining hall with a familiar young viking teen from their neighboring clan being dragged behind him by the collar of his shirt. The older viking held onto him roughly while shouting out to Namjoon, “Found one of your son’s friends lurking around by the docks! He might know what’s going on,” he shoved the boy further into the room as he yelped out, “I-I swear I’m not doing anything wrong, I just-!”

     “It’s ok, Jungkook,” Namjoon interrupted him in a forgiving tone. A frown was still on his face though as he continued, “Do you know where Jimin is? He’s gone along with Yoongi.”

     “And one of our boats,” the viking who dragged Jungkook into the hall spoke up with his arms crossed now as he leaned against the back wall of the room. He frowned, “One of our warships is missing.”

Namjoon bit his lip and thought about the two young vikings out at sea, one a half-dragon with no experience away from the island, and the other being a dragon slayer who would kill Jimin the instant he found out what he truly was. Worry and dread flushed over Namjoon, but he didn’t let it show, only nodding at that newly learned fact and turning back to Jungkook as he watched the boy’s eyes widen while he muttered out softly, “What?… He left without me?”

     “So you know where he is?” Namjoon asked, “Where was he headed to?”

Jungkook was frowning, obviously disappointed that he was left out of the little adventure Jimin and Yoongi had decided to secretly go on late in the night last night, but he answered Namjoon promptly, knowing he wasn’t in a position to hold back information from the angry father looking for his son, “He wants to get back Jin and Tae. He said Jin knew who the bad people were and that he’d be able to find out more information somewhere else and be able to find Jin and Tae from there.”

Jimin was probably going to try to get information from other dragons…

Namjoon clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and shut his eyes, not sure if he could handle this without at least another pint of alcohol in his system. He heard the villagers starting to mutter about how Jimin was already a deadman for going after the attacking clan. Some were even brave enough to say near him that he had probably already been swallowed up by the sea by now, but Namjoon chose to shut them out for now. He had to. In order to stay sane, he had to be hopeful.

Jimin may have been young and unexperienced, but he was still half-dragon and had powers that could help him to an extent. He was also with Yoongi who would protect and give his life for Jimin as he had always been ordered to do. The two were an unlikely pair to get along with each other let alone go on a dangerous adventure together, but he had to trust them at least a little bit to hold out long enough for him to find them and return them back to safety.

Though he was angry about this whole situation, he raised his hand to silence the room and spoke up clearly for everyone to hear him and listen carefully, “Jimin is safe with Yoongi, as he is our best dragon slayer and has been ordered to protect Jimin with his life. The two will be fine for now, I’m sure, but I’m going to go retrieve them before they get into any real danger.”

     “I’ll go with you!” Jungkook spoke up from the crowd, his hands in fists at his sides and a determined look on his face as he stared straight up at the chief.

Namjoon admired the gut in the kid, but he shook his head and denied the offer, “Your father would burn our village down if you got yourself killed while helping me.”

     “I already told him I was leaving to rescue Taehyung,” he frowned and glared at Namjoon, unafraid of the chief since he knew he didn’t have to listen to him since he wasn’t part of this clan. He could leave if he wanted to, and he would leave on his own if it came down to it, but he made sure to let Namjoon know he wasn’t changing his mind, “That’s what I’m doing, so I either accompany you or head off on my own.”

Namjoon bit his lip and glanced around the room to consider his options here… He knew Jungkook’s father would be angrier with him if he made Jungkook go off on his own rather than accompany him to find his son and possibly even Jin and Tae as well, so it really was wiser no matter what to let Jungkook come with him… What if the boy died in his care though? He knew he’d never be able to forgive himself for not being able to protect yet another person, but… but what other choice did he have?

He had to go out there and find Jimin at least and bring him back. He didn’t have time to stand here and argue with the young future chief of a different clan.

He nodded his head at Jungkook and granted his wish to join him on his journey to retrieve at least one piece of his family back, “Fine, you will accompany me in finding Jimin and Yoongi,” he turned to the rest of the room, “I need five brave vikings to join us, and Hoseok,” he turned to the boy near the front of the room, standing tall and staring at him with an unassuming stare until he continued to speak to him, “You’ll be my right hand man in Yoongi’s place.”

Hoseok smiled at this and nodded his head in determination, “Thank you, chief,” he stepped back towards the exit of the room, already knowing his next plan of action since he had watched Yoongi do this so many times before right before they went out into battle, “I’ll ready a boat for us,” he turned on his heel and walked away as Namjoon turned to the rest of the room say, “The rest of you stay here and wait for Jimin and Yoongi to possibly come back on their own. Knowing Yoongi, he’ll be bringing Jimin back to me as soon as possible.”

He saw a few of his older men motioning to him that they were joining him in searching for his son, making a count of five that he had requested a few moments ago. He then turned to Jungkook who was ready, and staring at him with a determined look in his eyes, a smile playing on his lips as he grew more and more eager to leave the island in search of Tae.

He was so naive… If only he knew the terrors he’d probably find if he ever did find what was left of their loved ones that were torn away from them. Jungkook reminded Namjoon of himself…. Someone who had once believed that love was something granted so easily in this world when in reality, it was something so rare to find and almost never kept safe.

The world always found a way to tear loved ones apart especially with this war going on around them.

Namjoon had been around Jungkook’s age when it had happened to him the first time, and here he was, much older and wiser and still feeling the same now that it was happening a second time.

He stared deeply back at Jungkook for a few seconds before catching himself getting lost in his thoughts and quickly pulling himself out of them by nodding at his team of men he had gathered together and calling out to all of them before heading out of the hall and towards the ship he was going to take out to the sea to retrieve his son before the world could possibly take him away too, “Let’s go,” he demanded, and walked passed Jungkook towards the door, hoping that he could hold himself together at least for the next few days so he couldn’t lose his whole family.

Losing Jin was his worst nightmare…

But if he lost Jimin too?… There was no point to even living anymore.

~(***)~

Jimin felt Yoongi’s lips brush against his neck in a heated rush to feel every part of him as soon as possible. His hands trailed from Jimin’s waist down to the in between of his thighs, reaching underneath and causing Jimin to surpress a moan as he could only barely mutter out the words, “Yoongi… I’ve always been yours to have.”

Yoongi didn’t respond, only kissing Jimin’s neck and fitting himself between his legs. Jimin closed his eyes and leaned his head back a little reaching to hold Yoongi’s hands as he continued to leave a trail of hickeys down his neck and towards his collarbone. He hummed out a moan and was just barely able to say afterwards, “I’m ready… Just take me already, Yoongi.”

He watched as Yoongi looked up and smiled at him, his face blurry but his lips still recognizable as they whispered in a voice softer than anything Yoongi had ever used, “You’re a dragon, Jimin.”

Jimin grew a little worried by that remark, but he chose to feign ignorance and chuckle a little, “I-I am?” his words trailed off when he grew distracted by the fact that Yoongi was sitting up now and slowly taking out his length, something Jimin couldn’t see for some reason though that became the least of his worries when Yoongi grinned and also took a knife out of his belt.

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What are you going to do with that?…”

     “Kill you with it,” Yoongi shrugged and set it off to the side, “But first I’ll give you what you want.”

     “N-No,” Jimin shook his head, starting to sit up, but his body wouldn’t let him. He tried to move, but all he could do was lay there and stare up at Yoongi with fear filling his wide eyes, “I-I don’t want to do this if you’re going to kill me afterwards!”

He tried to close his legs, but Yoongi was already in between them, lining himself up with Jimin’s entrance and muttering out absent-mindedly as he did so, “You’ll always love me no matter what, won’t you? Even if I kill you,” he laughed and slowly started to press in, “We’re bonded, Jimin. You’re stuck with me for life because you were stupid enough to fall for the dragon slayer.”

Tears fell down Jimin’s face as he still struggled to try to get away, “I… I love you, so why can’t you love me back? Why do you have to kill me? I’d never hurt you!”

     “You’re a monster,” Yoongi frowned and glared down at Jimin. “You’ll always be one.”

     “No-!” Jimin started to protest, but then screamed out when Yoongi pressed all the way in. - He screamed so loud, he woke himself up and immediately sat up and looked around him, hyperventilating and crying as he slowly started to realize that he was on a boat a-and Yoongi…. Yoongi….

He looked down at who he was on top of… Yoongi. He was staring up at him with wide eyes, surprised by Jimin’s sudden scream before Jimin had woken up and snapped into a sitting position as he panicked from his dream.

Yoongi awkwardly placed his hands over Jimin’s that were on his chest and tried to talk Jimin down from his panic, “Uhh… You had a nightmare, I’m guessing? Are you alright?”

Before he could finish speaking, Jimin quickly fell away from him and got to his feet before backing up all the way to the other end of the boat, “J-Just stay away from me.”

     “Huh?” Yoongi sat up, tilting his head at Jimin in confusion, “You do know the difference between dreams and reality, right? You are aware nightmares aren’t real?”

Jimin nodded his head in understanding but still stuttered out in reply, “I-I j-just…” he breathed out and looked around him, realizing that nightmares really weren’t real. Also, Yoongi would never lay a hand on him. Sure, he was a dragon slayer and would probably kill him for being a dragon, but raping him just because he knew Jimin would still love him afterwards due to this curse that dragons fell in love with one person for life was something Yoongi would never do.

He breathed out and fell down to his knees to take a moment to breathe and calm down. He leaned up against the wall of the boat and spoke softly, “I know it’s not real… I’m fine.”

     “Are you sure?” Yoongi asked, deciding to warily step towards the young viking. “I have pretty bad nightmares, but even I don’t wake up freaked out like that,” he crouched down in front of Jimin, “What was it about?”

Jimin looked up from his hands at Yoongi, biting his lip and making the decision to obviously not tell him what it was about. There was no way he could say ‘I dreamed about us making out and then you raped me and told me you were going to kill me for being a dragon afterwards’.

Just thinking that in his head sounded crazy, not just because the situation would never arise in real life since Yoongi and him were never going to like each other enough to even be close to making out, but Yoongi doing something as evil as raping him and taking advantage of him? Jimin may have hated Yoongi for being a despicable dragon killer, but he would never do something as evil as that. As terrible as he was for killing dragons, he never mocked or tortured them unlike some of the other young vikings of their clan. All he did was quickly kill them if they got too close for his comfort, and he’d move on.

Jimin sniffled and lied to Yoongi, “Dragons… I dreamed about the attack.”

     “Oh…” Yoongi nodded his head with empathy, tilting it and reaching a hand out to Jimin, “You really were just thrown into the most gruesome battle in our clan’s history,” he took Jimin’s hand gently in his own and started to get up, “It’s understandable why it’d be haunting you especially since you lost Jin and Tae, but what usually helps me is maybe talking about the nightmare?”

     “I don’t want to talk about it,” Jimin countered as Yoongi helped him up. He didn’t really prepare a full on dream to lie about, and he wasn’t about to let it slip to Yoongi what his real dream was about. He didn’t want to think he thought those things of him, because though he was scared of Yoongi at first when he woke up this morning, he knew Yoongi wasn’t like his nightmare at all.

Yoongi was being friendly this morning probably because Jimin woke up so scared, so when Jimin refused to tell him what his dream was about, Yoongi only nodded his head in understanding and accepted that reply, “That’s fine. What also works is eating some-!”

     “You don’t have to baby me, Yoongi,” Jimin interrupted him and pulled away before Yoongi could lead him over to the crates of food he had packed. He stepped back away from the viking’s hold and ran his fingers through his hair while awkwardly looking away and muttering out, “I’m fine, I’ve had a nightmare before.”

     “As bad as that one?” Yoongi asked, actually seeming worried though Jimin could tell he was only going to think less of him after all this.

Jimin shook his head, “No, but I got over it fast. There’s no need to worry.”

He thought that saying that would be enough to make Yoongi get off his back about the dream, but the older viking only continued to stare at him like some kind of worried mother who knew her child was lying. Did Yoongi think he was lying? Why though? Why would Jimin lie about a dream? Or… why would Yoongi think he was? Did he talk in his sleep?

After a few seconds of awkward silence and even more awkward staring, Jimin finally coughed awkwardly under his breath and walked towards the crates of food, “I’m going to eat something. How soon will we arrive to the island of trade?”

     “Ah…” Yoongi suddenly said under his breath as if he just now remembered that they were on a boat headed towards a trading island where Jimin was going to try to get answers on where Jin and Tae were. He hummed out as he thought about where they were and how long it usually took to get to Brunswick before tilting his head and answering in an unsure but still confident tone of voice, “We should see the island in half an hour,” he dropped his cloak to the ground that he had worn to keep himself warm in the night and lay it over a post on the ship. He walked over to see Jimin holding up an uncooked piece of fish and he tilted his head, “And how are you planning on cooking those on the boat?”

Jimin frowned, staring deeply at the fish. He had brought it knowing that he was capable of cooking it on the boat with his powers, but now he wasn’t in a position to use those since Yoongi would kill him if he found out he was half-dragon. He sighed and looked up at Yoongi, “You don’t eat it uncooked?”

He was joking of course, just trying to annoy Yoongi enough so he wouldn’t question it again. Yoongi reacted as he predicted, deadpanning and crossing his arms as he shot Jimin a look of disgust and tilted his head, “You’re bullshitting me.”

     “I am bullshitting you,” Jimin agreed with a soft smile, always loving how easily irritated Yoongi got with him.

Ah there he was again, loving Yoongi even though it only hurt him. He really needed to stop doing that, but he knew he couldn’t help it, so there was nothing he could do about it.

He set the fish back down in the crate and moved to a different box to pull out some fruit, “I was going to cook it on my first stop and eat fruit on the boat in the meantime,” he picked up an apple and took a bite, “Do you not like apples uncooked either?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at this and turned on his heel to walk away, deciding he didn’t care about post-nightmare Jimin enough to deal with his personality this early in the morning, “I’ll talk to you again when we dock, brat.”

~(***)~

When they first caught sight of land, Jimin immediately became amazed by the large structures built up on shore. He had been subtly keeping his space from Yoongi just because of his nightmare still leaving a spoiled feeling in the pit of his stomach, but all of that suddenly disappeared when he ran up to the dragon slayer and placed a hand on his shoulder to keep himself balanced as he looked off in the distance at the amazing and large land coming into view and gasped at the sight of it, “Wow, what are all of those structures? They look like mountains!”

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile at the child-like wonder in Jimin’s eyes. He blushed at the fact that Jimin’s hands were on him and he was so close, but he made sure to point out a few of the buildings he recognized that Jimin was gawking at, telling the young chief what he knew about them, “The large pointed cobblestone building is actually a church.”

     “A church?” Jimin questioned, looking up at it in amazement. “Is that where the king and queen live?”

Yoongi chuckled under his breath and shook his head, “No, royalty lives somewhere else, though there is a castle up on the hill where a lord lives. A church though is where the people of this land go to pray to their diety.”

     “Like Odin?” Jimin asked, “They need a building to pray to him?”

Yoongi smiled softly and shook his head, “No, someone else they believe in. They have a different version of Odin and Valhalla.”

     “Huh…” Jimin muttered out, looking at the building still in disbelief. He chewed the inside of his cheek and leaned in close again to ask Yoongi, “Why are there so many people? And boats? Are people from all around trading?”

     “Yeah,” Yoongi nodded, turning to look at Jimin’s amazed expression. It was cute how wide his eyes grew when looking at something Yoongi had lost interest in a long time ago since he had been here quite a few times right before battles with Namjoon or just to trade supplies for the winter. Jimin’s smile was so beautiful…

Ah, fuck, those kinds of thoughts were so intrusive recently, but he needed to remember that he and Jimin could never happen for so many reasons. It was foolish to waste time on pining after the future chief, so he needed to focus on just being his protector and guide throughout this journey so he could either help him get his father and best friend back or help him come back home empty handed since that was just how the world was.

His smile fell and he looked back towards the island, muttering out words he knew would make Jimin angry, but he had to try, “I need you to stay on the boat when we get here.”

     “What?” Jimin immediately began to protest as expected, “No way! This is my journey; you can’t tell me what to do!”

Yoongi sighed and bit his lip, having known that wasn’t going to work, “I’m going to get us more food and supplies we might need, but I’ll need you to stay on the boat just while I do that. Then I’ll come back and take you around to ask questions if that is what you want.”

     “Are you serious?” Jimin pouted, “I have to stay on the boat while you go trade? How long is that going to take?”

     “Only a few hours,” Yoongi answered.

     “A few hours?!” Jimin gawked and rolled his eyes, immediately pushing off of Yoongi and moving away from him, “Is it ‘cause you think I’m weak? I might hinder you from trading properly or something like that?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened as the situation started to get out of control, “Huh? No! I just…” he left the sail for this moment so he could follow Jimin to the other side of the boat and hold onto his shoulders to force eye contact between the two of them so he knew Jimin was listening to him as he explained himself, “Look, Jimin, everyone is going to look at you and know you are new here. This island is full of ruffians and escapee prisoners, and you?… Well you look like an easy target. And…” Yoongi looked down and huffed, “They also might want to you as a trading item.”

     “What?” Jimin tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowing since he didn’t believe Yoongi at first, “I’m not something to trade, they should know that.”

     “You are something to trade,” Yoongi argued. “Someone like you would cost a lot… for reasons I don’t want to get into, but you have to trust me, ok Jimin?”

Jimin was still frowning, his eyes narrowed at Yoongi in a glare though he only stayed quiet and stared at him skeptically for a few seconds until he sighed and waved Yoongi away from him, “I’ll stay on the boat until you come back and get me, but you are showing me around this place before I leave. I want to see inside of the church building.”

     “You will,” Yoongi smiled, letting out a sigh of relief that Jimin finally agreed to obey him. He headed back towards the sail and started to lead the boat into the harbor of other ships from many different regions across the world, some decorated with crests from enemy clans in the north, some holding flags from Poland and France and the Roman Empire, and some decorated with gold and paint from down south where Yoongi heard it never snowed even during the winter.

He pulled the boat in to an empty space on the dock and worked to secure everything before he threw his cloak back on to cover their clan’s crest and turned to Jimin to say, “I’ll be back in a half hour. Make sure to stay on the boat no matter what. You’re safest here.”

Jimin nodded and sat down on the edge, still looking up at all the fancy buildings and decorations this island had that he was itching to visit but wouldn’t be able to see…. until Yoongi turned his back on him for exactly thirty minutes which was a long enough time for him to ask around about dragons and get the information he needed without the infamous dragon slayer of his village growing suspicious of him.

Yoongi smiled at how he was seeming so compliant though he was definitely balancing on wary trust since Jimin wasn’t exactly the time to willfully listen to anyone, especially Yoongi. He didn’t say anything about it though as he picked up some fresh fish out of their crate and mentioned to Jimin how he was going to cook it and bring it back to Jimin for lunch before they left the boat to go around the island.

Jimin watched as Yoongi left, trying to subtly keep his eyes on him and not tear them away until Yoongi went around a corner and wouldn’t be able to see him get off the boat as soon as he was gone. Jimin grew more and more excited as he watched Yoongi walk through the cobblestone streets of the trading village, flags all around him as if there was a festival though it seemed people were just going about their daily life.

Was this really how life was like here every single day? Jimin almost wished that he lived here… In a place where so many people were bustling around and getting to learn about each other’s different cultures all while surrounded by differently colored buildings, flags, painting, ships, and strings that were tied to every tree in the large village. Jimin couldn’t help but also glance at the big church in the center of it all, towering as high as a large dragon with beautifully smoothed out stone and a fancy colorful ‘thing’ that Yoongi had mentioned was called a ‘stain-glass window’ earlier.

It was beautiful… with a depiction of a mother holding her baby and a dragon guarding the two of them…. Yoongi said that the window was made before the war, and many people had wanted to destroy it and create a new one where the mother is holding up the head of the defeated dragon, but the church refused to since it was so precious to the foundation of the church.

Jimin was happy to hear this because he liked the more peaceful window design better. Plus, having a dragon guarding a human mother and child on a staple of such a popular island only meant that there was still hope out there that dragons and humans could get along… Somehow. Someway. This window would become relevant and loved again just like dragons.

When Jimin glanced back at where Yoongi had been walking, he couldn’t find the other viking anymore, so he assumed he was far enough away from him for him to be able to get out of the boat and explore on his own as well as look for answers without getting caught. He quickly hopped over the edge of the warship and onto the dock of the port, immediately looking up and gasping in amazement of how beautiful everything looked when walking through it.

Large oak trees were up on the port and the ground was man made unlike in his little village where it was only made of dirt and grass. Everything about this town seemed like it was made from cobblestone and wood and other things that made Jimin think just for a moment that he had died and gone to Valhalla. There must not be a place more beautiful than this one on the Earth, was there?

He tugged at his cloak and walked around the church, peering inside at a candle lit room where people were inside just sitting and bowing in front of an alter, probably praying to their god. Jimin didn’t want to intrude just in case this was a sacred time for them, so he hurried past the entrance and down the market street crowded with people wearing gold around their arms and neck, some wearing thin white outfits and some wearing furs, and some even wearing only tattoos across their body.

These were such strange sights to Jimin, he couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at them all, smiling and wishing his father told him about the people around the world that were just amazing as the scenery around them. One of them had to know something about the men who took Jin and Tae away.

He walked past merchants and stalls selling vegetables and fruits and trinkets painted beautiful colors from different lands. Jimin remembered when Namjoon brought him back a dragon carved out of stone and decorated with pink and white colors. Namjoon giving him the little statue and explaining how he chose the most beautiful dragon carving he could find was the most excited and talkative his father had been since forever, and now Jimin knew why… it reminded him of Jin.

How was his appa doing now? He was still so broken about Jin being taken for a second time from him; had he even noticed yet that Jimin was gone? What was he going to do when he did eventually realize that Jimin left? Was he going to break down even more?…. Was he going to give up like he did with Jin before? Was he going to be angry and try to get Jimin back? Jimin knew Namjoon thought he was weak, so his appa probably was going to chase after him to bring him back to safety as soon as possible… That or he was just going to assume Jimin was dead since he apparently was too weak to even help his parents out with a battle and-!

Jimin really needed to stop being angry about that. It wasn’t his appa’s fault for Jin being taken. Jimin knew he wouldn’t have been able to save him in the first place… Casting blame on someone wasn’t going to help out either. All he could really do now was save Jin and Tae from wherever they were now and hope that he could be a family with his parents again and happy with his best friend as well.

A thought passed his mind that maybe he was planning on giving his life in exchange for theirs since they were two strong people that the village needed instead of him, but he pushed those thoughts away for now… There was a chance of all of them being happier together.

But if the time came, yes, he was fully prepared to give up his life for theirs. He may be too weak to fight and too weak to be considered strong, but he was not too weak to give himself up to save two people so important to his father and village. Taehyung was Jungkook’s everything, and their marriage would definitely secure peace between their two clans, and Jin?… Jin was Namjoon’s everything and the village needed him more than anything.

Everyone would be fine without Jimin.

Ah, thinking about that kind of stuff put a damper on things!! He quickly threw those thoughts to the back of his mind, because today he wasn’t sacrificing himself for anyone! He was just walking around a fun village and asking people about a certain clan taking in dragons for a dragon army.

He decided to straighten himself up after such damper thoughts and put a smile on his face before heading over to the first friendly seeming person he saw, a woman with red hair kind of like the man who attacked him though her’s was softer and more of a brassy hue of red. She had a tattoo on her face of a snake and jewelry pierced anywhere it was able to fit with three piercings on her lip, a nose ring in her nose, and a few gold and crystal pieces on her eyebrow.

Jimin tapped her on the shoulder shyly and stepped back quickly due to how intimidating she became when she turned to him with an irritated glare and raised an eyebrow at him, “What, boy?”

     “Oh, I…” Jimin stammered over his words and looked down, unsure of what he was going to say now. Shit, what was he even trying to figure out? He should have figured out what he was going to ask first before calling the attention of a scary lady like this, but with no choice but to improve his question and try to make this fast so he could move on to someone else, he asked her in as confident of a tone as he could manage, “I was wondering if you knew anything about a dragon army? Or… maybe a clan going around to different island and stealing dragons?”

     “Stealing dragons?” she asked, scowling at the word and turning to Jimin fully, “Why on Earth would you have one of those beasts on your island in the first place?”

Ok, so she hated dragons, so she probably knew nothing about the clan.

Jimin sighed and waved his hand at her as he started to back away, “Never mind, it wasn’t that important of a question, haha,” he nervously laughed and quickly turned away to walk down a different street. Maybe he needed Yoongi after all because there was no way he could talk to intimidating people like this all on his own.

Seriously, it was like Yoongi was from the same land as all these people, decorated in tattoos and always sporting a frown on his face. Did he grow up with them or did they all just rub off on him? No, no… Yoongi was always like this ever since Jimin could remember. He’d always be frowning and unhappy though when Jimin toddled up to him once to ask him why he always looked like a ‘meanie grump’, Yoongi pushed him down and walked away.

Another reminder of why Jimin didn’t need Yoongi right now. He was going to be fine on his own.

Jimin continued to walk through the crowded streets of Brunswick, asking the friendliest looking people he could find from all around, sometimes getting a sweet smile and apologetic reply from them that they didn’t know anything about a dragon army and sometimes getting an angry shout out of nowhere for speaking of such monsters with no warning. Sometimes the person he tried asking didn’t even speak his language, which he preferred over the shouting.

He was about to give up and just head back to the boat to wait for Yoongi to come back and take him around the island, but before he could, he heard a familiar voice and stopped in his tracks to listen for it again. He was standing still in the middle of the street, listening past the people bustling past him in a hurry to trade or explore the town. He closed his eyes and tilted his head up, focusing on the voice he had heard his dreams ever since he was little and knew his heart belonged to the dragon slayer.

     “Thank you so much for helping me out-!” Jimin heard Yoongi’s voice say from behind some trees in a clearing where smoke was rising from. It was followed by a laugh which was strange coming from Yoongi, but Jimin followed it anyway towards the tree-line where he then saw Yoongi cooking the fish over a fire with another boy who seemed to be around his age.

Yoongi… Yoongi was smiling and talking to this boy. He laughed again and crossed his legs out in front of him as he spoke to the other boy who was definitely European with brown hair and blue eyes, “I wasn’t wanting to pay anyone to cook this fish for me, so it’s really great of you to help me.”

     “Oh it’s really no problem,” the boy replied cheerfully, brushing his hair back behind his ear, “Are you going to be eating this with anyone, or just yourself?”

Yoongi looked down at the fish and shrugged, sighing out softly before he replied to the boy as if he was disappointed, “Yeah… Someone back on my ship. I managed to get away for a few minutes, but they’ll be expecting me back soon.”

     “A lover?” the boy asked, causing Jimin’s heart to skip a beat since he knew Yoongi was going to have to answer that. He leaned forward and stayed hidden as he listened for Yoongi’s response, growing more and more scared until he heard the dragon slayer let out an amused laugh before shaking his head and muttering out, “No, more like a child. He’s a viking who doesn’t even know how to sail.. or fight, really.”

     “You’re here with a child?” the boy asked in a giggle which caused Yoongi to laugh again, something he had never done around Jimin… Jimin’s heart felt like it was sinking down to his stomach.

No, it was shattering.

And he wasn’t trying to be dramatic by saying that. It actually felt like it was shattering.

A pain found its way into his heart and he grabbed at his chest as he overheard Yoongi respond to the boy with a chuckle, “Yeah, I’m like an over-glorified babysitter accompanying him on his adventure.”

Jimin stepped back when he heard that, breathing out in a cry and feeling his heart break even more. Why… Why was Yoongi even with him then? Why did he fight so hard to join Jimin on his journey when it seemed like he thought too poorly of Jimin to consider him as anything other than a child?

Jimin sniffled and stepped back into the crowd, grabbing at his chest since his heart was still hurting and hurrying back to the ship so he could rest there and deal with what was happening on his own. Tears were falling down his cheeks as he thought about what Yoongi just said, and thinking about how Yoongi probably talked shit about him all the time like this only made him feel sicker.

He pushed through the crowd, letting out soft cries and sobs that escaped from the back of his throat as the words Yoongi laughed about him played over and over again in his mind ‘just a child…’ , ‘just a child…’ , ‘a viking who doesn’t even know how to sail or fight’.

He was so much more than that! Why couldn’t Yoongi fucking see that?! Why was he always saying he was a child even after the battle when he thought he proved himself? Sure he had been sent away by his appa and failed to save the two people most important to him, but he had done enough to at least not be considered a child anymore!

Jimin climbed up onto his warship, burning the wood as he climbed up the ladder since he was too sad to control his powers entirely. Black marks were left in the wood until he got to the top, and there, he fell to his knees and sobbed out, hating how fragile he was though he made himself feel better by blaming it on the dragon bond he had between himself and Yoongi. It was because of that that this hurt so much… His heart was shattering because he was realizing that his love literally thought nothing of him, and he was only seen as weak in his eyes.

He felt so broken because he was finally realizing just how hopeless he and Yoongi were. The dragon slayer felt nothing for him. Nothing…

He bent over and sniffled, whispering out, “You fucking bastard…”

     “Who, me?” a voice asked him in an amused tone from in front of him, causing Jimin to snap his head up at the stranger who was now speaking to him from the other side of the boat.

He was an older man with a thick grey beard and a sword in his hands that was dragging across the ground behind him. He had a scar across his eye and a tattoo across his collarbone that read, ‘The Dragon Clan’.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he sat up, “Dragon clan?” he took the opportunity to ask now even though he knew he was in grave danger at the moment, “What is that?”

The man looked down at the tattoo in question and chuckled a little under his breath before smirking and looking back to Jimin, “A group of vikings you don’t want to mess with. Do you own this ship?”

Jimin wiped his eyes of tears quickly and scrambled up to his feet to be evenly matched with the man though he was missing about two feet of equality between him and the man who was towering over him with metal armor on and probably years of experience killing people for fun. Jimin wasn’t going to back down though. Not if this man was going to lead him to his father and best friend.

     “I do, but that wasn’t what I was asking. Where is the Dragon Clan located? You take dragons. Where do you bring them?” he asked, stepping back a little when the man stepped forward and now chose to hold his sword in front of him. Jimin took in a deep breath subtly and held it as he waited for a response, growing more and more scared as the man spoke in a gruff voice, “I think the whereabouts of my clan are the least of your worries right now, young boy,” he tilted his head and smiled grimly, “See, we were going to steal your boat to see if we could trade it for more weaponry, but I think we could get more if we sell you instead?” he leaned in close to Jimin, studying and admiring his features, “You’re very pretty for a viking. Are you some chief’s little slut?”

Jimin’s eyebrows furrowed in anger but his cheeks blushed in embarrassment and he quickly stammered out, “N-No, I am the chief! What the fuck are you saying?” he unclenched his hand and slowly started to create a fire in the palm of his hand, but before he could, the man sighed and leaned back a bit, looking slightly past Jimin and snapping his fingers as he muttered out, “Get him, and let’s leave. I’m sure we could trade him for some gold which will get us enough supplies to please Chief Kang.”

     “Chief Kang?…” Jimin’s eyes widened as he turned around to see who the man was looking at, but before he could even so much as turn his head, someone pressed up against him and wrapped an arm around his waist as a hand covered his mouth and yanked him back. He was taken by surprise and thrown to the ground by another man that had been on the ship as well.

Jimin winced when he hit his head against the wooden floor of the ship’s deck, but all he could focus on was the bearded man’s laugh as he sang out like the hum of a dark tune, “The war has changed us all, hasn’t it, young viking? Some of us are the losers and some of us are the winners, but I think one thing we should all be grateful for no matter who we are is that we aren’t dead yet, hm?” he bent down beside Jimin and stroked his cheek with the palm of his hand, “Remember that, wherever you go.”

Chapter Text

Finally Friends

Jimin felt a headache coming on from how hard the guy was holding his face down into the wood on the deck, and he struggled to escape from the heavy grip of the guy behind him, but he knew they were stronger than him and would kill him as soon as he tried to run either with the sword in the main man’s hand or with the axe hanging by the man who was holding him down’s belt.

This match was unfair, and Jimin wasn’t sure if there were more people on the boat either. Even if he managed to defeat these two guys, who else would come?

While he was down on the ground, he heard another man walk up on the deck to join the scene, adding to the two vikings planning on selling him by becoming a third man he was going to have to fight to remain free. He grunted when the man holding him down pressed down harder on his head, unaware of how much he was actually hurting Jimin as he turned to the man who had just walked up on the scene to ask, “And where have you been, you fish-brained clod?”

     “Checking to see if there were any valuables we could use in the crates on this ship,” the man spoke with a heavy English accent that Jimin could barely understand.

The man came into view, tall and older with brown hair and a scar across his face. He too was more muscular than Jimin, causing Jimin to frown and remain quiet as he continued to listen to them. 

     “And were there any valuables?” the man who Jimin first saw asked.

The brunette chuckled under his breath and shook his head, “I found none, but it looks like you found something tradable?”

The man nodded in reply with a proud smile, “Yes, this little viking came up on our boat right when we needed him, I guess,” he pointed to Jimin with his sword, “We could sell him to a Lord, I’m sure, with his looks.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, but he quickly narrowed them at the man and finally growled out, “If you so much as try to take me off this boat, I’m going to burn-!” he bit his lip and held his tongue to keep himself from giving his powers away. He was sure from that threat, they wouldn’t be able to tell that he had powers, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He stuttered a little before backtracking and continuing with a new threat, “I’ll kill you guys! I will!”

The men all laughed before the one holding him down pressed harder on his head and sang out with a chuckle, “And how will you do that, huh? You’re as small and weak as a child!”

     “Awe, I think he’s starting to cry,” the brunette bent down to Jimin’s height with a soft smile and caressed his cheek, “Maybe we should-! Ah-!” he gasped and jerked his hand back away from Jimin, his fingers red and hot to the touch from a burn Jimin was able to make on him by surprisingly drawing heat to his cheek. It stung a little, but Jimin was happy he was able to do it to get that creep to lay his hands off of him.

These guys may have been stronger than him in every way, but there was one thing he was that they weren’t: Fire proof.

He shut his eyes and grunted out as he brought the power of his heat to the parts of his body that the man holding him down was touching, feeling his skin stinging from the use of his powers. The stinging grew worse the more he used his powers, and he screamed out in pain when it felt like he himself was being burned, but it all became worth it in the end when the man on top of him was shouting out in pain and quickly backing away from him to retreat with a newly burned hand where the skin on his palm had almost melted away.

Jimin was still in pain from using his powers, but he wasted no time to scramble up to his feet and hurry away from the center of them and towards a different end of the boat. He watched breathlessly as all three men stared up at him with terrified looks on their faces. They were scared of him now because he had used heat to hurt him, but he knew that if they brought out their weapons, he wouldn’t be able to do much with just sparks of fire as a power and a burning power he’d need to get too close to use on them.

Maybe he could rely on scaring them alone, but these men didn’t seem like the type to run from a fight this early on, and that was shown when the main man grabbed his sword and stepped towards Jimin, “What are you, a witch?!”

Oh well that was new.

Jimin didn’t have time to respond before the man swung his sword at him, shouting out and lunging towards Jimin to hit him. The blade almost did, but Jimin jumped back and cried out in fear, not knowing hot to protect himself without a weapon and powers he was still new to, but without realizing it, as he screamed and jumped back, fire shot out of his hands and into the face of the man who had swung his sword at him, burning him and causing him to quickly retreat in a sea of pain.

Jimin looked up when he heard his cries of agony, and he looked down at his hand, eyes widening when he realized that he was able to shoot fire from his hands… He could do that now? He was seriously able to set things on fire from afar now?

He grinned to himself, remembering how Jin had done this and tried to teach Jimin how to do this, but Jimin had only managed to create a candle like flame as always.

Now he was gaining powers more like his father… and he was going to use them to his advantage.

He grinned and created a large fire energy in the palms of his hands, feeling a tingling sensation in his palms and fingers though it wasn’t too painful for him to continue forward and shoot the fire at the brunette’s face. He was new to the power, so he wasn’t surprised when he missed completely and hit the water behind the boat, but that didn’t stop him from charging forward and shooting more fire in the direction of the brunette, shouting out at him, “Just leave, and we don’t have to fight, ok? I don’t want to hurt you, but I-!” he cried out when he felt a sword cut down on his arm from behind him.

All he could see was red for a moment, but he was able to get over it quickly we he saw it wasn’t too deep of a cut and he had to worry more about how he was once again surrounded by the three men wielding weapons.

Fuck, where was Yoongi when he needed him?!

No.

Wait.

No, he didn’t need Yoongi. Jimin was strong enough to do this on his own.

Jimin glared at the man who had held up down before and grabbed his axe from the blade side, yanking it out of his hands since they were weak from being burned. He turned it around quickly in his hands and swung it at the now unarmed man, yelling out in irritation when the man only stepped back and avoided his attacks.

     “Fuck!” he shouted out in anger, turning to the two guys that had now gotten too close for him to fight properly, and before he could push them away or burn them, they grabbed him by his shoulders and shoved him down to the ground, holding their swords to his neck and pinning him down with the knees and hands to force him to lie still. They were all huffing and panting as they struggled to gain control over him, struggling even as Jimin cried and struggled underneath them all while trying not to get cut by their swords.

He looked up at the sky, wondering if it was all going to end here.

Weak, useless, and naive Jimin went out to try to save his father and best friend but ended up dying by a few ship thieves on the first stop outside of his village…

He was the son of two brave and strong people, and yet he became something so…

He sobbed out and glared at the men now working to find something to tie his hands up with, all of them burned and bloody though still fighting which was something… something he couldn’t even do… They were in a worser shape than him, so why wasn’t he still fighting? Why was he giving up so easily? He… He had to save Jin. He couldn’t give up.

     “You….” he opened his eyes and breathed out heavily, turning to main man who’s face was already burned from one of his attacks, “You asked me if I was a witch…”

The man pressed the blade of his sword down deeper against Jimin’s neck, watching the others search for rope or cloth to tie him up with though he did at least bother to answer Jimin, “Yeah? What about it?”

Jimin turned to see the two other men returning from the storage area of the boat with a few feet of rope and some cloth. He waited for them to come closer before turning back to the burnt faced man and sniffling, struggling under the uncomfortable feeling of the blade as he muttered back in reply, “I’m a fucking dragon, you bastard-!” he shut his eyes and let fire emit from every part of his body, shooting out in the directions of the three men.

He screamed out in pain and tears fell down his face as a reaction to the pain he was feeling, boiling on his skin and falling to the wooden deck before they could burn his face. When the pain subsided though, he couldn’t feel the pressure of the blades anymore. He opened his eyes quickly and looked up to see that the men had been crying and screaming with him, and he had been able to hear it now that his cries had died down.

Their skin was burning and even melting in some areas and their clothes were burnt out and torn in some areas, all effects of the power Jimin found out he could yield today. His eyes widened and he gasped out in surprise and relief that it worked and all his pain was worth it. He sat up and hurried away from them, touching his hand to his cut that he’d have to clean up before Yoongi came back as well as change his burnt clothes before the dragon slayer could come back and question him.

His skin was still stinging, but he couldn’t even pay attention to it anymore as he watch the men scream in agony and hurry off the boat with their weapons, already shouting out warnings to the people of the marketplace that a dragon was passing through the town.

Jimin waited until they disappeared behind the church and into the marketplace, leaving him out of fear and maybe… maybe just because he was strong and capable of protecting himself.

Jimin grinned to himself and looked down at his hands, thinking about how he just uncovered a new level of his powers that he never thought he’d be able to achieve. It was a scary kind of powerful and definitely more painful than anything else he had felt before, but… it brought him closer to Jin in a way that nothing else could.

And maybe it really would bring him closer to Jin and eventually help him save him, because after what just happened, Jimin was newly assured that he was strong enough to save his father and best friend. He was going to save them. And he was going to bring them back home safe and sound.

~(***)~

     “So this child you are babysitting…” the boy who was cooking Yoongi’s fish spoke with an amused smile, “Would he mind if you ate fish with me instead? This all looks really good, and…” his words trailed off and he looked up at Yoongi with a deepening smile, “So do you.”

Yikes. Yoongi was just being friendly to him so he would cook his fish, but was he seriously already being asked out by this kid?

His nose scrunched up in disgust and he shook his head, “No, the kid is frail and already starving. I’d probably be killed if I didn’t get this back to him.”

     “Well you don’t seriously want to live a life as a glorified babysitter, yeah?” the boy asked, finishing cooking Yoongi’s fish and setting it back down in the paper it had been wrapped in, “Just run away with me and-!”

     “No,” Yoongi took the fish quickly and stood up, “If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s run away from things. Especially a promise I swore to protect this boy and also bring him back some cooked fish before showing him around the island. I hope you under-!”

     “There’s a dragon! Dragon, everyone!” Yoongi snapped his head to the frantic screaming of three men running through the town, their shouts cutting him off in the middle of his words. He didn’t mind that at all though when his eyes widened and he realized that there was a danger that was now apparently present on the trading island.

There was a dragon…

And Jimin was all alone on their boat on the other side of the market place.

Yoongi gasped, and without saying another word, he rushed away from the boy and the camp he was in with the cooked fish held tightly in one hand and his sword already out in the other. He wasn’t able to see a dragon yet, so thankfully it wasn’t a large one, but still, any dragon was a threat especially when it came to Jimin’s safety. He ran as fast as he could all the way to the docks, never stopping until he was breathless and on the deck of his clan’s battle ship, staring Jimin in the eyes and seeing that he was safe and sound.

Safe and… and…

His eyes widened, “Jimin, you’re bleeding!” he rushed over to the young viking and took his arm that had a minor cut on his forearm that was still bleeding out nonetheless. He immediately started to rip off cloth from his cloak, but before he could, Jimin quickly jerked his arm away from Yoongi and held it in his own as he muttered out, “I’m fine, it’s nothing.”

     “Nothing?” Yoongi asked, shocked that Jimin wasn’t acting like he was in any pain at all. Sure the cut was small, but it still looked painful, “Jimin, it’s ok to admit that you’re in pain. Did the dragon do that?”

     “Huh?” Jimin questioned, causing Yoongi to sigh and look down, shaking his head, “Not like you would tell me anyway, would you?” he bit his lip, “Three men were running through the town like mad men and shouting out about how there was a dragon chasing after them.”

He honestly wanted Jimin to show some fear to the threat of a dragon being in the town they were in since he had finally been through a battle and saw how vicious and fierce those beasts were, but instead, Jimin only nodded his head and looked down, “You’re right, I wouldn’t tell you a thing if I saw one.”

Yoongi frowned, “So you didn’t see one?”

     “Are you really going to trust my answer?”

Yoongi tilted his head at Jimin with a deadpanned expression, wondering why he was being so hard to deal with right now. What happened to the wide eyed and excited Jimin that he had left on the boat thirty minutes ago? He sighed, “At least tell me where you got the cut from then if it wasn’t a dragon.”

     “It wasn’t,” Jimin smiled and not with his usual smile either. It was more like a sarcastic smile if that was even possible, and he tilted his head to match Yoongi’s tilt as he answered almost proudly, “It was a man with a sword. He and two others came up on the boat and then attacked me, but I attacked back,” he then frowned and turned away, “No thanks to you.”

Shit, he was attacked on the boat?…

Yoongi lowered his gaze in shame and was about to mutter out something until his eyes widened again and he looked up to Jimin, “Jimin please, let me at least take care of that cut. I don’t want…” he bit his lip and dared to step closer to the viking who seemed angry at him for reasons he couldn’t understand, “I don’t want it to get worse because it looks pretty bad.”

He reached out again for Jimin’s arm, but Jimin jerked away once more and pushed Yoongi away this time while snapping at him, “No, just leave me alone! I don’t want you to be so bothered by me as my glorified babysitter…”

     “What?…” Yoongi’s eyes narrowed as he tried to think about why those words were familiar… Glorified babysitter? Where did Jimin get that from? Yoongi had said it as a joke just to carry on the conversation with the boy he was being fake with so he’d cook their fish, but-!

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he shouted out in shock, “You left the boat?”

Jimin turned to him again with a scowl and his eyebrows raised in a glare, “Are you serious?” he shouted back, “That’s all you care about?”

Yoongi was taken back at first by Jimin fighting back, but this was something he was used to. Jimin seemed like the weakest or nicest person in the world until Yoongi himself said something, then suddenly Jimin was a wild animal clawing at his skin just because of their different views on things.

Though Jimin shouting at him was a surprise, Yoongi didn’t back down from the question that set the young future chief off, “Of course it’s what I care about because if you really left the boat against my orders then you risked yourself and literally everything I stand for!”

     “My babysitter?” Jimin laughed, looking up at Yoongi with a glare when the older viking stepped so close, they could feel each other’s heavy breaths between them. Yoongi scowled and growled back, “Your protector.”

Jimin rolled his eyes, “I don’t need a protector.”

     “You don’t know what you need and don’t need since apparently you couldn’t listen to simple instructions to not leave the boat!” Yoongi continued to argue, following Jimin to the other side of the boat, “I told you to stay; why couldn’t you stay?!”

     “You’re not the boss of me,” Jimin could feel himself getting angrier and angrier, but he wasn’t going to let himself gain the glowing eyes or shoot fire at Yoongi… yet. He turned around to Yoongi and continued to yell, “This is my journey, and I’m the chief since my father isn’t here!”

Yoongi gasped, eyes widening in fear of how Jimin was speaking in such a profane way about his father, acting like he could take his place as easy as that just to one up Yoongi. His eyebrows furrowed and he growled out in reply, “You take that back.”

     “Leave if you have a problem with it.”

     “And this is why literally no one thinks you’re fit to be a chief!” Yoongi finally lost it and shouted at him. “You act childish and like you know better than everyone else, but that’s not the case! You’re weak, you’re naive, you’re emotionally problematic, and everyone sees these things about you because you wear it out in the open like it’s a goddamn shiny medal of honor! You may think you’re cute or being funny, but it’s just frustrating for everyone around!”

Yoongi was huffing by the end of his speech, glaring at Jimin who was staring at him with wide eyes, finally silenced by Yoongi’s words that may have gone too far. Yoongi of course didn’t realize how far he had gone until a tear fell Jimin’s face and he quickly moved to wipe it away and step back from Yoongi, muttering out, “Fuck you… You don’t even know half of what I’m capable of, you,” he clenched his teeth and stepped forward just to shove Yoongi away and walk past him to get off the boat, “You fucking bastard.”

Yoongi watched as Jimin walked past him, and when he realized Jimin was starting to walk off the boat, his eyes widened and he followed him, “Wait, where are you going? You can’t leave?”

     “Stop telling me what I can and can’t do; I do what I want!” Jimin retorted and hopped off the boat, “Don’t follow me!”

     “But Jimin it’s dangerous-!”

     “I said don’t follow me!” Jimin interrupted him with a shout.

Yoongi didn’t know what to say to get the younger viking to come back. He didn’t want to make him angrier, but a trading island really was dangerous especially if there was a dragon loose on it… and Jimin was injured… Holy shit, there was no way he was going to allow him to go venture out there alone again.

He huffed to try to get all his anger from his previous fight with Jimin out, and he made sure he had his sword before hopping off the boat to secretly follow Jimin, muttering out to himself, “You can’t tell me what to do either, brat. You have no idea how cruel this world really is…”

He followed Jimin through the market, always walking a few steps behind him and a few people away just so he could keep his eyes on him but not be too noticeable by the young viking and scare him off. He wasn’t sure where Jimin was headed, but he knew that wherever the young viking went, he would have to be right there to protect him from the dangerous situations he might get himself in.

He followed Jimin all the way to a clearing in the woods where Jimin paused and shouted out in agitation, “If you hate being with me so much then why’d you insist on coming!?”

Yoongi almost thought that Jimin had found out he was following him and was now speaking to him, calling him out of the shadows the trees provided around the clearing with a question that would continue their fight. He was about to come out from the tree he was hiding behind to awkwardly answer that question, but before he could, Jimin dropped down to his knees and answered his own question in a sniffle, “You think I’m weak… Everyone thinks I’m weak… Even I know I’m useless…” he swiped his arm across his face to wipe his eyes dry of tears, “No one will have to deal with me by the end of this all…”

Yoongi’s eyes widened. What did he mean by that?

He peered out from behind the tree to see all of the grass around Jimin completely burnt and black with ash. Had it been that way before?

Was it the dragon?

Yoongi glanced around him, making sure to stay alert just in case it attacked Jimin though Jimin hadn’t seemed to noticed the fire that swept through there to kill the earth underneath him, so maybe that grass had been dead when they arrived and Yoongi just hadn’t noticed… He hoped that was the case and the dragon was long gone, because he really couldn’t afford getting Jimin hurt because of a fight that led Jimin all the way out into the woods where a dangerous dragon was. He’d never be able to forgive himself for that.

He scanned the area for any scales or glowing eyes, but before he could do a full search of the place, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Jimin let out a soft sob before falling into a constant cry, sniffling and muttering out apologies to Jin for being weak and promises to find and save him even if it cost his life.

Hearing Jimin promise that to his father hurt Yoongi to hear, and without thinking, he stepped out into the clearing with aboslutely no clue what was about to do until he suddenly dropped down behind him and leaned forward to wrap his arms around him. His eyes widened when he realized what he was doing, and Jimin jumped a little in his arms, freaking out about the person now suddenly hugging him from behind, but Yoongi decided to go with it and mutter out to Jimin in assurance, “It’s me, Yoongi… I’m sorry…”

     “No you’re not,” Jimin argued with a sniffle.

Yoongi didn’t get angry about Jimin refusing to take his apology. He…. He was done with being mean to Jimin. Jimin made him confused with his feelings at the worst times and that irritated Yoongi more than anything, but that wasn’t Jimin’s fault. That was his own. He couldn’t let it out on Jimin anymore.

He rested his head against the back of Jimin’s neck and whispered, “I am. You’re not useless. I don’t want you to think that because of the things I say sometimes because I’m an angry idiot.”

     “You heard that?” Jimin asked softly, his voice laced with trembling embarrassment though Yoongi didn’t let him stay embarrassed for long. “People protect you not becuase you are weak or useless, Jimin… It may seem that way, but we protect you because of how important you are to our village. You are our future, and if we don’t have you… We’re lost. We’re so lost.”

     “You’d be a much better chief than me,” Jimin rolled his eyes and muttered out, sniffling again.

Yoongi shook his head and turned Jimin around his arms so they were staring at each other face to face, “I act before I think, and I don’t let myself feel anything. That’s a terrible ruler, don’t you think?”

Jimin was staring at Yoongi with glossy eyes and cheeks rubbed raw from tears, still frowning though he nodded his head along with Yoongi’s words and muttered out in agreement, “Yeah, you would be pretty bad.”

Yoongi laughed a little under his breath and wiped away the last of Jimin’s tears with his thumb, “You’re caring, Jimin. You have something that most vikings don’t have which is a big heart. I personally don’t think your love should go towards dragons, but hey, maybe you’re onto something will lead us into a stronger future.”

     “You’d really trust me like that?” Jimin asked, his cheeks slowly turning light pink in a blush as Yoongi started running his fingers through his hair, “You’ve always hated how I’ve been close to dragons. You called me a freak, Yoongi.”

“Hey, if you’re bringing up that one fight, you called me a miserable orphan, so…” Yoongi brought up the fight and Jimin rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry, I was just angry.”

     “Yeah, we kind of go all out on each other when we’re angry, don’t we?” Yoongi asked with a soft smile, noticing how Jimin had calmed down quiet a bit. Jimin even shyly smiled a little and looked down, reaching up to his chest to play with his necklace only to find that it wasn’t there… He had thrown it in the ocean when he was angry about Jin leaving even though it was the only thing connecting the two of them together. He frowned again, but Yoongi didn’t want to lose him to another bout of sadness, so he leaned forward and brought Jimin into his arms again, whispering to him softly, “Can we be friends going into this journey?… Like officially friends?”

Jimin froze in his arms, surprised the older viking was hugging him again though it didn’t take him too long to reach his arms up and hug Yoongi back, resting his head into the crook of his neck and appreciating how his fated mate was finally giving him the attention his heart always wanted, “Friends?…” he questioned softly, “So we can’t hurt each other anymore? With words or physically?”

Yoongi nodded his head and traced circles into Jimin’s back gently with his fingers, “Yeah, I’d love for you to not punch me again.”

     “I’d love for you to not yell at me or not tell me what to do again,” Jimin muttered back. “We’re equals, Yoongi. Right?”

Yoongi sighed, knowing full well that Jimin was leagues above him and he was only demanding with him to keep him safe, but he honestly had to agree with this in order to make Jimin feel better, and also because being friends with him wasn’t such a bad idea. He nodded his head and pulled back from the hug to smile and say, “We’re equals. We’re friends. We’re boat buddies and adventure pals,” this caused Jimin to laugh which made Yoongi’s smile widen. He placed his hand on the younger boy’s cheek and cupped his face in the palm of his hand for a while, taking in this moment where they were so close and actually talking to each other civilly. Maybe it wouldn’t last long with their differences and Jimin’s strange love for the very thing Yoongi despised more than anything else in the world, but right now? They were friends. And that was amazing.

     “Yoongi I-!”

     “Did you guys hear about the formal party the Lord of Frexia is having to find a wife?” he was cut off by a low man’s voice saying as he walked by with two other people beside him, a younger man and a woman. They hadn’t noticed Yoongi and Jimin holding each other in the middle of the clearing as they continued to talk. The woman gasped and replied to the man who spoke first, “Oh my, do you think I’d have a chance?”

     “With your looks?” the young man asked and snorted, “Definitely not.”

She slapped him and rolled her eyes, “Whatever, it’s not like I want a man involved with the dragon army I heard is forming. I’ve heard he aids them by giving them an island to hold their dragons on.”

     “Please, a dragon army? No one would humans be able to capture and train a beast like a dragon,” one of the men shut her down, but Jimin was already scrambling to his feet and pulling away from Yoongi to run up to them and interrupt their conversation to ask, “You guys said there was an island they are harboring the dragons on? Do you know what island?”

     “What?” the older man asked with an offended look on his face from Jimin interrupting his conversation, “Who are you?”

Jimin frowned, “Just answer the question,” he turned to the woman since she seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on, “Where is the island?”

Her eyes were wide with shock that this random young viking was in her face and asking questions about what she believed was just a far-fetched rumor, but she managed to respond anyway with a stutter, “I-I don’t know. It’s just a rumor anyway, a-and-!”

     “Ok fine then, where’s the party?” Jimin interrupted her to ask, hoping he didn’t need an invite to crash the formal wife hunting party and find the man who apparently knew where this dragon island was where Jin and Tae might be.

The three people in front of him seemed confused by his question until they all realized a few seconds later what party he was talking about, their eyes widening before they nodded their heads and the younger man spoke, “It’s and island called Frexia near the British Isles. If you sail in that direction you won’t miss it with the thousnads of boats docked there to enjoy the festivities and marry off their land’s most beautiful women.”

Frexia near the British Isles.

Jimin could care less about the reasoning behind the festivities since all he cared about was the fact that this Lord of Frexia had information he needed, and he was going to acquire it one way or another. He walked away from them without another word and turned to Yoongi, “We’re going to Frexia!”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “Frexia? In the British Isles? Why?”

     “Because he has information on Jin and Tae,” Jimin grinned and grabbed Yoongi’s hands without thinking. He jumped up and down a little bit before turning back towards the marketplace to lead Yoongi through it and back towards their ship so they could hurry along on their mission to find Jin and Tae.

Yoongi let him drag him out of the woods and through the marketplace, wondering how Jimin knew to go to the Lord since it seemed like all he knew about was a fictional dragon army and was trying to find his wife at this festival, but since he and Jimin were equals and friends now, he wasn’t going to question Jimin’s intelligence or plan. He was going to stay quiet for once and trust him.

Frexia was a dangerous place for a viking, but Yoongi was going to stay beside Jimin the whole time and make sure he was safe.

He smiled at Jimin’s tight grip around his hand as he led him back towards the ship, an excited smile on his face again as a new adventure awaited them once more. He smiled to himself and took in yet another moment from today, the sun shining on Jimin’s sweaty hair and tear stained cheeks and a smile on his face that Yoongi could stare at all day. His beautiful eyes, his soft pants as he ran, and the confident way he spoke when he told Yoongi how he needed to find a moment with the Lord of Frexia himself to find out some information. Yoongi wasn’t one to believe in much more than the gods and Valhalla, but he was sure if he did, he’d be convinced Jimin was an angel here on earth.

Yeah, Jimin made Yoongi question every little thing about his feelings, but he just couldn’t seem to find it irritating at the moment.

In fact… he kind of enjoyed it.

~(***)~

Taehyung looked down at his hands, trying not to freak out as he thought about Jin’s words of how he was a dragon… How he had always been a dragon… How he was…. He was something that wasn’t human. But his hands were human, weren’t they? Maybe this was all just a nightmare. He had never made fire or had glowing eyes, and he had always been afraid of the beasts ever since he was a child. How could he be a dragon?

Was he maybe only one-fourth dragon? Was that it? Because Jimin had powers he was able to conjure up even when he couldn’t comprehend what he was, but Taehyung wasn’t even sure where his powers came from and how he could even access them.

He didn’t want to access them either though. Not if that meant he was saying goodbye to being human forever.

He glanced at Jin who was beside him and leaning his back against the wall of the ship, taking in measured breaths to keep himself calm though he was interrupted when Taehyung finally asked for the first time since Jin told him what he was and sent the boy into a panic, “Why haven’t I experienced powers like Jimin?” he looked back down at his hands and bit his lip, “This doesn’t make sense…. I don’t remember anything!”

     “Well you were probably just a baby when you switched into your human form and lost all memory of what you were and how to switch back,” Jin answered softly, not wanting to anger any of the dragons packed into the bottom of the boat with them. “It’s a rare occurrence, but it happens when the mother or father isn’t present to protect you or nudge you back into your true form as soon as it happens.”

He smiled when he remembered when Jimin had just been born and accidentally sneezed into his dragon form for a half second. It was only a glitch transformation, meaning it was something he couldn’t hold even if he tried, so Jin had nothing to worry about, but he couldn’t imagine the pain Taehyung’s mother or father went through, losing their child to a transformation and having to leave him to be cared for by their enemies.

Their son had grown up afraid of them. He had thankfully grown up sweet, caring, and also kind to the creatures, but he still feared their existence and dreaded the fact that he could be one of them.

That was a reaction no parent wanted their child to have….

Remembering how Jimin rejected him and the truth at first, Jin frowned and hoped that if Taehyung ever got to meet his parents again, he’d have accepted who he was by then and learned to love them just like Jimin did.

He was pulled out of his thoughts once more when Tae spoke up again, “I’ve always been human… None of this makes sense.”

     “You had no one to teach you how to be a dragon,” Jin frowned and tilted his head, “Jimin’s a halfling so whatever happens in his body comes randomly and he has to learn to deal with it, but all full dragons are given specific skills that they must learn how to use on their own. It’s easier when you’re in dragon form since it comes naturally to you, but you’ve been in human form all this time, so your powers have laid dormant.”

     “I want them to stay that way,” Taehyung replied, sniffling, “I want to remain human. I don’t want to be a dragon,” he looked up at Jin, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean anything by it, but-!”

     “I understand,” Jin cut him off with an understanding brush of the shoulder.

He understood.

It always hurt when someone felt the idea of being a dragon was so terrible and scary, but it wasn’t Taehyung’s fault he felt like that. He was used to being human, and he didn’t want anything different. He had also been raised in a dragon fearing village, so of course he wasn’t going to want to be the thing he was raised to fear.

Still though, Jin had to add, “But it’s who you are now, Tae. Now in this moment, you are a dragon being taken to an island where we will be held against our will and most likely told to do terrible things. You might need to access that part of you in order to survive.”

Taehyung’s whole body was trembling in fear as he listened to Jin’s words. His eyes widened and he shook his head in denial, “N-No…. No, I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to be here! Jungkook is going to save me, I know he will!”

     “Jungkook…” Jin looked down in shock, realizing that if Tae didn’t know he was a dragon then he and Jungkook probably didn’t realize they were a mated pair… Jin could tell they were courting each other since he had shown up for the first time, but last night he had smelled it on Tae, that he was now a mated dragon, and Jungkook was his obvious alpha. He turned to Taehyung with a look of pity and bit his lip, “You chose him as your alpha… I-I didn’t know you didn’t know, but I would have warned you if I was aware of how in the dark you were about what you are.”

     “I’m human-!” Tae tried to say, but Jin interrupted him with a calm, “You’re mated to him.”

Taehyung froze in his spot, staring at Jin in disbelief with wide eyes and his lips slightly parted in shock. He didn’t say anything despite seeming confused and need of answers, so Jin took this as an opportunity to continue to explain to him his dilemma with Jungkook. It was honestly the least of Taehyung’s worries to an extent, so maybe if he could tell Taehyung one good thing about discovering that he was a dragon then the young boy would calm down and come to accept it sooner.

     “You and Jungkook…” Jin smiled a little, awkwardly, but it was a smile nonetheless, “You guys are what humans call soulmates but what dragons call fated mates. It’s what Namjoon and I are, and you two were lucky enough to find each other on the little island you grew up on, falling in love at a young age and slowly becoming the strong couple you are today. You guys must have accidentally bonded with each other,” Jin chuckled a little, “Did you not think it was weird when a ring of fire lit up around you and Jungkook as you two mated?”

Taehyung looked down at his lap, thinking about how he and Jungkook had thought a dragon gave them a warning flash of fire when they had had sex in the woods, but… but that was him? He had caused him and Jungkook to bond for life?”

He stiffened when Jin gently touched his hand to Taehyung’s neck and chuckled, “He marked you and you finished it off with fire, completing a whole mating ritual without even realizing it,” he laughed again and leaned back against the wall, shaking his head and sighing out, “It’s funny how the universe bends over backwards to make sure fated pairs find each other… But it always makes sure to tear you apart soon after.”

Taehyung sniffled and looked down, “We mated…”

Jin nodded, “You’re not pregnant though, don’t worry. I already checked.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened, “Pregnant?…” his expression twisted and Jin realized he was maybe saying too much for the boy to handle all at once, and that became very evident to see when Taehyung started crying again and banged his back up against the wall of the ship crying out, “I can’t be a dragon, this isn’t right! I’m human! I don’t belong here! I belong back on the island with-!”

     “Taehyung, please be quite!” Jin tried to hush Taehyung, hearing footsteps moving above them on the boat deck, prompting him to lean over and clasp a hand over Tae’s mouth, “I don’t know what these guys are like, so we need to be quiet and calm, ok? By doing that we’ll survive.”

     “I don’t want to survive if it means I have to live here against my will!” Taehyung shoved Jin away and shouted out, causing a few dragons to wake up from their slumber and growl at him as a warning to attack if he didn’t fall quiet, but they didn’t have a chance to do that before the deck opened up and a group of vikings jumped down to grab the new prisoners, grabbing Taehyung first and pinning his arms behind his back.

They started to force him upstairs, holding swords and axes up to him as a threat though he continued to thrash around and scream out to them that he was human and didn’t belong there. Jin wanted to call out to him to tell him to be quiet and stay safe, but he was afraid to be punished for speaking out himself. He had his own family to get back to. He had his own baby growing inside of him he needed to protect.

He had to be smart about every move he made.

Two vikings walked up to him to round him up and bring him up to the top deck where Taehyung was, letting him see for the first time that they had now arrived at the infamous isle of dragons, known for where the most evil viking chief to ever sail the seas kept dragons against their will or brainwashed to fight for him in an army for reasons not even Jin knew. And he didn’t want to find out.

Jin looked down at where he was when a man wrapped a chain around his wrists and yanked him off the boat, demanding to him in a gruff voice as he led Jin onto the shore of the island, “Stay in your human form until we put you in your cage. If you so much as try to change your form or attack us, we will kill you without hesitation.”

Jin didn’t need to worry about that since he was pregnant and couldn’t change form anyway, but just the thought of them hurting him and his baby at all made him want to break down and cry. Call it pregnancy hormones already showing through or just the desperate feeling he had in his heart to protect his unborn child, but he wanted to just cry and let them do what they wanted as long as it meant he lived and his baby survived as well. That was a weak mentality, but it was how he felt when pregnant with Jimin, and he knew it was only going to get worse the more far along his pregnant became.

Taehyung was being forced to walk a few feet ahead of him, crying and struggling the whole way there even when men jabbed him with the stick ends of their weapons and shouted at him to shut up. Jin felt for him, knowing he was just a kid being caught up in too many things at once. Something deep in him though was thankful that it was just Taehyung deal with this and not Jimin… It was a terrible thought, but he would never be sorry for being thankful that his son wasn’t in this terrible place.

When they got to the cages, Taehyung made the mistakes of slipping his hands from the chains and running up to one of the men to try to steal his axe and attempt to get away. He swung the axe at the man’s head, but before he could land the blade through his neck and successfully cut it off, a dragon came out of nowhere to push him to the ground and unarm him, growling and scratching Tae up in the process as he held him down.

Out of fear of the young boy dying just because he still had no idea what was going on both around him and within him, Jin finally shouted out for the men to give him mercy, “Please don’t hurt him! He…. He just found out he was a dragon. He didn’t know until now, and this is all so new to him.”

     “Huh?” the man who had almost gotten decapitated looked to Jin and frowned, “You serious?”

Jin let out a shaky breath and nodded his head, “Y-Yeah… I just informed him of it, so please forgive him for his reasonable reaction. He’s just scared.”

     “And what about your reaction, hm?” the viking grabbed his axe off the ground and raised it up in Jin’s direction, “Aren’t you a little to calm?”

Jin shook his head, “I’m just smart enough to know not to go against you guys,” he eyed Taehyung, watching he was put into chains again and dragged into a cage where he would be trapped but at least safe for now. Jin’s heart was beating a thousand times a second, but he felt it slow down when he saw that Taehyung was safe and would try to escape and get himself killed again.

The viking holding the axe up to him laughed and caught Jin’s attention again as he muttered out lowly with a smirk, “You dragons aren’t smart. You’re just a bunch of stupid beasts only good for killing and breeding.”

Jin frowned but remained silent, not daring to talk back to a man with an axe. Thankfully this man didn’t say anything else before Jin was yanked towards a new patch of cages near larger dragons being contained within them. His eyes widened and he finally fought back against his captors, “Wait, why are you seperating us? Is it possible for me to be with the boy who was brought here with me instead? H-He doesn’t know how to be a dragon, and he should be with someone he knows!”

     “Adults and adolescents are separated,” the man beside him spoke, looking ahead at all the dragons Jin would be trapped with soon.

Jin’s eyes widened and he looked back at Taehyung who was already curled up in a corner of his cage with his knees drawn up to his chest as he cried. Jin didn’t want to leave him alone. Everything would be fine if he could just convince the clan to let him stay with him, but it was no use and he didn’t want to risk his baby’s life. For now, he did all he could do… He didn’t fight back or struggle against the men for separating him from Tae, but he did shout to the poor young dragon who was probably scared out of his mind right now, “Taehyung, remember who you are! You had a family… You had a life before you accidentally became human, and you can access those memories if you just dig deep and think about where you came from! You’re a dragon!….” he held his hand over his stomach and thought about this was someone else’s child he was now trying to protect. Maybe some mother or father was still mourning the loss of his or her baby who switched over to a different species and could never switch back.

If he had had a child in the same situation, he would want a dragon to try their best to protect them, so that was what he was going to do.

He had to protect his baby, but he was also going to protect Tae as much as he could. He held his hand over his stomach and shouted out one more time before being slapped in the face for being loud and shoved once more in the direction of the cage where he’d be locked in there for who knows how long, “Taehyung, please try to remember! You have to! You’re a dragon now, and there’s no escaping that!”

He was forced to turn around and after a few more steps was shoved into a cage with another dragon who hissed at him and retreated to a different corner of the cage for now since it was probably scared of Jin’s breed of dragon. He touched his hand to his stomach to protect his baby from any sudden movements this dragon might make, but when none came and the vikings who led him to the cage left to go get more new dragon prisoners from the boat, he sighed and let himself sit down in the opposite corner of the cage, biting his lip and thinking about what had helped him remain calm the whole entire boat ride to this island and even now…

Namjoon…

Jimin…

His family who was safe back at home and hopefully not looking for him. He knew he made Namjoon promise the first time that he wouldn’t go out looking for him, but did the same rules apply this time? Would Namjoon do what was smart and stay with their child to keep him protected?

Hopefully he would…

Jin was fine being stuck here just as long as Jimin and Namjoon were safe. He could withstand a thousand lifetimes of torture and captivity if it meant his family was safe back at home and free…

But still… he had missed so much of Jimin’s life. He had been gone for so long, and being with his family for the first time in forever and only for a short time, it made him want to do something stupid. It made him want to do something completely selfish, but he couldn’t push those thoughts away like they were nothing. He couldn’t forget about it and move on because he had gotten a second taste of how much he loved his family and how much he loved them, and he didn’t want to leave it again…

Yes, he would be more than happy if Namjoon and Jimin stayed put and didn’t look for him, but that didn’t mean he was going to fight with all his might to escape and go back home to them.

Chapter Text

A Story Written In the Stars

Namjoon looked down at his reflection in the water as the viking battleship underneath him began to set sail away from the island that was still suffering from their last attack. Namjoon himself was still suffering from his village’s last attack as well, but he had to stand tall and pretend like he was still strong even after losing his husband and child in a span of two days.

Both of them were out doing who knew what who knew where, but he was going to find them. He was going to find Jimin at least. Jimin was safe with Yoongi for now, probably at the trading island their clan often went to when sailing a great distance than usual for a daunting occasion. Hopefully Yoongi brought him there to both waste time and also buy it for Namjoon to find them and bring them home before Jimin could hurt himself or risk his life.

He could only hope he’d find them there… If not, he honestly had no clue where to go from that port.

Where else would Jimin even go to search for Jin? How would he know? Did Jin tell him something? Was that why Jimin was so confident to find Jin that he was brave enough to go off on his own with only Yoongi, a viking he was fond of yet also not so fond of, by his side?…

Namjoon bit his lip and looked down, feeling so different from Jin and Jimin for the first time ever. Jin always said he was the alpha of their family, the big provider and the protector, but he didn’t have the faintest clue of what to do these days. He didn’t know how to find and protect Jimin. He wasn’t even sure he knew how to raise him anymore, and yet the son he had always made sure to stay in a bubble for his whole life was suddenly gone and on a quest that Namjoon didn’t even know how to start.

His clutched the handle of his axe in his hands, resting the blade on the wood of the deck in front of him and leaning against it like a cane as he continued to stare out at the ocean. Jin was out there somewhere… dead or alive. Their child growing within him… dead or alive.

Tears stung in Namjoon’s eyes when he was reminded that Jin was pregnant with their second child, something that filled Joon with so much hope until both of them were ripped away from them in that battle. A hope for a baby he and Jin could raise together was torn out of his hands just moments after he found out about it, and now he had no clue if it was even alive or not.

He had no clue if Jin was alive or not.

He had no clue if Jimin was alive or not.

And if all three of them really were dead, then he was all alone.

An alpha, a protector, a provider…. who failed to protect and provide for his family miserably.

     “I’m so sorry Jin…” he whispered to himself and looked up at the sky, cloudy and gray… not enough for it to storm though he was sure the waves would be rough by evening when the sun fell down from the sky and into the ocean once again. He looked down at his black boots scuffed with dirt and rusted by sea water, “I don’t know if I can save you, but I’ll do what I’ve always promised to do and save our son…” he sniffled and scowled down at the ground to try to keep himself from crying though that never really worked especially when he thought of Jin, “Please…” he muttered out softly and closed his eyes, another tear falling down his cheek though he promised himself that that would be the last until he knew for sure how his family was doing, “Please come back home to me… I know you’re strong enough to do it on your own, so fight and come home.”

     “Namjoon,” Joon’s eyes opened again when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Hoseok speaking from behind him, a hesitation in his voice as he touched his chief and gained his attention.

Namjoon turned around to him and tilted his head, “Yes?”

     “You said it yourself, Yoongi is with him,” Hoseok said, probably because he picked up on how worried Namjoon was about his son. And who could blame him? The chief had lost his husband to an enemy clan, and now his son had left the village for the first time ever to go save him from a clan that wiped out half of their people. Who wouldn’t fear for their son with no fighting experience, sailing experience, or world experience facing the cruelest and most powerful clan yet who had dragons on their side no less?

Namjoon looked down at the mention of Jimin and nodded his head slowly, “Yes, he is… Hopefully he’s keeping Jimin safe and far from any kind of danger… I can’t afford for Jimin to get hurt.”

Hoseok nodded along with his chief’s words, not wanting to go against him though he did brave to say, “As a friend of Jimin’s though, I will say that he’s tougher than you think. He’s ten times braver, ten times stronger, and ten times smarter than a lot of people in our village think of him in my opinion.”

     “You could be the bravest, strongest, and smartest person in the whole land and still die though,” Namjoon argued, “I know my son’s strengths, and I saw them in that last battle, but this world destroys those who shine through like him. The moment he shows just how strong he is, I guarantee you, those who have seen his power will not stop until he’s dead.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened a little and he frowned at the thought of those really cruel enough to kill someone like Jimin. He bit his lip and stepped back a bit, trying to find the words to assure his chief though he wasn’t sure what he could say to someone who was already so sure of his words that he probably wouldn’t listen to a thing Hoseok said.

Still though, he tried his best and spoke as confidently as he could, “Yoongi would die before they could get to Jimin.”

     “Which is strange because I know for a fact that they hate each other,” Namjoon chuckled a little and shook his head, “Jimin has talked plenty about their jagged relationship.”

     “Yeah, Yoongi loves your son,” Hoseok said without thinking, his eyes widened before he quickly added to explain himself, “I mean, he respects him! He loves and respects your son as the future chief just like he loves and respects you as his current one. No matter how they personally feel about each other, his loyalty to our clan will always hold a higher place, and he will make sure Jimin makes it back to our island alive and well.”

Namjoon seemed shocked by Hoseok’s words at first until Hoseok had explained himself, and now Namjoon was only giving a small smile as he listened to the young viking talk about their village dragon slayer’s loyalty to the clan and respect for the family of chiefs. It was comforting to know Jimin was with someone like that.. someone who would give up his life for Jimin no matter how much they fought or bickered… and love him no matter what too?…

Joon patted Hoseok on the shoulder to quiet his ramblings about Yoongi’s loyalty and respect, and he started to walk towards the sail where the rest of his men were, “Thank you, Hoseok. I don’t know why I was so worried when Jimin does have one of our best men out there with him. Now we just need to retrieve them, but I’m sure he’ll be safe until then.”

Hoseok turned around and watched as his chief continued to walk away, and he smiled, “You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help.”

He let out a soft sigh of relief under his breath that he was able to find the right words to help out his chief, but before he could secretly pat himself on the back for being a good replacement right hand man for this trip out to sea, Namjoon turned around to him again and smiled wider as he suddenly said, “I feel confident our men in this boat right now will be safe for the rest of our own journey too with you here to help me. I’m a man of many mistakes, but making you my right hand man for this expedition will surely not be one of them.”

Hoseok grinned when he heard this and he nodded his head, standing up straight for his chief and bowing in respect, “I promise it won’t be,” he stood back up, feeling more proud of himself than ever before as his chief finally confidently spoke to the rest of the men on their boat with the help of Hoseok’s words that reassured him of their clan’s power, “Let’s go find Yoongi and my son, and bring them back home. And while we’re at it, I might as well find my husband as well since I shouldn’t waste this opportunity of having the strongest, smartest, and bravest men of my village traveling with me.”

~(***)~

After the high of the trading island Jimin and Yoongi had left so excitedly to journey on to their next destination, things had grown quiet between the two vikings again. They weren’t really sure what to say to each other now that they weren’t fighting anymore. What was there to even say when they weren’t expressing their mutual hatred for each other?…

Jimin sat on the opposite end of the ship as Yoongi, covering himself up with his cloak and practicing the skills he had managed to summon up earlier that day to fight off the dragon clan vikings. He let the fire dance around between his fingertips which was something he could always do though now it was more controlled… more powerful and colorful too. He gazed at it in wonder, remembering when he had only wished he could do this like how Jin did it.

Jin could create images and symbols in the air with his finger like magic. He taught Jimin about how every dragon had to be able to create a fire circle around themselves and their mate when the time came to eternally bond. He had made a joke about Jimin tricking Yoongi into forever bonding with him which made Jimin become a flustered mess, blushing and refusing to think Yoongi would even come within five feet of him now that they hated each other so much.

It was weird how today they had sat down and hugged each other while making a promise to become friends and protect each other throughout this journey… If only Jin could see them now.

He’d probably make a joke about how Yoongi could only avoid Jimin’s handsome looks he got from his dragon father for so long. And if Namjoon was here?… He’d probably eye the two like a hawk, making sure that they stayed friends and just friends especially since he knew how Jimin had always felt for Yoongi before they started shouting and punching at each other every time they were in the same room. Jimin laughed at the thought of his appa being extra protective of him when it came to Yoongi and their new found friendship, and it put a smile on his face to imagine Jin convincing Namjoon to let go of the reigns a little and let Jimin make his own decisions… something he always did and something that always worked since Namjoon was too in love with him to ever say no.

Namjoon loved Jin so much and yet he was always being torn apart from him…

Jimin loved Jin so much and had only gotten to know him for such a little amount of time.

Would he ever be able to see him again?

Would he be able to save him?…

Tears rolled down Jimin’s face as he thought about his parents and watched his power dance around his hands with such vigor and beauty. It was strange to think that he was exactly half of both of them, taking on Namjoon’s human form and yielding Jin’s dragon power, and yet he wasn’t with either of them right now. They were all torn apart and lost in this world, and neither of them were sure if they’d ever see each other again.

It was a scary thought to think about, and Jimin would be lying if it didn’t cause him to feel sick down to his stomach and sad beyond belief that his family was going through this.

He watched his powers absent-mindedly before he suddenly sensed someone walking up behind him. His breath hitched when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he quickly shut his power off before letting his cloak fall to behind him and looking up see Yoongi now joining him to sit down near the edge of the boat. He quickly wiped his eyes of any tears and looked down, hoping Yoongi hadn’t heard him crying and woke up to the sound of him sniffling or that would have been absolutely embarrassing… There’d be no way he’d be able to live down from this either.

He shut his eyes and held his hands together in his lap when Yoongi revealed that he noticed him crying when he asked, “Are you alright? Today must have been overwhelming, yeah?”

     “No, I’m fine,” Jimin quickly assured him, looking out at the moon’s shattered reflection on the waves. The moon was a full circle tonight, something that Jimin always found so beautiful thought tonight he could only focus on how out in the open he was on the ocean with no land in sight… How vulnerable it felt to be nowhere near home and nowhere near anyone he loved.

Sure, he loved Yoongi, but… he was thinking about the people who loved him back. Those were the ones he missed the most.

Though Jimin had been able to reply confidently to Yoongi, Yoongi didn’t let him go that easily with just a simple claim that he was fine. He scooted closer to Jimin and asked again, “Are you still mad about our fight earlier? Maybe we should-!”

     “Just stop asking questions, I’m not going to tell you,” Jimin suddenly interrupted Yoongi with a huff and made a point to turn as far as he could from Yoongi while still looking out at the ocean since the last thing he wanted to do was talk to the strong and cold-hearted Yoongi about his feelings.

Silence passed between them for a few seconds before Yoongi was the one to awkwardly speak up again and ask, “…Missing home?” he leaned over to watch Jimin’s expression, noticing how Jimin tensed up just at the thought of home which caused Yoongi to lean back again and sigh out while nodding in understanding, “It’s ok if you are. It’s your first time out; when I first left our village, I was really anxious too.”

He expected Jimin to still deny even feeling upset at all, but surprisingly, the other boy suddenly turned to him and corrected him with a serious voice, “No, I’m glad to finally be off that small island,” he frowned and looked down, finally admitting to Yoongi what had been on his mind in an ashamed mumble, “I just miss my parents…”

     “Oh…” Yoongi muttered out in reply awkwardly, not really sure what to say to that since he was just a village orphan. He titled his head side to side and just tried his best to keep the conversation going since this was his first friendly conversation with Jimin and he didn’t want to ruin it by being awkward, “Yeah… that’s tough.”

Nice. He made it awkward.

He shut his eyes in shame and let his head fall back as he decided to keep the conversation going by asking quite forwardly, “Though I’ve been meaning to ask you… You’ve known Chief Jin for what, six months now? Why are you risking your life to save him?” he lifted his head up and turned to look at Jimin whose eyes were sparkling underneath the moonlight tonight, “I mean, I understand you maybe risking your life for Tae, but every single time you talk about this journey, it’s obvious you mainly have Chief Jin on your mind.”

     “Well he’s my dad,” Jimin replied as if it was as simple as that.

But it wasn’t. Not to Yoongi at least. He frowned and tilted his head in confusion, “But not you’re real dad. He’s only been a part of your life for less than a year.”

     “No, he is. He’s my-!” Jimin’s eyes suddenly widened and he bit back on his tongue to keep himself from saying anything more before shrugging and back pedalling into a different answer, “He’s like that second parent I’ve always wanted. A little more motherly than my appa and also a little less protective. He’s also like the second part of me I’ve been missing, and my appa loves him so much,” Jimin’s expression softened, and he looked down at his lap with a small smile on his face that slowly started to fade as he spoke, “To have him gone and have our family torn apart again… I just can’t bare it,” he looked up at Yoongi, “That’s why I need to get him back.”

     “Mnm..” Yoongi nodded as if he understood, though he really didn’t. He hadn’t see his parents in so long. He had forgotten their voices, and their faces were so blurry in the back of his mind now… All that he had left of them was just the memory of being so angry when he found out a dragon killed them… A feeling of wanting to kill every last of those disgusting beasts for his own family that had been torn apart.

And maybe because of that feeling, he was able to understand Jimin in a way, though Jimin was a lot more merciful and also hadn’t lost anyone yet to feel the pain he felt…

Yoongi leaned back and bit his lip, “It must have been nice having a family for the first time ever this year… It’s been you and your dad this whole time and then someone walks into your lives that you both love so much,” Yoongi’s small smile had fallen by now and he was staring absent-mindedly out at the sea, “I wish I had that… parents… someone who loves me enough to travel across an ocean to save me.”

Jimin chewed his lip and watched Yoongi cautiously, staring at him with narrowed eyes as if this whole vulnerable and sweet side of him was all an act and was going to end as soon as Yoongi decided to cover it up and bury it deep down again. Wondering what possessed Yoongi to even walk over to him in the first place, Jimin couldn’t help but tilt his head and ask without thinking, “Did you drink tonight?”

     “Huh?” Yoongi’s nose scrunched up in defense to Jimin seriously accusing him of being drunk since him being nice was supposedly such a far-fetched idea.

He watched as Jimin only shrugged and muttered out in response, “You just seem oddly happy. It’s throwing me off.”

Yoongi froze when looking at Jimin, watching his expression to make sure he was serious and not joking around, but when Jimin was seriously looking down with an awkward smile on his face as he admitted that Yoongi being friendly with him was something he thought was impossible to happen sober, Yoongi leaned back and sighed, “Man, I’ve never been nice to you, have I?”

     “Not really,” Jimin pouted and turned to Yoongi with his nervous smile, “It’s ok though, I don’t mind.”

     “No wonder why you started punching me,” Yoongi frowned, looking down. He was about to make a promise to Jimin that he wasn’t going to be mean to him again, but he had already made that promise today and wasn’t really in the mood to say sappy words like those again. Promises didn’t mean anything if you kept repeating them over and over again, so he decided it was time to move on.

It was time to treat Jimin like a friend, so he suddenly leaned forward and pushed Jimin down into a laying down position on the deck on his back, surprising the younger boy who gasped and quickly asked Yoongi, “What are you doing? What’s happening?”

Jimin’s breath was already picking up from nerves, but Yoongi took his hand off of his chest and moved to hold his hand instead as he laid down beside him and looked up at the starry night sky, smiling and assuring Jimin, “Just relax, I’m going to let you in on a little secret ok?…” his smile faded a little and he pulled his hand away from Jimin so he could continue without being a stumbling or a blushing mess, “Hobi is the only other person to know about this story because he’s the one who told me it a long time ago before our first battle.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned to Yoongi hesitantly, “A story?…”

     “Yeah,” Yoongi smiled and reached over to tilt Jimin’s head back up at the sky, “It’s a story written in the stars.”

Jimin had blushed at this action, hoping Yoongi wouldn’t be able to feel how hot his cheeks became before finally lifting his hand off his face and moving it to point up at the sky and say, “You see those three large stars that kind of make a triangle?”

Jimin was too busy processing the fact that Yoongi was laying down beside him so close and not being grumpy about it to notice a star constellation, but he managed to gather himself up and calm himself down enough to answer, “Yeah, it’s the head of the Draco constellation… my appa and I always used to look up at that at night,” he smiled at the memory and pointed up at the sky to a group of stars right beside the dragon shaped constellation, “There’s the Great Viking constellation. The sword extends to just barely touch the dragon.”

Yoongi grinned and nodded his head, “Yeah, but do you know the story of those two?”

     “Huh?” Jimin turned his head towards Yoongi and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “There’s… never been a story about those two, have there?”

     “Maybe your appa never told you it because it’s too violent but everyone in our village knows about the story of the Great Viking and the Mighty Dragon,” he was happy Jimin didn’t know about it so he could be the one to tell him his favorite story that could be told in the sky at night, “They were lovers.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, and if his cheeks weren’t completely red with a blush to that point, they definitely were now. He felt like his face was on fire with how flustered he became, immediately thinking about him and Yoongi… A dragon and a viking… Now of course, Jimin was just a half-dragon, so this really applied to his parents who really were a Great Viking and a Mighty Dragon who fell in love, but Jimin’s mind could only apply the story to himself and Yoongi right now…

And after recovering from his flustered spell, he secretly allowed himself to think of himself and Yoongi when imaging the story as Yoongi told it. And why not?… It was what he always wanted, and since he obviously wasn’t going to have that kind of love story in real life, it wasn’t going to hurt to just imagine it in a story for tonight.

He smiled and listened on to Yoongi telling the story, “So there was this dragon who shape shifted into a beautiful woman,” Jimin could already tell Yoongi wasn’t the best at story telling, but he listened on anyways with a small smile, “She ventured into a village one day and met this big buff viking chief who was instantly smitten with her, practically falling in love with her in just a matter of a few days even when she admitted to him that she was a dragon. He didn’t care about any of that, claiming that he’d love her even if she was a disgusting troll.”

Jimin couldn’t help but laugh at that which caused Yoongi to grin as he continued on, “These two were lovers for just a few months before the dragon found out she was pregnant with twins. And as any true viking does, he married her in order to provide a good family for her.”

     “How did she know she was having twins?” Jimin asked and Yoongi narrowed his eyes at him, “I don’t know, dragon intuition? Next time we run into a dragon, how about you ask them?” he sighed, “Now hush, I’m telling a story, you should just happily listen and nod along,” he rolled his eyes pettily and looked back up at the sky, “The first child’s name was Jimin,” he eyed Jimin, “Jimin died.”

Jimin snorted out a laugh and slapped Yoongi’s chest, “Are you serious? Really?”

     “This is the story! My Odin, are you really interrupting me again?” Yoongi teased with a laugh and held Jimin’s hand before it could slap him again, forcing it down on the deck and keeping it there in a death grip as he continued on with the story, “Her first child’s name was not Jimin, and he also didn’t die. The twins were born healthy and uhh… human. Though half dragons are still dragons in my opinion,” he realized he was still holding Jimin’s hand and let go again, “The four of them were a happy family, and eventually five when she had another child.”

     “Wow, he really likes getting her pregnant,” Jimin noted and Yoongi nodded, “The only thing vikings and dragons have in common is their love for having as many kids as they can, which is why this dragon and her lover had seven little half-lings, all happy, all healthy, until…” he turned to Jimin and let his expression turn serious as the story took a turn for the worst, “She showed her true form she had been hiding all along. She ripped out of her human facade and turned into the beast she really was, a raging monster,” he saw Jimin’s eyes widen probably in fear, and he smiled at how he was able to scare the younger viking, “She ate all seven of her children and tried to burn the village down, but the great viking chief had killed her just in time and saved everyone,” he pointed up at the sky and traced along the line of the viking constellation’s sword with his finger, “Driving his sword through her heart and forever keeping it there to prevent her from coming along and burning other villages down and eating the children at night.”

     “Oh…” Jimin muttered out, surprised and disappointed that Yoongi’s story took such a sudden turn like that… It kinda of ruined how he was imagining himself as the dragon and Yoongi as the viking, but… that was to be expected of old viking folk tales told for generations between vikings who naturally hated dragons because of the war, right?

Jimin sighed, only looking up when Yoongi laughed a little and muttered out, “The story is a little far fetched though, don’t you think? No viking in their right mind would knowingly fall in love with a dragon. All of them are beasts no matter how beautiful they-!”

Jimin turned around before Yoongi could finish speaking, laying on his side and pulling his cloak over himself to cover his body up like a blanket and keep him warm as he laughed awkwardly, “Haha… yeah… Good night, Yoongi.”

     “Awe, am I not a good story teller?” Yoongi tried to laugh off how suddenly Jimin turned around and dismissed him to go to sleep. It was just a story so surely Jimin wasn't upset about the dragon dying, right? …She ate her kids and burned down a village. How could he be mad about her getting what she deserved and dying?

Yoongi would have normally gotten angry at Jimin for still being on a dragons side after she destroyed a family just for selfish desires, but he had to remind himself that he was friends with Jimin now… He couldn’t get angry at him so easily now. He had to accept that… that some people just didn’t understand how evil dragons were. Jimin must have been too kind hearted for that which something Yoongi had to admire in some ways, so he told himself to focus on the good things instead of the bad things and leaned over to mutter out to Jimin, “Good night, Jimin… We’re going to get Jin, ok? You’re going to have your family together and happy again, and it’s all going to be thanks to you,” he stood up slowly and draped his cloak over Jimin’s body to make sure the young future chief was extra warm in the cold Northern air tonight.

He ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair without thinking about it before stepping away to retreat back to his side of the boat to fall asleep, feeling proud of himself for taking Jimin’s mind off of his parents and how much he missed them. Sure, telling a story about a dragon dying was a tiny lapse in judgement, but he was too proud of himself for being able to have a real conversation with Jimin for the first time tonight to even care.

Their relationship started off rocky admittedly because he was trying to keep his feelings at bay while Jimin was arranged to marry Jungkook, but now that Jungkook and Tae were marrying and he and Jimin were getting a chance to know each other on this journey… he couldn’t help but feel like maybe he had a chance to let himself feel something in his heart for the young viking.

Jimin opened his eyes when he heard Yoongi lay down on the opposite side of the ship to fall asleep, wiping his tears and thanking Odin he had managed to keep himself from tearing up when Yoongi was covering him up in his cloak and running his fingers through his hair…

Normally, Jimin would have been so excited about a conversation with Yoongi and his kind acts, but the only thing going through his mind were specific words… Specific words he couldn’t help but hear repeated over and over again, reminding himself that no matter what happened with Yoongi or maybe any viking for that matter meant nothing when it came to who he truly was.

For… who in their right mind would ever knowingly fall in love with a dragon?…

Who in their right mind would ever knowingly fall in love with a dragon.

Yoongi sure wouldn’t.

~(***)~

Though Jin was locked up in a cage on an enemy island with no clue whether he was even going to be alive the next day or if his baby was going to survive being here, he fell asleep fairly fast on the ground, curling up into himself and holding his stomach protectively. He was pregnant and he was tired, and he was going to take a nap until someone told him not to.

In his dreams, he always found his way back to Namjoon so easily, reliving memories of him when they first met, or him when Jimin had first been born, or him when they eventually found each other many years later. Memories of Namjoon were scarce, but every single one was so vivid and meaningful.

At night, he dreamt of his family during a time when he actually believed he could maybe stay with them forever, when Jimin was a baby and Namjoon had just built a house for him. Namjoon had been so excited about his family finally being safe and living in a little cottage in the woods, Jin could always hear his heart beating like a hummingbird every time he looked up at what he made.

He was just like an alpha dragon who found a safe cave or made a nest for his expecting omega without even realizing it, and Jin always found that similarity between him and a dragon so amusing… Always striving to please his mate and then getting excited when he felt like he succeeded. Jin always knew in his heart that he had picked the perfect Alpha, but it was in these moments when he was sure of it.

One morning in his cottage, he had woken up alone as he almost always did unless Namjoon accidentally slept over or had told a lie to his village that he was hunting in the woods overnight. He was tangled up in wool sheets, warm and still tired from having woken up in the middle of the night to hush Jimin’s cries during a thunderstorm. Jimin had always woken him up so early every single day too, but when Jin looked out the window to see the sun high in the sky, his eyes widened and he snapped up in bed, gasping softly and looking to the crib for his baby.

Why was he so quiet so late into the morning? This wasn’t like him. What if he was hurt? What if something had snuck inside the cottage in the middle of the night-!

     “No!…” he cried out softly when he saw the cradle empty. He tore the covers off of him and stumbled out of bed, hurrying to the kitchen of the cottage to slip on his shoes and run outside looking for his baby, but before he could, he saw what he had been looking for right there in the kitchen, being cradled by his father who was walking in slow circles around the kitchen table and muttering softly to his baby about how he needed to let Jin sleep.

Jin was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily and watching on as his fears slowly started to dissipate before he muttered out, “Joon, I thought he disappeared or something bad happened to him…”

     “Our little Jimin?” Namjoon laughed a little, “No, I’d never let him get hurt. You obviously wouldn’t either,” he smiled and handed their baby to Jin, “He was hungry, but I didn’t want to wake you up so early, so I distracted him until you woke up naturally.”

Jin took Jimin in his arms and held him close, hearing his baby start to whimper for food which he was going to give him after he looked up at his husband and smiled, “Thank you, Joon… Last night was a rough night because of the thunderstorms, so I definitely needed the extra sleep.”

     “Yeah, I figured, so I hurried over here as soon as the sun started to rise,” Namjoon walked over to Jin and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, “What do you want to eat? I’ll fix it while you feed Jimin.”

     “Thank you so much,” Jin took a seat at the kitchen table and leaned back in the wooden chair as he held Jimin up to his chest, “I wish I could wake up to you like this every day…”

     “You know you could…” Namjoon started, eyeing Jin for a moment to watch his expression. He noticed Jin’s smile fall at the mention of living with humans, so he quickly turned away to get some honey out of the cupboard and start making breakfast for his lover as he changed the topic, “So I told my village that I’ll be going on a hunting trip for two days,” he started to slice up some fruit and bread he had brought from the village, “Maybe I could make Jimin say his first words?”

Jin laughed at that and rolled his eyes, “You’re not making him say ‘Appa’.”

     “And why not?” Namjoon chuckled and turned around to face Jin who was feeding and caring for their child with such a loving stare in his eyes as he looked down at him, “Jimin loves his Appa so much,” he cooed at his baby and finished preparing breakfast for Jin before setting the plate of food down in front of him and leaning forward to kiss the dragon on the cheek, “Try to eat something. Little Jiminie is not my only cutie who needs to be fed this morn-!”

Before Jin could finish hearing the sweet words he had sung out at the time, a growl ripped through the air around him and he woke up, immediately hugging his arms around his stomach and backing himself up into the corner of the cage until he became aware of his surroundings and realized he wasn’t in danger. Instead, another dragon a few cages down was being forced out with a metal chain and iron rods glowing with heat that were being shoved up against it every time it refused to comply with the vikings.

The dragon roared and cried out in agony, sending fear through Jin’s body as he thought about what he would do if the vikings tried to treat him like that. What was he going to do when they wanted to make him turn into his dragon form?

Would he tell them he was pregnant?…

Would they wait for his baby to be born or would they kill it so he could turn?

Jin pulled his knees up and close to his chest to provide an extra shield to protect his baby with, sniffling and trying to tell himself that he was going to get out of here before they could do that to him or his baby. He was going to be fine. He was strong… He was confident in his ability to get out of here and go home to his family safe and sound.

He and Namjoon were finally going to raise a baby together. He had to make sure that happened.

He turned his head to look over at Taehyung’s cage and make sure he was safe. Thankfully but also sadly, the boy was still curled up in the corner of his cage, crying as he now stared on at the large dragon currently roaring in pain as vikings tortured him with jabs of heat and yanks of a chain. He sobbed out in fear every time the dragon roared, probably not even sure what he was more afraid of. The vikings who were going to do the same to him or the dragon.

Jin bit his lip and turned back around to his own cage mate who was still leaning up against the other side of the cage, staring at him with piercing eyes and black scales that slowly started to smooth out and turn into skin when she suddenly changed her form to look human. Jin couldn’t sense her intentions in his human form, so he stayed curled up and cautious as she fully changed her form and started to brave towards him, completely uncloathed but too curious and clueless about human culture to care.

She crept closer until she was just a foot away from him before finally asking in broken English, “You’re pregnant…?”

Jin nodded and she got on all fours to crawl closer to him, something all dragons did in their human form at first when they weren’t used to it. Jin was sure he probably did that with Namjoon when they first met, something he found so strange now though it was amusing how Namjoon still fell for him even then… Even then when he was so unfamiliar to the human ways and had made it clear he strategically picked Joon for mating purposes… He tried not to cry when he thought about his husband. He was going to see him again someday.

     “You’re mated too…” the dragon woman noted to herself, also noticing the mark still left on Jin’s neck by his Alpha from all those years ago, “By choice?”

Jin nodded again, “Yes, I love him very much,” he tried not to get choked up as he continued thinking about his husband and son back at home who he loved more than anything. Who he would give anything to have and hold again safe and sound in their village that he now called his home because of them.

The dragon must have noticed in some way how Jin was getting upset because she quickly reached over and pressed her hand to his stomach gently, hushing him to calm his cries as she assured him, “The other dragons here will protect you now that we know you are pregnant. Even if it is a halfling,” she tried to give him a reassuring smile and tilted her head, “You have nothing to worry about.”

Jin sniffled and touched his hand to his stomach beside hers, not feeling a baby bump yet though he hoped he be able to feel one soon with this child… his second child… he bit his lip and tried to smile back at her though it was more forced and awkward as he muttered out a soft, “Thank you…” he then glanced over to where Tae was, still huddled up in the corner of his cage. A red and black teenage dragon with sharp spikes started to grow out of his back was also locked up in there with him, trying to get some sleep despite his cellmate’s cries.

Taehyung must have been scared beyond believe to be trapped in a cell with a dragon that looked like that… He sniffled again and lifted his hand up just a little to point over in Taehyung’s direction and mutter out, “Actually, can you guys protect that boy instead?”

     “The one crying?” the woman dragon asked, leaning forward to try to follow the line of Jin’s point with her eyes and find what Jin was talking about.

Her guess was found to be correct though when Jin nodded his head and replied, “Mhm.”

     “Why?…” she turned to Jin, “Is he pregnant too?”

     “No,” Jin found the thought amusing but was glad Taehyung at least didn’t have that to worry about despite having sex with his alpha with no precautions to avoid it. He looked back over at Tae and answered her softly, “He just found out he’s a full dragon… He grew up in a village that feared and hated them, so this is all very new to him. He doesn’t even know how to change his form.”

     “Oh..” the dragon nodded, “We will then.”

His cellmate had proved to be nice so far with her curiosity in him and also her promise to protect his child even if it was a halfling. He was thankful to be reminded by this interaction that there were good dragons even in a place like this, trying their best to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves even if it put them in danger. He wished he could have been that to the other dragons here or at least Taehyung, but being pregnant… he was having to be protected and was notably weak for the time being.

He just hoped though that these dragons could keep their promise and protect his baby and Tae as much as they could with the viking clan treating dragons like worthless livestock and torturing them for not following orders… He just hoped that there would be no need to protect both him and Tae before they eventually escaped or were possibly rescued..

Something told him though that this place was hard to escape from, filled with weapons, blades, traps, vikings, and a special kind of hatred and disrespect for dragons no matter if they were good, evil, young, old, weak, strong, or even pregnant.

And he was sure it’d be especially hard for him and Tae, two dragons who couldn’t even change their form to escape from this death trap of an island and make it home to their families who Jin hoped and prayed he’d someday see alive again… Just one more time… One more time he wanted to see Joon in something beside a dream…

He hoped to see him, touch him, kiss him, talk to him, and be held by him again… Raise their baby together again…

It was going to take a miracle, but he needed to remain hopeful and strong and wait for the right moment to get himself and Tae out of here so they could leave and be with their loved ones once more.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen

No More Protecting

Namjoon looked out across the water, seeing the trading route coming into view with it’s big church lit up like a beacon to those sailing in at night. If he held his breath, he could hear the sounds of people drunkenly singing and shouting as music played throughout the town. The island was colorful, more colorful than home, and Namjoon just knew Jimin probably thought he was dreaming when he saw such a place that looked so beautiful from afar.

He closed his eyes and told himself that he’d find Jimin here among the crowd of people singing and dancing the night away underneath the colorful lights of the town.

The cold ocean breeze blew through his clothes and whipped through his hair as he stood up at the front of the ship, thinking about his mate who would be so proud of him if he found his son safe and sound here and brought him back home where he belonged.

He thought of Jin caressing his waist and pressing his lips to his own, only to pull away to assure him with the words he needed to hear, ‘Everything’s going to be fine. I chose you because I knew you were an alpha capable of protecting our son… I trust you.’

Namjoon opened his eyes, feeling at peace again with himself before turning to the rest of his men on the boat, “As soon as we dock, I’ll be going out to find my son and Yoongi with Hoseok and Jungkook by my side. Two of you stay back to check if any of the boats docked here belong to our clan and the other three of you also split up to search for Jimin, understand?”

All of his men including Hoseok and Jungkook nodded their heads, and Namjoon turned back around to look at the trading island coming closer into view.

Jimin was there.

He had to be.

Namjoon had to keep him safe. He had to protect him.

He closed his eyes and thought about his son… One of his favorite memories that had always reminded him of why he had to remain happy and alive even when Jin was gone for so long the first time. It was a memory of Jimin, only six years old, smiling up at him while holding his hand as they walked through the woods. Joon could already tell Jimin inherited Jin’s nose, his smile, and his plump lips that always curved into a pout when the little boy didn’t understand why his father had to sometimes leave him to go into battle.

They were out in the woods to pick flowers for a flower crown Jimin wanted to make for his best friend, Taehyung, a little boy who had taken to Jimin more than any of the other children on the island. They had become fast friends though Namjoon sometimes noticed how they were each other’s only friend.

He had been leading Jimin to a spot where he knew a few flowers were in the woods when his son had spoken up so suddenly in his sweet little voice Namjoon always loved to hear, ‘I’m not scared of dragons, appa.’

The words had come out so innocently, but they cause a chill to run down Namjoon’s spine for a moment in fear. Did… Did Jimin know what he was?… Was he aware he was one of them? How did he manage to find out?

He bit his lip and held his son’s hand tighter, ‘Is that so, Chimmy?…’

Jimin nodded his head eagerly in reply, ‘Mhm! Because I know you’ll always protect me from them!’

Those words had put a smile on Namjoon’s face at the time though he did feel guilty his son was growing up feeling the need to be protected by dragons when he was one. Would he grow up to be afraid of his own father?

Would he ever see his own father?….

Namjoon opened his eyes again, now seeing the trading island even closer in his view and frowning as he thought about how he now failed to protect his own husband from dragons and vikings alike and he failed Jimin in general, making him feel the need to run away to save Jin because Namjoon couldn’t do it himself.

Namjoon frowned and clenched his hands tight into fists as he thought about how he couldn’t break his promise to Jin all those years ago when they mated and Jimin was born.

He was going to protect Jimin no matter what.

Not just from dragons though… the whole world.

He couldn’t let his family down.

~(***)~

Jimin woke up wrapped up in his and Yoongi’s fur cloaks, both of them draped over his body like a warm blanket to protect him from the cold and crisp brittle morning air in the north. The smell of Yoongi’s cloak was the first thing he sensed, smelling like the ocean during a storm and ripe oranges dripping with honey. He was sweet, tangy, and salty all at the same time, wrapped up into a single scent that woke up Jimin up in a warm hug, kissing him good morning and telling him that today was a new day…

Today…

Today was…

Jimin’s eyes widened when he realized up above him was a large ship post from another ship right beside his own boat that was tied up to the dock on the shores of Frexia.

They were already there?

He snapped up and looked around him for Yoongi, finally now hearing all the people on the shores of this island in the British Isles, buzzling with festivities for the prince’s ball where he was to find a wife. He saw Yoongi tying their boat up to the dock by himself, his shirt off and wrapped around his waist which revealed his sweaty chest that glistened underneath the warm sun.

It was then when Jimin himself felt too hot to be wearing two cloaks, so he pushed them off of himself and also turned away from the sight of a sweaty Yoongi.

Why was he being tortured like this?

It was never going to happen between him and Yoongi, but the gods just loved to torture him, didn’t they? Giving him beautiful images of the man he could never have… It was painful. It was even worse when Jimin remembered the story Yoongi told him last night.

     “Good morning, sleepy head!” Jimin heard Yoongi cheerfully greet him once he caught sight of him sitting up and taking the cloaks off his body.

Yoongi stepped over to him and bent down to grab his cloak back from him and also hand Jimin an apple to start his day off with as he continued to speak to him, “We’ve been here for ten minutes, and I already want to leave the festival, so I hope you find what you’re looking for fast.”

     “Well what I’m looking for is the prince and answers,” Jimin frowned, “How hard do you think that will be?”

     “Considering the prince hates vikings and won’t let us step foot into the castle?” Yoongi tilted his head from side to side, “We have a better chance of dying than getting to him.”

Jimin frowned and looked down in thought, he took a bite of his apple and tried to think of a plan that could get them into the castle. What kind of guests were they letting in then if they weren’t letting in vikings?

Peasants? Did the prince allow peasants? Or was he only allowing in royalty?…

He… He was looking for a wife.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked up at Yoongi, “Is there a market on this island? How much money do we have left?”

     “Enough for a few more weeks of food if we spend it wisely,” Yoongi hummed, but then his eyes widened and he then asked Jimin in a worried tone of voice, “Wait, why? What are you planning?”

Jimin was already standing up with the perfect plan now spinning around in his mind. It was going to require humility, but as soon as he got into the castle, he would just need five minutes with the prince and then they could leave to go finally get Jin back. It would all be worth it in the end.

He started walking towards the deck to get off the boat and head towards the marketplace, explaining to Yoongi who was quickly following behind him and hurrying to put his shirt back on, “The prince is looking for a wife, so I need to gain his attention by being a possible suitor,” he heard Yoongi gasp in surprise to the plan, and he turned around to him to grin and say, “Relax, I’m not going to come even close to being with the prince… but I think it will be enough to gain his attention to give me answers.”

He turned back around and started hurrying towards the market that he could now see again, but he managed to hear Yoongi mutter out just behind him under his breath, “Shit, you’re really something else…”

And it was true. He really was something else.

     A dragon, but that was besides the point.

Jimin grinned to himself in excitement now that he had a plan clearly set out in front of him, and as soon as he found out where Jin and Tae were, he wasn’t going to stop fighting until they were back home, safe and sound, and forever together where no one could hurt them ever again.

~(***)~

     They’re monsters… every single one of them!…

     They all must die!  I’ll kill every last one of them if I have to.

     I’ll kill them all…

Taehyung woke up in a haze, already starting to forget his dream though he could still remember how real it felt… like a memory he had forgotten that was finally coming back. Jin said his memories would slowly return to him now that he was aware he was a dragon, but he wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to know about his past…

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the full truth just yet because in all honesty, he loved living a lie. He loved believing he was human, and he loved loving a human named Jungkook who he wasn’t sure would like the fact that he was a dragon. Not even Tae liked the fact that he was a dragon, so how would Jungkook be able to?

Taehyung was suddenly made well aware of his surroundings when the larger red dragon staying in his cage with him huffed out a puff of smoke and gave Taehyung a warning growl to stay on his side of the cage now that he was awake. The dragon curled up in a tight ball in the corner and kept a glare focused on Taehyung for the time being, his yellow eyes glowing so brightly that Tae had to look away.

He did look away, looking over at Jin who was leaning against a cage and rubbing his stomach absentmindedly.

Was he sick?…

Taehyung bit his lip and thought about how Jimin and Namjoon were back at the island either mourning over their loss or already thinking up a plan to get Jin back. Were they coming for him too?… Jin was the most important thing in their life, and…

No, he was being irrational thinking that Jimin wouldn’t travel across the whole earth to come find him too. They were best friends. He would do anything to save Jimin, and Jimin would do anything to save him. Jungkook too. Jungkook was probably doing everything in his power to get to him, so he had nothing to worry about.

Nothing to worry about until at least after Jungkook finally reached him…

He could either hide what he was from Jungkook, but that wasn’t fair to him. He had to tell him… He had to tell him that they were mated and bonded for life, and that there was no escaping the monster he was now paired with.

And Taehyung needed to stop saying monster. Dragons weren’t monsters… He never thought that before, so why was he thinking that now? Because he suddenly was one?

Jin wasn’t a monster.

Jimin wasn’t a monster.

He wasn’t a monster.

Yes, this whole ordeal was frightening, but he needed to remind himself that he was still himself. He was still the loveable Taehyung that had a silly best friend and an amazing boyfriend whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Being a dragon didn’t change a thing. He would just never turn into one, never even think about his past or the powers that he might have, and then he’d be fine. Everything was going to be ok.

Taehyung was pulled out of his thoughts when one of the men in the tribe running the camp dragged his axe along his cage, creating a loud noise against the metal that hurt his ears and angered the dragon beside him. He winced and covered his ears up, but the red dragon in his cage suddenly lunged at the metal surrounding them and snarled at the men outside of it, about to breathe fire in an attempt to burn them, but before he could, one of the guards leaned forward and stabbed him in the shoulder with a dagger, shouting out in a thick Swedish accent, “Now, now, little drake! You have some fight in you, don’t you?”

The dragon roared out in agony and quickly pulled away, backing up further into the cage and lowering its upper half in a defensive stance. Taehyung watched on, not wanting to get involved or hurt in whatever was happening right now until one of the vikings walked up to him and let out a laugh that sounded like a growl, “Oh, and what do we have here? Trying to trick us into thinking that you are a human?”

Tae’s heart started beating faster than ever before and he kept his gaze down at the ground, afraid to look in the man’s eyes though he did manage to mutter out a wary, “I didn’t know I was a dragon…”

All of the men around him who heard him froze and stared at him in shock, making him look up to them since he was confused about why they fell so silent. When he stared up at them though, they only burst out into a fit of laughter, leaning against the cage with no mind towards the red dragon and bowing over as if their insides hurt. The man who spoke to Taehyung first asked him in a fit of excited tears, “Are you serious? You’ve gone your whole life not knowing you were a beast? Do you not know your whore of a dragon mother then!?”

Taehyung looked down, realizing that he probably did have a dragon mother… and according to Jin, both of his parents were dragons.

He glanced over at Jin, watching him caressing his stomach gently and smiling to himself as if he was thinking of a beautiful distant memory or a better future. Was Tae’s mother like him?… A dragon, but not a monster?…

Tae bit his lip and held his hand to his heart, realizing that he belonged to someone.

His whole life, he pictured humans, but his parents were dragons. Were they still out there?… Were they good? Bad?

What did that make him?

~(***)~

Jimin walked through the marketplace at a fast pace, letting Yoongi try to catch up since Yoongi always used to move quickly and expect Jimin to do the same. He chuckled to himself, thinking about how this was a little playful payback before he headed to the first stall he saw selling clothing and finally turned around to Yoongi with a shy smile, “Which dress do you think I’d look good in? I have to be a pretty enough suitor to gain the prince's attention.”

Yoongi was right behind him, staring up at the stand full of different garments and clothing. There were only three dresses visible to both him and Jimin, one brown dress made of a rougher material with a gold design painted on the bottom where the fabric of the dress fell, one indigo dress with a hood that draped down to the lower back and a white design painted on the sleeves, and one plain dark green dress with a black piece of fabric stitched around the waist. Yoongi stared at all three of them before crossing his arms and muttering out in reply, “None of them.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he gasped, unashamedly pouting as he whined out in defense, “Can you just be nice to me for once?”

     “You want me to lie?” Yoongi asked, “All of these dresses are ugly. They’re all a sad mimic of european royalty clothing. Why would you want to wear these?”

     “Because the prince is looking for a bride!” Jimin huffed out as if it was obvious. “Which one is going to bring me the most attention?”

Yoongi frowned and shrugged, “The one with the hood,” he pointed at the indigo colored dress, “You might be a pretty boy, but you’re not a pretty girl, so it can hide your face and allow you to at least gain his attention by being mysterious, right?”

Jimin looked up at the indigo dress, now noticing the hood and realizing that that was the best plan of action. Maybe he could gain the prince’s attention with the mystery of what he possibly looked like under the hood. Yoongi could talk about Jimin’s beauty and get the prince curious, and then Jimin could get the answer of where Jin was in exchange for showing his face. After that, it was a risky plan, but Jimin was willing to do this. He was willing to do anything to save Jin.

He nodded his head in agreement to Yoongi’s words, “Yeah… I think that would be the best-!” he paused and suddenly turned to Yoongi, just now realizing what he had said when offering his advice on what dress Jimin should choose. Jimin’s mouth fell open and he asked with a blush rising on his cheeks and a nervous stutter, “Y-You said what about me? I’m a pretty boy?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened at the question, and he almost tried to backtrack defensively or try to lie and say he didn’t compliment Jimin, but he eventually regained his composure and swavely said with a nonchalant expression, “Are you going to try to pretend your not?” he glanced back up at the dress to avoid eye contact with Jimin, “You’re not ugly, so you’re pretty. Anyways, you want that dress? It’s quite expensive.”

      “Our journey shouldn’t be much longer if I find out where Jin is today,” Jimin glanced at the price and realized that they had just enough money to cover the cost… they had some food on the boat, so they’d be fine. Yoongi could always fish too and they could cook it up on land.

Jimin had started off this journey not bringing any silver or coins, so it’d be fine spending it on the dress, right?…

It was Yoongi’s money, so he turned to him and asked softly, “Can we?…”

     “It’s your journey,” Yoongi said, but Jimin shook his head and retorted back with, “It’s your money.”

     “The dress is yours then,” Yoongi sighed with a small smile slowly starting to form on his face, “I’m only here to help you find Jin and Tae, and if this helps you, then I’ll be happy to buy it.”

Jimin smiled and was about to thank him before a man suddenly spoke up from behind the merchant stall next to him, leaning forward and saying in a gruff voice, “Brave of two vikings to be showing their faces around here. Are you going to try to raid a small merchant stall like my own?”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned to Yoongi in surprise that they were being spoken to like that. Yoongi said that they weren’t welcome here, but he didn’t think there would be any trouble if they were doing something as simple as trying to buy a piece of clothing off a vendor in the supermarket. Were they really that hated? He turned to Yoongi to see what his reaction would be, but Yoongi was only staring at him with his arms behind his back, waiting for Jimin to take care of this on his own.

Right, this was Jimin’s journey. He had to do things on his own.

He coughed awkwardly and turned back to the merchant, “Actually we are interested in buying one of your dresses?” he shyly pointed to one of the dresses standing up on the shelf, “The indigo one.”

     “You have money for it?” the merchant asked, raising an eyebrow as if he already didn’t believe Jimin.

Jimin nodded his head and held up the bag of silver Yoongi brought with him. He offered a smile to the scowling man, “We have just enough, sir.”

The merchant looked inside the bag and inspected the silver inside, raising an eyebrow and scrunching up his nose in disgust as he turned back to Jimin and asked, “You stole this?”

     “No,” Jimin glanced warily down at the silver, “My village earned this.”

     “Oh…” the merchant frowned and leaned back, “For vikings, I charge extra. Your kind has raided us enough times for it to be reasonable for me to double the price.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What? That’s not fair! My village has never raided your land! We are peaceful unless we are messed with first-!”

     “Walk away if you can’t pay,” the merchant leaned forward and growled out, causing a chill to run down Jimin’s spine, making him want to back down until Yoongi finally pressed up beside him to announce his presence as he cleared his throat to gain the merchant’s attention and say, “You want us to pay double the price for a dress already ripped? This dress isn’t even worth its original price.”

The merchant’s eyes widened and he turned around to see that the indigo dress now had a rip down from the waist down to the end where the fabric fell. Jimin’s gasped and glanced up at Yoongi who was trying his best not to smile to himself since he had to keep up the act of someone who was serious about getting the dress at a price it was worth.

When the merchant turned back around to him, his eyebrows were furrowed in anger and he growled out, “That wasn’t there before!”

     “Sir, do you suspect I ruined a perfectly beautiful dress my friend wanted?” Yoongi tilted his head, “You can’t sell that to anyone now, so you might as well sell it to us for the original price.”

The merchant’s angered expression faded as he slowly realized that Yoongi was right about how he couldn’t sell a ripped dress to anyone now. Who wanted a ripped dress?… besides the two vikings in front of him.

He clenched his teeth in irritation for the fact that he would have to sell it to them at regular price, but he gave in fairly easily afterwards, sighing and handing the damaged goods to the two vikings that he was willing to do anything for to make them just leave him alone. He held his hand out for the silver and shut his eyes to avoid making eye contact with the two pests, “Just take it and give me my money. I better not see the likes of you around this land ever again after you’re gone.”

      “Oh believe me,” Yoongi took the dress and took the opportunity of the man closing his eyes to take a few pieces of silver out of the bag before Jimin handed it over to him, “It will be a cold day in Hell before I want to come here again.”

He turned on his heel and waited for Jimin to follow along with him before they walked away, taking a few minutes to breathe after that sale gone wrong before Yoongi sighed and muttered out to Jimin, “Our village actually did raid this land not too long ago. You’re father wasn’t leading it of course, but we don’t exactly earn silver and other goods like that by trading.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What? Are you serious?”

     “Yeah, I think that man recognized our crest and immediately wanted us out,” he chuckled a little and handed Jimin the dress, “Good thing he was so preoccupied with you though to not notice me ripping the dress. We make a good duo, don’t you think?”

     “Duo?…” Jimin took the dress fro him, realizing how smart Yoongi was to ruin the dress just a bit in order to make it so they only had to pay the regular price… And then to trick the man in the end too by taking away some of the silver in the bag?… He really was a true viking.

Jimin grinned to himself and nodded his head, laughing a little under his breath as he agreed, “Yeah, we do.”

~(***)~

Jimin quickly got dressed on the boat in the indigo dress, trying his best to make it work though he didn’t have the faintest idea on how to walk with such long fabric dragging on the ground. He also had to tell himself that getting Jin back was more important than dignity when he tripped a few times when trying to get off the boat. He definitely had to have a few minutes where he learned how to walk and move with grace in the indigo garment, but by the time horns were sounding off in the distance to announce the beginning of the prince’s ball, he had gotten the hang of it enough to confidently walk on his own beside Yoongi towards the castle .

Yoongi was wearing his cloak to cover their clan crest, not wanting to take it off since he felt that action was unloyal when in enemy territory. He cleaned himself up in the ocean before too, washing any dirt or sweat off of himself and slicking his hair back with the help of the sea water. Jimin tried not to watch Yoongi wading in the dark blue water with nothing on, but sometimes he’d spare a guilty glance, watching over Yoongi’s back muscles and tattoos he wanted to someday know the meaning of. He wanted to know everything about Yoongi… Could he find that out as just a friend?

Did he have a chance now at being more than a friend?

He really needed to stop thinking about that kind of stuff. He knew he was only going to get hurt in the end…

He kept his mind on the plan and didn’t let himself think about Yoongi for another second since that had only proven to be a waste of time after all these years. He thought about what he’d do when he met the prince. Would he talk? Should he talk? Did he sound like a girl?…

He turned to Yoongi as they walked closer and closer towards the castle, “Yoongi, how am I going to get the prince interested in me if I don’t sound like a girl?”

     “Hmm…” Yoongi tilted his head in thought and stared up at the castle, allowing himself a few seconds to think before he shrugged and suggested, “Want me to introduce you two? I can act like I’m your guardian or protector,” he chuckled to himself, “So I won’t have to act.”

Jimin rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile a little, “You can introduce us… Thank you.”

     “Don’t thank me yet,” Yoongi warned as the castle started growing closer and closer. He had heard stories of this prince. He wasn’t violent or dangerous like his father, but he was… definitely something else. He was a spoiled brat who did anything to get what he wanted, and actually… yes, he was definitely willing to get violent or dangerous to reach his goals. He maybe wasn’t going to build a dragon army like his father, but he was definitely worth being watched closely over by Yoongi when Jimin was interacting with him. He thought about the prince getting anywhere near someone as precious as Jimin, and his teeth grit together without him realizing it, “You’re going to wish you never met the bastard by the end of this.”

They entered the castle with ease since anyone with a female guest was invited, and they were able to successfully hide the fact that they were vikings.

Jimin walked into the ballroom on a mission but ended up slowing down and looking up in awe for a few seconds, taking in how beautiful the interior design of the castle was. There were golden pieces of furniture spread out throughout the ballroom, and the ground was made of a dark glossy wood while the walls were smooth and an emerald green color that he had never seen before on a house or any kind of building. There was a large chandelier in the middle of the front ballroom, much grander and more beautiful than the one in the dining hall back in his village, and a large marble fireplace was placed in the center of every wall, emitting a fire that produced the warmth and most of the light around the party.

This place was beautiful… It was like the paintings Jimin had always admired back at home. He always wondered if royals really lived in grand places beautifully decorated with marble, gold, and many other colors that Jimin never thought was possible to have as a decoration, and here he was finally getting his answers. The royals lived in a real life painting.

Jimin almost wanted to just forget the plan and walk around the castle exploring every bit of it since he was sure he would never get the chance to be back here again, but before he could, Yoongi held his hand and pulled him close to say, “Don’t venture too far off from me. There are people here worse than vikings, and it only takes one drink with something slipped into it to ruin your whole life.”

     “Something slipped into it?” Jimin asked, his eyes widened, “Poison? Like in fairy tales?”

Yoongi stared at Jimin with a deadpan expression, surprised but also not surprised that Jimin was this naive. Instead of making fun of him though or insulting him, Yoongi only sighed and nodded his head, lying for now since he didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to just because he had to keep explaining things to the younger boy, “Yeah, poison like in the fairytales.”

     “Wow…” Jimin muttered out and looked down, sticking closer to Yoongi since he didn’t want to suffer a fate like that.

He would never forgive himself if he died here without saving Jin and Tae or making it back to his father. He’d never forgive himself for making them worry or hurting them all because he wasn’t capable enough to keep himself safe.

He and Yoongi both walked around the party, holding hands to stay close in the crowds and not letting themselves eat or drink since they didn’t trust the royals enough to do so. Finally though, after thirty minutes of wading around the sea of people that smelled like alcohol and cheap watered down perfume, trumpets sounded throughout the room and everyone heads turned to the grand wooden staircase that led away from the party and towards the upper level of the castle.

Jimin narrowed his eyes to try to see who was up on the staircase that everyone was staring at, but when he saw a boy a little older than him and Yoongi, it dawned on him who was finally being announced to his own party.

Jimin squeezed Yoongi’s hand in anticipation and leaned in to him to mutter out, “Do you think I’ll be able to pull this off?…”

     “You’ve done greater things than impressing a royal brat,” Yoongi assured Jimin. “If you can’t do this, then I’ll question you as chief.”

     “No pressure…” Jimin muttered out sarcastically and Yoongi chuckled a little, wrapping an arm around Jimin’s shoulders and speaking to him warmly now, “Don’t worry, I know you can do this. No pressure at all.”

He took Jimin around through the crowd, sometimes stopping to make fun of a man wearing a wig or a woman spilling wine all over herself and her dress. His humor was mean spirited, but Jimin couldn’t help but smile everytime Yoongi let out a laugh at something so humorously terrible. He could tell Yoongi was just pointing out random things he thought was funny in order to make Jimin feel more comfortable and to get his mind off of the task at hand, so he really appreciated it.

And to think that he and Yoongi had been holding hands for almost an hour now too?…. He couldn’t but feel like he was living out an old dream of his… it was a silly and childish thought to think about, but he just couldn’t keep himself from smiling and holding Yoongi’s hand tighter, enjoying the feeling of the other man’s cold fingers slowly growing warm inside Jimin’s palm.

He almost wanted to stay like this forever until he caught the familiar sight of the prince dressed in a royal blue, wearing a silver crown on top of his blonde wavy hear and a sheer white cape that trailed beneath him. His outfit was gaudy and he wasn’t as handsome up close, but he definitely had a confident way about him that almost entrapped Jimin in a trance when Yoongi walked him right up to the prince to introduce the two of them.

Jimin made sure the hood to the dress was completely covering his face when Yoongi stood him in front of the prince and began to speak in a half attempt at an english accent, “Hello your majesty,” he even went as far as to bow before continuing, “I would like you to meet my land’s royal highness, Princess Jimin. Her beauty is unknown to the land, but she heard about your ball and felt in her heart that the only person worthy of seeing her beauty shall be you if she is lucky enough to gain your attention.

Jimin couldn’t see the prince’s expression because he was looking down, but he did hear the prince make a soft noise in intriguement. The prince crossed his arms and nodded his head as he replied with a curious tone of voice, “Princess Jimin? Ruler of what land may I ask?”

     “A small but rich island off the coast of Denmark. We have more gold and silver than you can imagine, and a land to vacation on if you two do choose to develop a relationship,” Yoongi answered as if he had been rehearsing his lines from the moment he told Jimin he was going on this journey with him.

Jimin smiled, trying so hard not to laugh at Yoongi’s thick accent showing through his fake english one, but the situation became less humorous and more serious when the prince smiled at these offers Yoongi was lying about and turned to Jimin to say, “Princess Jimin and her land of riches… And are you as beautiful as they all say?…”

Jimin was about to awkwardly nod since he didn’t want to speak, but Yoongi thankfully cut in and spoke for him, “Princess Jimin does not speak to those outside of her land unless she has earned their trust.”

     “Oh?” the prince chuckled a little, “And how do I earn her trust?”

Before Yoongi could think up an answer on the spot, Jimin quickly leaned forward and grabbed the prince’s hand, holding it in his own small ones and saying softly in as much of a higher tone that he could manage, “You have…”

     “Oh…” the prince breathed out softly and held Jimin’s hand back. He stopped finding the situation more amusing and finally decided to give Jimin the time of day, muttering out to him softly, “What do I need to do to see your beautiful face?…”

     “Where…” Jimin was about to ask the prince where his father, the king of the dragon army, was keeping all of his dragons including Jin and Taehyung, but he realized that the prince would never easily answer that… In fact, that would be suspicious and possibly get him kicked out of the ball.

He had to be smart about this…

Maybe he could use fire as an intimidation tactic instead? He would have to be alone with the prince for that though and far away from Yoongi…

How could he get the prince all alone with him though?…

The prince wanted to see his face, right? He would just have to use that to his advantage then in order to get the prince to take him upstairs where they were alone.

He kept his hand on the prince’s hand and spoke softly in order to keep trying to sound like a girl, “I’d love to show you my beauty in a private place?… This is a special moment between us after all…”

     “It definitely is,” the prince grinned and looked around himself before turning back to Jimin and saying with a smirk on his face, “Let me go tell my guards I’m taking you upstairs, and I’ll be back to take you with me up to a private room, alright?”

Jimin smiled, surprised his plan was working so easily, “Ok…”

The prince left to go tell his guards that he was about to leave the party with Jimin for a while, and as soon as he was gone, Yoongi immediately turned Jimin around with one push of his shoulder and muttered out, “That wasn’t in the plan. You’re going to get him alone, and then what, huh? Ask him where Jin is and then die all alone up there?”

     “I won’t die,” Jimin frowned, “He won’t even have a chance to see my face before I run away with the answer we need. Just be ready for me to run down the stairs saying we need to go.”

     “Holy shit…” Yoongi rolled his eyes and stepped back, “You’re a fucking idiot aren’t you?”

     “Just because you didn’t make up this part of the plan doesn’t mean you have to hate it,” Jimin crossed his arms, wondering why Yoongi was suddenly attacking him about this plan. He was so supportive of Jimin before. He believed in Jimin until now when he was going off on his own with the prince. Did he really think he wasn’t capable of handling him on his own?

     “The prince wants to sleep with you Jimin,” Yoongi finally spelled it out for him. “What if he’s stronger than you?”

     “He’s not,” Jimin grit his teeth in irritation.

     “He definitely is,” Yoongi bit back. “He’ll pin you down to his bed, and-!”

     “Can you please try to trust in me at least once?” Jimin finally interrupted Yoongi with a soft cry. “I’m not weak, so stop acting like it!”

Yoongi didn’t know about his powers, but he needed to at least stop treating him like a child. It not only irritated Jimin beyond all control, but it also just hurt that not even someone who claimed to be his friend or claimed to trust in him thought he was capable of doing something so simple… and to think, Jimin was going to be chief of a village who didn’t believe in him someday… He was a joke, wasn’t he? Just a joke to everyone…

His eyebrows furrowed and he clenched his fists down at his sides, getting over his self-doubt only to replace it with anger and say in an almost trembling tone of voice, “I’ll be back down once I have answers. Don’t follow me up there. Don’t check on me. Don’t you dare doubt me, because I’m more capable than you could ever be for this.”

     “What, are you going to have sex with him or something to get answers?” Yoongi asked with a scoff, confused why Jimin was so angry at him for just caring about him. He watched as Jimin turned away from him, about to meet with the prince who was walking back towards him, but Jimin made sure to answer before he could leave to go complete his plan however he wanted, “I guess I’ll see where the night takes me,” he glanced at Yoongi and frowned, “I’m not a child anymore Yoongi. It’s about time you finally realized that.”

     “What…” Yoongi’s eyes widened when he realized Jimin just admitted he might have sex with the prince to get the answers he needed. Every bone in Yoongi’s body was telling him to chase after Jimin and tell him that that would be the worst mistake of his life, but how could he? Jimin was already mad. Jimin would think he was treating him like a child again… He couldn’t.

He couldn’t do anything as he watched the prince take Jimin upstairs to his room to do things to him that… that Yoongi wanted to do. The spoiled brat of a prince was going to beat him to it without any care in the world about Jimin’s body or his feelings..

Fuck, Yoongi always thought he was unworthy of Jimin’s time or love since the other boy was going to follow in Namjoon’s footsteps one day and become chief, but that prince was way more unworthy… and to have him beat Yoongi to the boy he loved just because Yoongi was too cowardly to admit his feelings out loud?… that cut through Yoongi like a sharp blade cutting through the air.

He couldn’t let this happen.

~(***)~

The prince led Jimin up the stairs to his bedroom, the hallways darker than the ballroom they came from with a few lanterns hung up from the ceiling every few feet to light their way. The walls were made of stone, smoothed out in slabs and a natural dark gray color that cast a shadow along the whole hallway.

Jimin had always imagined the royals of the world to live in a place grander than this or at least somewhere more colorful like the paintings in his village he had always admired, but this… this was kind of disappointing. The ballroom was extravagant at first, but Jimin was starting to think that all of the gold and color the royals showed off was all for show… and maybe what they showed off to the public was all they had.

     “So what are you?” the prince asked, opening up the door to his bedroom and stepping inside, “Your friend’s accent sounds like a mix of Scandinavian and something else. Are your people originally from up North?”

Jimin nodded and stepped inside, still answering the prince in a breathier voice so he could sound more like a woman, “We are from the North though our people migrated from the East a many generations ago… Your bedroom is very beautiful,” he changed the subject and glanced around at all the tapestry draped along the walls, golden and red… it was gaudy and uglier than all of the paintings he had seen in his opinion, but he had no idea what else to say. He was in a prince’s bedroom, and he needed to entertain him long enough to find out where Jin was.

The prince looked up at his decorated room with a bored look and gave a short nod, “Hm? Yes, I suppose. My father didn’t give me much to survive on my own, but I do what I can to make up for it. Hopefully he’ll die from this silling game of war he’s playing, and I’ll get what I deserve from his fortune.”

His father’s silly game of war… Jimin almost forgot this prince’s father was the King of the dragon army, but he had been reminded in that moment and asked, “Your father?” he had plans to play dumb, which was something he was good at since he always acted aloof around Yoongi when he was younger in order to flirt with him since he had seen all the little girls in his village doing the same thing to their crushes and boyfriends at the time.

The prince sat on his bed, “I’m sure you know my father, the King of the Dragon Army? He’s a threat to all around because he’s the only one who can control the filthy sky beasts. Everyone’s heard of him by now as the man who wants to take over the world.”

     “Ah,” Jimin nodded his head, watching as the prince now scooted up on his bed and laid across his silk pillows. The prince had a look in his eyes that Jimin wasn’t too familiar with though he knew what it meant. It was time to ‘entertain’ him in more than just a conversational way. It was either this or the prince got bored and sent him out, so what was he going to do?… Ask now where the prince’s father was and seem suspicious or… or do something like sleep with him for information.

Jimin tugged at the hood of his cape nervously and looked down, falling quiet but then looking up in surprise when the prince laughed and scooted back to the edge of the bed. He grabbed Jimin’s hand and pulled him towards the bed as he spoke softly, “I know you’re a boy… It’s kind of obvious. Are you here to steal from me?”

Jimin’s eyes widened when the prince pushed back his hood to reveal his true identity. Jimin quickly looked down in shame, feeling embarrassed that he thought he was being undercover this whole time when he really was caught up in the prince’s game. He frowned and started to step back, “I’m not a thief, but if you just brought me up here to laugh at me, then I’ll just-!” before he could pull back, the prince’s grip on his wrists tightened and he was brought into a forced kiss, his lips being locked onto the prince’s until after a few seconds when the prince pulled away again and spoke, “It’s fine, I chose you because I prefer men rather than women,” he moved his hand down to Jimin’s thigh and rested it there, “Now, why don’t you get out of that hideous dress and let me make you mine?”

The prince was wanting to have sex with him? Really? He was wanting him to be his after just a few minutes of them knowing each other?

It had taken years for Jimin to get Yoongi to even want to be friends with him and now this prince was throwing himself at him after just a few minutes? It was strange to have this kind of attention on him without having to work for it, and for a moment, Jimin let himself enjoy it. After years of pining after what dragon slayer, it was nice to be admired by someone. And… though this someone seemed a bit shallow and materialistic, he wasn’t… bad looking? And he was also a prince… like the ones in the paintings Jimin always admired. Maybe he could just have this moment and try to get over Yoongi faster.

Yeah… Yeah, he could have a little fun on this mission, right?

The prince took off his cloak and let it fall down to the ground, kissing his neck and whispering about how beautiful Jimin was. Jimin could feel him licking and leaving marks that trailed down to his clavicle, and he let his head fall back, enjoying the feeling of someone loving on him.

Taehyung had Jungkook, his two fathers had each other, Hoseok had any guy and girl in the village he felt like having for the night, and Jimin… Jimin didn’t have anyone to be this way with. His first kiss was with Jungkook on accident when he was ten and Hoseok and him may have made out once or twice when he was twelve so he could learn how to kiss properly for Yoongi, but that was it… And this?… This was so much more different than those few instances.

Jimin quickly took off his dress and laid it down on the ground before getting up on the bed and planting his knees on both sides of the prince’s hips, his cheeks pink with a light blush when the prince looked down to take in the sight of his whole body. Jimin smiled to himself and looked up, “I’ve never done anything like this before…”

     “Oh, so this is your first time?” the prince smirked and picked Jimin up to throw him down in the center of the bed on his back. He hovered over the shorter boy and leaned down to kiss him, “I’ll make sure to be careful with you then.”

     “No, I’m sick of people treating me like I’m weak,” Jimin frowned and lifted his arms up to wrap them around the prince’s neck, “Just… make love to me how you want.”

     “How I want?” the prince raised an eyebrow, causing Jimin to feel hot on the inside of his body as if a fire was burning inside the pit of his stomach. The prince leaned down to kiss him again, “I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

The prince grinded his hips against Jimin’s and Jimin accidentally let a moan escape from the back of his throat, his eyes then widening at the sound he just made for someone else for the first time ever. He always thought he’d make these sounds for Yoongi and Yoongi only, but here he was… with someone entirely different than who he imagined, and he was only doing it for pleasure to get over an unrequited love that would never happen.

What had he become?

He started off this mission just wanting to find his father, but here he was getting sidetracked and having sex with a prince, and for what? He used to have a reason, but he let his desires take over his mind and make him completely forget why he was even here.

He frowned and looked up at the prince, “You said your father is the King of the dragon army, right?… Where is this dragon army located?”

     “Hmm, maybe I’ll tell you after we’re done here?” the prince kissed Jimin’s neck again and hummed out against his nectar scented skin, but Jimin pushed him away a little bit, “No, I want to know. Tell me where it is, and we can continue, alright?”

The prince frowned at this but ended up sighing and reluctantly answering with a sluggish, “Balaur island. Why do you care so much about this?”

     “Balaur island…” Jimin repeated to himself in a whisper and tried to lock it into his memories in that moment. Now that he had the name of where he needed to go, he knew he could just leave if he wanted to. He knew he had what he needed and he could get on his way, but… He didn’t want to go back to Yoongi and feel so much for him again when they were only just friends at best. He wanted to try to move on. He wasn't a weak child anymore, and he was sick of only being seen that way. He needed  to move on. 

Maybe after he was with someone else, he would be able to think more about saving Jin and Tae rather than his relationship with Yoongi that would never be anything but one-sided.

The prince was… handsome. He was not as fit as Yoongi, but he definitely had some features about him that Jimin could maybe trick himself into liking for tonight.

He faked a smile and leaned up to kiss the prince, “I was just curious… Let’s continue now, ok?”

The prince grinned back and flipped them over so Jimin was now on top, “Alright, you can entertain me now since I’ve entertained you with this party and the answer to your curious question. Show me why I should make you my bride.”

Jimin flinched at the word ‘bride’, but he didn’t caution away from it. This was just a one time thing and he’d tell the prince that afterwards. For now, he was going to try to figure out how to entertain the prince.

He leaned forward and kissed him, remembering how Hoseok taught him how to kiss and trying to bring up all the tips and pointers here. He wrapped his arms around the prince’s neck and connected their lips in a heated kiss. Their bodies rolled together as they made out, Jimin grinding against the prince slowly as the prince licked across the roof of his mouth and the surface of his tongue, sending chills down his spine.

Jimin’s heart was beating so fast, he felt like he was going to fly away on that energy alone, but everything suddenly froze around him when the door to the prince’s room opened up and someone stepped in, walking only a few steps in before freezing and muttering out awkwardly, “O-Oh…”

Jimin quickly turned to the person who just entered the room and gasped, his arms still wrapped around the prince’s neck and the prince currently occupied with kissing his neck when he froze and hurried out a nervous, “Yoongi? What are you-!” he shut his mouth and hurried to pull the covers over his body when he realized he was completely naked on top of the prince. His cheeks heated up in a blush as he continued to stare at Yoongi's shocked expression that seemed out of character for him. Jimin bit his lip and tried to ask again, “What are you doing up here?”

     “I…” Yoongi straightened up slowly and looked down, trying to place his gaze on anything except for the sight in front of him, “I didn't know you were serious about this...I was worried about you, so I came up here to see if you were alright,” he chewed on his bottom lip and curled his hands into fists at his side, forcing himself to look back up at Jimin in order to say, “I should... I-I should go.”

Jimin felt like he just tasted something sour, staring at Yoongi and then back at the prince whom he felt nothing for but was about to have sex with so he could get over Yoongi… He didn’t want to do this. What the fuck was he doing? He…

He loved Yoongi too much.

He didn’t want to be with anyone else except for him.

He was a dragon. It was in his blood to love one person and one person only, so what was he doing trying to love someone else? What was he doing trying to numb the feelings in his heart when it was meant to be for him to love someone he was forbidden to be with by the laws of the world? Jimin wanted to be loved by someone, but the only person he would love in return was Yoongi, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Before Jimin could answer Yoongi or at least get off of the prince to assure Yoongi that he didn’t see the prince as anything else but an obstacle in their mission to get his father and best friend back, Yoongi shut his eyes and turned around, muttering out quickly before leaving in the same way he came in, “Nevermind, I don’t care. I’ll just be down by the boat until you decide you want to go.”

     “No, Yoongi wait!” Jimin called after him, starting to get off the prince to chase after Yoongi, but before he could, the prince grabbed a hold of Jimin and whined softly, “Why are you leaving me for him? What is all this about?”

     “Just let me go,” Jimin started to say, but the prince grabbed on tighter, “No, I gave you information about my father. You need to-!”

     “I said let me go!” Jimin grabbed the prince and burned his arm without thinking, watching him cry out in pain afterwards and using that reaction as a means to escape his grip and quickly hurry off the bed.

He grabbed a blanket to wrap around himself and cover himself off with, and then he ran as fast as he could out of the room and down the stairs, not stopping until he caught up to Yoongi and reached out to grab him. The other man was a hard force to stop, but he turned around to the feeling of Jimin’s hand on his arm, and Jimin quickly used this chance to speak to him, “Yoongi, I wasn’t sleeping with him! I-I just needed to do that to find out where Jin was, and-!”

     “Ok?” Yoongi interrupted him with a scowl and a shrug, “Why should I care? Go fuck him, it doesn’t matter. Just tell me beforehand next time so I don’t have to wait around in this party full of egoistic peasants trying to fit in with the royals.”

     “Yoongi…” Jimin frowned, now wondering why he chased after Yoongi when it was obvious he really didn’t care about who Jimin had sex with… Yoongi didn’t love him, so why would he?… Jimin didn’t know why he even thought that for a second.

He looked down, “I found out where Jin is. Let’s just-!”

Before he could finish speaking, a loud shout suddenly echoed across the room from behind him, coming from the prince as his voice boomed out in his direction, “Guards, seize that boy! He’s a dragon who pretended to be a woman in order to seduce me and try to kill me once he got me alone!”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned around to see the prince glaring at him with a face red with anger and royal guards already hurrying over to Jimin to seize him. He wasn’t even given enough time to react before two guards were holding on tight to his arms and keeping him in place for the prince to storm up to him now and shout out, “You were a dragon all along, wanting to find your family, weren’t you? Is that why you were so interested in my father? Did he take your whore monster of a mother?”

Jimin didn’t know how to respond, not wanting to defend himself and look like a dragon in front of Yoongi but also knowing that the prince knew the truth about him, and playing dumb wasn’t going to work. Jimin didn’t even get a chance to speak though before Yoongi was suddenly up beside him and shouting at the prince, “How dare you accuse him of being such a beast! This boy is the future leader of a powerful village, so I’d be careful about what you say to him.”

The prince’s scowl became deeper now that Yoongi was defending Jimin, and he leaned in close to mutter out with venom dripping from every word, “I’d be careful about who I blindly followed around and called my leader, because I’d be ashamed to say I was tricked by a bloody dragon.”

     “Yoongi, I don’t know what he’s talking about-!” Jimin tried to say, but was cut off by a sharp slap from the prince’s hand before the taller man shouted out, “Lies! Don’t try to fool the humans around you when the evidence is on my arm!” the man turned to the crowd of people watching on with shocked and fearful expressions on their faces. He faced them all and shoved down the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the red handprint now forming on his skin from Jimin burning him. It was plain to see that he had just been burned by a human with heat or fire capabilities, and there was no way to deny that a human with power like that was a dragon.

Everyone gasped when they saw the hand shaped burn, their eyes all turning to Jimin as if he had murdered someone. It didn’t matter if he had or if he hadn’t though. They all saw him as one now anyway. A murderer. A monster. A beast.

Tears filled his eyes as fear filled his heart, and he turned to Yoongi, “Y-Yoongi, you know me! Please tell them I’m not a dragon!”

Yoongi was staring at the hand shaped burn in shock, noticing the size of the hand and how it matched Jimin’s… Could Jimin have done that? Could he have burned the prince with his hand?… Could Jimin be a dragon?

No.

No, that was impossible.

Yoongi had grown up with Jimin. Yoongi knew more about Jimin than Jimin knew about himself just because they had grown up in a small village where Jimin was the son of the chief whom Yoongi admired greatly, and had come to know while guarding him and keeping him safe. The hand shaped burn was weird, but there was no way Jimin could have done that. There was no way he was a dragon.

Yoongi nodded at Jimin and turned back to the prince, “You’re lying,” he stepped in front of Jimin and growled out the next words, “Just let us leave peacefully, and there won’t be a problem, ok?”

     “Oh there’s already a problem,” the prince growled back and raised his hands for more guards to come to his side. “Guards, please hold this dragon’s protector back! We’ll kill them both, but for right now, I think we should have a little fun with our dragon guest as entertainment for tonight’s party, shall we?” the prince grinned at his new idea and the people all around them in the room cheered him on, excited to see a supposed dragon be tortured and beaten.

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he moved to grab Jimin out from the guard’s grip, but before he could, two guards came up from behind him and held him in place as well. He struggled in their grip and shouted out at the prince viciously, “Get away from him! Please!”

     “Or what?” the prince tilted his head with a small smirk playing on his lips, “What are you capable of, you peasant?”

Yoongi was about to bite back with a brave choice of words, but before he could, Jimin spoke up from where he was struggling in the other two guards’ grip, “Please just let us go. I’m only trying to find my family; I didn’t do anything worthy of a punishment like this!”

     “You were worthy of a punishment from the moment you were born, you filthy beast,” the prince stepped forward and growled back to him, his eyebrows furrowing with a sudden rush of anger before he suddenly ripped the blanket off of Jimin, exposing his body to the whole crowd standing around him. He glanced down at Jimin’s body and grinned, shouting out afterwards, “This dragon has an adorable human form, doesn’t he?” he turned to his guests, watching and waiting for them all to smile along with him and nod their heads in agreement.

When they did, he turned back to Jimin and muttered out, “I could always make you a pet, couldn’t I?” he laughed to himself turned to one of the guards beside him, “Go heat up our metal crest. I want to brand this beast and make him mine.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he suddenly started fighting harder to get out of the two guards’ grip. He kicked at them and fought to escape desperately shouting out, “Don’t touch him! Don’t fucking touch him! I’ll burn this castle to the ground if you so much as lay a hand on-!”

     “Quiet!” the prince’s voice boomed over Yoongi’s, and he grit his teeth in irritation, “How dare you, a human, stand up for such a beast like this!… unless you’re a beast too!”

     “Neither of us are!” Jimin tried to say, but he quieted down when the prince glared at him for speaking again.

The situation was hopeless, wasn’t it? Not even Yoongi could escape from the guards’ hold, and Jimin didn’t want to use his powers and truly expose himself in front of a man whom he knew was going to kill him if he found out about his true identity.

Jimin was screwed either way.

Either he became a pet to a prince right here and right now or he escaped and ended up being killed by his own people later on thanks to Yoongi hating him and his kind.

Jimin needed to make the decision that kept him alive.

He didn’t know what he was going to do or what life he was going to be leading as a pet, but at this point, he just needed to be alive. If he was alive, he’d at least be buying himself more time to think of a new way to get out or wait for his father to come save him…

He wasn’t sure how Namjoon would be able to find him, but at this point… he just had to hope for the impossible. He had to have faith in his father or at least someone out there to save him, and he truly did have faith in them. Cause if he knew one thing for sure right now in this moment it was that they were much stronger than him… They were much smarter, much faster, much braver. They were everything he wasn’t.

He didn’t know why he thought he could save Jin on his own, but at this point, he just hoped his family could save him-!

Jimin was torn from his thoughts by his own blood curdling scream as a hot iron in the shape of the royal crest was pressed against his right shoulder near his chest. His back arched and his body twisted as it tried to work through the pain, but it was too much to bare. He breathed heavily and started crying when the crest started melting away his flesh into a royal design he knew was a shameful mark for vikings.

He didn’t even know how to fight back or beg for mercy in this moment of pure torture and terror, but he didn’t need to. He didn’t even have a chance to do anything but scream and cry before the guard in front of him was suddenly screaming with him in pain as the blazing iron crest along with his newly cut off arm fell to the floor in a forming puddle of blood.

Jimin was breathing heavily and staring up at the ceiling as he leaned onto the weight of the guards holding him up. He wanted to die. The pain was too great and he barely noticed that he wasn’t being burned anymore just because his thoughts of wanting to die to escape the pain were overpowering all of his other senses.

It wasn’t until a sword was swung at one of the guards holding him in place when Jimin snapped out of his pain induced daze and saw Yoongi now free from the grip of the two guards who were beside him and holding a sword that he had used to cut the guard who branded Jimin’s arm off.

His eyes were filled with a fiery rage, and his skin was flushed with a pink hue from anger. He looked like how he did on the battle field, and he didn’t stop fighting with as much vigor as he could manage until Jimin was free. But when Jimin was free from the guards, Yoongi only turned to the prince now to hold the edge of his sword up to his neck and mutter out, “You shouldn’t have fucking underestimated me, you royal bastard.”

     “What are you going to do, kill me?” the prince asked with the tilt of his head and a smirk, “You would only be able to run so far before my guards caught up to you and killed you both.”

     “Under what orders will they come after me?” Yoongi started to cut into the prince’s flesh, but before he could manage to actually hurt him severly, he felt a hand gently grip his shoulder before the voice of the boy he was sworn to protect spoke softly through a pained grunt, “Yoongi let’s just go… I-I want to go home…”

The prince laughed at this, “Awe, the fierce dragon is running away with his tail between his legs?” he grinned and glanced down at Jimin’s groin, “I can’t believe you were trying to have sex with me, you little whore. You like being with humans?”

Yoongi pressed the blade deeper into the prince’s skin, and the prince’s eyes widened for half a moment before Jimin quickly pulled Yoongi back and muttered out again, “It’s not worth it, Yoongi… Let’s just go back home.”

     “Huh?” Yoongi turned to Jimin and asked with a shocked expression on his face, “But why? What are you-!”

     “I’m done,” Jimin interrupted him, “Let’s go.”

Yoongi fell silent when he heard the demanding tone of Jimin’s voice, and he didn’t argue back in the end. All he did was lower his sword and quickly bend down to grab the blanket Jimin was previously wearing to cover himself before wrapping it around the boy again and holding onto him tightly. He turned to the prince one last time and furrowed his eyes at him in a glare, “We’ll never set foot on your land again, but if you follow us, I will not hesitate to burn very last bit of it to the ground.”

     “Understood,” the prince replied still with a smug grin. Yoongi wanted to punch the prideful look right off of his face, but he had more important things to take care of now.

Jimin.

He held on close to the boy who was trembling from pain but trying so hard to act like he was fine… He was so strong… so brave. Yoongi wanted to make a blood bath with all the people who just harmed him, but Jimin was right. They had to leave.

Yoongi could fight off all the guards he wanted, but staying there put Jimin in more danger, and he didn’t want to do that. Jimin had been in enough pain already, and to see him go through any more of it would absolutely destroy Yoongi.

He kept his sword tight in his grip but held Jimin close to his hip as he quickly escorted him out of the castle, keeping up a quick pace out the door and all the way until they reached the docks again where he finally began to speak in an agitated tone of voice, “I fucking swear, as soon as I can, I’m bring a fleet here to raid and burn down this entire place for what they’ve done to you,” he spoke to Jimin with anger still lit up brightly in his eyes. His words were rough and his voice was stone cold, but every movement he made was gentle and careful as he was dealing with Jimin.

He led him into the ship and laid him down carefully into a comfortable position, making sure he was ok before he continued talking in an angry shout, “And to accuse you of being a beast such as a dragon? I don’t understand why you weren’t more insulted, but I would have killed him right there on the spot if I could have…” he glanced back at the castle and grit his teeth, “Jimin, just lay down and try to work through the pain for now. I’m going to have to get us out of here, and then we can talk about what just happened.”

There was silence.

He started to get up, but before he left Jimin alone to lay down and work through his pain, he spoke softer to try to get a response out of the younger viking, “Jimin?…”

Jimin was staring off at the sea, his eyes filled with tears and his cheeks already rubbed raw from them as he sniffled and cried to himself due to what just happened.

Yoongi said his name again, “Jimin…”

Jimin finally glanced at him, still frowning and sniffling as he was barely able to manage out a soft, “I’m fine… just tired.”

Yoongi frowned at how weak the whole situation left Jimin, but he only sighed for now and gently ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair one before getting up and assuring him, “I’ll get us out of here and come back to help you get through the pain. Everything will be alright, ok?”

Jimin didn’t respond again, but at least Yoongi knew he was ok… just tired… just sad… just in pain.

All things that Yoongi hated seeing on Jimin these days, but everything was going to be ok soon though. Hopefully. He had no idea what the plan was now, but he’d figure it out. Jimin was strong. He’d recover from this, Yoongi was sure.

~(***)~

Yoongi sailed away from port for two hours, not headed towards home or anywhere he knew of, but just heading out towards the open waters and away from the usual route of ships just in case the prince sent a fleet after them. There was no signs of anyone following them so Yoongi felt he was in the clear, but he still kept an eye out for anything possibly suspicious or dangerous as he finally turned his focus away from the ship and back to Jimin who was still awake and reeling with pain from the burn.

He made his way over to the boy with water and an apple from their crate of food they packed, and he sat down beside him, taking out his knife to cut up the apple with as he spoke, “Nightfall should be soon… the air will be cooler and when you wake up in the morning, the burn won’t hurt as much.”

Jimin just glanced up at Yoongi and gave a short nod.

Yoongi couldn’t help but frown when that was the only response he got from Jimin, but he continued to talk anyway, knowing that Jimin was a talkative person who would hopefully feel better with more conversation, “I’m sure you’re hungry… You may not feel like eating right now, but small bites at a time might help. I’ll keep cutting up a few slices at a time, and I’ll even hand feed you if that helps. You just have to promise not to tell anyone about this ever, ok?” he laughed a little at his own awkward attempt at being humorous, but when Jimin still didn’t bother to reply or even so much as smile, Yoongi fell silent again.

He looked down, feeling terrible for not being able to save Jimin from this pain. He only had one role given to him by the most important person in his life, Chief Namjoon. That role was to protect Jimin… That role was to keep him from feeling any pain, and he was failing miserably…

Since when was he so terrible at his duty?

He didn’t have a chance to think about the answer to this question before Jimin finally spoke up in a ghost of a mutter and asked, “Yoongi, do I have a chance?”

The question didn’t make sense at first… did Jimin have a chance at what? Living?… Fighting?…Being happy?… there was so many possibilities as to what Jimin was talking about, some possibilities making Yoongi frown and some causing him to blush, but he wasn’t sure what Jimin meant, so he asked anyway, “A-A chance?… What do you mean?”

     “At being a good chief…” Jimin sniffled and wiped tears from his eyes, “I’m so weak… I’m so stupid too…”

     “Stupid?” Yoongi questioned and Jimin nodded his head, “I stopped caring about the mission just to have sex with a prince I don’t even know… I didn’t even like him. I should have left as soon as I got answers from him, but I just…” a tear fell from Jimin’s eyes and fell silent since he didn’t want to admit to Yoongi that every little stupid thing he did was always because he loved him. Always because he was trying to prove himself or trying to get over him. He sniffled and shrugged, “I’m such a mess, a-and I’m in so much pain. I just want to go home, Yoongi,” he looked up at the stronger and wiser viking, “I’m just not made to be a strong viking like you much less a chief.”

     “Jimin…” Yoongi bit his lip and looked down, not knowing what to say or do to make Jimin feel better except for try to talk him out of thinking he wasn’t good enough to be the chief of his village.

He leaned forward and ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair for the second time that day to wipe the sweaty strands away from his eyes, “Jimin, you aren’t stupid… You’re not weak either, and you’re… you’re the only person in our village capable of taking over after your father. Shit, you’re so amazing at being chief? You’ve been told countless times throughout your whole life that you’re nothing and you’re weak, and you’re out here risking your life to save two important people to you anyway.”

     “But all I’m doing is failing miserably…” Jimin muttered out, but Yoongi shook his head and quickly countered his words, “You only fail if you give up… Have you given up yet?”

Jimin sniffled and shrugged again, “I don’t know… I-I want to.”

     “Why are you here then?” Yoongi asked, causing Jimin to freeze and tilt his head at him in confusion. Why….Why was he here?…

     “I…” Jimin started to answer slowly, unsure of himself as he muttered out a nervous answer, “J-Jin and Tae?… I need to find them.”

     “Ok, and we haven’t found them yet,” Yoongi nodded his head along with Jimin’s words, “We still need to, don’t we? You said we can’t go home until we find them.”

Jimin bit his lip and held onto the side of his body near where he was burned. He was so serious about this plan before today… What happened? What changed? He got emotional about how little Yoongi felt for him? He got too caught up in stupid things that shouldn’t matter? He got burned?

Tears fell down Jimin’s face again, and Yoongi quickly wiped them away gently with the tip of his fingers, “You said you found out where Jin and Taehyung are, yeah? That’s a big push forward in our plan! What island did the prince say they were on?”

     “Balaur island,” Jimin breathed out, glad he at least remembered the most important thing the prince said to him.

Yoongi looked down in thought when he heard Jimin’s answer, thinking about all the places he knew though Balaur island wasn’t one he was familiar with. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and sighed, “I don’t know where that is… Do you?”

He looked down at Jimin just as the other younger viking rolled over onto his back and covered his face as he let out an irritated cry, realizing once again how useless he was and how much he wasn’t prepared for any part of his rescue plan. What was up with Jimin today? The boy used to never want Yoongi or almost anyone else see him cry. He always wanted to prove his worth, but it was like now, he thought he had absolutely no worth at all… Was it something Yoongi said?… Was it something he did?

He had been nice lately, so he was confused. What happened?

Without thinking about it longer though, Yoongi decided to do something beyond his comfort zone in order to cheer Jimin up. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he just… he didn’t want to see the other boy sad. And if it was somehow because of him? He wanted to fix it.

He leaned forward and kissed Jimin because he wasn’t sure what else he could do to make him feel better. Running his fingers through Jimin’s hair hadn’t calmed him down, talking him through things had probably made things worse, and there wasn’t much else he could do. He leaned forward and kissed Jimin, hoping that that would take his mind off of his worries for just a moment since it had worked for a second back when they were fighting that night that Jin and Tae were taken away.

After a few seconds, Yoongi pulled away to see if Jimin was ok but only found that the other boy was just staring at him with a shocked look on his face, subtle but still shown in the wide eyes and his jaw slightly dropped.

Yoongi bit his lip, realizing how weird that probably was to just kiss someone he was told to protect and only just became the friend of, but he managed to speak up and explain himself albeit looking away with a blush creeping up on his face, “I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you back there… I’m sorry you’re in so much pain right now, but I thought that the least I could do now is try to distract you from it…”

Jimin stared up at Yoongi looking like he was trying to decide whether or not to cry or punch him for the unexpected and probably unwelcomed kiss. Yoongi saw his expression and almost wanted to apologize for what he just did, but Jimin instead did the unexpected and leaned up to kiss him again, wrapping an arm around Yoongi’s neck and pulling him closer into the kiss that was more heated than Yoongi’s.

Jimin’s kisses were always more heated… It made Yoongi wonder if maybe the younger boy still had a crush on him though he didn’t want to let himself hope for that when Jimin had explicitly stated several times that he hated Yoongi now or at least didn’t feel anything like that for him anymore. They were just friends now right?… Nothing more. He didn’t want to hope for anything more because he knew Jimin wouldn’t want that.

Jimin was the first to pull away, still gripping onto Yoongi’s hair lightly with his arm still wrapped around his neck. He breathed in and out softly to catch his breath while staring at the sight in front of him, Yoongi’s eyes glistening in the moonlight. It was a sight he thought he’d only see in dreams, so why was this happening in real life? He realized this all was too good to be true, so he pulled back a bit more and muttered out the question, “Yoongi, what do you want from me?” he searched in the older man’s expression for an answer but feared he’d only be disappointed.

He started to look away, wanting to just tell Yoongi to forget about that question, but before he could, Yoongi touch his hand to Jimin’s cheek to keep his face in place as he answered cautiously, “I… I don’t want anything from you.”

     “O-Oh…” Jimin looked down awkwardly, wishing Yoongi just let him go and pretend that the kiss never happened. Why would he kiss him in the first place if he didn’t want anything from Jimin? Why was he messing with his emotions like this? It wasn’t fair. Didn’t he know how much it hurt Jimin? Didn’t he realize that Jimin was always desperately trying to forget him, and it was hard to when Yoongi messed with him like this.

He was about to get irritated and tell Yoongi to stop doing what he always did that played with Jimin’s heart, but before he could, Yoongi leaned forward and kissed him on the lips again, his lips tasting like salt but the kiss feeling sweet like honey. Jimin was almost tricked in that moment into believing that Yoongi had always been like this, a smooth talker, a sweet lover, and someone who cared for him so deeply and gently. It was hard to remember that they hated each other a few days ago, but even when Jimin did remember that, he didn’t let that stop him. He sighed against Yoongi’s lips and closed his eyes to kiss him back, not wanting this moment to end even though he knew he’d regret his actions later.

He let Yoongi press him back against the wooden floor of the boat, now hovering over him with both hands pressed on either side of Jimin, keeping him balanced on top of him as he leaned down and kissed the younger boy. Jimin tried to keep himself wrapped up in the blanket covering up his body, but he willingly let his hands fall away from the cloth when Yoongi started peeling away his blanket.

When the blanket slowly started revealing the skin below his waist, Jimin’s eyes widened and he quickly reached down to keep it there, blushing and saying in a haste, “I don’t want to do this if you don’t feel the same way I do for you! Don’t do this just because you are just wanting to let out some stress and know I’m willing to do this with you.”

     “I…” Yoongi started to say confidently but then his voice trailed off and his cheeks grew red in a blush. He had never said this out loud before.. Not even to Hoseok. Fuck, not even to himself. How could he say this to Jimin? How could he say…. say, “I do l-like you Jimin.”

Fuck, he stuttered out the words. He didn’t sound sure of himself at all, but he meant it! He was just… He was just terrible at this whole relationship thing. This was yet another reason why he never wanted to try to pursue anything with Jimin. He knew he’d fail right from the start just like what he was doing now.

     “No, I mean as more than a friend,” Jimin frowned, “What we’re doing right now is not what friends do.”

     “I know,” Yoongi nodded, edging out his words carefully since he didn’t want to screw things up. He placed his hand on Jimin’s chest, his fingers practically trembling with either nerves or excitement as he touched the other boy’s smooth skin and got to feel how warm he was… His heart was beating so fast, Yoongi could feel it when he touched Jimin’s chest. He looked down at the blanket covering up the rest of Jimin, and without warning, he reached down to pull it off, wanting to see all of the other boy as he finally admitted out loud for the first time ever, “I love you, Jimin… I…” he blushed when he saw the rest of the boy’s body and he glanced forward again to look him in the eyes, “I’ve loved you for so long, I’ve just been too stupid to admit it to myself, haven’t I?”

He laughed nervously, looking down at Jimin’s shocked expression that didn’t change for a few seconds before he snapped out of it and laughed too, nodding his head in agreement and saying with a soft chuckle, “Y-Yeah, you really are an idiot if that’s the case.”

Yoongi smiled and leaned down to kiss him again, “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I’ve always been so mean to you. I’m sorry I never tried to be friends with you, but I was just so scared,” he started speaking truths within his apologies he had never admitted out loud before, kissing Jimin on the lips in between his words. As he spoke, he reached a hand down between Jimin thighs and felt how hard Jimin already was, and he wanted to do more than just kissing. He wanted to do so much more all right now. He wanted all of Jimin right this second.

Jimin spread his legs more for Yoongi and hummed out when Yoongi played with his length, wrapping his hand around it to rub his warm fingers along the shaft or moving his hands so he could grind up against it. Jimin’s whole face was red with a blush since he couldn’t believe this was happening. He wanted to moan but he was afraid of scaring Yoongi away by being weird about this all, so he bit his lip and let out a short hum with pleasure, shutting his eyes and enjoying the pleasure he had never felt from anyone else before.

Yoongi leaned down and kissed his neck, moving away from his dick for just a moment to take off his own clothes. He set his shirt and cloak down on the side and shimmied his pants down to his thighs before fitting himself comfortably between Jimin’s thighs again to rub against him. Jimin let out a gasp when he felt Yoongi press up against his entrance, and he looked up at the older viking with wide eyes, “Are we?…”

     “Do you want to?” Yoongi asked nervously, his expression changing as if he just realized what they were about to do.

Holy shit they were about to have sex.

They used to hate each other and now here they were about to have sex on this boat right now because they loved each other. They both loved each other so much.

Jimin sucked in his breath and nodded his head, “I-I want to, but I don’t..”

     “We’ll take it slow,” Yoongi assured him with a soft kiss to his cheek. He glanced around himself for anything he could use as lube, feeling like he was willing to use literally anything, but there wasn’t much around. He frowned and turned back to Jimin, “I didn’t really have time to prepare for this.”

Jimin blushed and looked away, “It’s fine, I’ve…” he smiled a little and shut his eyes as if that would help with the slightly embarrassed and anxious feeling residing in his heart right now, “I’ve kind of been waiting for this moment my whole life.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and something suddenly clicked in him, making him feel like he needed this more than anything else. He definitely wanted this more than anything else before, but now he needed it like air. He needed to take in a deep breath, and the air around him was Jimin.

Hoseok had told him stories of times he had sex without using lube, and from those, a few ideas popped into Yoongi’s head about what he could do. He wasn’t a virgin, but this was definitely the first time he was having sex with someone he loved much less liked.

He backed away from Jimin a bit and bowed his head down between the boy’s legs, needing to stretch him out a bit to prepare him for what was to come though he needed to use his spit as lube tonight. He gripped onto Jimin’s thighs and touched his tongue to his entrance, hearing a soft gasp come out of the boy at first though he suddenly relaxed and moved one hand to pet Yoongi’s head as way to let him know he was allowed to do this.

It was a cute gesture and felt nice, having Jimin’s fingers running through his hair as he prepped him.

Yoongi smiled to himself and continued, closing his eyes and licking at Jimin’s entrance until it was wet enough for him to stick the first finger in.

Jimin got wet fairly quickly, quicker than Yoongi expected for him too since he was just using his spit, but he didn’t question it. He barely even took note of it before sitting up and pressing a first finger into Jimin. Jimin’s eyes were shut with anticipation, but after Yoongi slid it in, he relaxed a little and looked up at Yoongi with a relieved expression.

This wasn’t so bad.

Hoseok said he preferred to top when with men because he hurt more to be on the bottom, but right now, Jimin wasn’t hurting. It actually felt really easy, and his whole body was eager to feel more of Yoongi inside of him.

Was this a dragon thing?

He blushed when thinking about how dragons mated, and how Yoongi was probably his alpha just like how Namjoon was Jin’s alpha. Jin had tried to explain it to Jimin once about how mating worked, but Jimin was either too angry at Yoongi to be interested or too embarrassed about the subject to let Jin continued speaking.

Was Jimin an omega? Did that mean he was capable of getting pregnant? How did that work?

He didn’t want to get pregnant, but how could he tell Yoongi to pull out in time just in case?

This was why he needed Jin more than anything, because Jin was the only person he could ask…

Yoongi slipped in a second finger and Jimin remained relaxed, causing the older viking to chuckle and ask, “Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”

Jimin blushed and shook his head, “I just…” he made up an excuse fast and finished, “I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me.”

This caused Yoongi to freeze up and stare at Jimin with a bewildered look. He seemed surprised that Jimin would say such a thing even though the boy had always been telling the viking that he loved and trusted him his whole life. Even when they were just children and Yoongi would push Jimin down for fun and run away, Jimin always laughed and forgave him because he trusted him. He loved him. It was like… It was like he knew they were going to be together from the first moment they met, and here they were… finally together and in love after years of dancing around each other with a tension of feelings they thought would never be returned or successfully managed.

Yoongi leaned down and wrapped an arm around Jimin to pull him up into a kiss. He was mindful of the other boy’s burn, but he still held him close and kissed him roughly because he wanted to feel every bit of Jimin against his lips now in this moment.

All Yoongi ever wanted to do was protect Jimin from this harsh world. He thought he was failing miserably judging by the burn on Jimin’s chest, the cut on his cheek, and the dried tears under his eyes, but to hear that Jimin still trusted him made his heart overflow with a feeling Yoongi couldn’t quite name.

Maybe it was love… but Yoongi felt like it was something so much stronger.

He continued to kiss Jimin and work his fingers in and out of him, stretching him out and preparing him for his cock that eventually came with a slow and gently thrust up into the younger boy.

Jimin finally stopped biting back any sounds of pleasure he wanted to make, and he moaned out, shutting his eyes and arching his back as he felt the one he had loved his whole life finally inside of him. He gripped onto Yoongi’s shoulders and hummed out softly after the moan, his eyes still closed as he now silently enjoyed how good Yoongi felt inside of him. It was… it was a dream come true. To have the man he loved love him back.

Yoongi leaned down and bit at Jimin’s neck, leaving a mark in the form of a hickey and trailing similar marks all the way down to his collarbone while thrusting deeper into Jimin and faster. When Yoongi fit himself deeper into Jimin, Jimin moaned out again and gasped with surprise when Yoongi started thrusting rougher inside of him, easily moving in and out of him at a rhythm.

Jimin let his hands lay down flat on the boat, pleasure taking over his whole body and making him lose focus and control over simple things like the noises and movements he made. This… This was amazing. This was better than anything he had ever felt or even imagined. No description could compare to what he felt right now both physically and emotionally. He wanted to forever live in this happiness. He wanted to forever hold onto this bliss and forever have Yoongi on top of him and seldomly muttering and whispering out in groans that he loved him.

He closed his eyes and hummed out again when Yoongi kissed his chest and then his lips before whispering in his ear how amazing he was. Jimin felt a fire burn in his heart when he heard this, and his whole body grew warm with happiness, excitement, and pleasure to what was happening.

He smiled and opened his eyes again to see Yoongi above him under the moonlight and tell him that he loved him too, but before he could, Yoongi gasped and sat up, quickly pulling out of Jimin and looking at the ring of fire that had formed around them.

His chest was moving up and down with heavy breaths and he quickly grabbed his cloak to put out the fire, his eyes still wide with fear and shock as he gasped for air and spoke with fear, “What the fuck was that?” he looked up at the sky and started to stand up, “Did you see dragons? Where are-!”

He looked back down at Jimin and saw his eyes glowing yellow for just a split second before they went back to normal and Jimin was glancing around the fire that was…. that was a mating circle. It was a mating circle of fire, wasn’t it?…

Yoongi stood there in silence and stared at Jimin who was still naked and only just now getting up to start taking care of the fire. Yoongi could tell Jimin wasn’t scared of the fire or of the possible dragon threat… he was too calm. His…

His eyes….

His eyes were glowing…

Yoongi thought back to the hand shaped burn on the prince’s arm and remembered the prince’s claims that Jimin was a dragon… He didn’t believe him… he didn’t believe that Jimin was a beast. How could Jimin be… how could he be a monster?…

There was no way…

All he could see as Jimin feigned surprise to the ring of fire and tried to put it out was Jimin’s glowing eyes that he previously held, his handprint burned into the prince’s arm, the circle of fire he created around them to mate, his love for dragons…

Jin was taken by the king of the dragon army, someone who killed humans and capture dragons, and he captured Jin.

Jin was Jimin’s real father, wasn’t he? Jin was a dragon, and Jimin… Jimin was a half dragon.

The chief Yoongi had looked up to his whole life for mercilessly killing dragons and protecting their village was in love with a dragon and had a dragon child with him. He was letting those beasts into their home. He was allowing those monsters to live as humans, alive and free and next in line to become chief.

Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed and he stared at Jimin once the fire was completely gone.

Jimin let out a nervous laugh and faced Yoongi, not bothered by his lack of clothes since he figured they would just start back up what they were doing before once again. He tilted his head and smiled with a soft blush on his cheeks, “I’m not sure what that was, but I think we’re safe from dragons,” he noticed Yoongi’s bewildered expression, and he chuckled again, “Maybe you can lay down now, and I could ride you?… I want to make you feel pleasure too.”

Yoongi stayed silent, just staring at Jimin and thinking about all these years he had lived with the enemy. All these years he had rolled his eyes at the annoying little kid who naively followed him around claiming his love for him when he should have been killing him before he got too powerful. Jimin was one of the beasts who killed Yoongi’s parents without mercy. Jimin was a monster incapable of love and only out to kill and destroy everything in his path…

All these years Yoongi was protecting a dragon.

Jimin didn’t need protection.

Jimin had to die.

He glanced down at the ground to try to find where his sword was, and when he saw it was right by his feet, he slowly reached down to grab it, keeping his eyes on Jimin and bending down to grab the handle and hold it tight.

Jimin watched his actions, his smile slowly falling as he watched Yoongi pick up the sword and hold it up to him. Jimin started to realize what was happening, and his smile fell completely. His eyes widened in shock and he looked like he was about to cry, his blissful night coming to an end as he whispered softly in a trembling voice filled with fear, “Yoongi?…”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Yoongi was staring down the dragon, his sword held firmly in his grip and pointing towards him. He could still taste the beast’s lips against his own. He could still feel the monster's tongue licking across the roof of his mouth as he moaned out his name so shyly.

He needed to kill the dragon.

He had to kill every dragon.

No dragon was good. Every dragon was bad. That was what he had learned the hard way when his parents died to one, and that was what he had been taught ever since. Dragons were malicious creatures with no emotion other than a hunger for death. They weren’t capable of love, they weren’t capable of joy, and they weren’t capable of compassion…

Yoongi continued to stare into the eyes of the monster, his mind telling him to drive the sword through the heart of this beast and sink him in the ocean all around them where he would never be able to hurt again, but his heart… his heart..

     “Yoongi?…” he heard a familiar soft voice ask him warily. It was a voice that Yoongi had heard all his life, always two steps behind him. Jimin followed him everywhere, always annoying him, but always giggling or aweing at him, or blushing when Yoongi looked his way.

Was all that a lie?… Just a trick?

Yoongi glanced down at his sword and then back up at Jimin, thinking about the moment they just had together and everything that led up to now. He told the dragon he loved him… He made love to him… Did they mate?

His heart stopped when he realized that a ring of fire had surrounded them just a few minutes ago. He froze and thought about what qualified as a dragon mating ritual… They just needed to have sex surrounded by the omega dragon’s fire, but what if Yoongi didn’t finish inside of Jimin? They also didn’t mark each other, so maybe he was in the clear?…

He was almost mated to Jimin for life.

Correction. He was almost mated to a monster for life.

     “Yoongi… What are you doing?” Jimin stepped back in fear, seeing the look in Yoongi’s eyes that no longer held any love for him. They were stone cold. They were filled with nothing but pure hatred.

Was Yoongi going to kill him?… After everything they’ve been through? After growing up together and finally falling in love with each other, Yoongi was going to kill him just because of what he was? Jimin wished he could tell Yoongi that he was mistaken and that he wasn’t a dragon, but there was no way around this now… he had slipped up too much today and the circle of fire around them was enough to let anyone know his true identity.

Yoongi stepped closer, his brows softening though when he heard Jimin cry out under his breath in fear. He looked like he was going to just ram the sword straight through Jimin’s heart in order to kill him and move on with one less dragon in this world terrorizing people, but before he could go through with those possible plans, his firm expression suddenly dropped completely along with his sword that fell to the ground with a clattering sound.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he cried out again when he heard the sound of the heavy metal hitting the deck of the ship, but he wasn’t given any time to move away from Yoongi or even try to fight back against his attack before Yoongi picked up the blanket he originally took off of Jimin before they had sex and wrapped it around his body to cover him up again.

Yoongi was so close now, refusing to stare Jimin in the eyes though he stayed close to make sure the blanket was secure and not hurting or touching the burn on Jimin’s chest from earlier. He frowned more and more every time he accidentally touched Jimin’s skin, but he wasn’t going to hurt him. He couldn’t.

Jimin was a dragon, yes, but Jimin was no monster.

When Yoongi was done draping the blanket comfortably over Jimin’s shoulders, he looked up at Jimin with a frown and muttered out in a whisper, “You should go to sleep… I’ll keep watch for any nearby dragons that might have possibly created that fire.”

Jimin seemed confused why Yoongi went from definitely knowing Jimin was the dragon and wanting to kill him to pretending like he was oblivious to that fact. Why was he acting like he didn’t just put two and two together just a second ago? Was he assuring himself that Jimin wasn’t a monster after all? Was he planning to kill Jimin when he fell asleep tonight?

Jimin looked down at Yoongi’s hands, shyly reaching for one as he asked, “Yoongi… Maybe we should talk about what just happened?” he noticed how Yoongi jerked his hands away from his own, stepping back and looking away as if he didn’t even want to see him anymore. This made Jimin want to cry, but he stayed strong and reminded Yoongi confidently of what just happened between them, “Yoongi, we just had sex.”

Yoongi shut his eyes and finally bent down to grab his sword again, scaring Jimin for a few seconds though this time all he did was just put it back into his belt and walk past the other boy who was now sniffling with tears threatening to fall from his eyes, “There’s nothing to talk about,” he spoke in monotone voice, heading to the other side of the ship to have space away from the… the dragon, “Just go to sleep.”

     “But Yoongi-!” Jimin started to argue, but Yoongi interrupted him in a hiss, “I said go to sleep!” he turned to Jimin with a glare, but when he saw the younger boy trembling and staring at him with tears in his eyes and just the blanket hanging from his shoulders, Yoongi felt all his anger dissipate and only felt guilt in its place. He still loved him… Why did he still love him? Why did he still love a monster? Why couldn’t he get a grip of his emotions and turn it off so he could kill him?

Dragons were all monsters, so why wasn’t Jimin? Why did it have to be this hard? His judgement was being so clouded by memories of the other viking, he couldn’t bring himself to be convinced that Jimin was heartless and only worthy of death… he couldn’t kill him.

Feeling guilty both for scaring Jimin and also not being able to kill him, Yoongi’s voice went soft and he could only find it in himself to say in a mutter before turning away again, “I need to focus on how we might possibly still be being chased down by the prince’s fleet, and I also need to figure out how to get us to another island where we can ask about Balaur… Just go to sleep. Forget about what happened tonight…”

     “Yoongi….” Jimin just barely whispered his name now, too afraid to call out to him now that Yoongi had already snapped at him once before. He wanted to follow Yoongi to the other side of the boat to talk about this and maybe try to convince him that what he just saw wasn’t really anything to hate him for, but he wasn’t going to… He knew that it would only make things worse if he pushed the older viking anymore than he already did tonight.

The cold air of the ocean blew against Jimin’s skin and sent a chill down his spine, so he looked down through a vision blurred with tears and wrapped his thin blanket tighter around himself, trying not to think about how Yoongi really did hate him now because of what he was.

His worst fear had come true.

When Yoongi sat down on the other side of the boat, Jimin sat back down too, facing away from him and towards the ocean when he laid down as well and close his eyes to try to sleep. He knew he probably wouldn’t be able to, but… he just hoped something would take him far away from thoughts of wanting to be just a human so his true love would love him back. He didn’t want to hate himself… He didn’t want to be ashamed…He didn't want to feel so sick to his stomach about who he was and how it was ruining everything...

But Yoongi always seemed to make him feel all three of those things everytime they were together.

One hour passed and Yoongi was still awake even in the darkness of the late night. He was sitting against a wooden post on the ship with his legs straightened out in front of him and his sword in his hands as he stared at Jimin who was probably asleep by now on the other side of the deck.

Yoongi’s body was also aching to sleep from today, but his mind was awake with no signs of slowing down. And how could he feel tired at all when he had to decide what to do about Jimin? A dragon in his town?

His parents died to a dragon. They risked their lives to make the island he lived on a safer place free from evil dragons, and they were ripped to shreds by one before they could even make it home to him. He hated dragons for that. He knew they were evil for that. And as he grew up, he was taught by the elders how every dragon was capable of evil and were heartless. He learned how every dragon needed to die in order for humans to be safe, and what greater cause could he dedicate himself to than killing every last dragon he saw so humans didn’t have to live in fear of them anymore?

With the reminder of what he had to do not just for the sake of humanity but also for himself and for his parents, Yoongi made his decision and stood up, holding his sword tight in his hands. With Jimin now asleep, it probably wasn’t going to be so hard to kill him.

It was just his eyes staring deeply at Yoongi before that threw him off, but he knew Jimin’s true form was probably hideous and emotionally easier to kill. He wished he could just kill Jimin while he was in his dragon form, but he knew it was wiser to kill him now while he was in human form and sleeping so he wouldn’t be able to fight back and possibly turn the tables on their situation.

Yoongi stepped over to Jimin with quiet footsteps, the boards of the deck creaking softly underneath his shoes as he made his way to the sleeping boy. He held his sword up and thought about how he could kill the dragon. He could behead him? Or stab him in the heart? The best way to kill a dragon was beheading though, so Yoongi took in a deep breath and told himself that that was how he would kill Jimin. The thought of hurting him made him sick to his stomach, but this was what needed to be done. If he went soft on him now, who knew who was going to get hurt in the future?…

Jimin was completely still in his sleep, never moving or rolling over from where he was curled up into himself. Yoongi noticed this when looking down at him, his cheeks red from the cold air pattering against it and his hair still wet with sweat and sea water in some areas. Even dirty, Jimin was still beautiful. Yoongi had always admitted this to himself even since childhood when he was much younger and Jimin ran after him, sometimes with dirt on his face but always having beautiful piercing eyes and a little giggle that filled Yoongi’s heart with a contagious warmth that spread throughout his whole body and made him smile too.

He had wanted to be with Jimin ever since he was a child… He had wanted to look into those piercing eyes and see that smile and hear that laugh for the rest of his life, but he always told himself Jimin was going to be chief and had to marry someone much better and much more important than him. Someone with value. Someone who didn’t have so much hatred in his heart from his parents dying. Someone who had a family and knew how to love one of their own. Yoongi just wasn’t that.

Yoongi was only after one thing, and that thing was leading him to now kill the boy he always loved.

He stabbed the sword down into the ground and cried out, the sound of the sword stabbing into the wood scaring him and causing him to lose his breath for a few seconds before he breathed it all back in and looked down through tear filled eyes to see that he had stabbed into the deck in front of him, but not into Jimin. Nausea turned inside of him like a wave crashing onto shore, and as if all of his emotions decided to rush out like a flood right then and there all at once, he sobbed out and fell to his knees, gripping onto the handle of his sword for dear life despite his hands and fingers trembling so much that the sword shook with them.

He… He couldn’t kill him.

No matter how much he wanted to.

He couldn’t kill Jimin.

He cried out softly this time, not wanting to wake the other boy up to him crying and holding onto a sword stabbed into the deck so close to his neck. He didn’t want Jimin to feel unsafe… He didn’t want Jimin afraid of him. He didn’t want Jimin dead.

     “I’m so sorry…” he whispered through tears, shaking his head and thinking of his parents who died to a beast. He wanted to kill every living creature that resembled the monster that took away his family, but Jimin just wasn’t that. Jimin was a dragon Yoongi couldn’t kill, and he knew there would never be a day where he could do what he knew he had to do.

He sucked in his breath again and let out another cry, “I’m s-so sorry, eomma… appa…” he pressed his forehead to the handle of his sword and sniffled, trying his best to cry silently as tears fell from his eyes, “I can’t kill him… He m-means too much to me, I can’t,” he looked down at Jimin’s sleeping body and bit his lip, thinking about how he almost just killed him. His bottom lip trembled under the pressure of his teeth, and he almost started crying again, but he held himself together and decided to stand up instead, not wanting to stay long enough for Jimin to wake up and try to talk to him again.

He pulled his sword of the deck and stumbled back, muttering out again, “Please forgive me… I won’t kill him, but I promise I won’t love him either… I’ll do that for you.”

He walked over to the other side of the boat again and let his sword fall down to the ground again, not needing it now that he had resigned to leaving Jimin be though he wasn’t going to try to be with him again. He couldn’t willingly fall in love with him now that he knew what the other boy was… It hurt him, but he knew being with a dragon was only asking for trouble anyway.

Yoongi laid down and tried to fall asleep while looking up at the stars, seeing the constellation of the dragon and the viking and wondering how the viking could live with himself while in love with the dragon… Yoongi wasn’t sure how he was going to fall out of love with Jimin, but he knew he couldn’t act on it. Not when he knew the ending to the story of the dragon and viking lovers… the dragon turned on him, destroyed his life, and took away everything he loved… Yoongi was sure Jimin would do that too if he let himself love him long enough to see the end of their own story.

Jimin looked out across the waves underneath the moonlight, his whole body trembling just subtly after feeling Yoongi’s sword stab down into the ground behind him. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep that night, and when he heard Yoongi’s footsteps stepping near him, he thought he was a goner.

He didn’t know why he didn’t make a move to stop him from attempting to kill him, but something in him was just curious as to what Yoongi was going to do. Half of him couldn’t bring himself to believe that his childhood friend was really willing to murder him just because he was half dragon, and the other half wanted to see if he would really go through with it.

Jimin’s heart was pounding and he almost screamed out when he heard the sword dig down into the wood beside him, but he managed to stay still and remain quiet just long enough to feel the short wind that came from Yoongi falling to his knees beside him and then hear him start to cry.

He cried and apologized to his parents… He asked for forgiveness for not being able to kill Jimin, and he admitted that he never would be able to kill him… this made Jimin happy until he heard Yoongi admit that he would never be able to love him now either.

Jimin’s soulmate… his destined alpha… was never going to love him.

Just thinking about that fact sent a sharp pain into Jimin’s heart and he curled up more into himself, trying not to cry though his whole body felt cold now as it trembled and tried to figure out what to do now that he was being rejected by his destined mate who was supposed to love him no matter what.

Why did Jimin choose him? Why did Jimin think he had a chance with someone like Yoongi? Why was he so stupid to think this was all going to work out when they had sex?

Of course Yoongi was going to find out what he was eventually… And of course he was going to hate him for it.

~(***)~

     In his dreams...

          “Mama! Appa!” Taehyung giggled and called out for his parents, running alongside his siblings on the moss covered ground of the forest towards the cave their family lived in. His siblings were decorated with scales that were as black as midnight though they shimmered with an indigo tint when the sun shined on them. He looked the same as them, being a breed of dragon that lived in the deep parts of the forest and never wanted any trouble with other species..

     All Taehyung had known was peace.

     All Taehyung had known was his loving family, his siblings he played with all day with down by the ocean, and the feeling of warmth that came from curling up beside his parents in the cave at night, safe and sound from all evils in the world…

     Until…

     …until-!

 -

Taehyung snapped awake when a man grabbed his shoulder and forced a chain around his neck before he could react. His eyes widened when he felt the cold metal on his skin, but he didn’t say anything. He saw the axe in the man’s other hand and had been seeing what happened to the other dragons who protested. Jin told him to be smart and do what all the men wanted him to do to the best of his capabilities in order to stay alive, so with that being the only advice he had been given so far, Taehyung chose to follow it religiously until he got his memories back and knew what was going on both with himself and with everything happening to him now.

Things were starting to become confusing to him though... dreams... nightmares... they were all coming to him when he fell asleep, and he couldn't help but wonder if maybe they were the memories Jin told him would soon come. 

It was strange seeing himself in another form and loving other creatures that were supposedly his family though he felt so distant from him, but would he someday remember them and feel for them like he must have used to?... 

Would he someday remember why he became a human when he had a family he seemed to be so happy with? 

 -

     In his dreams,

     Appa died one day when a hunter came to their cave wanting to kill a dragon to prove their manhood in their tribe. Originally, the hunter was going to kill Taehyung, snatching him out of his cave where the rest of his family was and holding a knife up to his neck to slit his throat and cut his head off to bring it back to the tribe, but appa thankfully stepped in… Appa grabbed Tae from the hunter’s arms and threw him back into the cave before roaring at the man to try to make him go away, but the hunter hurried to slit his throat. Taehyung watched in horror as his appa’s voice ran out, and he let out a gargled sounding roar before falling to the ground outside of the cave in front of the hunter’s feet.

     The hunter gasped in shock and looked down at the body of the large dragon, surprised he had managed to kill it so easily but wasting no time to celebrate his success. He shouted out happily and bent down to start working to cut Tae's appa’s head off with the knife he used to kill him with.

     Tae’s eyes widened and he wanted to scream out in fear and agony, but he was quickly grabbed back by his mama, hushed by her softly and tucked under her wing as she pressed herself up against the back of the cave and hoped the hunter wouldn’t venture into the cave to find them.

     Taehyung could sense on her that she wanted to kill the man who killed her Alpha, but she was restraining herself from doing so…. she had her young to protect.

 -

Taehyung’s eyes widened and he had tears threatening to fall from his eyes when he remembered what he had dreamed about last night, his father’s death and the thoughts that ran through his mind when he watched him die…He felt what was in his heart that day, his first feelings of fear and sorrow hitting him like a punch to the stomach and making him want to sob out for what he knew he had lost. 

He was feeling it all again. He was finally relating to who he was as a dragon. Like a puzzle piece, he was fitting himself into the past, and now he could only think about the one question that ran through his mind as he watched his appa die and was running through his mind now as he re-lived that moment from so long ago:

What kind of monster would kill his appa in front of him like that?

And he thought of the answer that came to him in that moment as well:

A human.

Humans killed dragons mercilessly and with no remorse, and Taehyung now remembered how he had learned that at such an early age.

He was forced out of his cage with a yank of his chain from one of the men who had woken him up that morning, and he chose not to fight them still. He remembered now what their kind did to his father, and he didn’t want to suffer the same fate. He still had a family possibly waiting for him if he made it through this… hopefully…

He was dragged out to an opening near the stone village built for the humans to live in when not handling and torturing the dragons caged up outside of it. They led him up the hill and finally let him stop and stand in place where they were now all in front of the largest stone house in the village.

Taehyung was beside Jin now, something that let him feel a sense of calm since Jin was the only person he trusted in this place. Jin wasn’t going to let harm come to him. Jin was a good dragon just like his mama and appa.

 -

     In his dreams...

     Mama was in pain these days…

     Taehyung wasn’t sure why she was in so much pain though she had told him and his siblings that she wasn’t going to be with them for long now that their appa, her alpha, had died. She cried as she spoke and nuzzled herself up against her young, but the sense of dread in the tone of her voice was too strong for them to find comfort in her warmth.

     Tae shied away, not wanting to believe he was going to lose his mama too because of an evil human.

     A few days passed, and his mother led him and his siblings down to the ocean to teach them how to hunt for food. She was trying to make them learn at an early age how to survive on their own because she knew her time with them was limited and wanted to make sure they could take care of themselves before she eventually died away and left them all alone.

     While creeping through the forest on their way to the ocean, Tae followed closely in his mother’s footsteps, walking at her pace and stopping when she stopped and looked over into an opening in the woods where two humans were. Well… one of the humans were human. The other was a dragon.

     Taehyung could recognize the other dragon in his memory as Jin, and the human beside him was Namjoon.

     As a young dragon, he was confused why a dragon was kissing a human and giggling as he spoke to him, but his mother brought him close in fear of the two in the opening to notice them, and she whispered to Tae, “Dragons who love humans are the worst kind of creatures… They are the ones who turn on their own kind every day… They are the ones who turn a blind eye when our kind is killed by those two-legged beasts.”

     Little Tae’s eyes widened and he looked at the other dragon in his human form in disbelief, shocked that a dragon would really grow up to turn on their own kind and fall in love with a human when all humans did was hurt and kill. How could that dragon choose to turn a blind side on all the pain their kind suffered from the humans? How could a dragon willingly fall in love with a human?

 -

Tae turned to Jin with widened eyes, now remembering him from his memories and how he felt when he saw a dragon who loved a human for the first time ever. The words his mother whispered to him in the forest that day resonated with him too much and made him forgot how he had thought he was a human his whole life until this very moment. Right now in this moment, he couldn't imagine himself as a human. He was a dragon who just lost his father and was about to lose his mother in his memories. He was scared. He was angry. He was beyond sad... and he couldn’t understand how anyone could love a human anymore.

He had to put Jungkook to the back of his mind for now because after remembering how his appa died. All memories of Jungkook were tainted now too. Jungkook killed a dragon once to impress Taehyung, holding up the head of what he had called a beast and telling him that that death was all for his lover. Taehyung had been grossed out of course, but he didn't think much about it other than the fact that Jungkook was smiling proudly at what he thought was a romantic gesture... 

Now it just made Taehyung sick to his stomach. 

How had he let a dragon killer become his Alpha? 

...Why did he end up growing up to turn on his own kind too?

     “Everything’s going to be ok,” Jin whispered to Taehyung when he noticed how the younger boy was staring. He offered a smile to him, but Tae could only look away and forward, not sure what to think of Jin now with his memories flooding in like a wave rolling into a bay.

They were coming back slowly but all at once, and with every memory he recieved, the more confused he got about everything he thought he knew of before.

He used to think Jin was a good dragon, but now he wasn’t so sure.

He used to think he loved Jungkook, but now he wasn’t sure if he should.

He used to live among humans, but now he feared them. Now he hated them.

He used to have a family. But humans took them away.

 -

     Mama’s health was growing weaker, but Tae was trying his best to learn how to be a grown up dragon as fast as possible so she wouldn’t have to worry about him and his sibling’s surviving without her.

     He hated seeing how she was withering away slowly, but he had to stay strong. He had to stay strong for her and for his siblings, and-!

     His siblings were killed one by one around him by humans needing them for food or for their skin and scales. He wanted to cry and scream as he watched in a nearby bush as his siblings were caught and killed by hunters right in front of him before being hung to their belts and taken back to a little village on the shore of the island.

     He froze in horror as he watched them be taken away from him, but he couldn’t move until they were completely gone, and when he was finally alone, he sprinted back to the cave to be with his mother.

     He ran to her in tears, crying out in a cub sounding rawr and telling her as soon as he entered the cave, “M-Mama, they’re gone! They’re dead!”

     She was barely able to lift her head with how weak she was, but to the sound of her child’s words, she managed to complete the action fairly quickly to ask, “What little one?…” she looked around for her other children though the only trembling one in sight made it clear to her what had happened.

     Taehyung let out another soft cry when he sensed the dread in her scent appear. Her eyes glowed a bright yellow and she asked him in a hurried voice, “Who killed them? Who took them away from me?”

          “Th-The humans…” Taehyung answered in a wary voice, not wanting his mama to push herself though she was already getting up with a strength Taehyung didn’t know she still had. He backed up a bit and watched as she started to leave the cave, finishing his answer with, “They killed them and took them to their village down by the shore!”

          “The village by the shore…” she growled, turning in the direction of the village that had taken so much away from her. She had one more child left, but how long would it be before those humans took him away from her too?

     Taehyung started to follow her out of the cave, “Mama, where are you going? I-I don’t want to go near humans again. Please don’t leave me!”

          “Hush, young one,” his mother turned around to him one last time and nuzzled her head against his own. “I’m going to make it so you’ll always be safe on this island. Just do me a favor and stay here alright?” she stepped away from him and flapped her wings up to prepare for a flight away from their part of the woods, “Stay here,” she repeated.

     Taehyung didn’t want to stay in the cave if that meant she was leaving him all alone, but he knew he couldn’t do much. He was too young to fly, and he didn’t want to go near anymore humans ever again. He just nodded his head and backed up into the shadows of the cave where he felt safe before she lifted up off the ground and disappeared above the clouds over the stormy island….

     That night, she attacked the village on the shore and set the whole place on fire.

     That was the last time Taehyung saw his mother alive.

 -

     “Taehyung are you ok?” Jin asked, worried why he had been so quiet the last few minutes as they waited for whatever was happening to them to come. Jin had picked up a few words from the language the vikings were speaking around them and gathered enough understanding to know that their leader was going to speak to Jin and Taehyung. About what? He had no idea. But he had a feeling it either had to do with them being from the same village or them not turning into their dragon form, and he hoped they wouldn’t be punished to greatly for those reasons. 

Taehyung lifted his head up with a newfound calmness evident in his expression, and he spoke to Jin with a slight frown, “Yes… Why are we out of our cages?”

     “I’m not sure,” Jin glanced around himself, “Don’t worry though, I won’t let them hurt you,” he looked back to Tae with a smile though he knew he barely had any strength against all of these men. Not unless he could change into his dragon form, but that was impossible with his baby.

Tae’s expression soured for a split second when Jin promised he would protect him, but he looked away without another word after that and turned his attention to the man who had just arrived on the scene with his body covered in metal armor and an indigo cloak attached to his shoulders that dragged across the ground as he walked. He had ashy colored hair and a short beard that looked soft and groomed. A crown made of fangs were on his head, letting all those around him know what his name was.

He was the King of the dragons. The ruler of the beasts and the man the whole world feared.

He walked up to them with a relaxed walk and crossed his arms as he spoke to them with a soft chuckle underneath his deep voice, “So you two are dragons who like to pretend to be human, hm? You’re the first one’s we’ve gotten from a village that didn’t turn into a dragon as soon as we brought you back here. Most like to change form as soon as they are here to at least try to escape, but you both,” he grinned and pointed at them with a jokingly narrowed stare, “You both must think someone’s going to save you, don’t you?”

Talking to this man after getting his memories back made Taehyung realize more than ever why he needed to hate humans.

When both he and Jin didn’t answer, the man’s confident smile twisted into one of anger so suddenly, and he shouted out, shocking them both, “Answer me! Why aren’t you changing into your dragon form?! Do I need to torture you both to bloody hell before I see the beast you two really are?!”

     “I just found out I was a dragon…” Taehyung decided to finally mutter out, not wanting to get killed just because a human couldn’t have his way.

He couldn't believe he was already finding himself thinking he was too different from humans to be considered the same thing as the man in front of him, but wasn’t it just yesterday he was afraid of being a dragon?… With these memories though, it was hard to turn a blind eye on who he really was. He was a dragon who had a family destroyed by humans. What would make him still want to be a human even now? Even the person he loved killed dragons and was proud of it... How could he continue to love someone like that when he knew he was the very thing his lover frowned upon?

A dragon in love with a human was a dragon turning a blind eye on the torment forced onto his kind by the monsters who walked the planet and claimed dragons as their enemies. Jungkook was… no. Taehyung wasn’t going to tell himself that Jungkook was a monster.

Jungkook was sweet. Jungkook was an exception, right?…

But Jungkook was a human.

Taehyung bit his lip and folded his hands together in front of him, deciding to think about those trivial thoughts later as he continue to reply to the King of the Dragons, “I don’t know how to turn into one; I’m sorry…”

The king scoffed at this, shaking his head and running his hand down his beard with a humored tilt of his head, “You don’t know how to turn into one, huh? All your life you’ve never realized you were a beast?”

     “It’s true,” Jin spoke up for Taehyung, stepping forward and speaking in a calm but also assertive tone of voice, “He grew up as a human on our island, so his powers lay dormant with no one to tell him what he was or to teach him how to be a dragon. He’ll either have to access his memories of being one again or have another dragon here teach him how to turn back if you want to see his true form.”

The king grimaced and turned to Jin with a glare, “Ok? And why aren’t you turning into your original form?”

     “I’m…” Jin looked down and bit his lip. He rubbed his hand over his stomach and glanced at Taehyung for just a moment before turning back to the king and admitting softly, “I’m pregnant. I can’t change my form.”

     “Pregnant with a human’s baby?” the king raised an eyebrow, and Taehyung raised his head and turned to Jin in surprise, "You're pregnant?... With Namjoon's?...." his words trailed off, but a smile already started to form on Jin's face as the older man answered him with a soft giggle, "Of course! He's my alpha after all..." his smile turned sad and he looked down at his stomach, patting it softly and muttering to himself, "Namjoon knows, but... Jimin has no idea," he chuckled and tilted his head, "He's going to be so surprised when he finds out he's going to be getting a little brother or sister after all this time."

The king smirked and waited for Jin to finish speaking about the baby he was expecting before saying, “Ah, so your village is fine with the intermingling of your two species…” he let out a deep chuckle and uncrossed his arms, “Well I’m not interested in half dragons, so we’ll have to get rid of that thing so you can turn-!”

     “No!” Jin looked up at the king in shock and cried out breathlessly without thinking, causing two men to come from behind him to hold him in place just in case he got any ideas. They forced him to his knees and held his arms up by his head as Jin started to breath heavily in a panic and beg the king to give his child mercy, “P-Please, let me just have it, then I’ll do whatever you want! You won’t have to bribe me or tortue me into submitting to you! I’ll willingly do what you want, just as long as I get to keep this baby!”

The king sighed, “Babies are a lot of work though, so you wouldn’t be able to do anything for me while taking care of that thing.”

     “Please…” Jin whispered, his bottom lip trembling. He looked up at the king in a glare with tears in his eyes, “Please! You already tore me away from my family; don’t do this too!”

The king couldn’t help but smile at Jin’s agony, watching how his expression twisted and fell with every breath he took as he tried to protect the life growing inside of him. That was why he couldn’t keep himself from full on grinning when he raised his hand and said, “Men, you have my permission to beat the dragon until he miscarriages. His child will only be a burden if it is born.”

     “No!” Jin screamed out, twisting in the men’s grip on him and shooting fire from wherever he could to try to burn them though as soon as he shot out the first flame, one of the men punched him in the face and sent him down on the ground on his stomach. The other men then held Jin down to keep him in place as the king shouted out, “No more fighting unless you want to die along with your baby! I don’t want to have to lose a possible soldier in my army, but I will not hesitate to end your life if you prove to be a problem.”

     “You can’t do this!” Jin breathed out in both a scream and a plea, “Please! This baby is so important! I’ll kill you if you-!”

     “Hush omega weakling,” the king chuckled to himself and turned to Taehyung, “Do you want to end up like your friend here?…”

 -

     Taehyung watched from a cliff as his mother sent her wrath down on the village near the shore. The whole community was up in flames painted in a blazing gold and orange hue of colors. People screamed and people died, and Taehyung’s mother scared even him with the lack of mercy she bestowed upon the humans who had hurt her so much. He liked that it was happening to the people who killed his appa and killed his siblings though. He wanted to watch them burn…

     But he only grew scared and worried when mama started to fly away from the island when the people of the village found her and started to attack her. She flew away, and…. and he never saw mama again until nine months later when the chief of the village brought back her head to his people to show that he was stronger than her after-all.

     Taehyung ran back to the forest and cried out, wanting nothing more than to be in the safety of his cave with his family even though he knew he’d never get to do that again. He ran past the dragon who loved humans and turned his back on their own kind, and Tae felt a hatred in himself starting to form. How could a dragon watch horrors like this happen and be ok with loving humans and having their children?… making horrible hybrids of beast and dragon…

     He wanted to kill all the humans.

     He needed to kill all the humans.

     He couldn’t let them hurt other dragons like this! His whole family was gone because of them! How could creatures like them be allowed to roam the earth alongside dragons?!

     He had to finish what mama started. He had to burn them all. Every last one of them. 

     And that dragon in the woods that was pregnant with the human’s child?… That dragon was in love with the man who murdered his mama. And that child was the son of the monster he knew he needed to someday kill.

     Chief Joon killed mama. He needed to die. 

     Jin turned his back on the dragons, letting their pain and torture continue as he fell in love with monsters. He needed to die. 

     Jimin was their baby... half of two terrible people... half monster. 

     J-Jimin needed to die. His parents needed to know the pain Taehyung felt when they killed his whole family off one by one. 

 -

Taehyung glared at Jin as he screamed and cried on the ground for the king to give mercy to his child. Tae grit his teeth as his memories finally finished flooding back in. Memories of his family… memories of those happy times… memories of how humans ruined everything… memories of how chief Namjoon had been the one to kill his mother, leaving Tae orphaned for good. Taehyung remembered how he had tried to kill Jin and Namjoon's first baby, Jimin, as revenge when he had seen them all spending a happy day on the beach together as a family. The child had taken his first steps towards him right before he was about to bite into his throat to kill him, and Taehyung had gotten distracted by the baby’s giggle for just a moment and lost his chance…

Not only that…

He had run away from Namjoon and Jin, not wanting to be recognized by them, and he had run all the way to the village without realizing it. He ran into humans who caught a glimpse of him, and before he knew it, he was turning into a human to try to throw them off and his memories cut out from there.

Like Jin said... he was too young to change his form... He was only a few months old at the time, and as a human, that meant he couldn't retain as much as he could when he was a dragon, causing him to forget how to change back to his original form completely and eventually causing him to forgot who he was at all. 

But now everything was back, and Taehyung felt sick to his stomach as he thought about how he had been playing human all his life now… He had befriended the humans, fallen in love with humans, listened and obeyed them with so much trust and respect, became best friends with them, and… and turned his back on the dragons as well as completely forgot about what he was.

He was the worst kind of dragon of all, wasn’t he?

     “Don’t hurt his baby…” Tae muttered out as he continued to stare on at Jin struggling down on the ground. He realized what he had said and snapped his head up to the king to explain his words, “Keep it alive because that baby is the chief’s, and he will be coming to save his mate and child at some point.”

The king’s eyes widened and he turned back to Jin, “Is this true? The chief is your mate?”

Jin was cautious to reply at first, but he decided to warily nod his head and answer, “Y-Yes, he is.”

He glanced at Taehyung, but Tae refused to make eye contact with him now as he turned to the king and said, “Keep the baby alive just so you can be able to use it as leverage against the chief when he comes. I’m sure he’ll be willing to give up his whole village for his mate and child.”

     “Oh?” the king tilted his head, “And you must have something up your sleeve? A way for everyone to get out of here in one piece?”

     “No,” Taehyung frowned and looked over at Jin again. Tears fell down his cheeks as vivid memories of his family dying right before his eyes to humans and Jin’s family in particular clouded his mind, and it was all he could see in the moment. He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, “I want you to let me kill the chief. Let me kill their whole family.”

Jin had seemed passive at first, thinking Taehyung’s words were just a product of his quick thinking in order to save Jin for now, but he slowly started to realize how serious Tae was. Seeing the look in his eyes, all he could see was a damaged soul in so much pain it needed to make others feel that pain too…

…Taehyung must have gotten memories back, and they must have been painful enough to cloud up everything he had learned and thought he knew these past eighteen years.

     “I remember everything, Jin,” Taehyung quickly wiped his tears away, his eyes starting to glow yellow the more he thought about his memories and the amount of anger he felt towards Jin, Namjoon, and the whole human race right now. He let out a soft breath underneath his words as he tried not cry and growl out to the father of the boy who used to be his best friend and the lover of the man who used to be his beloved chief. Now all Taehyung could see was a traitor, so he clenched his hands into fists and growled out, “You… You’re people took everything from me…” he sniffled, thinking about mama and appa, and how he had been so friendly with their murderers all this time.

Well not anymore.

He had to finish what his mother started, and that was destroying all the humans who took everything from her. Took everything from him.

He grit his teeth, “It’s time I finally take everything away from you.”

Chapter Text

Storm at Sea

     “Jimin isn’t anywhere to be found here,” Namjoon growled out under his breath to Hoseok, anger evident in his voice as well as his expression that had become more and more sour the longer they walked around the trading island they had been sure they’d find Jimin and Yoongi at. They had walked in and out of market stalls and covered enough of the forest to have most of it memorized, but there had been no sign of Jimin or Yoongi.

And with no sign of his son and the man who was hopefully still protecting him? Namjoon was growing worried and helpless and his mood scared his men more than any battle they had ever faced before.

     “Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” Hoseok assured the chief and looked up at the dark gray clouds covering the sky. It looked like it was night time in the middle of the day and drops of rain were already sprinkling down on the earth below, touching Hoseok’s nose when he looked up and causing him to wrinkle it in distaste. He turned to Namjoon and changed the topic to a problem that was soon going to arise if they didn’t address it now, “There’s going to be a storm soon. Should we try to sail away or seek shelter somewhere on island and continue looking for Jimin later?”

     “Chief Joon, there's no sign of your son and Yoongi's boat docked along the shore of the island,” one of Namjoon’s men ran up to the two of them and informed him of their findings. Hoseok’s shoulders tensed at the bad news, and he turned on Joon to see him now completely scowling at the whole situation. He grit his teeth as his hands curled up into fists and he muttered out, “Ok so then they moved on to somewhere else, but where?”

     “They must have found out where Jin and Taehyung are?” Jungkook wondered out loud from beside Namjoon, his words causing Hoseok to glare at him subtly since the last thing he wanted was for Namjoon to be reminded that he was also missing his husband as well as his son. He was about to tell Jungkook to hush up before he made their chief angrier, but Namjoon spoke up before he could with a sigh, “But why would Yoongi let him go there? He knows I want Jimin safe… He knows Jimin’s going to die if he ends up on that island-!”

     “Jimin would throw Yoongi overboard before listening to him,” Jungkook argued, his bravery only coming from the fact that Namjoon wasn’t his chief so he didn’t fear him.

Namjoon’s men watched on in awe as Jungkook turned to their chief with a serious expression and tone, “He and Yoongi hate each other, and I know Jimin wouldn’t give up finding his best friend and Jin just because the boy who has been mean to him all his life wants him to stay at home and accept that they are gone like everyone else in your village has-!”

     “Jungkook!” Hoseok warned when the younger viking’s words went too far. He leaned forward and grabbed Jungkook back before anything could happen, but Namjoon only remained passive and stood in his place, staring at the ground and absorbing Jungkook’s words like a child who was being forced to accept a reality he dreamed wasn’t real. Jin and Taehyung being gone was a reality he wished wasn’t real, but he had promised Jin so long ago that he would focus on Jimin. Jimin was someone who wasn’t gone but was about to be, and he had to focus on finding him. Jimin was his top priority and always had to be…

As much as he wanted to find Jin… he knew what Jin wanted from him and had to respect that.

     “Jungkook go back to the boat,” Hoseok watched Namjoon’s expression warily and started to push Kook away, not wanting this outburst to turn into a fight, but Jungkook refused to move from his spot and Namjoon spoke up by then, saying, “I haven’t accepted that Jin and Taehyung are gone. I know they are and I will never stop fighting until they are back in our village again… but Jimin isn’t gone yet. We need to work to prevent that before working to try to bring back two people we lost that might already be dead… Jungkook, do you understand?”

     “No, I don’t,” Jungkook glared at Namjoon, “It’s barely been two days, and you already think they are dead?”

     “This is a cruel world-!” Joon started, but Jungkook stepped forward and shouted out, “And they both have adapted to it! They can survive out there just as much as we can! In order to be a good chief, you have to believe in your people, right?” Jungkook’s chest huffed with low and quick breaths as his words started to come out strained and forced, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he continued to yell, “Why is it you can’t believe in your own family?”

Hoseok looked down, his eyes wide in shock though he wasn’t going to dare try to step in now to save Jungkook’s ass. He just stepped away from the two men and listened to Jungkook continued to dig himself a deeper grave, “You’ve always treated Jimin like he isn’t capable of anything which is why he didn’t tell you he was leaving! He knew you wouldn’t let him go. He knew you thought he wasn’t capable!”

     “I do think he’s capable-!” Namjoon started to defend himself, but Jungkook interrupted him again in a shout that sounded like a cry, “Well then why does he think he would let your village down if he was chief of it?” his breaths were coming out loud and fast, but his frustrations of not being able to find Taehyung were coming out faster than he could stop them for his own sake, “He… He is one of my best friends, and I’ve heard him say since we were kids that he thinks there’s something wrong with him because you’ve never believed in him. He thinks you’re embarrassed to have him as a son.”

     “Jungkook, stop,” Hoseok finally demanded when he saw Joon’s expression fall from shock and sadness that this was really what his son thought of himself and their relationship. Anyone who knew Joon knew that he only wanted what was best for his son. He only wanted to take care of him and protect him from the cruel and unforgiving world… not drive him to thinking that he was weak or a failure.

Jungkook glanced at Hoseok with a glare and let out a huff, not arguing with the other boy though because he knew he went too far as well. He only crossed his arms and scowled at Namjoon one more time before leaving to go towards the ship that was docked on the shore near them.

After he stormed off, Hoseok turned to his chief and assured him softly, “Jungkook’s just mad. He’s saying things he know will hurt you, but everyone here knows you only want the best for Jimin.”

     “Has Jimin ever told you that he thinks he’s a failure because of me?…” Joon finally looked up to Hoseok to ask softly. His lips were parted slightly and his eyebrows were strained with worry, “Don’t lie to me Hoseok…”

Hoseok bit his lip and looked down, wondering if he should continuing assuring his chief or obey him and tell him the truth, and having followed the older man’s orders his whole life, Hoseok sighed and muttered out softly, “It’s not your fault. He knew you only wanted to protect him, but most of the village treated him as if he was weak because of it.”

     “I….” Namjoon’s words trailed off and he decided to give up on trying to explain himself and just ran his fingers through his hair as he thought about where to go from here. He sniffled and turned away from his men, “Jungkook’s right, we should get a move on. There’s no point in staying if Jimin and Yoongi aren’t here.”

     “Shouldn’t we ask around to see where they went though?” Hoseok watched as Namjoon turned on his heel and started to make his way to the ship. He began to follow after him, continuing to ask questions, “There’s too many islands to check each one on our own without any given information. Yoongi and Jimin could be anywhere right now!”

He hurried after Namjoon all the way to the shore and hopped up on the boat after him with the rest of Joon’s men following behind them before Namjoon finally turned around and answered Hoseok with a confident voice, “The king of the Dragon Army has never tried to keep himself hidden from the world. I’ve sailed past that Hell of an island many times on my way to battle; you can hear the sounds of dragons roaring from hundreds of miles away.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened, “So you mean… We’re going there now?”

     “It’s a death trap,” Namjoon furrowed his brows and looked down, “I didn’t want to put our people through anything more than they had already gone through during the attack, but it looks like we have no choice if Jimin is headed there Are you all still willing to risk your lives for me to save my son?” he glanced around the ship at the men he had brought with him for a simple retrieving mission that had turned into a suicide mission in a matter of seconds.

He waited for his men to protest, but all who were present stood tall and didn’t say a word.

That was the viking way.

     “You either die a coward or you die in battle,” Hoseok spoke determinedly with a small smile, “And I’ll follow you into every single one until the day I die.”

Namjoon grinned and turned to the rest of his men that were nodding in agreement and already grabbing their weapons they brought just in case but now needed for sure if they were going to come up on the most dangerous army and island in existance to save their chief’s family.

Namjoon felt proud of his men, glad that they were willing to do such a noble act for him, but before he could say anything about it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and quickly turned to see Jungkook, his eyes still set in a glare and his expression stuck in a scowl as he spoke in a mutter, “I’d rather die than make it back home without my two best friends. I’ll be following you into this too.”

     “Thank you, Jungkook,” Namjoon placed his hand on the younger boy’s hand that was still resting on his shoulder.

When he touched Jungkook’s hand, the younger boy’s brows furrowed with a flash of guilt for a moment, his eyes turning down towards the deck of the boat as he thought about his next words and looked back up at Namjoon to say in as serious of a tone of voice as he used during their previous argument, “I’m sorry about what I said back there, Chief… I just really want to find them.”

     “Me too,” Joon sighed and stepped back, motioning for his men to ready the ship for them to sail out of port, “And let’s hope they are all ok when we do find them.”

     “They will be,” Jungkook assured him, “Jimin is strong. So are Tae and Jin; they all are so much stronger than we give them credit for.”

Hearing those words made Namjoon’s heart tighten with guilt, having not realized until just today that all these years when he thought he was protecting his son, he was only hurting him… He forced a smile though and nodded, “They really are….” he glanced to Hoseok who was standing by, ready for any orders and also seeming like he was ready to break up another fight if there was one.

There wasn’t going to be one though. Especially when Namjoon ended any possibility of one by stepping away from Jungkook and heading to the other side of the boat, “Jimin must be on the isle of the dragons already, so we’ll head there and hopefully meet him there before he can get himself killed,” he realized what he said and glanced to Jungkook as he added, “No matter how strong you are, no one man is capable of defeating an army of dragons and a king who isn’t afraid to destroy the world in the process of getting what he wants.”

He then turned towards the open ocean, both hoping he would find Jimin there in the only other place he knew to look and hoping he wouldn’t find him there at all. He hoped Yoongi was taking care of Jimin or possibly leading them astray and towards safer places… Yes, he felt bad for being overprotective over Jimin and causing him to feel weak, but he would rather have a weak son than a dead one…

He… He needed to find Jimin and have him back more than anything. He didn’t know what he was going to do if anything happened to him. He had lived so long without Jin, but he had been there with Jimin since day one. He had watched his son grow up and fail and succeed at so much. The only thing Namjoon didn’t want to watch him do was die, and if he ever lived to see the day something as terrible as that happened, he didn’t know what he would do with himself. Nothing would ever help him recover from something as terrible as that.

Losing Jin was terrible, but at least he died with him and knew he was safe until the day that happened.

Losing Jimin was only worse because he knew he would still have to remain alive after that and live every day missing his son who he loved more than anything else in the world.

Namjoon bit his lip and closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer that he would find Jimin before he had to set foot on the island of dragons and death, and in the meantime, he prayed Jimin was happy or at least safe… He just wanted to finally have his family back again.

~(***)~

After facing his mate’s rejection, Jimin slowly fell into a sadness he had never felt before, one that made his body turn against him despite a mission being needed to get accomplished. Once he heard Yoongi say that he would never let himself fall in love with Jimin, he thought that maybe he’d be able to push forward and pick himself up again so he could move on and save Jin without any problems, but when morning came and he woke up from a restless sleep, Jimin felt the same as he did when he heard Yoongi’s words last night.

His heart still weighed heavy in his chest and his stomach turned with a feeling of nausea even though he knew he wasn’t sick. He was just sad. Too sad to smile, too sad to think about anything but last night, and too sad to get up or eat or do anything he needed to do for the mission.

Jimin noticed he was still only wrapped up in a blanket, his clothes somewhere on the boat though he didn’t want to get up and risk seeing Yoongi after everything that happened. He just wrapped himself up tighter and continued to stare out at the ocean, replaying last night's events over and over again in his head until it was mid-day and Yoongi was speaking to him from the other side of the boat, “I might change our route to an island I know of so I can ask for a map that shows the island of the dragons. It’s better than getting lost and ending up in dangerous uncharted territory with no supplies.”

Jimin didn’t answer. What was he supposed to say to someone who wanted him dead and couldn’t love him?

He just waited for Yoongi to accept that as an answer and do whatever he wanted since Jimin didn’t feel like arguing with him over what needed to be done right now, but instead of just being ignored like he thought would happen, Yoongi only spoke up again in a softer voice, “Jimin, are you ok? You should get dressed and eat.”

His words sounded stiff and forced, his concerns obviously being due to his duty under Namjoon to watch after Jimin and make sure he stayed alive, but Jimin could tell Yoongi didn’t care if he died or not. Why would he?… Jimin was the thing he hated most in the world. Jimin was just another one of the monsters who needed to die.

     “Jimin…” Yoongi called his name when Jimin continued to ignore him, sounding like he was growing a little irritated with Jimin choosing not to answer him on purpose. He stepped closer and said, “I’m going to get your clothes for you so you can get dressed, but you need to get up and eat-!”

     “Don’t….” Jimin finally sat up, continuing to refuse to look at the other man. He sniffled and ran his fingers through his hair, still glaring daggers at the ocean as he spoke, “I can take care of myself,” he turned to Yoongi with his eyebrows furrowed in the deepened glare, “Don’t pretend like you care about me.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “Jimin… We have a mission that we need to get over with-!”

     “Why did you even come if you were just going to treat me like shit in the end like you always do?!” Jimin interrupted him with a raised voice, finally standing up to face the man he loved for so long. The man he trusted his body and his bond to last night but only ended up being hurt and almost killed in the end. His heart was still weighing heavy from it and he felt sick to his stomach about how his own destined mate hated what he was, and he was finally coming out of his initial depressed state to be angry about it.

Yoongi made him hate who he was, and he should never be feeling like that.

     “You should have just let me go alone to die on my own,” Jimin grabbed at the blanket wrapped around himself and stormed over to where his clothes were so he could get dressed. “I would have preferred to die on this mission by myself than be with you-!”

     “Jimin, what the fuck?” Yoongi followed him over to where his clothes were and attempted to try to talk to him since Jimin was just growing angrier and angrier. “Are you mad about us not having sex last night? I changed my mind, that’s it. You can’t seriously get mad at me for-!”

     “Oh, is that what you’re going to pretend happened?” Jimin’s voice grew quiet but his eyes remained narrowed in a piercing glare as he stared straight into Yoongi’s eyes just a foot away from him. He scowled up at the warrior he used to always blush and giggle around before he found out just how different they were, “Let’s not kid ourselves, we both know what happened last night,” he sniffled, remembering how he felt in that moment he created a ring of fire around the both of them, almost completing their bond. Nothing was set in stone just yet since they were interrupted by Yoongi freaking out, so Jimin was only left with a cold and empty feeling, wanting desperately to finish what they started though he knew that was never going to happen.

Yoongi frowned at Jimin’s implication and only replied back with a calm, “We were both still scared about what had happened with the prince, and did something stupid. We don’t love each other.”

Those words felt like knives stabbed into Jimin’s heart, and he stood frozen in place, staring at Yoongi in shock. The boat started rocking more, but both of them stayed in place in their staredown, Yoongi speaking again bravely, “I’m not going to pretend to love you and have sex with you when I don’t.”

     “No, you loved me,” Jimin argued, “Or at least you loved the idea of me until you found out-!” Jimin felt a painful chill run up his spine and his whole body grew weak for a second before he was on his knees on the ground, feeling a sense of dread coursing through him like no other. He breathed out heavily in shock at the sudden change, and he looked around him, scared something was going to happen though he wasn’t sure what it was.

Was this because Yoongi was rejecting him? Was his body really starting to shut down because of that?… He never asked Jin anything about how dragon fated mates worked, but did dragons die if their fated lover refused to love them? He didn’t want to die. Not when he was out here so far away from rescuing Jin and Tae and also far away from Joon and unable to let him know how he died. He didn’t want to die before saving Jin or coming back home. He didn’t want to die before getting his family back together again.

     “Jimin, what’s happening? Are you ok?” Yoongi asked and bent down to Jimin’s height, his voice sounding worried though he didn’t make a move to help Jimin. His hand had raised to be placed down on Jimin’s shoulder, but he hesitated and drew it back before he could touch the monster he thought Jimin was.

Jimin frowned and leaned against a post on the ship, his breaths were labored but not enough for him to snap back at Yoongi quickly, “Stop pretending like you care about me when you almost decided to kill me last night,” he narrowed his eyes at Yoongi and added, “All these years, I’ve loved you more than anything, but last night, I discovered how much my feelings for you have been hurting me this entire time.”

     “Jimin, I…” Yoongi started to argue, probably worried Jimin would go to Namjoon and tell him about last night, ruining his relationship with the chief.

Jimin wasn’t going to do that though. He hadn’t even planned on coming back from this mission alive, but even when he did, he wasn’t even going to let himself think of the idea of Yoongi ever again. Not with the pain that always came with the thought of him.

     “Save it…” Jimin muttered, “Last night I tried to tell myself that I was the monster here… that I should hate myself for what I am because you hate that part of me, but I’m not going to let my feelings for you ruin what I love about myself.”

     “Jimin, what are you saying?” Yoongi started to ask, but more chills ran up and down Jimin’s spine quickly and he quickly hurried to get on his clothes, his body telling him to prepare for something though he wasn’t sure what it was yet. He turned so Yoongi wouldn’t be able to see his body as he changed, not deserving to see that part of him anymore though he did answer him, “I know you think I’m a monster,” he finished putting on his clothes and turned around to face Yoongi, “And I’m sorry you’re so closed-minded , but I will not change myself for your love and I won’t claim I’m something I’m not so you’ll accept me.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “Jimin…”

     “At the next island we stop at, I’m finding another way to get to Jin and Tae on my own,” Jimin didn’t let Yoongi speak. He dropped the blanket and laid it over one of the railings of the ship, just barely noticing how dark the sky was in the middle of the day from the clouds that had crowded around them over the ocean. That sick feeling wrapped itself around him again, stronger this time, but he still didn’t shy away from Yoongi despite the feeling of dread that was taking over his body, “You can go back home and tell my father I’m alright, but I’m doing this on my own.”

     “Jimin, you’re going to die out there alone,” Yoongi argued, but Jimin only straightened up and snapped back with, “Well then I’m making your job so much easier since I know that’s what you want, isn’t it?… me dead?”

Something in him was hoping that he could take back his words after all this. He felt like he was overreacting but at the same time was so glad he was letting all of this out. Yoongi had hurt him so much last night. Yoongi was still hurting him now by looking at him with those cold and distant eyes that had been so warm and full of love during their intimate moments last night that lasted too short and ended too terribly for Jimin’s content.

Yoongi’s cold expression started to seem more worried though as his eyebrows raised in concern and he warily stepped forward though his movements were too forced to be real. Jimin stiffened up and was watching Yoongi cautiously to see what he was about to do, but before Yoongi could do anything, a loud roar of thunder boomed through the air and their ship swayed violently in the waves that Jimin just now started to notice.

With the unexpected big rock of the ship, Jimin fell to his knees and realized only now why he was getting violent chills all through his body for the last half hour. The dragon in him had sensed the dangers of the violent storms, and he was too caught up in his problems with Yoongi to even notice.

His eyes widened and he looked up at Yoongi who had managed to grab onto a ship post to keep himself from falling over, “The storm is bad; how far are we from land?”

     “The clouds were barely even dark just a minute ago; what is happening?” Yoongi shouted out over the howling of the wind, looking around him at the dark rainclouds now ahead and narrowing his eyes when it started to rain violently over their boat, the cold rain hitting his face hard and causing him to flinch at first when he felt it starting to pour down on them. Yoongi realized his question didn’t matter at the moment though and quickly changed his attention to Jimin, “You need to help me take down the sail so it isn’t damaged by the storm!”

Putting aside their fight and their differences for now, Jimin nodded and scrambled up to his feet, just barely knowing how to help Yoongi with the sail though he was going to try his best to help him in any way possible since the last thing he wanted was to be stranded out here in the middle of the ocean with a man who hated him enough to want to kill him.

Yoongi hurried to the other side of the boat to take down one of the main sails on his own, leaving Jimin to take down the one closest to him. Jimin wasn’t sure if he knew how to do it correctly, but he grabbed a rope that was tied around one of the boat posts and untied it, watching the sail up above him starting to lose shape which meant he was on the right track to taking the sails down successfully.

He felt proud of himself for winging it and being able to do something a bit foreign to him so successfully, but before he could celebrate his achievement quietly in his mind, a large wave crashed onto the boat and caused him to lose his balance, knocking him down for a few seconds and sweeping him underwater too fast for him to be able to grab onto something. Before he knew it, he felt himself flipping under the water and losing his sense of direction before he was thrown from the boat and into the rough seas below.

He spent a few seconds underwater, panicking and thrashing around when he realized where he now was. When he broke above the surface again to breathe, he looked around himself in fear, unable to find the boat or anything familiar enough to swim too.

The water he was in was freezing, biting at his skin and bones with an unforgivable chill that was nothing like anything he had ever felt before. Another minute alone in the water and he would have thought he was going to die. That was… until he saw a set of yellow eyes coming from a creature swimming towards him.

Any man would have lost hope of survival once they were stranded in the middle of the ocean with water beasts around them, but Jimin knew that with those dangerous yellow eyes came a chance. Because not all dragons were monsters… Dragons were creatures capable of compassion, and if these dragons were anything like him and Jin?…. then he would have a chance to make it out of this situation alive.

Without a second though, Jimin swam towards the set of glowing yellow eyes, the light coming from them bright enough to shine from underneath the surface of the water. He had no idea what the creature looked like or what it was thinking, but remembering what Jin taught him about being able to speak to dragons mentally through just a touch, Jimin bravely reached forward underneath the water and breathed out when he felt something underneath, a face of a dragon who he was going to have to convince not to kill him.

He shut his eyes and requested for the dragon to let him speak to him, speaking softly when he gained access to the other creature’s mind, “I need to stay alive…” he struggled to think clearly with unforgiving waves crashing all around him, but he managed to hurry the words out, “My father was captured by the King of the dragon army and needs me,” he thought of Jin and Tae and how he needed to survive in order to make sure they survived. “Please…” he felt the tail of the dragon wrapping around him, making him realize that he could be pulled under and dragged to the depths below at any second now though he remained calm to continue to plead with it, “Please save me… I just need my family to be happy again.”

~(***)~

Yoongi had held onto the post he was beside for dear life when a large wave had come out of nowhere to sweep across their ship in an attempt to knock it over. Yoongi had shut his eyes and prayed not to be carried away with the water for just a split second but when he had looked up to see if Jimin was ok, the boat was absent of the young viking chief.

He was… He was gone…

Yoongi’s eyes widened as dread filled his senses, and he immediately let go of the sail as that lost its importance to him and finding Jimin became his only goal at the moment. He ran across the wet and slippery deck of the boat, shouting out the other boy’s name, “Jimin!” he screamed out loud though the sound of the wind drowned out any noise he made.

He spun around himself for a moment, checking every corner of the boat with his eyes as panic slowly started to make its way to every part of Yoongi’s body and he realized the wave had taken Jimin with it. Jimin was somewhere in the ocean, and the waves were only causing them to grow farther and farther apart the more this storm that came out of nowhere raged on.

Yoongi almost let out a cry of panic when he realized Jimin was thrown into a place even the strongest of men barely survived, and during a storm at night? Not even a god would be able to live through something like that.

Yoongi ran to the edge of the deck and looked down below at the water for Jimin, screaming out his name again and begging the gods to please just let him find Jimin for now so he didn’t have to come home to Chief Namjoon and tell him that he lost his son to the ocean out of all things on this dangerous mission.

His heart was beating so fast and a nauseous feeling turned round and round in his stomach. Yoongi was about to throw up overboard from dread and panic becoming too much for him to bare, but before he could, he saw a light. He just barely saw it out of the corner of his eyes, but remembering that same light that had appeared last night when Jimin and him were having sex, Yoongi clung onto it and desperately searched the area he saw it in until he saw it again, this time coming from underwater.

Yoongi ran to the side of the boat closest to the light and shouted out Jimin’s name again, “Jimin! Hold on, I’ll find a way to get to you!”

He knew Jimin wouldn’t be able to hear him but-!

But…

But those yellow glowing eyes didn’t even belong to Jimin. Those eyes… Those eyes belonged to a beast that was raising its head up from under the water, the monster’s face decorated with blue scales and scars from fights with other sea monsters down in the depths of the ocean below. The monster was hideous, its yellow eyes contributing to that fact too, but those eyes were glaring down at the monster Yoongi was all too familiar with… Jimin.

Jimin’s eyes were glowing now as he faced the monster with a fearless expression, keeping his hand on the monster’s head and speaking to it as if it could understand him and speak back.

Yoongi froze in place, watching Jimin speak to the thing as if they were friends. He was conflicted on if he should help Jimin or not since Jimin was a monster and maybe wasn’t threatened by other dragons, but… What was Yoongi going to do if Jimin was attacked by the beast in front of him? Jimin was always too naive for his own good, but he really was going to get himself killed this time by trusting one of those things too much, wasn’t he?

Yoongi wasn’t going to go back to Chief Joon and tell him how his son died that way…

Yoongi wasn’t going to let himself tell Chief Joon anything because he wasn’t going to let Jimin die. No matter how much he wasn’t going to let himself love or even like the other boy because of what he was, he still had a duty to uphold and he was going to live to it until the day he died.

As a last minute decision without any thought, Yoongi opened up a storage pocket underneath the deck and grabbed his sword, glancing back at the beast and wondering how he was going to take on a sea dragon in its own element during a storm, but he’d rather die doing his job than think back to this moment at how he was too much of a coward to save Jimin.

And without any more thoughts to possibly let himself doubt himself, he ran up to the edge of the boat and jumped into the seat below with his sword, realizing immediately that this was his worst and most stupid decision ever for too many reasons to count right now, but the only thing running through his mind was how he needed to save Jimin. He couldn’t go back home without Jimin. His home wasn’t his home without him. His heart felt empty without him. His life…

Wait, what was he saying?

This was his duty.

This was why he was jumping into the ocean to face a dragon head on when his chance of beating it were zero. Not because of a stupid reason called love. He had promised himself he wasn’t going to love a monster. He had promised himself he wasn’t going to love someone who was the same thing as what killed his parents.

He wasn’t going to do that to them.

He… fuck, he could feel it deep down that he still loved Jimin. He loved Jimin so fucking much, and it hurt to hate him but what could he do when he had hated dragons all his life and found out Jimin was one of them? What could he do? He couldn’t switch off his feelings like a light switch, but he couldn’t turn his back on the way he lived his whole life…

But he had also loved Jimin his whole life.

He couldn’t turn his back on that either.

Yoongi turned around himself in the ocean, trying to search for the dragon and Jimin that he could have sworn were out here. Where did their yellow eyes go? How did they disappear so fast?

     “J-Jimin!?” he screamed out, salt water getting into his mouth and burning his throat. He continued to search desperately for any sign of him, shouting out again, “Jimin, please! Just come to me; follow my voice!”

Tears were falling down his face though he couldn’t notice with every wave that sucked him under and shot him back up again, leaving him wetter than before. His nose and eyes burned from the salt water and he couldn’t hear himself shouting anymore from how much water got into his ears. He started to lose hope that he was ever going to find Jimin and was just going to end up dying in the depths of this ocean as well, never to be seen again, but before he could give up completely on finding and saving Jimin, he saw the other boy swimming up to him with his eyes glowing yellow like a lantern beacon in the night.

Before when Yoongi had seen those eyes, he had feared them and could only think of how the boy he loved for so long was a monster, but now, all he could do was shout out Jimin’s name happily and swim over to him quickly, yelling out to him over the sound of the storm, “I thought I lost you!”

     “Why did you jump in after me?” Jimin asked, grabbing Yoongi’s arm and looking around for the boat though it was too far away for them to even see it by now. He frowned and turned back to Yoongi, “You should have stayed on the boat.”

     “I…” Yoongi remembered their fight earlier and how Jimin said he wanted them to split ways on the next island they went to. Yoongi didn’t want to announce out loud yet that he was going to willingly open his heart up to a dragon, but he wasn’t going to let them separate yet either. He was still trying to figure out his own feelings, but one thing was for sure:

He never wanted to lose Jimin.

He was willing to die for him to keep him safe, and he knew that meant more than any hatred he held for a dangerous species, so without saying another word, Yoongi only swam closer to the other boy and wrapped his arms around his waist, almost causing them to slip under water with his weight adding to Jimin who was already struggling to keep himself afloat, but it was worth it to feel the other boy close to him in this moment, “Why did you fall in in the first place, you idiot…” Yoongi muttered out, “You could have gotten yourself killed,” he pulled away and made sure he was staring into Jimin’s yellow eyes to say in a serious voice, “And I don’t want that.”

Jimin’s eyes widened when he heard Yoongi’s words and he seemed too shocked to respond for a moment, his mouth opening but then closing again when he was at a loss for what to even say in response. He was probably conflicted on what to even think since just last night Yoongi was so cruel to him and then this morning he was cold to him and was pretending like what happened between them last night wasn’t because of their obvious feelings of love for each other. Choosing to put memories of their previous fight and experience from last night to the back of his mind for now though, Jimin’s expression softened and he swam closer to hold Yoongi close and mutter softly, “Don’t freak out about what’s about to happen…”

     “Wha-!” Yoongi just barely got a chance to ask before he saw the monster from before swimming up behind Jimin, it’s eyes still glowing as it circled around them closely.

His eyes widened and he started to grab Jimin and swim away in a sorry attempt to save the both of them, but Jimin stopped him and placed his hands on his shoulders, speaking in a serious voice to remind him, “I said don’t freak out.”

     “But a monster-!” Yoongi started to argue, but Jimin shook his head and interrupted him, “A friend… She’s going to help us make it out of this storm alive.”

As soon as he said that, Yoongi felt the large tail of the dragon starting to wrap around the both of them, holding them tight in its grip, and before he could even ask how they were going to be saved from the storm, they were both dragged under the water.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen

Yoongi woke up with a desperate gasp for air, his eyes immediately widening to look around him desperately for any danger or where the boy he needed to protect was. He just barely remembered what had happened last night, the dragon grabbing him and Jimin and ripping them both under the water. If Jimin hadn’t told him to trust what was about to happen, Yoongi would have fought for his life to get back up to the surface, but instead, he closed his eyes and let himself be taken under.

He didn’t fight it.

He chose to trust the dragon he had known all his life because whether he chose to believe it or not, Jimin was good.

Jimin was a good dragon.

Even thinking that was hard, but it was true. Yoongi knew it was true.

And now here he was, on the shore of an island, drenched in sea water and covered in grains of sand that rubbed uncomfortably against his skin, and when he came to completely, Yoongi realized that he was holding Jimin in his arms tightly, having never let go of him since he found him in the ocean after jumping after him last night.

Yoongi breathed out softly in relief and moved Jimin’s wet hair that was sticking to his forehead out of his face and bent over to listen to his heart beat to make sure he was ok.

Jimin’s heart beat was slow and steady, his chest subtly moving up and down with it which sent a wave of relief upon Yoongi. He held Jimin tighter and buried his forehead into the younger boy’s shoulder as he muttered out to himself, “You're never going out on the ocean again…”

That obviously wasn’t an option. They were safe from the sea right now, but they were definitely not home in their village yet… Where were they?

Yoongi lifted his head up and reluctantly pulled himself away from Jimin to look around and see where they were. Where did the dragon take them? Some place safe hopefully?… Some place more dangerous than the middle of the ocean during a storm? Without any weapons or supplies now, Yoongi was hoping to finally catch a break, but of course when he turned to his side to see if there were any threats around them, he only found a rather large water dragon up on land sitting right beside him.

Yoongi yelped out in shock and quickly grabbed Jimin to start to take him far from the dragon that seemed to be taking an interest in them. He picked Jimin up in one motion and stood up despite his legs feeling weak underneath him from overwork. He breathed out heavily as he started to walk back, shouting threats at the dragon, “Don’t come any closer or you’ll regret it!”

With his body feeling weak from being tossed around by the sea, Yoongi was only able to hold onto Jimin for so long before setting him back down quickly and stepping in front of him to keep him safe from the beast, “I’ve killed dragons with my own hands before, and I'm not afraid to do the same to you!”

The dragon tilted its head at Yoongi and huffed, backing up into the water when the human kept shouting at it. It growled underneath its breath and glared at him, almost fully disappearing into the water until Jimin suddenly ran up from behind Yoongi towards the dragon, hurrying over to it to keep it from leaving completely without receiving at least a thank you for saving them.

Yoongi hadn’t even realized that that was the dragon that had saved them until Jimin was running into the water to reach the dragon while saying gratefully, “Thank you so much! I’m… I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you, so thank you…” Yoongi watched in disbelief as the large creature with yellow eyes glowing and narrowing with rage calmed down to Jimin’s words, bowing its head towards him and letting him approach easily to continue to thank it. Yoongi almost spoke up to tell Jimin to keep his distance, but no words came out in the end. All he could do was stare on in shock as Jimin touched his hand to the dragon’s head, the two of them both falling silent though staring at each other as if they were having a silent conversation.

It took Yoongi a few minutes to realize that they were communicating to each other silently, Jimin’s hand connecting their minds through the power of touch which was something that only reminded Yoongi of how Jimin really was a dragon. This wasn’t necessarily a bad kind of reminder… It made Yoongi feel sick to his stomach to see Jimin so close with a beast, but… they were both smiling. Everything seemed ok. They didn’t seem like they were ravenous murderers, but Yoongi also couldn’t really believe that they were good down to their core either.

He couldn't imagine the dragon being good to its core at least… Yoongi couldn’t imagine Jimin being bad at all.

Jimin stepped back away from the dragon and muttered out one last thank you before the dragon turned and plunged itself down into the water to swim away, splashing him in the process and causing the viking boy to laugh a little before he turned to Yoongi and… completely changed his expression into one of disappointment.

Yoongi tensed up and waited on the sand as Jimin suddenly scowled and stormed up to him out of the water and across the sand to suddenly snap out, “So a dragon saves you and you still can’t be decent enough to, I don’t know, not kill it?!”

     “Ok it saved us, but it also was watching us sleep, probably planning on eating us if I hadn’t woken up in time,” Yoongi’s eyes widened when he realized Jimin was mad at him, and he quickly stated his case.

Something about knowing Jimin was a dragon now made Yoongi a little more nervous to get into arguments with him. Normally he would dismiss an angry Jimin or just go ahead and kill an angry dragon without thought, but with Jimin, he couldn’t do either of those things.

He was lost, having absolutely no clue how to handle the young viking and that left him more anxious than ever.

     “Why would it kill us after going through the trouble to save us?!” Jimin shouted out in irritation, “God, I just can’t tell if you’re that close minded or just an idiot!”

     “I’m just someone who knows what those things are capable of!” Yoongi defended himself. He wanted to try to diffuse the situation, but he also wanted Jimin to understand the way he saw dragons, and he knew he would only be able to choose one of those things. “You’re father has protected you from seeing the terrible side of those creatures, but trust me, their species is much worse than you think-!”

Yoongi cursed himself in his mind for choosing to argue more with Jimin to try to get him to understand his point of view, and as he expected, it only escalated when Jimin suddenly shoved him and growled out, “You’ve killed so many dragons, and you've never stopped to think that you might be a monster too? Look in the mirror because all I see when I look at you is someone I should be afraid of!”

     “All I see when I look at you is someone I should hate,” Yoongi retorted without thinking, causing Jimin’s eyes to widen with a hurt expression. There was a moment of silence that passed between them where neither of them knew what to say to that. Jimin’s breath came out in a tremble for a moment and he looked like he was about to cry, almost making Yoongi take back his words, but before he could, Jimin’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed and he muttered back with a glossy eyed glare, “I….” he looked down at the ground with shame as a tear fell down his cheek and to the sand beneath him, but he managed to look back up again to finish, “I can’t believe I ever loved someone as cruel as you…”

Yoongi’s eyes widened as if he was surprised by those words, but in reality, he was only surprised by his words. Why would he say something like that to Jimin? It was just… It was so hard hearing that the things that killed his parents and so many other people he grew up with and fought with weren’t evil, and to hear Jimin stick up for them and then call him a monster hurt too much for him to control his words, but why was he hurting Jimin? Yes, he thought he should hate Jimin at first for what he was, but there was no way he could ever bring himself to that-!

Jimin turned on his heel and stormed in the opposite direction into the forest that lined the shore closely, shouting out as he quickly put distance between himself and Yoongi, “You’re welcome for saving you by the way! You should have just stayed on the boat if all you were planning on doing was following me around and insulting me! I’m going to find a way to get to Jin now, but you should stay here, build a boat, and fuck off back home!”

     “Jimin…” Yoongi sighed and couldn’t help but roll his eyes out of habit, not having the energy to chase after Jimin though he knew he deserved it for treating him like how he did. He walked after him deeper into the treeline, calling out after him, “Jimin, come on, I didn’t mean it! I don’t hate you! Obviously I don’t hate you because I jumped out of a boat into an unforgiving ocean just to attempt to save you or die with you!”

     “Because you’re afraid of my father!” Jimin snapped, turning back to Yoongi to see how far behind him he was though he only ended up yelping out in fear when Yoongi was close enough to grab him and did, finally stopping him from running away completely and pulling him close.

Yoongi’s grip on his arm was strong and his expression was unforgiving as he muttered out in almost a growl, “Look, I think you’ve caught on by now to the fact that I found out what you really are two nights ago.”

     “When we were having sex,” Jimin’s lips closed into a line, his stance firm as if it was more important than anything else to add that fact into Yoongi’s point.

A blush crept upon Yoongi’s cheeks, but his expression didn’t change as he slowly began again, “…Yes, but-!”

     “You said you loved me. You said you always loved me, and then we had sex because I loved you too, but then you changed your mind because you found out what?” Jimin’s eyes narrowed, “That I’m a murderer? Am I a murderer, Yoongi?”

     “No-!” Yoongi began, but Jimin interrupted him again with the question, “Then am I a monster?”

Yoongi fell quiet, his grip loosening around Jimin’s arm, “No.”

Jimin paused, noticing how Yoongi was slowly starting to let go of him, looking down in shame as he realized just how wrong he was to have ever turned on Jimin in the first place. Yoongi bit his lip and shook his head, “There’s nothing wrong with you, but I was just scared…” he looked back up at Jimin, his expression suddenly soft like a child and his voice gentle unlike ever before, “I’m too scared to let myself love you, and that’s what’s wrong with-!”

Shouts came from another part of the forest nearby and both Yoongi and Jimin’s heads snapped up to the sound of it, their hairs standing on end when they heard familiar battle cries viking tribes only shouted when approaching what they assumed to be an enemy. And the only enemy they could both think of was themselves.

Jimin turned to Yoongi with wide eyes, wondering what they should do since battle was Yoongi’s stronghold between the two of them. He didn’t even have to look at the older viking for long though before he was suddenly grabbed and brought behind a large rock where they sat down and crouched low. Yoongi held Jimin close to his chest, his heart beating fast as he stayed quiet and listened for any sounds of close footsteps or hushed whispers of predators hunting their prey.

The warmth of his arms offered a temporary feeling of safety that Jimin held onto, but nerves slowly filled every crevice of his body and he turned his face into Yoongi’s chest, burying it deep into his damp clothes as he muttered out, “I don’t want to seem like a monster to you, but I will kill them with my fire powers if they end up being a threat.”

     “I’ll keep you safe so you don’t have to,” Yoongi whispered, feeling a little better about their position when he was reminded of the fact that Jimin had fire powers - though he would never admit that to himself. He subtly nuzzled his face against the top of Jimin’s head and shut his eyes, continuing to listen for any danger as he held the younger viking close and spoke one last time to him, “But if it comes down to it, use whatever you can to save yourself. Never think about me when it comes to saving your life.”

Yoongi didn’t want Jimin to die because of him. Not to avoid his judgement or his fear or his anger. Not to please him. Not to save him.

If anyone needed to make it out alive from this journey, it was Jimin.

And Yoongi couldn’t believe he was risking his life to keep a half dragon safe, but it was what he had done almost his whole life, and it was what he was going to do for the rest of it which he assumed wasn’t going to be long thanks to this dangerous mission Jimin had them both going on.

But that was ok.

As long as Jimin was happy…

As long as Jimin was alive…

Yoongi was fine.

…Damn, he really was head over heels and madly in love - with no point of return - with a dragon, wasn’t he?...

And that was ok.

~(***)~

     “It’s time I finally take everything away from you,” Jin heard Tae say those words and his blood ran cold with fear from the sound of the boy’s threat.

The king grinned when he heard Taehyung’s need for revenge and he clapped his hands together, “My, my, I’m impressed! I have had many dragons willingly join my army before with enough manipulation, but you are a rare case now, aren’t you?”

Taehyung glared at the king, his hands clenched into fists down at his sides, “I’m not in your dragon army,” he bit back from saying anything else since he was well aware he was in a difficult position, but he did manage to say quickly to please the king as well, “But I’ll work alongside you to make sure their village and their chief in particular aren’t a problem.”

     “By killing the chief and his whole family?” the king tilted his head, “Are they dangerous?”

Tae nodded, “The chief will stop at nothing to get his husband back, and their son is half-dragon,” he glanced to Jin warily, unsure of why he was mentioning Jimin though honestly he just wanted to see Jin and Namjoon in pain. He lost his family, so why couldn’t they lose theirs? He was speaking without thinking and words just kept coming out until he declared, “There’s no doubt, the chief, their son, and a whole crew of powerful vikings are on their way to kill you right now. They had hidden their son away so you couldn’t take him when you originally came to the island, but if he was out on the sand when you all came, let’s just say Jin and I wouldn’t be here right now,” his eyes narrowed, “Neither would you.”

     “Their son is that powerful?…” the king fell silent in shock, having been unaware that the chief and this dragon in front of him even had a full grown child capable of being an opponent to his army.

His hands clenched into fists and he turned to Taehyung, “So you want to kill him? If you think he’s so powerful, how do you suppose you’re going to kill him?”

     “He trusts me,” Taehyung answered, turning to Jin to make sure to see his expression when he talked about killing his son in cold blood, “He’ll never see it coming when I murder him-!”

     “Taehyung, please!” Jin finally interrupted from where he was down on the ground. He shook his head and continued in a breathy shout, “Jimin is your best friend!”

     “Yes, and a man who killed dragons for fun was my lover,” Taehyung admitted with a glare before spitting out, “That human curse is finally off me now though, and I’m going to make up for it-!”

     “By killing Jimin?” Jin sniffled, slowly getting onto his knees to try to stand up and face Tae though those plans were halted by two of the king’s men shoving him back down to where he was on his hands and knees, keeping him in place though he continued to speak anyway, “You know Jimin would never do anything to hurt dragons! He would never want you or your family to suffer, and you’re going to kill him?!”

Taehyung nodded, seemingly sure of himself and his decision to turn on his own best friend for revenge. He bent down to Jin’s height and smiled, tilting his head, “I’m sure if I still had a family, it would have only been a matter of time before he blindly followed you both into taking us out one by one like you did all those years ago… He is half human after all, right?” Taehyung frowned, “Half evil?”

     “Human or dragon, it doesn’t matter what side you are. That’s not what makes you a monster,” Jin glared into Taehyung’s eyes, tears falling down his face as he thought about his son being murdered by the boy he thought was his best friend. “It’s your reasons for killing that make you so-!”

     “Alright, I think that’s enough,” the king called out with a sigh, “I guess I can’t kill you since you are crucial to use as leverage against the chief, so men!” he gestured to his men and pointed to Jin, “Take him to the underground cells so he can’t get any ideas of escaping.”

Jin’s eyes widened when he heard he was being brought to the underground cells, and he tried to scramble back up to his feet again before anyone could grab a hold of him and take him there against his will, but he was too slow. Men were already on either side of him and grabbing him with grips too tight to dare fight away from. He knew he was capable of fighting them off but with his baby needing to be protected inside him, he was too scared to make any moves that could result in the king hurting his child or possibly even killing it.

He screamed out and fought against their grip all while begging to just be brought to a regular cell up on land with daylight, but the king had already turned and started walking away from him to handle other things, gesturing for Taehyung to follow along beside him so they could talk more about their new partnership in ruining Jin’s family’s lives.

And Jin let the men take him underground, not having any other choice but to let them since he wanted his baby and himself to live through this, but nothing was going to hold him for long. Not if it meant saving his husband and his child’s life… He didn’t want to have to hurt Taehyung, but if the boy made any kind of move towards Jimin, Jin wasn’t going to hesitate to kill the last remaining member of that dragon family to save his own.

Jin was shoved into a cell in the basement of one of the towers at the base of the dragon island, the men who brought him there only leaving after they taunted him with verbal jabs, calling him a monster and a freak for being a pregnant man. He didn’t mind it, having heard worse all his life.

All he could think about was how much he hoped now that his family wasn’t coming after him. He knew that Namjoon would thankfully not let Jimin even set foot off their island, so his son was safe where he was for now. He just hoped with all his heart that Namjoon wasn’t making the journey… Namjoon had a village to keep safe and rebuild now, so hopefully he was busy with that.

They had spent so long apart from each other, Jin hope that Namjoon was maybe just used to it by now and had learned to move on easily.

Hours passed in the darkness and Jin found himself growing too tired to worry about his family anymore. Though he was beyond scared for his family’s well-being and him and his baby’s future, he eventually fell asleep in the cold underground cell, letting his guard down for the first time in a while since this was the only time he had gotten to spend alone since he was captured.

A peaceful sleep could only last so long in an enemy base though before he was suddenly awoken by the sharp feeling of freezing sea water splashing onto him from a bucket the king swung over his head and body. He woke up with a gasp, grabbing his stomach in fear that something was happening to him and his child, but when he saw that he was still alone in his cell in the darkness of the basement, he calmed a bit, just glad he wasn’t being plunged into the sea to drown as he originally thought.

He soon became wary though of the powerful man who made his presence known on the other side of the cage with a bellowing laugh and the sound of the bucket being set down on the wooden floor before he spoke up in an amused tone of voice, “You were sleeping so peacefully, I felt bad waking you up, but I wanted to make sure you were comfortable here.”

Jin quickly scooted along the edge of the cage to the corner farthest from the king, shaking now from the cold wind that crept into his cell from the outdoors up above and chilled his skin still drenching with sea water. He couldn’t help the yellow glow that engulfed his eyes as he glared up at the king, speaking thickly, “My husband and son aren’t coming for me, so I’m trying to make myself comfortable since I’m sure I’ll be here for as long as you let me live.”

     “Oh?” the king tilted his head, “You have no faith in your family coming for you? How sad…”

     “No, I just made my husband promise me he wouldn’t risk his or our child’s life to save me,” Jin answered in a mutter, “Do what you want to me, but you won’t hurt my family.”

     “I won’t, huh?…” the king’s words came out soft yet confident at the same time, his voice low and clear though it was suddenly followed by the high pitched sound of him unlocking Jin’s cell door and opening it slowly, the metal door making a creaking noise that sent chills down Jin’s spine.

His eyes widened when he saw the leader of the dragon army stepping into his cell with a grin on his face that scared Jin more than any weapon or army he could ever face. That grin made Jin think of the worst being done to him, but he stayed still and remained quiet, not letting himself freak out or seem weak until the man in front of him closed the door to the cell and finally spoke, “I could do so much to you if I wanted…” he tilted his head and stepped closer to Jin, “Ruin you in ways that could make you unrecognizable to your precious family if you were ever lucky enough to see them again. I could also see what made the chief fall in love with you so blindly,” he reached out to smooth his palm over Jin’s cheek, letting it fall away though soon after he got the expression full of fear and disgust out of the dragon just as he wanted.

Jin was scared, his voice coming out in a tremor as he warned the king, “Touch me like that, and I’ll remind you that I can still burn you to ash in a matter of seconds.”

The king chuckled, finding the threat adorable coming from the soaking wet and trembling dragon who was desperately trying to hide his fear. He let himself laugh for a moment, truly finding torturing the creature amusing, but when he calmed down, he answered the dragon’s threat with a sigh, “Don’t worry, beast, I’d never want to have a mediocre viking chief’s sloppy seconds,” he reached out to touch Jin again, tracing across his chest just to get a rise out of the dragon for a second before trailing his hand down to his stomach, feeling the slight curve to it and humming out as he noted, “Must be a few months along already… Your chief knows?”

Jin stayed quiet, his bottom lip trembling as he stared up at the king and tried not to throw up or cry with how stressed he was now with just a hand simply touching his stomach. He didn’t want his baby to die, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to keep that from happening if the king desired him to lose his child at this very moment. He let out a shaky breath, not saying a word since he wasn’t sure what the smart answer would be.

His silence was answer enough though, the king nodding his head and deciding for himself, “So he does know… There’s no doubt he’s coming for you then to save his child growing within you,” he licked across his bottom lip and cupped the palm of his hand over the center of Jin’s stomach, “It’d be ashame if he got here, and you had to tell him that you lost the baby-!”

     “No…” Jin just barely whispered out softly, slowly touching his hand to his stomach though he was afraid any movement would cause the king to officially lose his temper and hurt his child. “No, please don’t… I need it,” he let out a heavy breath and looked into the king’s eyes, “And I advise you don’t kill the one thing keeping me from transforming back into a dragon. I’d hate to be you when you're stuck in this cage with an angry beast who is very capable of killing you for killing my child-!”

His words were cut off by a sharp slap to his cheek, the sound as sharp as the feeling that spread across his face. His expression twisted with pain and he grunted out, not wanting to cry out, though fear of his baby also being harmed made him want to.

He quickly opened his eyes again, but not before the king wrapped his hand around the front of Jin’s neck, pressing him into the wall and keeping him from breathing properly as he snapped out the words, “Cocky bitch,” his brows furrowed and he squeezed down harder on Jin’s neck, “Learn your place as just another one of my exotic pets or I’ll make sure you have a front row spot to your husband and halfling son being killed in a gruesome way, you understand?” he growled out under his breath and lifted Jin’s head up just a bit to slam it against the wall behind him again, finally letting go afterwards and standing up as he grumbled, “I’d kill your baby for how you talked back just now, but I’d prefer to see the chief’s face when I plunge a sword into your stomach, killing you and your child right before I kill the older one and eventually him,” he grinned at the thought and stepped back to make his way to the door, “He was never truly a threat to me until that boy who was captured with you told me of the chief’s way of fighting until he got what he wanted and then of your son’s power, and now I figure I might as well let myself enjoy a little bit of murder, yes?”

     “You’re taking advantage of Taehyung when he’s not in his right mind,” Jin breathed out, rubbing at his neck as he cautiously watched the king leaving his cage. He bit his lip and waited until the king was stepping out and closing the door behind him before he added, “And you’re only wasting your time worrying about this plan. I told you, my family’s not coming to save me.”

     “Ah, well we’ll see about that,” the king promised and locked the door to the cage again with a eerie sounding turn of his key, “I don’t mind having you rot down here alone either.”

Jin felt sick when he thought about having to stay down in this dark cell until the day he died, but he honestly preferred that over his whole family dying… The situation he was in was terrible, but he knew it could be worse… He could be scared for Jimin’s safety… scared for Joon’s safety… and sure he was scared for his unborn baby and his own safety, and him dying meant that Namjoon died, but… something about that was better than this bastard king getting to kill all of them in cold blood. At least Jimin would be alive in the end, and that meant enough to Jin to make dying alone in the darkness ok. 

His precious Jimin who was going to have to live without him again… he would be alone, but at least he would be alive, and that mattered more than anything to Jin.

He curled up into himself and thought of his son who was all grown up, hopefully doing fine right now despite his absence. Jin smiled at the short lived memories he got to create with Jimin when he came back, remembering his smile and his silly questions he had about being a half dragon, things he should have learned gradually when growing up but now had no way of knowing of since Jin was gone.

Jin sniffled, muttering out an apology to his family for being absent once again, but he fell silent after a while and resolved to go to sleep once more, knowing that all he could now was keep the baby he had with him safe and hope that maybe by some slim chance, Taehyung would change his mind about his plan of revenge and help Jin get back home.

Taehyung was angry now, but surely he would realize who the real enemy was…

Or at least he’d realize that helping someone as cruel as the king of the dragon army wasn't the way he should let out his anger on Namjoon and Jin for what they had unknowingly done to him.

But with the king currently manipulating Taehyung in his vulnerable state right now, Jin could only hope that Tae would somehow realize on his own who the true monster was and make his decision from there.

~(***)~

Namjoon was sitting near the edge of his boat, staring off at the rising sun on the horizon that brought a new day after the large storm that just happened. His men and him fought the whole night to survive it, but now that everything was calm, all he could think about were Jimin and Yoongi… Were they safe? Hopefully on land during the storm… Namjoon knew Yoongi could protect Jimin from many things, but a storm on a sea was one thing more powerful than any man on earth.

He couldn’t help but think about what Jimin and Yoongi were doing now. Arguing? Fighting to survive? Actually managing to save Jin?

Now that was something Namjoon knew wasn’t possible though he wished they could. He wished he was underestimating them, but not even he could defeat a dragon army like the one that was currently trapping Jin.

     “That storm took a lot of out you?” a voice suddenly spoke up from behind Namjoon as the owner of it sat down beside Joon and looked out at the sunrise as well with a small smile on his face, the warm glow of the sum illuminating his features in a way that made him look almost made of porcelain. Hoseok’s honey skin glowed a warm golden tone as he continued to speak in a soft voice, “You should rest. We’ll be reaching the island by tomorrow, so there’s no reason for you to be awake at all times today.”

     “Resting is for when the job is done,” Namjoon argued, but Hoseok turned to him with a raised eyebrow, “And you expect me to blindly follow a sleep deprived leader?” he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, “Get some sleep.”

Namjoon frowned, not at Hoseok, but just at the fact that he was right. Namjoon was right now sleep deprived and wouldn’t be the best leader to follow into battle - not like he ever was though - but he just couldn’t fall asleep knowing his whole family was out there, his husband, his son, and his unborn child, all in danger.

He sighed, “Jin and Jimin are out there in danger. I can’t sleep even if I tried.”

     “Would it help if I told you that if you sleep now, you’ll be able to do a better job of saving them?” Hoseok continued to try to convince his chief to rest, making sure not to overstep though he was going to be persistant.

Namjoon looked down at his hands and the water out in front of him, shaking his head and muttering out softly with a subtle tremble in his voice, “But what if there is nothing left for me to save?” tears threatened to form in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away, turning to Hoseok and suddenly asking without thinking, “Can I tell you something and have you promise not to let anyone else know?”

Hoseok paused, staring at his chief with a small smile as if they weren’t on their way to possibly die while saving people that were hopefully not already dead. He was just happy his chief was trusting him with a secret no one else could know, but he managed to keep his excitement down to a minimum as he acted nonchalant about it and nodded his head in response, “Yeah, you can tell me anything.”

Namjoon relaxed a little and stared deeply at Hoseok, almost as if he was glaring though there was no hatred in his eyes. Maybe a little wariness on whether trusting him was a good idea or not, but he seemed to eventually decide to trust Hoseok and come out and say softly so only he could hear, “I met Jin almost a year before Jimin was born… I actually met him the day I became chief.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened, “Was he part of our tribe?”

     “No, no,” Namjoon shook his head and looked down, “He was… he was alone out in the woods. We became friends though and eventually lovers fairly quickly.”

Hoseok’s lips closed into a thin line as he figured out what Namjoon was trying to say. No human lived all alone in the woods unless they weren’t truly human… And with the timing of Jimin being born less than a year after he became lovers with this man?… Hoseok knew where this was leading.

He stayed quiet though as Namjoon continued to speak, “Jin….” he paused and licked across his bottom lip to buy him some time as he tried to get the courage to admit the next part, his words coming out stiff and forced though his expression showed that he still trusted Hoseok enough to admit, “He’s a dragon.”

     “And… Jimin is half-dragon,” Hoseok concluded, his breath escaping as he officially heard the news coming from his chief and realized that his chief had fallen in love with a dragon and had a dragon child. It was crazy to think since he had always assumed Namjoon hated dragons, but it ultimately made sense… how Jimin was always so friendly with dragons, how he had a mother that no one had ever seen, how Jin came back out of nowhere and the three of them automatically became such a happy family.

Hoseok couldn’t help but grin, “I always had a feeling… about Jimin. Never thought it was true because I always told myself there was no way you would ever fall in love with a dragon, but-!” his eyes widened and he leaned in close, “Are you and Jin mates then?”

Namjoon seemed shock for a moment, either by Hoseok’s reaction or by his question, but either way, a blush rose up on his face and he awkwardly nodded his head, “We have a kid together, so-!”

     “And Jimin knows he’s?….” Hoseok eyed one of Namjoon’s men who was walking across the boat and getting too close for their conversation. He seemed to be minding his own business, but Hoseok was still wary as he continued, “He must know, right?”

Namjoon nodded again, “When Jin came, it was hard to hide that side of him anymore.”

     “Wait, so he knows… and he’s traveling with Yoongi,” Hoseok bit his lip and stared off at the sunrise again, the sun almost fully visible now over the open water horizon.

Namjoon looked out at the view as well, taking in the fact that his half-dragon son was on a dangerous journey with a man who hated dragons with a passion, “To say I’m worried about them is an understatement. Not just because of the dangers they are facing, but because I know Yoongi is going to kill Jimin as soon as he finds out what he is…”

     “…You know, Yoongi is going to kill me for saying this, but I want you to go to sleep and not worry about Jimin, so I’ll say it,” Hoseok began, catching Namjoon’s attention as he admitted on Yoongi’s behalf, “Yoongi is in love with your son,” a smile crept up on his face when he told his best friend’s secret, but he had been holding it in since they were children, and to be able to tell it to the father of the boy Yoongi had a crush on was better than anything else he could imagine, “He’s been in love with Jimin ever since Jimin started following him around, which has been funny to watch because Jimin was also obviously in love with him, but Yoongi didn’t think he had a chance or even deserved him so he was always so stand-offish to him!”

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Yoongi was in love with my son?” his mouth fell open, “All this time?”

Hoseok couldn’t help but chuckle and nod his head, “I know, it’s crazy. Yoongi being in love!” he leaned back, “I’m sure he’ll be conflicted when he finds out about Jimin, but he won’t be able to kill him. He’ll probably just be frustrated that he can’t stop loving him and then continue to protect him like he always did.”

     “You think so?” Namjoon couldn’t help but smile and look down at his lap, “Jin said that those two were going to end up together, but I wouldn’t believe him. They always fought, so I just assumed-!”

     “Chief Joon, come and see this!” he was interrupted by one of his men’s shouts from the other side of the boat and looked up to see the rest of his men and Jungkook all gathered the side of the ship to see something in the waters below. Their worried expressions and Jungkook’s scared stare into the water made Namjoon scramble up to his feet without hesitation and run over to see what they were all seeing, his heart beating hard enough in his chest for him to hear it in his head as he ran to the side to see the remains of a wrecked ship, split in half by the storm but still making their crest up at the top of the only sail left remaining visible.

Namjoon felt his heart drop down to his chest as Hoseok gasped softly and muttered out, “Their boat…” he turned to Namjoon, “They… They must have made it out alive, right? No way they’d both-!”

Joon grabbed Hoseok’s arm and looked to him with a scary glare, looking like he was about to murder someone on this boat for this sudden loss of hope for his son, but instead, he whispered to him, “Yoongi is one of our best warriors and Jimin…” he shot Hoseok a look to let him know what he needed to say about Jimin. Hoseok seemed to understand what Namjoon was trying to say with his expression and he nodded slowly as Namjoon continued, “We’ll continue on course to the dragon island, it’s close enough to here to be a possibility for where they could be, and we must take into account that this might have traveled a distance from where they originally crashed.”

     “But chief, they really could be anywhere due to the storm-!” Jungkook started to say, but Joon interrupted him with a short, “It’s like you said before, Jimin is strong and we should trust in him, yes?”

Hoseok nodded and pulled away from Joon, “Exactly,” he raised his hand as a gesture to make everyone get back to work, “Let’s keep moving onwards towards the isle of the dragons! They could be anywhere and we’ll hope it’s there.”

Joon watched as all of his men got back to work, anxiety and fear filling his body though he wouldn’t let it show. Not when he had to remain a good chief and leader and keep his men moving towards something. Jimin and Yoongi were obviously not by this shipwreck, but hopefully they were ok… hopefully some part of the dragon side of Jimin helped them make it to safety or Yoongi came up with some master plan that saved them, or maybe they found themselves on an island and this boat had only floated away from them… If they weren’t on the isle of the dragons though, Namjoon didn’t know what he was going to say to Jin. That was a whole new thing he was going to have to worry about, and honestly sleep was the last thing on his mind yet again though that was ok.

He’d sleep when he got his family back again.

He started to return back to the front point of the ship to make sure they stayed in the right direction, but before he could step away from the edge, not wanting to spare another glance at the water to see how bad the wreck was again, he felt a hand grab his arm to gain his attention before Jungkook’s familiar voice asked him softly and almost shyly, “Chief Joon… I know I said Jimin was strong, but this is a storm out in the middle of the ocean… Do you really think he and Yoongi found their way to the isle of dragons?...”

     “Well we don’t have many more options now do we?” Joon replied sadly, pulling away from Jungkook’s grip to turn and look him in the eyes as he added, “I need to keep our men moving forward with enough strength to go up against the army of dragons to get Jin and Tae back, but don’t worry,” he smiled and glanced behind Jungkook to see how their boat was slowly sailing farther away from the sinking ship that had hopefully drifted from the safe place where Jimin and Yoongi temporarily found themselves due to the storm, “I won’t rest ‘til get my whole family back and safe and sound back on our island. I can promise you and them, wherever they may be, that.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen

Yoongi and Jimin tried their best to remain quiet when they had heard the group of tribe members making their way around the island to scout out for enemies that had come up from the coast. They had stayed huddled together behind the rock the whole day, hearing sounds every so often that kept them from moving to a different spot or attempting to find a safer place on the island.

Eventually, the night fell though and the sounds died down, so Yoongi and Jimin were able to relax a little and lean against the rock as they thought of a plan on how to get off the island.

     “Maybe we could try to befriend them?” Jimin offered, “If they aren’t friendly, then I can just use my powers on them, but if they are, then maybe they can gives us a boat to leave on.”

     “Not even our village would gives two travelers a boat,” Yoongi countered, “But if they are peaceful and gives us time to make one, then I would understand that.”

Jimin huffed and looked down at his knees, “How long is it going to take to make a boat?”

     “For the two of us to be able to sail across the ocean again to your dad?” Yoongi sighed and shrugged, “A few months…” he buried his head in his hands, “We would have to make peace with the village in order to survive that long though.”

     “Yoongi, we don’t have a few months-!”

     “I know, but what do you want to do?” Yoongi bit his lip, “Steal one of their boats?”

     “Yes,” Jimin answered without hesitation, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed in determination. “Surely they won’t miss one boat, will they?”

Yoongi looked down and shrugged, “That doesn’t matter. They aren’t going to let us take a boat just like that, Jimin. They are going to fight us for it, and-!”

     “We’ll fight back,” Jimin bit his lip, “I… I know I must sound terrible for saying that. I know you might be second guessing even letting me live after you found out about what I am, but you have to understand that just like how you are willing to kill dragons for the sake of your parents, I-I’m willing to kill for mine,” Jimin hugged himself awkwardly and glanced down at Yoongi’s hands, afraid that they’d be swinging up to hurt him or hold him down any second now since Yoongi was on the side of humans before he was ever on the side of a dragon, but no harm ended up coming to him from the other viking.

After a few seconds of watching his hands warily, Jimin realized Yoongi wasn’t moving at all, so he looked up at the older viking’s face and stared into the piercing gaze that was staring right back at him. Yoongi shivered possibly by the chilling shore breeze, and his breath quivered softly before he muttered out, “Maybe we should talk about that-!”

     “There’s nothing to talk about.” Jimin quickly replied, not wanting to be told what he already knew.

Yoongi didn’t love him and Yoongi was never going to love him because he was a dragon. They were both from the same world, but they were too different to work out in the end.

Even though they were destined… even though Yoongi was Jimin’s chosen mate, he knew he would never be loved by him.

He looked down and sighed softly, wanting to just turn around and maybe try to sleep even though their lives were still in danger and a decision still needed to be made about how they were going to get off of this island, but before he could move at all, Yoongi reached over to grab his hand and say softly, “This is a really inappropriate time to talk about this, but I just wanted to let you know that I do still hate dragons, but I don’t hate you. Is that good enough?” he bit his lip, “I know you’re half dragon, and I honestly wanted to be able to hate you after finding that out, but it’s hard when I-!…” he took a deep breath and looked down, letting it out and pushing out the words through his teeth as he exhaled, “I’ve loved you since we were kids…” he shut his eyes, “I know it was shitty of me to treat you how I did, but I know now that it's going to be impossible for me to hate you,” he started to open his eyes, but fell completely still and silent when he felt something sharp against his neck, pressing into his skin almost enough to break the skin if just a bit more pressure was applied.

His eyes widened and he looked to Jimin who was staring at him with a fearful gaze. It was now visible that a sword was being held to his neck by a man in leather clothes and ash on his face. There were other men behind him with weapons and metal plates of armor on their chests and bodies as well, revealing themselves to be the tribe Jimin and Yoongi had heard earlier.

Yoongi subtly reached to grab Jimin’s hand to make sure he didn’t use any powers quite yet, and he spoke up for the both of them, “We don’t mean any harm… We were shipwrecked here.”

He stared up at the men with a serious but also humbled expression, waiting for them to say something though they just stared at him and Jimin angrily for a few more seconds, making no moves to either kill them both or remove the swords from against their necks.

Yoongi was about to say something more, but before he could speak, Jimin was the one to talk this time, “We’re looking for the island of dragons. Do you know if it is close to here at all?”

     “What business do you have there?” he received a response immediately from the man holding a sword up to his neck.

Yoongi felt his heart beating faster and faster as he watched the scene play out with Jimin having a sword up to his neck. Just one wrong move in a span of a few seconds could have Jimin being gone forever and Yoongi had no way of stopping it.

He watched in silence and fear as Jimin replied, “My dad and best friend were wrongfully taken by them, and I need to save them.”

     “No one is wrongfully taken by the king and his dragon army,” one man spoke up from the group, “They are either killed for being human or taken as a dragon. If your family wasn’t a dragon then they are most likely already dead.”

Jimin felt sick to his stomach when he was told that, fearing for Taehyung’s life since he definitely wasn’t a dragon. His best friend had feared those creatures his whole life, and now he might even be dead because he was dragged into this whole mess. Jimin frowned and looked down, unable to recover quickly from his worrying thoughts that started to drown his mind.

It wasn’t until Yoongi spoke up when he looked up from the ground to stare at the older viking who now said, “We are peaceful, but are you and your village? We would love to make peace with you all and possibly allow ourselves time to build a boat to get back on course to save his father and friend-!”

     “Silence!” the man holding the sword to Yoongi’s neck shouted, the pressure of the sword digging deeper into Yoongi’s skin and causing him to wince, “You shall beg to our chief for mercy, not us,” he grit his teeth and lifted the sword up away from Yoongi’s neck finally, “Both of you stand up. Hands up too.”

Jimin eyed Yoongi warily, wondering what the game plan was in this situation, but Yoongi just stood up with his hands raised as the man demanded, looking away from Jimin and choosing not to speak anymore. Jimin followed his lead, standing up as they were told to do and raising his hands as he remained silent and stared at the ground. He was going to burn these men to a crisp if they so much as made one move towards him or Yoongi to hurt them, but for now he was going to stay calm. Their chief might be more understanding, so he was hoping maybe he could talk him into giving them just one boat so no one needed to die today.

One of the men shoved Jimin close to Yoongi and pointed the tip of their blade against his back as they grunted out, “Move forward. If you try to run away, we’ll have no choice but to kill you.”

Jimin nodded slightly and looked down, his heart beat starting to quicken in fear. He bit his lip and looked out the side of his eye to Yoongi who seemed completely calm, still not staring at Jimin. He must have been in a situation like this before, knowing what to do immediately and not freaking out. Jimin wanted to freak out, but he wasn’t going to let himself be a burden on his own mission that was putting the two of them in danger. He had to act brave like Yoongi. He had to be the man Yoongi never thought he could be.

The man that no one thought he could be.

He kept his head down and hands up all the way to the village the tribe members brought them to, not even daring to look up at the houses made of stone in fear of what might happen to him if he did anything besides walk towards their chief.

Jimin’s nerves were now in charge of his whole body, he could barely even recall what he and Yoongi had been talking about before they were interrupted. Were they on good terms? Bad terms? Would Yoongi hate him forever if he had no choice but to kill these men that were a threat to them?

He tried to think back to what Yoongi had said before they were found, but before he could manage to remember anything, they were standing in front of a door. The sound of knocking snapped Jimin out of his thoughts, and he finally looked up to face the door painted with blood, his eyes widening at the sight of the frame made of bones with a human skull hanging as a decorative piece. He lost his breath and could barely hear the man behind him mutter out, “You two will be lucky to die quickly, so state your case and don’t protest his decision upon your lives.”

Jimin finally turned to Yoongi with fear in his eyes, wanting to say something, but when he was once again met with the sight of the older viking passively staring at the door in front of him, Jimin kept his mouth shut. If Yoongi wasn’t afraid, Jimin wasn’t going to be afraid either. Yoongi couldn’t look down on him more than he already did.

Jimin’s lips tightened shut into a firm line and he looked on at the door, clenching his hands into fists to keep himself from crying out in fear when the door finally opened and a man with graying hair and a long scar across his face answered.

     “What is it?” he asked in a hushed growl, his clothes hanging off of him like curtain drapes over a skinny man who must have been a great muscular viking chief in his prime. Now, he was scarred and skinny, worn and weak, just like his clothes. His sunken eyes eventually met Jimin’s though and he scowled, “Intruders.”

     “Shipwrecked peasants,” Yoongi finally explained in a calm manner, “There was a storm in the center of the ocean and the two of us washed up on your shores unaware that this land belonged to you and your village.”

     “Ah, shipwrecked?” the chief crossed his arms, his gaze slowly shifting to Jimin once more with more curiosity than disdain in his eyes now, “Are you two the only ones in your group to make it or were you traveling alone?”

     “We were traveling alone,” Yoongi answered.

Though Yoongi was the one to speak, the chief still kept his gaze on Jimin, nodding along to Yoongi’s words though he seemed to have his mind focused on other things at the moment. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth though and turned to his men behind the two shipwrecked boys, “Did they give you any trouble?”

     “None,” the man behind Jimin answered, “The quiet one said they were on their way to save his father and best friend from the king and his dragon army though.”

     “Oh so he does speak!” the chief smiled, “Though he says foolish things,” he looked down at Jimin, “If your father and best friend aren’t dragons, then they are dead, and even if they weren’t, you will be if you step foot on that island.”

Jimin bit his lip, “My father and best friend are strong. I have faith they’ve made it this far, and I’m not going to stop fighting until I find them again. Dead or alive,” his heart was beating fast and he felt like throwing up as he spoke to the chief in such a confident way. He was sure it would make the chief angry, so he bowed his head towards the ground afterwards, awaiting a punishment of any kind for speaking in such an impolite manner, but instead of a slap or possibly something worse, he felt a hand touch his face gently, the feeling soft and delicate as if he was made of pure glass and the person before him didn’t want him to break.

He looked up at the chief in confusion, wondering why this man who usually killed those who found their way upon his land was touching him with such grace and… fondness. The smile that spread slowly across the man’s face sent chills down Jimin’s spine, and he leaned back just a bit to avoid his touch.

The chief chuckled at Jimin’s shyness and spoke softly, “You’re a pretty boy to be getting himself in danger in the middle of the ocean… Are you with this man beside you on your own accord or do you belong to him?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he snapped his head up, seeming offended by the accusation though he didn’t dare to defend himself. He looked to Jimin with his expression still frozen in shock, staying silent as he watched Jimin reply with an embarrassed, “Oh no, I don’t belong to him. We’re…” he bit his lip and looked to Yoongi for a few seconds before sighing and muttering out softly, “We’re just traveling together. I hired him to show me the way to the island my father and best friend are on.”

     “Oh is that so?” the chief tilted his head and turned to Yoongi, “And has this boy paid you yet?”

     “No,” Yoongi answered without hesitation, “So I’d like to keep him alive until he does.”

     “Well how about this ultimatum to help you both out,” the chief seemed amused as he began to give them a choice to make, leaning against the doorpost and crossing his arms as he continued, “Either I kill you both here, slowly and painfully until your voice grows weak from screaming for mercy or…” he laughed a little, “I buy this pretty boy off of you for whatever money he owed you and give you one of my boats to leave on?”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he turned to Yoongi, wondering if he would actually take the offer of money and a quick way out of here, but Yoongi didn’t even give him a chance to think that he’d be betrayed for a second before shaking his head and adamantly saying, “Neither of those options. I need Jimin safe and with me.”

     “Oh, but that wasn’t a choice,” the chief frowned, “See, I gave you the option of riches and survival, and you’re not even going to think about it?” his eyes flickered with amusement and he smooth a hand on Jimin’s cheek again, “Ah, he must have sparked something in you too, hm?” his smile grew into a grin and he chuckled, “To give up such an offer… do you love him?”

Jimin pulled away from the chief’s hold again, about to speak up for Yoongi and let him just take the offer for now since Jimin was sure he could find a way out of this village afterwards, but moving away from the chief caused the old man to grow angry fast. He snapped his head to Jimin with a glare and grabbed at his face again, bringing him close and growling out, “Don’t you dare pull away from me!” without hesitation, he slapped his other hand across Jimin’s face and sent him to the ground with the powerful blow, his eyebrows still furrowed in anger as he started to shout, “You are sorely mistaken if you think you can get away with going against my hand! Maybe I was wrong to show you both a little mercy by giving you an option to live-!” before he could finish speaking, he was shoved into the dirt off the steps of his house by Yoongi who had immediately grown angry in Jimin's defense without thinking.

Jimin scrambled to his feet and reached for Yoongi's hand to try to sprint out of there together before they could get killed, but before he make any kind of move, one of the men behind him held a sword up to his neck once again, shouting out, “Behead the one who pushed our chief! That is the punishment for touching him so disgracefully!" he dragged Jimin back and signalled for the other men to hold Yoongi down on the steps.

     “No!” Jimin screamed out, watching as the other men in the tribe grabbed Yoongi and forced him to his knees as the chief finally got up and stepped back up to the doorway of his home, wiping dirt off his face before looking down at Yoongi and growling out, “Should have taken the option to survive while you had the chance, fool,” he motioned for the man behind Jimin to bring him closer as he continued to speak, “Now, I’m killing you and taking the boy regardless of your decision.”

     “Don’t you fucking dare,” Yoongi snapped back, trying to rip out of the men’s grip but failing. He remained on his knees and shouted again, “I’ll send you straight to Hell if you so much as fucking touch him again!”

The chief took a sword from one of the men holding Yoongi down and held it up above his head, “No man will ever be able to-!”

     “Stop!” Jimin screamed out over his words, his eyes now glowing yellow in visible fear as flames emitted around his whole body, burning the man behind him and causing the sword against his neck to drop to the ground. Jimin didn’t even notice how he charred the man’s body to ash as he took a step towards the chief quickly and shot fire at him and the men behind Yoongi, screaming for Yoongi to run when he could.

His flames began to engulf everything around him like one large circle of blinding light that he couldn’t see through. He couldn’t even see Yoongi through his powers that now looked like a golden sheet of hot flames covering his eyes.

It wasn’t until he felt arms wrapped around him and heard a warm and familiar voice whisper in his ear, “It’s okay… There’s no need for fire now. You killed them all-!”

     “I’m so sorry,” Jimin whispered, shutting off his powers immediately as if he didn’t just lose control of them. He looked up at Yoongi with his eyes still glowing yellow as tears fell from them, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to! I’m not a monster!” he caught a glimpse of a burn mark on Yoongi’s face, and he screamed in shock and fear, pushing himself away from him and muttering out, “No… no, no, no, I-I’m so sorry…” he looked down at his hands that were capable of the fire power that burned part of Yoongi’s face and he found himself ashamed of what he was for the first time ever.

Just like in the story that Yoongi told Jimin that one night about the constellation of the dragon and the viking, he hurt his fated one. He killed without thinking and almost killed the person he loved in the process, and that thought alone made Jimin sick enough to his stomach to fall to the ground on his knees and sob out in fear. 

Yoongi was right, he was a monster. Uncontrollable and harmful.

     “I love you, Yoongi, I never wanted to hurt you!” he cried out, unable to hear whatever Yoongi was saying. Why couldn't he hear? Why couldn’t he understand him? Yoongi’s mouth was moving as if he was speaking, but all Jimin could hear was his own deafening thoughts and a high pitched buzzing noise in the back of his head until he suddenly blacked out and fell limp in Yoongi's arms, the whole world falling empty and silent around him. 

This had happened a few times already on their journey to save Jin and Tae so far, but this time, Jimin was confident he wasn't going to wake up. And for the first time ever? He would understand why Yoongi finally went ahead and killed him. 

A monster like him really was too dangerous to be trusted after all.

~(***)~

Jimin woke up with a sharp inhale that felt like a wave of shock ripping through him. He immediately looked around himself and checked for any danger around him, his eyes already glowing yellow with caution. When taking in his surroundings, he found that he was in a small cottage built with logs and decorated with various furs and large paintings along the wall. Apart from the few decorations found in the house, everything else was bare. There was only a small desk in a wardrobe apart from the bed he was laying in, and the furs were only from small native animals to the island.

Jimin started to calm down when he saw that he was completely alone in the room, but he didn't want to stay where he was, remembering his last moments before blacking out. He had freaked out when Yoongi was about to die. His fear caused him to lose control over his powers and suddenly fire was everywhere… suddenly everyone around him that was a threat was dead… suddenly Yoongi was harmed because of him too.

Yoongi.

Where was Yoongi? Was he in trouble? Did he hate him?

Of course he hated him.

He never trusted Jimin in the first place, always thinking he was a monster because of what he was, and all Jimin did now was prove him right by burning part of his face.

He peeled the wool covers off of himself and let his legs hang over the bed, noticing then how he wasn’t wearing anything besides his underwear, his clothes nowhere in sight either. A chill hit his skin and he reached for a fur blanket on the bed to wrap around himself, hoping that his clothes were somewhere around the room so he wouldn’t have to go outside in nothing but his underwear and a blanket. When examining himself more though, he found that his wound from when he was branded by the prince was now wrapped up too along with a few other cuts and scratches he must have gained along the way during this horrible journey.

Had Yoongi bandaged him up? Who else would after what he did to this village's chief and men?… But why would Yoongi want to help him out either after everything he did?

Jimin frowned and stood up from the bed, feeling a bit dizzy when he first stood but managing to steady himself before he could fall over or stumble. He looked around himself once more for where his clothes might be, but they were still nowhere in sight.

Was he really going to have to leave this house and go out into the cold unknown half naked? Jimin could say that he had definitely done more embarrassing things back in his own village, but he was afraid who awaited him outside the doors. It wasn’t even vikings, evil chiefs, or death he feared. It was seeing Yoongi hurt and glaring at him with a strong look of hatred on his face that Jimin feared the most. Things were bad between them of course, but Jimin knew that after what he had done, there was no chance of them even being in the same room together again without Yoongi wanting him dead and making that very known.

Jimin sighed and decided that his only option was to leave this room and try to figure out where his clothes went or where he could find new ones, so he made his way to the only door in the small cabin. He was about to reach out to grab the doorknob and subject himself to the harsh northern winds and possibly an angry mob of people who were angry about their beloved chief dying to a halfling dragon, but before he could even touch the door, it swung open and someone came rushing in, causing Jimin to stumble back and lose his balance until he eventually fell to the ground. His blanket he had wrapped around him had tripped him and fallen off in the process before he landed, leaving him exposed to the person who just barged in.

The man who hurried in immediately dropped to the ground in front of him, setting aside his now clean and folded clothes to offer him a hand, “Hey, how long ago did you wake up?” he glanced over Jimin up and down and chuckled, “And were you planning on walking outside with nothing on? You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

Jimin was about to defend himself while also scrambling for his blanket to cover himself with, but before he could, his eyes met the eyes of the man in front of him and he froze in shock, noticing the burn on the right side of the man’s face and whispering as soon his heart dropped at the sight of him, “Yoongi…” tears were forming in his eyes and he stayed where he was, ready to face any kind of retribution the viking wanted to give him for what he did to his face, “I-I’m so sorry…” he covered his mouth with his hand and shook his head, “I didn’t mean to-!”

     “Am I really that ugly now?” Yoongi touched his hand to his face, mouth tightening into a thin line as he stared deeply at Jimin, waiting for his answer.

Jimin’s eyes widened at the assumption and he quickly hurried to assure Yoongi, “N-No, I just-!” his lips were trembling too much for him to speak clearly and he ended up rushing out the rest of his words, “I understand if you hate me for burning you. I’m only proving you right that I’m a m-monster…”

     “Woah, what?…” Yoongi picked the blanket up off of the ground and wrapped it around Jimin, “It’s just a burn, Jimin. It’s not like you took off my left arm, right? And I know you were trying to save me… Even a dragon hating idiot like me could see that.”

Jimin sniffled and looked up at Yoongi in surprise when he wrapped the blanket around him and assured him he wasn’t mad. He even spoke in a soft voice, his movements gentle and careful as if Jimin was the one that was hurt. Jimin could smell the scent of the sea in Yoongi’s hair when he leaned close to finish wrapping the blanket around Jimin, and he immediately fell into his hold, resting his head on the other man’s shoulder in complete trust as he muttered out, “I saw the chief raise his sword, and I thought you were going to die. I was so scared I was going to lose you, and I just suddenly… lost control,” he let out a soft breath, thinking about everything he could remember. He was sure killing the chief brought trouble on them, so he made sure to ask, “Where are we right now?… Surely everyone in the village wants us dead for killing their chief, right?”

     “Actually,” Yoongi spoke up and pulled back to look Jimin in the eyes, “Not every village likes their chief as much as we like Joon. This guy apparently abused his power with his people, killing any man who he saw as a threat and controlling the women by threatening their lives as well as their children’s lives,” he handed Jimin his clothes, “They’re celebrating his death right now, thanking you and your powers for saving them.”

     “O-Oh…” Jimin breathed out, finding that hard to believe.

Yoongi handed him his clothes and he awkwardly took them, not sure what to do now. He glanced at them and back up at Yoongi, “So I guess they’ll let us take one of their boats to get out of here?”

     “Yeah, I already prepared everything for us to leave whenever you want,” Yoongi stood up and held out a hand to Jimin, “Though I think you should stay for a night. It’s evening already, so leaving now wouldn’t be the best plan of action. Plus, I think the village wants to meet their halfling hero.”

     “I’m not a hero,” Jimin tried to argue, but Yoongi hushed him with a slight roll of his eyes, “Days of hearing you go on about how I underestimate you, and when I finally give you credit for being amazing, you shut it down? Put on your clothes and come outside, ok?”

Jimin stood up with the help of Yoongi’s hand and held his clothes tight to his chest, “Yoongi, I really don’t think-!”

     “I’m leaving before you can make any more idiotic points,” Yoongi backed up and reached for the door handle to leave, “I will come back in here if you’re not out in five minutes though.”

     “But Yoongi-!” Jimin started to call out, but Yoongi didn’t give him a chance to finish before hurrying out of the house and shutting the door behind him.

Jimin was left in the silent room once more, not scared anymore about what Yoongi thought of him though he was extremely confused by Yoongi’s kindness and how he didn’t seem to care at all about how Jimin lost control and burned him. Did that not raise any red flags for him? He always said dragons were uncontrollable monsters, and though Jimin didn’t want to believe that, he couldn’t help but think now that maybe he was one. He didn’t mean to be one, but maybe Yoongi was right… Maybe it was something he couldn’t help. It was just who he was.

Uncontrollable and dangerous.

Everything Yoongi hated in dragons was apparent in Jimin.

He couldn’t help but keep thinking that pesteringly toxic thought even as he got dressed and made himself presentable to go outside to the village that Yoongi claimed was thankful for him killing their evil chief. He patted his hair down and stepped up to the door, letting out a weighted breath and preparing himself for the cold air outside before throwing all his ashamed and guilt-ridden though and opening up the door.

The sky was painted with, organ, pink, and lilac colors, the clouds light and scattered across the sky. The smell of roasting chestnuts and meat suddenly filled Jimin’s senses and then he heard the music being played outside the cabin and throughout the village. He leaned against the doorpost and finally looked down from the sky, noticing the big bonfire in the center of the town and the few scattered fires along the shore that was visible from where he stood.

People were standing around the fires, all of them nicely dressed and wearing warm colored colors with muted oranges and mustard yellows. Some women wore shauls and men were dressed in furs as they laughed and clapped along with a few villagers playing the tagelharpa and drums.

Was there a festival happening tonight?

Oh, Yoongi said the people of the village were celebrating the chief’s death. He really wasn’t lying about that, was he?

Jimin took one step out of the cottage, hugging his arms around himself when a cool breeze drifted through the air and whipped through his shirt. It wasn’t too cold of a wind, but he still wanted to drift closer to the fire though he didn’t want to get closer to the people of the village. At least not until he was sure they didn’t think he was a monster or a demon.

He walked around the edge of the festival, only willing to be a bystander right now until someone came up to him first. He looked around at the village, noticing the colors of fall that now decorated the forest on the island. He saw the house he and Yoongi had been brought to to see the chief, staring in disdain at the stairsteps Yoongi almost died on which caused him to remember once again how he lost control.

He bit his lip and looked down, not wanting to see where the charred bodies of where the chief and his main guards once lay. He was too afraid to see if they were still there, too afraid to see what he was capable of with his power. He almost wanted to just head to the boat and tell Yoongi that they had to leave now before he got too wrapped up in his thoughts again, but before he could even thinking about heading towards the boat or looking around for wherever Yoongi went, someone tugged on his cloak from behind, causing him to whip around, his eyes immediately glowing yellow in fear of a possibly angry village wanting revenge.

He ripped his cloak away from the person and stepped back as he turned around, asking in a panicked tone, “What are you-!”

He stopped short on his shout and looked down at the little girl who tugged on his cloak, immediately feeling guilty for shouting at her when she looked up at him with wide eyes and her mouth opened in shock that he yelled at her. Jimin was sure his eyes were still glowing, so before he could possibly scare the little girl with his dragon side, he covered his eyes with his hand and looked away so she didn’t have to see the glow, “H-Hi, I’m sorry… You scared me, but I won’t hurt you…”

The little girl tugged on his cloak again and asked in a shy voice, “Is it true you are magical?”

     “I…” Jimin wasn’t sure how to answer that, not wanting to disappoint her but also not wanting to lie to her. He sighed and crouched down to her height, still covering his eyes as he offered a smile and spoke softly to not scare her, “I can create fire.”

She gasped softly, “Really?” she wrapped her hands around Jimin’s that was covering his face and slowly peeled it away from his eyes, “Can I see?…” her words trailed off when she saw the yellow glow in his stare.

Jimin’s smile faded and he looked down, knowing that she would be running away soon in fear like all humans did, but after a few seconds, she only leaned closer to look at his eyes, “So pretty…”

Jimin glanced around, knowing her parents would be running to take her away from him soon before he could kill her. When he saw no mothers or fathers running to save their daughter from him though, he smiled and looked back at the little girl, “You’re not afraid?”

She smiled now that he was staring right at her with the pretty glow, and she quickly shook her head. She pointed to his hands, “Can I see fire?”

Jimin couldn’t help but chuckle a little and laugh, “Yeah, of course,” he held his hand up in between them and created a tiny flame in the palm of his hand. He looked up at her to watch her expression, making sure her smile stayed so he didn’t scare her too much on accident. When she only stared on in awe, he smiled and asked, “Do you know what dragons are?”

The little girl nodded her head, “The big forest guardians!”

Jimin fell silent when he heard her answer, having predicted she was going to say they were beasts or scary creatures her parents warned her about. Guardians was something Jimin had never heard before. It never even crossed his mind that humans thought of dragons as protectors instead of monsters.

He couldn’t help but smile and mutter back, “That’s right. They’ll always protect you as long as you are kind to them-!” before he could finish speaking, he heard the sound of a mother calling out to the little girl in front of him, “Frieda! What are you saying to the dragon!” the mother hurried up to them, and Jimin quickly backed away, preparing to be yelled at by the mother until she quickly picked Frieda up in her arms and apologized, “I’m sorry about Frieda, she’s just excited your presence brought on a festival for the first time in a long time.”

     “Mama he’s magic!” the little girl sang out, “He makes fire!”

     “Yes, love, he’s a dragon,” she smiled at her daughter and then to Jimin, “Our village used to be guarded by the dragons of the forest until the war spread to our island. A man from the northern mainland killed them all and became our chief, and… and he kept us under his cruel rule and abused power. Though we don’t have much to offer, our village wants to thank you for what you’ve done.”

Jimin was surprised to hear the woman saying these things despite Yoongi already telling him exactly what she was saying. The village was thankful for him killing their chief. The village was actually happy about a dragon being in their presence.

It was a strange and unknown feeling for Jimin to be appreciated for the part of him his village always despised, but it warmed his heart in a way only few things did.

He smiled awkwardly though and responded in the only way he knew how, “I have to thank your people for being so kind… With the war between humans and dragons, I was expecting to be killed or chased out of here as soon as you knew about my powers.”

     “Oh no,” the woman shook her head and pointed to where most people in her village were still celebrating around the fire, “We know how dragons are the same as humans. No war can change that,” she smiled back at Jimin, her eyes suddenly moving to something behind Jimin for just a moment before an arm was wrapped around Jimin’s shoulders and he was pulled into someone’s chest as a familiar voice said, “Good, you’re finally out of bed. Thought I would have to drag you out of that cabin.”

Jimin pulled away quickly with a huff and glanced up at Yoongi for half a second before quickly looking away to avoid seeing the burn on his face. He trained his eyes on the ground and muttered out, “It’s my first time being surrounded by humans who don’t fear or hate dragons, so excuse me if I was a little scared to go out into the village with no clothes on.”

The woman chuckled a little under her breath and backed away, “I’ll let you two talk,” her lips puckered up in an almost devious smile though as she eyed Yoongi and spoke to Jimin, “Your mate was very worried about you after you passed out. It’s nice to see two lovers with such a strong bond on this island once more.”

     “Oh no, we’re not-!” Yoongi started to say, but the woman’s husband called out to her from the bonfire, and she turned to answer him while walking away before Yoongi could explain his and Jimin’s real relationship that was far from a ‘strong bond between lovers’.

He sighed and turned to Jimin, “Well, I guess it’s not too bad that she thinks that. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning anyway and-!”

     “And maybe we should head separate ways,” Jimin interrupted him, slowly finding the courage in himself to look up at Yoongi in the eyes and see what he had done to him. Guilt quickly found its way back into Jimin’s heart and stomach, and he backed up a little, finalizing the decision in his mind, “Yeah, you should head back home, and I’ll just continue on.”

     “What?” Yoongi’s smile fell and he looked almost hurt, shaking his head and refusing to go along with that plan, “After everything we’ve been through so far, you want to just split ways now? You know nothing about sailing; you’re just going to end up dying out there!”

     “Ok, but at least you won’t die with me!” Jimin shouted back, all his emotions suddenly coming up with that one burst. He was now staring right on at Yoongi with a confidence he couldn’t find in himself before, and he made his thoughts clear, “This journey is dangerous, the people we will encounter soon are dangerous, and I’m dangerous! Look at you! At your face!”

Yoongi crossed his arms, “What, you burn me a little bit while trying to save me and now you think you’re dangerous?” he stepped closer to Jimin, “You were trying to save me. I told you that I’m well aware you didn’t mean it, so just forget it, ok?”

     “How can I forget it when it’s going to be on your face as a reminder forever!” Jimin stammered, still riling himself up for his mistake. He sniffled and looked down at his hands, “I always thought that being half dragon was amazing because I finally found the other half of me, Jin. I could relate to someone who was amazing and kind and g-good! He never hurt anybody, but that’s all I seem to do! All I’ve done is burn and kill and-!”

     “For fuck’s sake Jimin, this whole trip you’ve been trying to convince me that dragons are good, and the moment I finally tell you that I trust you and you’re powers, you stop trusting yourself?” Yoongi interrupted him with a tired expression, “I’m starting to think that you just like disagreeing with me.”

Yoongi could see the state of Jimin’s mind in his teary-eyed expression, so he sighed and quieted down, biting his lip as he stared softly at the younger viking who was obviously scared about blacking out and doing things with his powers that he didn’t mean to do.

Yoongi was starting to learn that when it came to Jimin, yelling didn’t help, so he just stepped closer and muttered, “Jimin, a burn is nothing when it comes to what could have happened to me if you didn’t intervene,” he tried to smile though the whole concept of smiling to reassure someone was new and awkward to him, “You saved me. I’m happy, so why can’t you be happy?”

     “I just…” Jimin sniffled and looked up at Yoongi with glossy eyes, “I don’t like seeing you hurt. Especially because of me.”

     “Yeah, but I’m alive because of you, so… I think it’s fine,” Yoongi finally closed the distance between them and wrapped Jimin up in his arms, holding him close and reassuring him one more time that he wasn’t a monster like Yoongi originally thought, “You’re a good person. I’d say you are the kindest dragon with the biggest heart, but you’re honestly the kindest human with the biggest heart.”

Jimin was surprised Yoongi had brought him into a hug, but he didn’t fight it. Not when Yoongi was being so kind. It was unlike him, but Jimin couldn’t help but just tell himself that this was how Yoongi always was. Maybe he was a little too stubborn to be open about feelings, but this was always him.

He pulled back a little to look Yoongi in the eyes and mutter out, “So you don’t hate dragons anymore?”

     “Huh?” Yoongi tilted his head and awkwardly replied, “Well I still hate them. At least the ones who kill for no reason,” he sighed and looked down, “But… I can admit there are some good ones, like you and Jin.”

Jimin gasped, his eyes wide with surprise, “Really? That’s great-!”

     “But I will assume the worst until I get to know them,” Yoongi quickly added, still seeming wary of his decision that there could be both good and bad dragons out there just like humans.

Jimin couldn’t help but laugh at Yoongi’s hesitance and reach down to hold his hands without thinking as he said, “Well, we leave tomorrow and have tonight…”

     “Yes?” a blush appeared on Yoongi’s face and he couldn’t help but smile a little at Jimin’s insinuation.

He was about to say that they still had the cottage Jimin woke up in all to themselves before Jimin suddenly jumped and started pulling Yoongi towards the bonfire, “So let’s enjoy the celebration! It will be a nice break after every bad thing that has happened.”

He stumbled a bit from being dragged so suddenly by Jimin’s excited pull, but he eventually got his footing and told himself that of course Jimin wasn’t wanting to have sex with him again. Not after everything that happened between them these past few days.

Jimin held his hand all the way to the bonfire and continued to hold it even when he stopped and stared at everyone dancing and creating music that flowed through the air as the sun set on the horizon. He smiled at the sight, being so taken by it that a few minutes passed before he finally noticed how his hand was enveloped in Yoongi’s. He blushed and quickly pulled it out, stammering out the words, “Sorry, I got a little excited.”

Before Yoongi could tell Jimin that it was ok - and that he liked holding his hand - Jimin hurried over to the children who were all dancing around each other and asked them to teach him their dance. Yoongi sighed and stayed back, having always watched Jimin dance from afar at the festivals and celebrations their village had. He sat down on a log beside a few other men in the village and watched Jimin quickly picking up the dance the children were teaching them.

One of the men beside Yoongi nudged him, “Must be nice being mated to someone so powerful.”

     “Jimin?” Yoongi chose to ignore the word ‘mated’ for now since he didn’t feel it necessary to explain his relationship with Jimin to anyone in the village. He looked back to the younger viking who was on the other side of the bonfire still dancing and sighed, “I guess I never noticed his true potential because he was always so kind-hearted and gentle… and then when I realized he had the potential to be more powerful, I forgot about that gentle and kind side to him completely... I always seem to take him for granted no matter what,” he looked down at his hands and bit his lip, wondering if Jimin would ever give him a second chance after all the mistakes he had made.

He closed his hands and shook his head, “We’re not mates. I wish we were, but-!”

     “Yoongi?…” Yoongi heard Jimin’s voice say his name, and he shot his head up in fear Jimin had heard him. Jimin was now standing in front of him, eyes sparkling underneath the moonlight as an embarrassed smile spread across his face. Yoongi was sure he’d be able to see a blush on the younger boy’s cheeks if the sun was still out to provide light for him to see it, but for now, Yoongi could only assume that Jimin was blushing because he had heard at least the last of what he had said out loud.

Yoongi immediately fell into a blush darker than what Jimin was sporting, and he coughed nervously, deciding to explain himself so nothing was too awkward between him and Jimin, “I was just explaining our relationship to this guy beside me-!” Yoongi stopped speaking when he noticed that he was now alone on the log, everyone who had been beside him now up and dancing with everyone else.

How long had he been absent-mindedly thinking and talking to himself about Jimin?

Jimin laughed a little under his breath and extended his hand, “I saw you sitting alone over here and wanted to force you into having fun for once. Come dance with me.”

     “I don’t dance,” Yoongi waved Jimin away and leaned back, “Plus, I like watching you dance. You’re really good at it.”

     “You say that as if you’ve been watching me dance for a while,” Jimin smiled, “You should join me for once.”

     “No, I really don’t-!” Yoongi started to refuse again, but Jimin leaned forward and took his hand, leaning in closer though to whisper in his ear, “I heard you when you said you wished we were mates, but what? Hm, Yoongi?…” Jimin pulled back and tilted his head, “You're always taking chances, but why are you always so afraid when it comes to me?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened when he realized Jimin had heard what he said. He almost wanted to explain himself again or deny that he even said something like that in the first place, but even he knew that that would be idiotic to do. Jimin was telling him to take a chance.

Did that possibly mean that Jimin still wanted to be with him too?

He held his breath and pressed his lips into a thin line, resigning to Jimin words easily before taking his hand and getting up from the log, “I’m terrible at dancing; I hope you know that.”

     “Yeah, I know you’re terrible,” Jimin pulled him closer to the fire, “But there’s some good in you too,” he held Yoongi’s other hand and stepped closer to him, their lips almost touching until Yoongi leaned back and muttered, “Something makes me think you’re not talking about my dancing skills.”

Jimin laughed a little, “You’re mostly good, you just need practice.”

     “Yeah, you’re definitely not talking about dancing,” Yoongi laughed a little, letting Jimin put his body into a position to start dancing in. When Jimin had moved Yoongi’s hand from his shoulder to his waist, then to his hip, then back to his shoulder, and back to his waist again, he finally straightened up and smiled, “You ready?”

     “Not really,” Yoongi muttered softly, now unable to think about anything else but his hand cupping the curve of Jimin’s waist. A blush spread across his face and he looked away from Jimin, “But let’s start anyway so we can just get this over with.”

     “Hey,” Jimin reached up to Yoongi’s face and gently forced him to look down to him again, “This is what I’m talking about. You’re good… but you need practice. You don’t always have to be afraid to say what you’re thinking, or… or do what you want.” Jimin let out a soft breath and looked down to Yoongi’s lips, wanting nothing more than to have him kiss him.

Maybe once upon a few weeks ago, he would have stolen the kiss right there while he could, but he knew not to do that now. Not with Yoongi knowing what he was and still possibly hating him for it… especially after what he did. Yoongi may have told him that it was alright, but Jimin knew he didn’t deserve to kiss him after everything. Not after-!

His thoughts were suddenly stunned frozen when he felt warm lips brush against his own. The hand that was once cupping his waist started to slowly slide up the curves of his body until it rested on Jimin’s cheek. Jimin hummed out softly and melted into Yoongi’s kiss, closing his eyes as soon as he felt the contact between their two mouths. He brought himself closer to the older viking and whispered, “No more dancing… You want to take a chance, right?”

Yoongi looked deeply into Jimin’s eyes, the light of the bonfire beside them revealing his blush he wasn’t even trying to hide anymore, “I just took one, didn’t I?” he asked breathlessly.

This caused Jimin to smile. He held Yoongi’s hand tighter and pulled back, “Follow me,“ he then let go of Yoongi’s hand and hurried towards the forest, his heart racing when he thought about what he and Yoongi were possibly about to do. He smiled and looked behind him to see Yoongi following after him, already starting to take off his cloak as he asked breathlessly “Where are we even going?”

     “Somewhere private?” Jimin answered as if it was obvious. He found a large rock and ran behind it, seeing a flat spot of grass with a few leaves covering it from the trees up above. He kicked them away and turned to Yoongi who finally caught up to him, “You like this spot?”

     “We had a bed,” Yoongi complained as soon as he saw the area Jimin had chosen. He still offered a smile as he took Jimin’s arm and pulled him close, “It was indoors and comfy… with privacy… and uh…” Yoongi glanced at the top of Jimin’s head to see a leaf that had fallen on his hair. His awkwardly faked smile turned into a real one and he picked it up off of the younger viking’s head, “There’s no leaves falling on us.”

Jimin blushed at Yoongi fixing his hair for him and let out a soft yet nervous laugh, “I uh… I would love to do this in a bed, but I’m afraid…” his words trailed off when he became too nervous to finish his explanation. His cheeks felt like they were on fire when he looked Yoongi in the eyes and asked just to make sure, “What do you want to do tonight? Just so I know we’re on the same page.”

     “I want to uh… mate with you?” Yoongi coughed, “Is that the right term for it?”

Jimin buried his head into Yoongi’s shoulder to hide from the embarrassment, “It’s all new to me, so just say sex… You want to have sex.”

Yoongi shut his eyes, “That’s even harder to say, but yeah,” he pulled away from Jimin so he could look him in the eyes as he said, “I want to have sex with you. Not just because we're in the heat of the moment like last time though; I want to do this because I love you.”

     “Really?” Jimin’s eyes widened, “I love you too...” he bit his lip, “But because we are fated, I guess my body is going to assume we’re completing this kind of forever bond thing that ties us together forever,” Jimin crossed his arms awkwardly and looked down when Yoongi started to look beyond confused, “I’m only guessing though… Everytime Jin tried to explain this to me, I always ran away because it was too weird to talk about with my dad I just met.”

     “Well I guess we’ll figure it out then first hand,” Jimin heard Yoongi reply and felt the older viking reach under his clothes with cold hands only to quickly slip off his shirt over his head.

Jimin immediately covered himself up, embarrassed that he and Yoongi were really doing this, but all worries and fears were quickly swept away to the back of his mind when Yoongi leaned forward and kissed him. His arms wrapped around Jimin to pull him closer before his hands trailed down to his waist and lower.

Jimin closed his eyes and finally melted into the kiss, parting his lips to let Yoongi’s tongue through so he could taste the salt and cinnamon on his breath from whatever he last ate. Whatever it was, Jimin started to grow hungry not for food but for more of Yoongi. He pressed himself up against Yoongi more and started to slip his shirt off now as well, nudging the other boy to lift his arms up since he didn’t want to break away from the kiss to say a word.

Yoongi was able to understand and obey, lifting up his arms and helping Jimin take off their clothes in a rush to feel more of each other. Yoongi was the first to break away though when he stepped back and kicked his shoes and pants off to the side and said, “Do you think we’re fine out here in the woods? I trust you, but if there are other dragons around-!”

     “I was told none of the dragons that were here are still alive, so we’re completely alone,” Jimin answered, stepping close now and leaning in to kiss Yoongi again. He licked across the surface of Yoongi’s tongue, tasting the cinnamon again which caused him to smile and pull back for just a moment to say, “I’d protect you though if there was any danger. With this bond, we have to watch each other’s backs now, right?”

     “I do want to be stuck with you forever, so yeah,” Yoongi tilted his head and closed the gap between their lips once more, closing his eyes and humming out when he felt Jimin snake his hand between their hips, “I’m never going to let anything happen to you,” he smoothed his hands along Jimin’s waist and down his thighs, feeling his skin that should have been cold from the air around them though it was warm to the touch either from excitement or the heat of the moment or maybe even the fire coursing through his veins from being a dragon, but Yoongi didn’t care. Whatever it was, he loved it. He absolutely adored it.

He and Jimin both melted down to the ground in one fluid motion, holding onto each other and finding their place underneath the autumn leaves where they were soon to forever become each other’s mates.

Neither of them were truly thinking things through all the way and they knew that they probably needed more than a sudden decision for something as big as this, but what more was there to discuss?

They were fated for a reason.

They were meant to be bonded to each other forever.

Yoongi wanted to experience every bit of Jimin as he could before anything else major could suddenly happen in their lives again, but he decided to take it one step at a time though, not wanting to feel rushed with something that was such a big deal.

He rocked back on his knees and looked down at Jimin, who was staring up at him with his legs open and a blush on his face. He awkwardly started to close his legs and ask Yoongi why he was stopping, but Yoongi reached up and placed a hand on his knee to keep him from moving. He continued to stare down at the beautiful boy he had had a crush on ever since he was a child and smiled a little, “Don’t worry, I’m just taking it all in.”

Jimin let out a soft squeal under his breath, surprised by Yoongi’s answer and now even more self-conscious of his body than before. He tried to close his legs again, but Yoongi leaned forward and kissed his inner thigh before he could, earning a sharp inhale from the other boy that was rather amusing.

Yoongi looked up at Jimin and laughed under his breath, “Adorable…”

     “And to think just a few days ago, you were calling me a monster ah-!” Jimin’s taunt was interrupted by a small gasp when Yoongi bit his thigh playfully before whining out, “I thought we agreed on not talking about my perfectly understandable reaction to finding out you were half-dragon in the middle of having sex with you.”

     “Agree?” Jimin snorted, “We never agree.”

     “Wait then are we really sure about this then?” Yoongi sat up, his smile fading into a serious and worried expression as he stared deeply at Jimin. He looked like a puppy, worried he was making a mistake though Jimin quickly sat up and assured him with a soft kiss on the cheek and the words, “I know I am,” he leaned back down and kept his legs apart for Yoongi to fit between when he felt ready to complete their bond. He smiled and tilted his head, “We may have our differences, but we’ve still loved each other through it all. We’re just two idiots though that always ruin the moment.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes and laughed a little under his breath, “Like I was just about to do right now?”

     “Yeah, don’t do it again,” Jimin sang out with a soft chuckle and reached down to take Yoongi’s hand and lead it to his entrance, “Now I can come out and say that you don’t need to worry about lube at all thanks to the dragon side of me that is a little too eager for you,” he mumbled his words near the end since he was a bit embarrassed about the fact that his body was unashamedly wet for Yoongi, but seeing as how Yoongi and him were about to be closer than ever before in a matter of minutes, he told himself it was ok to talk about these things with his soon-to-be mate.

He felt Yoongi’s fingers brush against his entrance, and he shut his eyes, too embarrassed to open them and see what Yoongi’s expression was when he noticed just how ready Jimin really was for him.

Jimin laughed awkwardly and covered his face with his hands as Yoongi slipped one finger in and muttered out softly, “I knew something was up when you got so wet so fast last time…” he grinned and looked to Jimin who let out a soft whine and pleaded with him not to make anymore commentary until they were done.

Yoongi leaned down and kissed the younger viking though, a smile still playing on his lips as he asked, “Why?” he pressed a second finger into Jimin, finding him to be opening up with ease though he still wanted to make sure he was absolutely ready before they continued, “Communicating for once has been helping us out a lot recently.”

     “We can talk about how wet I am for you later,” Jimin offered, holding his breath when Yoongi pulled out his fingers and aligned his boner up with Jimin’s wet hole. Yoongi placed his hands down on the ground right beside Jimin’s shoulders, so Jimin quickly reached up and took hold of them for support before Yoongi slowly started to press into him.

He bit his lip and tensed up, almost about to tell Yoongi that his dick was too big to handle all at once, but when Yoongi slid the rest of the way in and fit himself comfortably inside of Jimin, he let out the breath he had been holding in and looked up at Yoongi with teary eyes, “Stay there for a second… Let me get used to you.”

Yoongi smiled and leaned down to kiss Jimin, “Just tell me if it’s too much at all, ok? I’ll pull out if I need to.”

     “No,” Jimin immediately answered, letting go of his strong hold on Yoongi’s arms to place them down on the ground to make the ring of fire when he was ready. He sniffled and nodded his head to make his decision known, “After years of loving you, I’m finally going to get to officially be yours.”

Yoongi’s expression softened when he heard Jimin such a thing that in an adorably determined voice, and he couldn't help but run his fingers through Jimin’s hair as he muttered softly with his words dripping with the love he felt for the boy underneath him, “You always were…”

He slowly pulled out only to slide back in again and start at a slow pace of thrusting inside of him, hearing Jimin let out a soft gasp, then a cry, and then a moan that only led to more moans as Yoongi continued to thrust into him.

Jimin shut his eyes and would sometimes grab at Yoongi’s back when one thrust was too rough for him to handle, but he would always immediately slap his hands back to the ground, not wanting to burn Yoongi on accident when the dragon part of him took control and wanted to complete the bond.

Their breaths mixed in the air between each other, and they both went for sloppy and messy kisses, their tongues barely able to stay in each other’s mouths as Yoongi continued to thrust harder into Jimin. Jimin pressed his head back against the dirt, calling out Yoongi’s name in ways he was never even able to dream up in the past, and Yoongi would always reply with a gentle, ‘I love you too’ in return, always seeming to know exactly what every sound that came out of Jimin meant.

It was strange how they were barely saying anything and yet this was the most they communicated with each other in their whole lives.

Fuck, this was the most they had communicated with anyone ever.

Jimin felt like just the brush of his fingertips against Yoongi’s chest told Yoongi exactly what he needed and got him exactly what he wanted. It got to the point where Jimin didn’t even know what he was saying or doing, but Yoongi was making sure he always felt pleasure until a bright yellow and orange blaze of fire danced around them in a circle, shooting up out of nowhere and reaching heights even taller than before when they had sex on the boat.

Yoongi gasped and looked up for a moment, naturally scared of the fire after a lifetime of fearing and hating dragons, but when Jimin put his hand on Yoongi’s chest and assured him softly with a smile, “We’re almost bonded now,” Yoongi wasn’t afraid anymore.

He was aware that this was something he still wasn’t used to, and honestly, he couldn’t believe he was even going through with mating with a half-dragon in such a dragon-esque way, but… this was with Jimin.

This was with the boy he loved more than anything in the world, and instead of feeling any kind of hatred or shame, he just felt so incredibly happy. He was ecstatic. He was excited to finally be one with Jimin in this weird dragon way that was so new to him but would soon grow on him.

He leaned down and kissed Jimin, continuing to move inside of him now that he was slowly coming up on his own orgasm. Jimin finally wrapped his arms around him, gripping onto him and panting softly in his ear, “Mark me, Yoongi…”

Yoongi pulled back to see that Jimin’s eyes were glowing yellow now, all of his emotions rising to the surface to show to his lover as he requested to be marked. Yoongi was surprised at first to see the glow, still not used to certain dragon things on the boy he had known all his life, but he accepted it now in the moment, taking in the beautiful golden sight of the glow that came from Jimin’s eyes as he brushed his finger tips against Jimin’s neck and asked, “Here?”

Jimin nodded and tilted his head to the side to give Yoongi easier access, closing his eyes again and gasping softly when he felt Yoongi's teeth graze against his neck before sinking down into his skin in the spot where he would forever have a mark to symbolize their bond. It hurt at first, feeling Yoongi struggle to break his skin until he eventually did and made sure to go deep enough to leave a long-lasting mark. Jimin shut his eyes and cried out in pain, but before he could freak out and tell Yoongi to stop, he felt a warm liquid spill out inside of him and lay still instead. He let out a slow breath and looked up at Yoongi who had pulled back away from his neck, blood running down his chin from Jimin's neck as he continued to move within Jimin to ride out his orgasm that had come when officially marking his mate. 

The fire around them slowly died and so did Yoongi's pace inside of Jimin as well.

Jimin leaned up to kiss away the blood still on Yoongi's chin and whispered, "Feel any different?"

     "Really happy," Yoongi breathed out, slowly pulling out of Jimin now and laying down beside him on the ground, "Makes me kind of want to just take you back home to our village where we can be safe and continue to be happy together, but I know you would never let me do that."

Jimin gave an apologetic smile and turned on his side to face Yoongi, "Maybe after we get Jin and Tae?... or at least find out what happened to them?"

Yoongi's smile faded into a frown and he looked down, only nodding his head and reaching out to hold Jimin's hand gently. He smoothed his thumb across the back of Jimin's hand, and Jimin knew what he was thinking. Knew that the worries Yoongi had at the beginning of this trip were amplified now that they were bonded. Now that he was openly in love with Jimin, he was now openly afraid of losing him too. 

Jimin knew it was useless trying to reassure him that nothing would happen to either of them since this was a very dangerous mission, so he did what he knew would make Yoongi feel better. What would make him really happy as he said. 

He scooted closer to him and kissed him on the lips, "We still have the rest of the night here before we leave in the morning. Want to wash off in the ocean and take advantage of that empty cottage we have for the night?"

Yoongi's skin grew warm to the touch when he heard Jimin's proposition, just thinking about what else they could get up to for the rest of the night. He nodded his head and sat up to grab his and Jimin's things, laughing a little under his breath and muttering, "I guess once we get them back, we won't be able to do anything much the whole journey home. We should enjoy tonight while we can, yeah?"

Jimin laughed and started to get up with him, wrapping his cloak around himself since they were going to have to go through the village to get to the ocean. The breeze causing the orange and red leaves to fall from the trees around them blew through his hair and then through Yoongi's, passing through their clothes and causing chills to run up their spines. Yoongi wrapped his arms around himself but eventually moved to wrap one around Jimin, muttering out how they should ask the village for more layers to wear when they eventually headed out to sea again. 

Jimin created a fire in his hands and held it in between him and Yoongi though, chuckling and offering up his own way of warmth, "No need for layers when I'll keep you warm for tonight."

The light of the fire provided a light for Jimin to see Yoongi blush and smile shyly at Jimin's ensuation. 

It was strange, seeing Yoongi now stare softly at a fire in Jimin's hands that he almost killed him for a few days ago. It seemed almost too good to be true, but if there was anything Jimin could trust about what was happening in his life right now, it was Yoongi. It was this expression on his face, this moment Jimin wanted to freeze in time, and this night that had changed their lives forever in a way Jimin had dreamed of his whole life. 

They both started to make their way to the sea to wash up before taking advantage of the empty cottage for the night and heading off to continue their journey. Jimin nuzzled into Yoongi's natural warmth and Yoongi held him closer as they walked, enjoying the outcome of finally taking a chance and doing what they both had wanted to do ever since they were children. 

It was the two of them as a team from now on. The two of them loving, defending, and protecting each other, and feeling everything they went through as one. 

That's how strong their bond was going to be.

And Jimin could only hope that the both of them made it through this dangerous journey alive so they could feel what they felt for each other tonight for the rest of their lives.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen

Jimin woke up in a warm bed for the first time in what felt like a long time, snuggling up to an even warmer body whose arms were wrapped around him as they breathed softly against the back of his neck. Jimin's heart dropped to his stomach when he remembered what he had done last night, and he lay still for a few minutes, stunned that he was waking up and this wasn’t a dream.

Yoongi began to shift behind him, so Jimin decided to sit up and address what they had done before Yoongi could freak out in his mind or regret what was already too late to reverse or forget as if it had never happened.

     “We had sex last night,” Jimin turned to look at Yoongi who was - holy fuck - shirtless, his tattoos peeking out from underneath the cream colored sheets. His hair was tousled and some strands stuck to his forehead from sweating so much during their passionate night, and Jimin could feel his body growing excited for a possible morning continuation if Yoongi was up for it.

Yoongi was just barely waking up though, squinting and narrowing his eyes at Jimin and grunting softly under his breath in protest to his source of warmth leaving his arms too soon. He kept his arms open and muttered out in a low growl of a morning voice, “Yeah? Lay back down.”

     “Ok, but we’re mates,” Jimin stated, watching Yoongi carefully to make sure he was well aware of their reality and was fine with it. He tilted his head though and also added, “In human terms though, I guess we can just say that we’re now officially dating.”

He watched cautiously for any signs of regret or disdain in Yoongi’s expression, but the older viking only asked groggily, “Officially dating with no way out though, right?” he dropped his arms since it was too early in the morning and too soon after an all nighter of constant sex to be doing anything but lazing around underneath the sheets with his lover until noon. “We’re basically married but without the ring.”

Jimin blushed at Yoongi’s comparison, feeling like his heart was going to beat out of his chest when Yoongi spoke so calmly about their new relationship as if it was such an easy thing to grasp.

Though he was surprised by Yoongi’s words, he had no choice but to nod his head and agree since Yoongi was right… they were married but without the ring, unless a ring of fire counted.

His cheeks were still warm with a pink blush, only growing a deeper color of red when Yoongi lifted his arm slightly and traced his finger tips lightly along the middle of Jimin’s exposed back. He smiled and moved his hand to the curve of Jimin’s waist, enjoying the view he had for part of last night, “You know I really do love you, right?”

Jimin was already finding it hard to catch his breath after finding himself in Yoongi’s arms this morning, but when Yoongi said that, he felt as if he was never going to be able to breathe again. His eyes widened and he bit down on his lip to keep himself from letting out an immature squeal.

He gripped onto the sheets in front of him and couldn’t help but smile, teasing softly since he wasn’t sure what else to say, “I can’t believe the dragon slayer fell in love with the dragon,” he finally turned to Yoongi awkwardly, touching his hand to the other man’s chest and whispering, “I love you too…”

Yoongi fell silent for a moment, Jimin’s shy expression and morning voice rendering him speechless in the end.

Though he was barely awake before, Yoongi sat up in bed and wrapped his arms around Jimin to pull him back under the covers with him, groaning out softly when he fell back down and mumbled, “Let’s just stay another day… One more can’t hurt, I promise.”

He nuzzled his nose against Jimin’s hair, closing his eyes when he felt Jimin rest his head on his chest and relax in his hold so easily. If Yoongi knew what it felt like to hold Jimin like this, naked and under the covers, he would have ditched his efforts to please chief Joon a long time ago in order to pursue the one person who was right now making him happier than he had been in a long time.

He really wanted to stay the whole day like this. They didn’t even need to have sex, they could just stay like this and he would be happy. As long as Jimin could just stay right here in his arms in the warmth of their cozy bed in the quaint cottage on the edge of a peaceful village, safe and sound… Yoongi would be happy.

But he knew that wasn’t an option.

He knew he was going to be shut down as soon as he offered up the idea of staying an extra day, but his heart still ached when Jimin looked up at him and spoke regretfully in a soft voice, “I’m afraid in this world, one more day matters more than it should.”

Yoongi frowned and brushed his fingers through Jimin’s hair, “Why do you have to be so poetic right now?” he scoffed and kissed Jimin’s forehead, “Come on, I know you want to stay in bed with me all day.”

     “Hmmm, and have more sex?” Jimin hummed out, his knees parting slightly so he could balance himself better on top of Yoongi.

Yoongi could feel the warmth of Jimin’s skin on his inner thighs and almost wanted to flip him over right there to go for their first round of the morning, but he restrained himself. He knew that once they started, they weren’t going to stop, but he still joked back to Jimin, “I heard a full day of sex makes you strong enough to defeat a powerful dragon army and save your loved ones with no problem.”

     “Oh really?” Jimin raised an eyebrow, “It’s a good thing then that we’re going to be all alone on a boat while heading towards that dangerous dragon army then, yeah?” he sat up and started to get off of Yoongi and out of bed, “I said we had to leave this island, but that doesn’t mean our fun has to end as well.”

Yoongi smiled and followed Jimin out of bed, standing up with him but only sitting back down again when the cold air in the room hit his bare skin. He wrapped a blanket around himself and watched as Jimin got dressed, “I talked to a few of the men in the village who know where the island of the dragons is, and they say it should only take us a day and a half to get there.”

     “Balaur is that close?” Jimin’s eyes widened, feeling nerves start to rise up in his body. To think that he didn’t have long to prepare himself made him scared, but he was also glad that they didn’t have far to travel even after the storm threw them off course.

He nodded his head to himself and decided out loud, “That’s good. We only need a few minutes to make a plan anyway, so a day and a half is more than enough.”

Yoongi agreed with a soft hum and stood up again with the sheets draped over his shoulders this time to protect him from the chilly morning air that crept into their temporary cottage. Thinking about how he only had a day and a half with Jimin before they went up against the fiercest army in the world scared him, but he forced those thoughts down by wrapping his arms around his new lover and kissing the mark still new on his neck from last night.

He closed his eyes and so did Jimin at the feeling of Yoongi’s lips against his bond mark. He touched his hand gently to Yoongi’s cheek behind him as he murmured, “We should leave soon…. If I stay near the bed for another minute, I’m going to want to stay the rest of the day.”

      “Come to the bed for one more minute then,” Yoongi nuzzled his nose into the nook of Jimin’s neck and smoothed his hand down the curves of the younger boy’s body until it rested on his hip, “I love you.”

Jimin smiled, “I love you too,” he then turned around in Yoongi’s arms to face him as he assured him, “Nothing will mess this up, ok?” he cupped Yoongi’s cheek again and tilted his head, “We’re in this together, and we’re going to get out of this together.”

Yoongi wavered for a moment, hesitant to agree with Jimin so easily since he had been to many battles that ended in his own best friends dying, but he knew he would protect Jimin until his final breath. If Jimin died it meant he was already dead.

He leaned forward and kissed his mate, “I’ll be right by your side to help you get Jin and Tae, but please understand that you are my first priority. If I have to choose between you or them, it will always be you.”

Jimin couldn’t help but blush at that and step back out of his embrace to finish getting dressed. He chuckled to himself and picked up Yoongi’s clothes as well to hand to him, “When I was younger I always daydreamed about what it would be like to have you love me, but it seems my imagination never gave you enough credit.”

     “What do you mean?” Yoongi took his clothes, still too cold to really want to move and get dressed though he tried to prepare himself to do so for Jimin’s sake.

Jimin walked passed him to make their bed that had been tossled and even accidentally burned in someplace throughout the night while answering Yoongi with a nervous smile, “You’re not so stoic and afraid to show emotion like I used to think you were. You’re very open, and…” Jimin fluffed a pillow and giggled a little under his breath, “-and adorable.”

He looked back up again to see Yoongi’s cheeks now red in a blush, almost matching the burn on his face that was now a scar. Yoongi was surprised to be called adorable, but he wasn’t mad. He only smiled awkwardly and brushed his hair back as a nervous tick as he muttered under his breath, “Only for you, Jimin…” he turned around to hide his blush and mumbled out again, “Only for you.”

They finished getting ready and tidying up their room within the next ten minutes, pausing their hurry to leave the island only for a moment to hold each other in the middle of the cottage bedroom to kiss and assure each other that they were going to have moments like this again when they were alive and back on their home island.

Words could only assure them so much when they thought about the dangerous future to come, but they couldn’t dwell on their worries for too long. They had loved ones to save and no time available to waste.

They left their cottage with their hands enveloped together, walking down to the beach and graciously thanking every villager they saw for their help. Yoongi knew most of them by now, having gotten to know them when he waited two days for Jimin to wake up after blacking out. He separated from Jimin to go thank a family who had tended to him and his burn when he was in pain and freaking about Jimin’s safety, leaving Jimin to walk down to the beach alone towards the boat a few villagers were still preparing for them.

Some children Jimin had danced with at the bonfire last night were playing in the sand while their parents were organizing a few crates of food on the boat and soon getting off to greet the half dragon heading towards them. Jimin smiled at the people of the village who were loading up his and Yoongi’s boat, bowing his head slightly as he thanked them, “Yoongi and I were lucky to end up on your island after the storm. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us.”

     “And we thank you for what you’ve done for us,” the woman Jimin had spoken to yesterday answered.

Her daughter suddenly ran up to Jimin from where the children had been playing in the sand and handed him a little leaf and twig crown, smiling wide as she announced, “You’re the king of our forest!”

Jimin was shocked to be called that, his eyes widening as he looked to her parents to see if it was ok for her to call him that. He didn’t feel like he deserved the title, but when the adults around him only smiled and waited for him to take the crown, he awkwardly bent over for the little girl to place it on his head and straightened up, promising her something he hoped he could keep with the journey ahead, “I’ll get back the dragons taken from your people. The forest will be full of your guardians once again, I promise.”

The little girl smiled and nodded, running back to her mother who was tearing up as she thanked Jimin one last time for everything he had done.

The man beside the woman pulled a silver sword out of his belt and stepped towards Jimin to gift it to him, bowing over and holding the handle out to him to take, “Fight bravely with this. You are powerful without it, but fight with this to remember that our village fights with you too.”

Jimin almost didn’t want to take the sword, feeling like he already took too much from the village already, but he knew he couldn’t decline a gift that held as much meaning as the one the man recited. He hesitated for a moment but took the sword from the man in the end, holding it down by his side as he thanked him and was finally joined by Yoongi again.

Yoongi held up a map and found his placed beside Jimin once more as he said, “One of the village elders gave me a map that has Balaur island on it. It’s true that it’s very close, but we should hurry to leave now so we can be there by tomorrow morning,” he noticed the crown on Jimin’s head and smiled, “You look pretty. You ready to go?”

Jimin couldn’t help but grin at the sudden compliment, growing confident of the forest guardian crown on top of his head. He turned towards the boat and answered Yoongi, “I’m ready, but I need my right hand man!”

He waved goodbye to the people of the village and jumped up onto the boat. He turned and watched as Yoongi waved goodbye to a few more of his newfound friends from the village as well, even hugging a couple of the children he had befriend in his time there and thanking a few more of the adults who also helped him out.

He took his time to let them know how thankful he was, but it didn’t take long for him to follow Jimin up on the boat so they could leave, walking past him to ready the sail and make sure everything else was in place for them to set off yet again on their journey across the sea.

When they started to sail away from the first island that they were almost reluctant to leave, Jimin turned to Yoongi who was still carefully moving around the boat to make sure everything was fine and said, “Let’s hope the skies are calm for the next day and a half, right?” he nervously laughed and sat down on one of the crates of food.

He was still holding the sword the man gifted to him in his hands and bit his lip, looking back up at Yoongi and muttering out, “You lost your sword in the storm.”

     “Hmm?” Yoongi looked up from a rope he was currently untying and nodded his head, “Yeah, but it’s not hard to steal an opponent’s sword in the middle of a battle, so I’m not too worried-!”

     “No, you should have a weapon starting out,” Jimin stood up and held the sword out for Yoongi to take, “I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

Yoongi looked down at the sword and then to Jimin, frowning and shaking his head afterwards as he declined the weapon, “I don’t want anything bad happening to you either, so-!”

     “Yoongi, I can turn humans to ash in a matter of seconds with my power,” Jimin interrupted him, shoving the handle of the sword into Yoongi’s grip, “Take it so I can have someone to watch my back.”

Yoongi tightened his fingers around the handle of the sword when he heard Jimin’s point and agreed with it. After seeing what Jimin did to the evil chief of the village they just left, he couldn’t argue with the fact that Jimin was powerful even without a sword.

His lips tightened into a defeated frown and he nodded his head, “Ok yeah, but if we’re in danger and you for some reason can’t use fire to get out of that situation, I’m giving the sword back to you and you’re going to take it.”

Jimin smiled and tilted his head side to side, “Who knows what I’ll do in the heat of the situation,” he watched as Yoongi slid the sword into his waist belt before stepping close and wrapping his arms around his stubborn mate, “One thing I’ve learned though is that fire will always help me out in any situation.”

     “My face disagrees,” Yoongi wrapped his arms around Jimin’s waist, a playful smile on his face to show Jimin he didn’t truly care about the scar across the face from his lover’s power. Before Jimin could be worried that was the case at all, he leaned in close and kissed the younger boy, holding him tighter and grinding his lower half against Jimin’s until he heard him moan softly under his breath.

He pulled away and glanced off at the village that now seemed so small in the distance. He smiled when he remembered the recent memories that were made that, and when he realized they were far enough away to continue everything they started last night, he quickly asked with a growing grin, “So about having sex all day in the boat-!”

     “Yes,” Jimin interrupted him and pressed against him quickly to kiss him and start taking his clothes off.

Yoongi chuckled under his breath at how heated Jimin immediately got, his skin feeling warm and his cheeks pink with a blush as he undid Yoongi’s belt and started pulling down his pants.

     “Woah, we have the whole day, it’s ok-!” he started to jokingly protest, but Jimin sat him down on a chair against one of the posts on the ship and gingerly pulled Yoongi’s dick out of his pants with careful hands as he muttered out, “You think just because we have a whole day I’m going to waste time with foreplay?”

Yoongi watched as Jimin suddenly got down on his knees in front of him, and his eyes widened, “Oh? I mean I’m not going to complain now-! Ah!” Yoongi gasped and moaned out in surprise when Jimin leaned in and took him in completely, leaving Yoongi speechless for the time being which he had learned last night was one of the only ways to make Yoongi completely melt into submission. Telling him he loved him also worked just as good, but Jimin enjoyed this way just a bit more at the moment.

Maybe it was nerves making them act this way or the unspoken worry that this whole day would be their last day to be together, but Jimin continued on without a word and Yoongi let him do everything he wanted, enjoying this moment while it last and praying every so often that they would have another day like this again.

~(***)~

Jimin found himself waking up under a wool blanket in Yoongi’s arms for the second morning in a row, their bodies still sweaty from the night before though Jimin welcomed it easily this time. Their legs were tangled together and their arms were wrapped around each other’s waists, their chests touching every time they inhaled.

Jimin’s eyes fluttered open to find Yoongi already awake, his eyes gazing upon Jimin’s sleeping face as he pet his hair absentmindedly and smoothed his thumb gently across his cheek. He smiled when Jimin opened his eyes, and he spoke softly to wish him a good morning, “Hey, sleepy head… You must be worn out from yesterday.”

Jimin smiled when he heard Yoongi’s melodic voice, and he nodded his head with a tired yawn, “How long did I sleep?”

     “Enough to miss the sunrise,” Yoongi looked up at the light blue and gray colored sky above them, “But don’t worry, we’re not there yet. We’re still right on course though.”

     “I don’t know where I’d be if you didn't force me to let you come with me to lead the way,” Jimin muttered and nuzzled his face into Yoongi’s chest again, chuckling under his breath a little when Yoongi answered, “Lost or dead, but at least well rested.”

     “Mnmm,” Jimin smiled and sat up, “I don’t even want to think about living a life where yesterday didn’t happen,” he touched his hand to Yoongi’s bicep and grinned, “If I had known you could hold me up against a post while fucking into me, I would have made a move on you as soon as we set sail away from our home vill-!” before he could finish speaking, the boat shifted with a new weight being added on board.

He and Yoongi both shot up and turned around to see a dragon now resting on a post on the other side of the boat, orange scales decorating its body with sharp fangs protruding out of its mouth.

Jimin’s eyes widened when he saw its sharp claws and long spiked tail, but he wasn’t given any time to react before Yoongi shoved him out of the way and stood between him in the dragon with his sword held out in front of him. He had just his underwear on, but he still courageously shouted out at the dragon, “Fly away before we make you regret ever landing on this boat, you beast!” he stepped closer and yelled again, “Get out of here!”

The dragon’s eyes glowed yellow and it roared back, raising its tail and leaning forward towards Yoongi in a threatening stance to show that it wasn’t planning on backing down.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he knew Yoongi wasn’t going to back down from a fight with a dragon either, so he quickly ran up to stand between Yoongi’s sword and the dragon’s fangs. He held out his hands to block both of the opponents and hurried to say, “Woah, woah, there’s no need for a fight between a fire breathing dragon and uhh,” he turned to Yoongi, “...you, on this tiny boat!”

Yoongi grit his teeth, about to tell Jimin to get out of the way so he could protect him, but before he could, Jimin turned his back to the dragon completely to talk some sense into his lover first, “Yoongi, you can’t call dragons beasts or monsters anymore. You’re literally mated to one, so it just sounds like you’re confused.”

     “I’m not confused,” Yoongi bit back, “You’re you, and that thing is a monster!”

     “You’re just saying that because it’s in its dragon form,” Jimin argued, “You know Jin is the nicest person on this planet, and that doesn’t change when he looks like a dragon.”

He waited a moment for Yoongi to respond but only silence followed the point he made. Yoongi was trying to think of a comeback but was only rendered speechless by the fact that there really was a chance the dragon could be kind. It was highly unlikely in his opinion, but he wasn’t going to argue to Jimin anymore about it.

Jimin took Yoongi’s silence as a conformation that he wasn't going to run at the dragon to kill it at least for now, so he took this opportunity to turn back to the dragon behind him and say with a nervous smile, “And you don’t mean any harm right?”

The dragon’s stance had already changed back into a relaxed one, and it tilted its head a Jimin when he spoke, having no way to respond though its body language made it clear that attacking wasn’t his first priority.

Jimin bit his lip and decided to step closer, reaching his hand up to touch the dragon’s face to be able to hear its thoughts and talk to it to make sure it meant well. Yoongi immediately grew antsy when Jimin stepped closer to the dragon, and he finally spoke up from where he stood with his sword now lowered but still drawn, “Jimin don’t get too close to it! You have no idea what it’s planning!”

     “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Jimin muttered and touched his hand to the bridge of the dragon’s nose. He let out a breath of air he didn’t know he was holding in and listened to the dragon’s reasoning of why it landed on their boat.

Yoongi watched in disbelief and confusion for a few minutes, wondering why Jimin was just silently touching the nose of a dragon who had tried to kill him earlier until Jimin finally broke away from the dragon and turned to Yoongi with a smile to say, “She landed on our boat to warn us that we’re getting closer to Balaur Island. She sensed I was half dragon and just didn’t want me being held captive, that’s all.”

     “O-Oh…” Yoongi lowered his sword completely and bit his lip, “Ok.”

Jimin turned back to the dragon and touched his hand to her again, asking softly, “Have you been on the island at all?… Are there any pink dragons on it?”

Yoongi watched again as a silent conversation went on between Jimin in the dragon, his expression falling when the dragon regrettably gave Jimin an answer he didn’t want to hear. Yoongi could tell nothing too bad had been said to him, but he was just disappointed that there was no true confirmation that Jin or Tae was on the island they were headed to.

They could only hope they’d find them there…

Jimin turned back to Yoongi and muttered out, “She hasn’t been captured so she doesn’t know if Jin is on the island or not, but I’m sure he is,” he kept his hand on the dragon’s face, “Also, please apologize for attacking her.”

Yoongi’s expression dropped and he frowned, “I was just trying to protect you though.”

     “Yoongi…” Jimin warned, and Yoongi sighed, his lips puckering up into a slight pout as he set his sword up against one of the posts of the ship and muttered, “I’m sorry… I was just taught to hate dragons ever since my parents were killed by one, but my mate is slowly teaching me to give you guys a chance,” he turned to Jimin, “Is that good? It’s the truth, so be patient with me.”

     “I understand,” Jimin answered with a soft and understanding smile though the dragon did snort and shoot Jimin a look that Yoongi couldn’t read. It must have said something though through the way they had been previously communicating because Jimin suddenly laughed under his breath and asked, “What? He’s a good guy deep down, I swear.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “What? What did she say?”

The dragon glanced ahead at an island becoming visible in the distance and she flew away quickly without another word, leaving the half-dragon and dragon slayer alone on the boat with their one warning before heading to the dangerous island holding the most powerful army in the world.

Even with this fact known, Yoongi still asked, “What did she say about me?”

Jimin smiled at how Yoongi was bothered by being talked about, and he answered with an amused grin and a chuckle underneath his breath, “She said you’re only being open-minded about dragons because you and I are having sex.”

     “And because I love you?” Yoongi added, sounding offended by the dragon’s accusation.

Jimin still laughed again and tilted his head, “But the sex part of it probably helps.”

     “Well of course,” Yoongi admitted, getting ready to defend himself for agreeing with that though he didn’t end up needing to when Jimin made his way over to him to kiss him and say through a soft giggle, “Good,” he wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s neck and pressed their foreheads together, “I like knowing I can tame the dragon slayer into liking dragons just by how good I am in bed.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “There’s so many more factors to it, but I’m not going to argue with it because I actually want to give you something before we step foot onto what is probably the most dangerous island in the world.”

Jimin glanced off in the distance at the island still barely visible though still ominous with Yoongi’s reminder of how dangerous it was. He felt a chill run up his spine at the thought of the time dawning when they would step foot onto it, but he turned back to Yoongi for now and feigned a smile, “When did you get me a gift? I feel bad not having anything to give you in return.”

Yoongi shook his head and turned around to rummage through his belt pocket while replying to his lover, “Don’t worry, it’s not really a gift. It’s just something I need to return to you.”

Jimin tilted his head in confusion and curiosity, wondering what he had let Yoongi borrow that needed to be returned. He tried to peek at what Yoongi was pulling out of his belt pocket as Yoongi continued to speak, “I didn’t know when to give it to you because throughout this journey we had either been fighting or running for our lives, but I want you to have this before anything else happens,” he finally stood up and held out his hand to Jimin, holding the amulet Jimin used to wear in the palm of his hand.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he quickly looked to Yoongi’s expression, “Where-!” he breathed out, “How?… I threw this in the ocean… I thought it was lost forever, but…” he hurried close to Yoongi and took the amulet to hold it in his hands and admire its beauty that he thought had been lost to sea due to his anger when Jin was taken away from him for a second time.

He smiled when he saw the crescent shaped dragon and shook his head, “How did you get this back?”

     “The sea was calm the day you threw it into the water, so I only had to wade around for an hour or two to find it,” Yoongi smiled, thinking back to the evening he had searched in the ocean for four hours trying to find the amulet until he finally found it when it washed up on shore on its own, “I knew how important it was to you,” he tilted his head side to side and muttered out afterwards, “Also I wasn’t going to let an important heirloom passed down between seven generations of chiefs be lost in the ocean because you failed to recognize how priceless it was.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “Seven generations?” he looked down at the amulet and bit his lip, “All I knew was that Jin gave it to me when I was baby… He had to leave to protect me, but he left me this so I’d always have a piece of him with me.”

     “Chief Namjoon must have given it to him to let him know that he’d always have a piece of himself with Jin too,” Yoongi took the amulet from Jimin and turned him around to put the necklace back around his neck.

Jimin looked down at the dragon pendant as Yoongi closed the necklace around his neck and lay it down over his bond mark. It was nice to feel the necklace back around his neck, a sense of comfort finding its way into Jimin’s body as well now that something that meant so much to him was with him once again.

Hopefully Jin and Tae could be with him again soon too.

He turned back around to Yoongi, tears in his eyes as he muttered out, “I know I’ve been saying this a lot these past two days, but I really do love you so much.”

     “Hey, I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that,” Yoongi leaned forward and kissed Jimin, pulling the younger boy close and whispering to him in return, “I love you too.”

He placed his hands on Jimin’s bare hips and leaned down to kiss his neck, but Jimin straightened up in his arms.

Yoongi laughed, “What, are my hands cold?”

He teasingly trailed his hands up to Jimin’s chest but noticed how Jimin had now froze completely, staring on at the island in the distance in fear. Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed and he quickly followed Jimin’s line of sight to see if anything was wrong, but he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary to worry about. Nothing dangerous seemed to be visible at least, so he turned back around to Jimin and asked softly, “Hey, are you ok?” he brushed his hands down Jimin’s shoulders to try to assure him he was safe as he asked again, “What’s wrong?”

He was scared he wasn't going to receive an answer and would have to deal with a frozen shocked Jimin with no way of knowing what was wrong, but Jimin finally let out a slow and shaky breath before gripping onto Yoongi for support and quickly stuttering out, “S-Something feels wrong.”

He was antsy, his hands trembling and his face growing pale as he kept glancing at the island and then back to Yoongi to say, “I can feel it… i-in my heart, this is the place,” he dropped to the ground on his knees, feeling his heartbeat quicken as he gripped onto Yoongi’s hand and muttered out, “So many dragons are suffering, Yoongi.”

Yoongi kneeled down to the ground with him to offer his support, holding Jimin’s hand gently as he nodded and replied in a whisper, “I’m sure, but it’s going to be ok.”

     “Jin and Tae are probably suffering too if they are even still alive,” tears fell from Jimin’s eyes and he buried his head into Yoongi’s shoulder, “We’re finally here but I-I’m suddenly so scared.”

     “That’s ok,” Yoongi assured him, watching now as the island finally came clearer into view, no dragons visible though the sounds of their cries and roars could be heard even from as far away as they were. He held Jimin tighter, fearing they’d find Tae and Jin living through the horrors found on that island. He didn’t want that for Jimin, but he knew Jimin wasn’t going to go back home until he found them, dead or alive or whatever state they were in.

They were finally at the last destination of their dangerous journey, but both of them knew they had a long way to go before they could return home.

~(***)~

Jin was awoken by a feeling of nausea whipping through his body and causing chills to run up his spine before he was lunging over to the side of his cell to throw up in a bucket the king of the dragon army had set out for him. He gripped onto the bucket through the bars of the cells and shut his eyes as he threw up whatever food was in his stomach from the last time he ate.

He hated feeling sick. The worst part about being pregnant with Jimin was the few weeks he had morning sickness, but at least he had been in the woods, his element, to be comforted through it all. At least he didn’t spend everyday wondering if some evil man was going to kill him or his baby just by the roll of a dice.

Actually, he worried about that a little bit with Jimin, but at least he wasn’t trapped and awaiting that evil man’s decision like a caged animal.

Jin sat back against the wall and touched his hand to his stomach, hating to feel like shit first thing in the morning though he did find comfort in the fact that it was a sign his baby was still alive and safe. He had to think positive or the negativity was going to consume him. If he lost hope in everything, where would he go from there?

He may have been trapped, but he still had a home to fight to go back to and someone to protect while being here, so he had to remain alive, well, and cautious at all times.

     “If only the circumstances were different, you could enjoy this baby with Namjoon and be happy as you always were before,” Jin heard Taehyung’s voice say from the darkness of the basement outside of his cell.

He shut his eyes and grit his teeth, finding Tae’s presence enough to push him over the edge of the natural irritation brought on by his pregnancy. He glared into the darkness that surrounded him, sure Taehyung was sitting there to hear him bite back, “In this world? I was never safe and happy. Not with Jimin; not with this one.”

     “And humans are to blame for it all-!” Taehyung started to say, but Jin suddenly interrupted him in a low growl, “Actually your mother was to blame for it,” his eyes started to glow yellow before he could stop himself from feeling so angry at his son’s best friend, and he continued to speak in a dark tone, “And now you are,” he narrowed his eyes, “Your mother burned down Namjoon’s village and killed his people. He had to protect them so he was torn away from me when I was pregnant with Jimin, and now here I am again, wondering if I’m going to make it through this pregnancy because you’re helping the enemy.”

     “My mother was torn away from me too around that time,” Tae retorted, now standing up from where he had been sitting to step closer to Jin’s cage. His expression soured, “Actually my whole fucking family was torn away from me, and it’s your beloved Namjoon and his people who I can blame for that.”

Jin eyes widened and he fell quiet, looking down and muttering out under his breath, “I get your angry…” he sighed, “It’s understandable, but what’s not understandable is you wanting to put Jimin through the same pain you experienced,” he sniffled and looked to Taehyung who’s eyes were now glowing and allowing himself to be visible in the darkness, “And to want to kill him as well? What did he ever do to you?” his breath hitched at the thought of Jimin dying and he shook his head, “Even when he thought he was a human, he loved and cared for dragons, and you want to kill him?”

    “All my family ever did was live out in the woods, and humans killed them all one by one without mercy,” Tae answered, tears falling down his face for reasons he was too angry to understand, “I’m not trying to make Jimin feel pain, but if I can make you and Namjoon feel the pain I felt when I lost my whole family, then that’s enough to make up for it-!”

     “Oh, what are we talking about down here?” Taehyung was interrupted by the sound of a low voice, familiar to them because it was a man they were both wary of, the king. Jin curled up into himself more and Taehyung stood up straighter, “Jin doesn’t seem to understand how much of a monster his mate is, but I’m done talking to him,” he shot a glare at Jin who had turned to face the corner of his cell now and turned on his heel to walk past the king and out of the basement, also done talking to dragon who loved the chief who killed his family.

He walked up the stairs and back up into the open mountain air of the island, needing to breathe after talking to Jin. He wanted a moment alone to either think about Jin's words or completely forget them in order to keep his sights set on revenge, but before he could do anything like that, he felt a hand on his shoulder as the voice of the king spoke calmly, “Taehyung, you shouldn’t go down there to talk to him. It not only subjects you to possible lies, but it makes me think I shouldn’t be trusting you as much as I do right now.”

     “You should,” Tae defended himself, turning to look at the king though there were tears in his eyes.

The king saw this and frowned, “What did he say to you?”

     “Nothing…” Taehyung bit his lip and crossed his arms, “I just…” he shrugged, “It’s memories of my family. It’s too much sometimes, but it’s all I can think about, and-!”

     “You know what, Taehyung?” the king interrupted him, subtly squeezing Tae’s shoulders in a firm grip as he opened himself up to start leading him somewhere new as he explained, “It’s time I show you something that will help you act out this revenge you need in order to move on.”

Tae allowed the king to lead him wherever he wanted, walking alongside him and trusting in his words since he was his only ally right now. He wanted to ask more questions as to what could possibly help him act out a revenge that will help him get over the wrongful deaths of his family, but he stayed quiet for now, remaining silent until the king led him to a large dome shaped cage that held a large alpha dragon inside.

Taehyung’s eyes widened when he saw the size of the dragon with yellow glowing eyes and dark red scales stained with blood and rotting flesh. The dragon’s teeth were the size of Tae’s head and the sound of its growls sent chills up Tae’s spine as he looked at the beast head on.

He stepped behind the king out of fear and muttered out, “How did you catch it?…”

     “This thing is a beauty isn’t she?” the king smiled up at his most prized dragon in his army, placing his hands on his hips and stepping closer to the cage, “She’s an alpha, but don’t worry about her. She’s chained up and well fed,” he chuckled at how she was currently gnawing at a human rib cage already chewed down to the bone though it would be just dust soon by the time she was done with it.

Taehyung stayed where he was, not wanting to end up an alpha dragon’s dinner as the king continued to explain how he managed to get such a large dragon, “She came to me with the same want and need for revenge that you have, actually. We’re chaining her up to make my guards feel safer, but she’s fine with it since she knows she’ll get to kill many humans soon,” he chuckled, “With her, the world will be ours, Taehyung.”

A dragon like that really could wipe out every last human if it had a king on its side. The thought of all humans dying felt almost comforting at first when Tae thought about it, but was wiping out a whole species really the answer?… What was he saying? Of course it was the answer. Humans were killers.

Humans killed his family.

Tae frowned and looked down, hesitating for a moment to answer though the king didn’t allow himself to be alone with his thoughts for a minute longer. He stepped back towards Tae and muttered softly, “I was thinking the man who killed your parents could be fed to her? I’m running out of prisoners, so as soon as he comes, she can have her lunch and you can watch that evil chief be torn to shreds.”

     “What?” Tae shook his head, “No, he’s mine to kill. You promised.”

     “Hmm…” the king sighed, “What if you killed his husband and children and I got to kill him? Is that a good deal?”

     “No, I wanted revenge on the chief mainly,” Tae argued, “I need this.”

The king seemed irritated by Taehyung’s request to specifically kill the king, but he remained patient despite the openly disgruntled expression, “I guess his son is also a chief,” he sighed and crossed his arms, “You’ll get to kill the chief, but I’ll just force him to watch my alpha here rip his family to shreds before you do what you want with him. Does that sound good?”

Taehyung looked up at the alpha dragon who was now walking around her cage with blood dripping from her fangs. He tried not to picture the sight of Jimin being ripped to shreds by those piercing weapons inside her mouth, but it was hard not to when the king admitted that that was how he was going to kill him.

His best friend since he was younger was going to suffer the worst fate imaginable to this dragon… because of him.

     'When they met, Taehyung was just four years old. He didn’t remember much from that time except for being passed around between the elders of the village to be watched by them when they had the time. He didn’t have a family, but for him, that was normal. He thought that that was all he had ever known.

All the elders cared for him as they did their own children, teaching him how to avoid dragons and defend himself properly if there was an attack. They fed him and dressed him well, and he never had a problem getting along with the other children.

The village made sure he was given a happy life, but… Taehyung never had a sense of belonging. He got along with everyone and loved them all, but he never belonged to anyone. No true family and no true friends to have when things were hard. He was just… passed around.

That was at least how he felt deep down until he met Jimin one time while playing in the bay of the village during the summer. The water was warm and crystal clear, perfect for looking for seashells which was something he had always begged whoever was watching him to take him to do.

The sky was clear and the air was warm with just a light breeze coming from the ocean to let small waves run onto shore when a shorter boy around his age toddled up to him from another shallow section of the bay. He was holding a small conch shell in his hands as he hurried up to Taehyung and muttered out a shy, “H-Hi” he raised the shell up into Taehyung’s face, “Want dis?”

Taehyung was shy back then, having never met this boy before, so he raised his little bucket he had been carrying to collect shells in up in front of his face and stepped back. He chose not to talk, not knowing what to say to someone who was just being nice though still too forward for him to feel comfortable.

He hoped the boy would leave, but instead he stayed. He hesitated and wavered for a moment, but in the end, he decided to put the seashell in Tae’s pail and assure him, “Don’t be afraid! We can be friends!”

Tae peeked out from behind his pail, slowly lowering it when the other boy took a step back and waited for him to respond again. Tae was still shy, but he managed to nod his head this time, clutching his seashell pail tight in his tiny hands as he muttered, “We can be friends…”

Jimin gasped and leapt forward to hug him, shocking Tae though the action made him more excited than scared when he felt Jimin’s warm embrace as the other four year old exclaimed, “I’m so happy!”

     “Oh, you made a friend, Jimin?” Taehyung heard an adult’s voice say from behind him as he walked through the water and towards the two young boys who had just become friends. Taehyung didn’t understand why at the time, but when he realized the man’s presence was coming closer to him, he felt a sense of dread deep down in his heart. He wasn’t sure if he was scared or angry when he saw the man walking towards them, but before he could cry or shout because he couldn’t express whatever feeling was in his heart, he decided to quickly hide behind Jimin instead and glare up at the man still walking close.

Taehyung gripped onto the arm of his new friend, not wanting him to be hurt by the man, but before he could lead him away from the possible danger, the little boy suddenly squealed and jumped up and down in the water before moving out of the way to point at Taehyung and say to the scary adult, “Dada, I made a friend!”

     “I see!” the man crouched down in front of Jimin, his black cloak dragging on the ground behind him in the sand now, seldomly getting wet from small waves that crept up on shore though the man didn’t seem to mind. He was too focused on Jimin to care, smiling at his son’s excitement and turning to Taehyung to ask, “And what’s your new friend’s name?”

     “Uhh!!” Jimin  was about to answer, but he giggled when he drew a blank and turned to Taehyung, “What’s your name?”

Taehyung hesitated for a moment, still wary of the man in front of him though his new friend seemed to trust him… Maybe he wasn’t so bad afterall. Maybe he just seemed scary but was actually really nice. Tae continued to clutch his bucket tight in his hands as he managed to answer in a small voice, “Tae-!”

     “Tae-!” Jimin interrupted him and turned back around to his father before he could finish.

Namjoon smiled at the introduction, nodding his head and noting out loud, “Ah Taehyung, the boy found in the woods.”

Taehyung frowned at the man’s knowledge of where he had been found by the elders of the village, but Namjoon only reached forward and pat his head for reassurance, “Don’t worry, I find it cool you were found out in the forest! It’s amazing how you survived out there,” he smile turned into a grin, and he chuckled, “You must be a strong dragon!”

     “I don’t want to be a dragon,” Tae argued as his scowl deepened.

Namjoon’s smiled faded just a bit, and he looked to Jimin with a sad expression for reasons Taehyung didn’t know at the time though now it was clear to him what the chief had been thinking at the time about his son being a dragon in a dragon hating village.

Jimin had turned around to face Taehyung soon after that, taking up for dragons with a dramatic gasp, “Why? Dragons are amazing!”

Tae shook his head, “Dragons are mean… The elders told me they kill.”

     “Not all dragons,” Namjoon smiled and picked up Jimin to hug him and kiss him on the cheek, “Right, Jiminie?”

     “Right, dada!” Jimin replied with a verse of giggles when Namjoon tickled him in kisses and soft touches to his tummy.

Taehyung watched the two of them, smiling at how the scary man wasn’t so scary after all and his new friend was also pretty nice. And the fact that they weren’t afraid of dragons like the rest of the village was also pretty cool, wasn’t it? Taehyung wanted to hang out with them more often… He wanted to belong with them maybe too.

     “Chief Joon!” the father and son duo were suddenly interrupted by a shout coming from one of the elders that had been watching Taehyung that day. One of the elder women ran up to the three of them and hurried to apologize, “I’m so sorry if Taehyung bothered you and your son at all-!”

     “Not at all!” Namjoon was quick to respond, laughing a little as he set Jimin back down and explained, “I think Jimin just made his first friend actually.”

Jimin grinned and nodded his head, jumping in the water again and leaning to the side to hug Tae and sing out, “Best friend!”

Taehyung’s eyes widened when Jimin called him his best friend, surprised that this little boy he just met already thought of him as his best friend. He was shocked that someone considered him their best anything…. Jimin was calling him his favorite friend… Jimin was giving him a sense of belonging he had always wanted, and they had only just met.

Tae grinned and wrapped his arms around Jimin’s waist in return, feeling his heart leap in his chest as he agreed with Jimin by singing out a soft, “Best friends!”

He had made his first friend and best friend the day he had met Jimin… Jimin had found a special place in Tae’s heart and had been everything and more to him ever since…

And now Taehyung was going to kill him for something he had no part of.

     “Taehyung,” Tae was snapped out of his memory of the past when the king put a hand on his shoulder and spoke up in a more serious tone of voice than what he had previously been using, “Look, you want the whole family dead, yeah? I know you want to kill them, but I have to get something out of this too.”

Taehyung bit back tears and stood straight ahead to avoid showing the king his weakness when it came to what they were going to do about his best friend. He looked down and spoke quickly without thinking, “Whatever’s fine. As long as I get to kill Namjoon.”

     “Great!” the king finally smiled and turned to walk away, “It’s settled, so I’m going to tell Seokjin the good news that we have found out what to do with him and his family!” he left Taehyung by the alpha cage, almost walking away completely though he did stop and pause to turn back to Tae and say one more thing, “Oh and Taehyung?…” he smiled and tilted his head, “Maybe try turning into a dragon if you are going to start to hate humans. You just seem confused right now more than anything.”

Taehyung nodded in response, waiting for the king to turn his back on him once again to walk away before he quickly wiped a tear from his eye before it could fall down his face.

Just thinking about Jimin the day he met him made Taehyung want to give this whole plan up. Just thinking about Jimin in general made Taehyung wonder who the real monster was right now.

He felt a cold gust of wind rip through his clothes from the mountain air and wrapped his arms tight around himself, letting out a heavy breath as he tried to think of an answer though he knew none would come to him in front of the cage that held the beast he was feeding his best friend too.

Just thinking about that made him sick, but he turned on his heel to walk toward the forest outlining the base of the dragon army to get away from the sight of the alpha dragon that was supposed to soon kill his best friend. Maybe getting away from what brought on his memories of the past would help clear his mind so he wasn’t so confused about everything. He knew what side he was on.

He was on the side of his family. His real family.

Taehyung hurried into the treeline and rested against a large spruce tree to catch his breath, quickly reaching his hand up to cheeks to wipe his tears away. He sniffled and slid down against the tree until he reached the mossy ground beneath him, now starting to second guess everything because of Jin’s words.

Jimin was his best friend. Jimin had loved dragons even when he considered himself just a human. Jimin was the one to constantly try to convince Tae that dragons weren’t as bad as he thought they were. If Taehyung killed Jimin, he was a monster.

If Taehyung killed Jimin, he was only be losing his family a second time.

Taehyung cried out softly, hating that the people responsible for his real family dying was people he had loved while growing up as a human. It was some cruel joke life was playing on him, making the monsters he hated people he loved at the same time.

Taehyung shut his eyes and pressed his hands on the ground, trying to calm himself down to keep himself from crying. He didn’t want the king or his soldiers to find him and think of him as a weak link to have on their side. He still wanted to kill Namjoon for killing his mother. He still wanted to kill Jin for turning on his own kind.

Just thinking about it caused Taehyung to grow angry enough again to want to go back to the king and assure him that he still was on his side solely for revenge against Joon and Jin, but before he could even think of doing that, the straw and leaves on the ground underneath his hand suddenly lit up in a blazing glow of fire. His eyes widened and he quickly fell away from the fire, thinking a dragon had followed him out here to attack him.

When he saw that he was still alone in the woods though, he noticed how his hands were still glowing with a fire that he had created…. oh that was right… he could create fire. He was a dragon.

This was his first time creating fire since he was a child, wasn’t it?

Wait, no. He had created fire-!

Taehyung’s eyes widened when he remembered Jungkook. He created fire once before as a human when he and Jungkook were having sex in the woods. He thought it was from a dragon at the time, but thinking back to it now and remembering Jin telling him about how he was mated, Tae was just now realizing that that was the moment when he accidentally mated to Jungkook.

Fuck, he was bonded to him for life.

He was bonded to a human who also killed dragons for life.

Taehyung bit his lip, feeling more hopeless and confused when he tried to hate Jungkook in that moment to make things easier for him, but he knew it wasn’t going to work. He was already bonded to him anyway, so killing him would only cause him to die in the end, wouldn’t it?

And why would he kill Jungkook?

Jungkook just killed dragons because that was how he was raised. He was taught to kill them to defend his village so-!…

…Namjoon was raised to do the same thing. The only difference between the two of them was that Namjoon killed Tae’s mom to protect his village while Jungkook didn’t.

All these thoughts were confusing Taehyung too much to the point where he fell to his knees again, closing his palms to keep himself from setting anything else on fire before he pressed his forehead to same spruce tree he had originally rested against and shut his eyes. He let out a long exhale and bit his lip, hoping that at least Jungkook and Jimin wouldn’t come to this island to meet their fates. They were the good humans. They were the good people that Taehyung still loved and wanted to keep in his life.

But… how could he face them again if he killed Jimin’s whole family for revenge and claimed to hate humans now?…

The king was right, he was confused. He wanted to make up for what he lost, but he also didn’t want to ruin everything he loved as a human.

He had no idea where to go from here.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty

Namjoon looked up at the clear sky, noting to himself that it had been a few hours since he had seen a dragon fly overhead above their ship. In fact, he hadn’t seen one since this morning, flying in the opposite direction of where they were headed.

Usually when sailing, he’d see one or two every hour. They were always too high to be a threat though in the past he had always tried to see if it was Jin or not. His crew would always decide that it wasn’t a danger and go about their daily jobs on the boat, but Joon’s eyes always lingered on the outline of the creature, wondering if it had Jin’s shape or if it had scales that glimmered a rose gold color in the sun.

He was never lucky, but now it was a habit to watch the dragons up in the sky when he saw them, wondering if they were Jin coming back home. He made sure to watch every dragon that came into view, so when the area seemed to be empty of any dragons flying over him, he was quick to notice.

     “Chief Joon, is something wrong?” Namjoon’s focus was brought down from the empty skies to stare back down at the young future chief of the village beside his, Jungkook.

He was still somewhat lost in his thoughts, so his expression remained passive as he answered Jungkook in a mutter, “Yeah, I just realized there hasn’t been any dragons in the sky for a while now.”

Jungkook looked up at the sky and smiled, nodding his head and looking back to Namjoon to say happily, “Yeah, isn’t it great?”

Namjoon was caught off guard by that comment, but he had to remind himself that of course Jungkook found something like that great. He was raised to hate dragons, so to see none at all was a good thing.

Namjoon faked his agreement and nodded with a slight smile since producing anything more than that took too much effort, “Yeah, yeah it is,” he turned to Hoseok who had been eavesdropping on their conversation and awkwardly looked away when Joon faced him. Joon didn’t mind the fact that Hoseok had been secretly listening though because he was more focused on how he now had a way out of this conversation. He stepped towards Hoseok and asked in a mutter, “Hey Hoseok, can I talk to you for a second about our route to Balaur Island?”

     “O-Oh yeah, of course!” Hoseok awkwardly replied as Namjoon left Jungkook to walk over to him. He thought he was going to get reprimanded for not doing anything productive like the rest of the crew until Namjoon whispered, “Jungkook is a sweet kid, but sometimes I forget he hates dragons.”

Namjoon froze for a second, wondering if Namjoon was going to say anything about him eavesdropping, but when his chief only looked to him with a slightly bothered and worried expression, Hoseok let out a subtle sigh of relief and replied, “It must be hard being in a village full of people who hate them.”

     “I can’t imagine how Jin and Jimin feel having to talk to their own friends about how much they hate their own kind,” Namjoon mumbled, “It’s hard enough for me, but I feel guilty never doing anything about it.”

     “What can you do though?” Hoseok asked, “Dragons and humans have felt ill towards each other in general since forever. If we weren’t at war then we were avoiding each other. It’s not like you can change their minds immediately and have everyone in our village suddenly love dragons.”

Namjoon looked down, realizing Hoseok was right though he still wished there was something he could do about how his village felt about dragons. He glanced back to Jungkook who was currently helping one of the crew members move a storage container away from the edge of the boat, almost becoming lost in thought before Hoseok spoke up and asked, “What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out Taehyung is a dragon?”

     “Tae’s a dragon?” Namjoon turned to Hoseok, his eyes wide in surprise though he managed to keep his voice soft.

Hoseok shrugged, “There’s a chance, isn’t there? They wouldn’t drag a human away to be part of their dragon army.”

Namjoon bit his lip and glanced back at the boy who openly hated dragons and yet was possibly in love with one, “Jin sensed that Taehyung was a dragon the first time they met,” it hurt to mention Jin, but he continued to confide in Hoseok about Taehyung’s possible second identity, “I didn’t believe him at first, but that seems to be the case now, isn’t it?”

Hoseok gasped, “Wait, so he really is one?” he too now looked on in Jungkook’s direction, “I can’t imagine how Jungkook’s going to react then when he finds out.”

     “I’m not going to let him hurt Tae, that’s for sure,” Namjoon grunted out and crossed his arms, “You said there’s nothing I can do about the way our village views dragons, and you’re definitely right about that, but there’s certainly something I can do about the way they treat them. No more innocent lives should be lost on either side.”

Hoseok couldn’t help but smile at that, always having loved to fight alongside his chief for their village though he was never one for war. Jimin was one of his best friends and so was Tae, and if they were dragons? Nothing changed. He still loved them and he would be eager to learn more about the side they hide from their village. He just hoped everyone else would be just as happy as him to hear Namjoon’s resolution though.

He was about to voice his agreement with Namjoon’s wishes, but before he could, Jungkook interrupted them with an excited, “Chief, I think I see the island!” he handed Joon his telescope he had been looking into to try to see if they were getting close to their destination, and he peered back out at the top of the ocean Hoseok had though was vast an empty up until a second ago. Hoseok narrowed his eyes to try to see the island, but only Namjoon could see it now, looking into the telescope and smiling, “I knew it had to be close…” he handed it to Hoseok and stepped forward as he called out to his crew, “Full sail until we reach just north! We should get there by evening, but the lack of daylight will not impose on our plans!”

Jungkook gripped onto his sword that was still in his belt as if he was about to have to face off against a dragon army right then to get Taehyung back, but he kept himself composed and remained behind Namjoon, keeping his excitement in just a grin as he muttered out, “We’re finally going to get them back… I’ll give my life to get Taehyung back.”

Namjoon glanced back at Jungkook and raised an eyebrow before turning to Hoseok with a look that could be read all too well. This island was going to be a place of transformation for Jungkook and Taehyung’s relationship…

Like in all battles, he knew things were going to come out different and change will come whether he liked it or not. He just hoped that for once in his life, the change was good enough to bring his family together… and maybe even enough to ensure that they were never going to be pulled apart again.

~(***)~

They arrived at the island within hours just as Namjoon predicted, the sun only now setting though Namjoon felt confident it wouldn’t come to be a problem. With the area around them dark enough, maybe it might be easier to see fire at the enemy’s base or the glowing eyes of the dragons possibly stalking them through the forest.

Namjoon and his crew anchored the ship off shore and rowed the rest of the way in smaller boats, Namjoon’s boat leading the way in front of Hoseok’s boat.

As soon as the water was shallow enough, Namjoon jumped out and hurried up onto shore, muttering to himself when he heard the sounds of dragons roaring and screeching in pain up at the top of the mountain on the island, “I hope to Odin that Jimin and Yoongi haven’t found this Hell of a place yet…”

Hoseok walked up behind him and looked up at the trees, “So what’s the plan?”

     “We kill everyone except for Jin and Tae obviously,” Jungkook muttered and finally pulled out his sword, storming ahead towards the trees until Hoseok quickly lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to hold him back. He yanked him back to where he and Namjoon were standing and snapped, “Hey, you may be on your own mission, but you still follow Chief Namjoon’s orders-!”

     “But I don’t see a point in a plan!” Jungkook interrupted with a disgruntled huff, his lips puckered up in a pout as if he was a toddler though he had an eerily angry look in his eye that would send any common villager running for refuge away from him. He jerked himself away from Hoseok and patted himself down, “Let’s just kill anyone we don’t recognize and get the hell out of here.”

      “And they’ll kill us before we even find anyone we recognize,” Hoseok argued with a quick eye roll before turning to Joon, “Have a plan that isn’t so reckless?”

Namjoon didn’t seem to have been listening, his eyes still looking up at the mountain in fear of one of those roars or cries being his mate’s. He told himself that Jin couldn’t even make those noises because he was pregnant and in his human form…. if he was even still pregnant... If those bastards hadn’t killed their baby yet to force Jin to turn into a dragon.

He grit his teeth and almost wanted to storm in there without warning to kill anyone that could have possibly laid a hand on Jin, but Hoseok’s question pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned to the two younger vikings that were previously arguing.

      ‘Have a plan that isn’t so reckless?’ Hoseok had said, but Namjoon didn’t have a plan at all… He… All he could think about the whole day was finally getting to this island and just seeing Jin, but it really was going to be more difficult than that, wasn’t it?… no…

No, it didn’t have to be difficult.

Jungkook was right, there was no need for a plan. There was only need for action.

Namjoon pulled out his sword and stepped towards the treeline, answering Hoseok without a second more to think about what he was doing, “Killing everyone who isn’t Jin or Tae sounds like a great plan.”

     “Oh?” Hoseok’s eyes widened, “We’re really doing this?”

     “Anyone who stands in the way of me and my family shouldn’t get the chance to stand at all ever again,” he nodded his head and turned to the rest of his men, “Kill humans and only humans! The only time you are allowed to kill a dragon is when it has you pinned down and is about to breathe fire in your face. Understand?” he watched as all of them pulled out their swords and axes, already prepared to go into a battle with the most dangerous army in the Northern Seas, “Dragons are the captives in this situation, and the clan who attacked us is the only enemy we should worry about.”

His men knew not to shout out in agreement, but their determined faces and wielding of their weapons were enough for Joon to know that he was being backed up in this fight despite his men not being allowed to kill dragons. He couldn’t help but give a small smile that they followed him so trustingly, and he turned to Hoseok, “You’re still my right hand man, so I want you by my side when we find Jin.”

Hoseok held his axe a little higher and gave his chief a determined smile, “Let’s kill these bastards who messed with the wrong village.”

Namjoon’s small smile turned into a grin and he nodded in agreement, “Let’s do exactly that,” and he turned towards the mountain loud with anguish and already vibrant in the evening sun with glowing eyes that could be seen from the shore.

His husband was somewhere on this island, and he wasn’t going to stop until he got him back again. And if anyone stood in the way between him in his mate? He’d show them that there were far more scarier things than a dragon in this world.

~(***)~

Jimin was still having trouble calming down even when their boat came up upon the first rocks of Balaur Island. Yoongi had to break away from Jimin for a moment to safely tie their boat up to a large rock near the island before quickly tending to him again and asking softly, “Do you think you can stand up? We can take things at a slow pace if that’s easier.”

Jimin could only nod, trembling too much to speak properly. He had previously tried to answer in full sentences and even attempted one word responses, but the amount of stuttering and quick breaths he was having to do in between words or syllables took too much effort in his panic. He just held onto Yoongi and got up on his own, managing to mutter under his breath through sniffles and stutters, “W-We aren’t prepared for what’s to come… There’s so m-much pain on this island.”

Yoongi tried not to agree with that statement, knowing that whatever Jimin was feeling was probably very valid though not enough to freak out about yet. He continued to hold onto Jimin to support him as they walked over to one of the smaller row boats tied up to their boat.

     “Just remember the goal, it’ll make everything easier,” he tried to assure him as he helped him into the attached side boat.

Jimin’s eyes were glowing with fear, his fingers trembling as he tried to keep a grip on Yoongi. He managed to step into the boat on his own, but he still leaned onto the other viking like he was his life support, not wanting to let him go in fear of something happening to him. He didn’t know why he was so scared already, but he knew that if there really was as much danger as he sensed there was, he needed to protect his mate. He couldn’t let him die.

Yoongi stepped inside the boat after Jimin and worked to lower the boat down into the water. He felt bad for moving around so much when Jimin was trying to stay close to him, but he worked as quickly as he could, wanting this mission to be over with as soon as possible so Jimin could finally relax and be happy again.

When their boat lowered down into the water and Yoongi untied themselves from the rope of the ship, he finally turned back around to Jimin again and held him, “You know we can’t face these people with you too scared to move. You’re going to have to convince yourself that this island really isn’t that bad.”

     “Yoongi, I-I’ve never even left my village before this week, I don’t how to be brave!” Jimin argued, but Yoongi scoffed, “Bullshit. You’ve been brave since you were a toddler. You’ve been befriending dragons since before you knew you were one, you fought me to fight in a battle even your two fathers feared, you decided to go off on your own to save Jin, you went up to a bratty prince’s room alone with him to get information, and after being bruised, burned, cut, and yelled at by me a million times, you still persisted to come here and finish your dangerous adventure. Are you really going to try to lie and say you’re not brave?”

Jimin sniffled and looked on into Yoongi’s eyes, taking in his words and falling silent when he realized that Yoongi did have a point… Sure, this island was the most dangerous stop yet on their journey, but this was the endgame. He had been through too much to turn back now, and he was going to regret it if he didn’t save Jin when he was so close to him.

Jimin’s lips tightened into a thin line and he nodded his head with a new determined expression on his face, “I can’t believe just showing up to this island caused me to grow weak and afraid.”

Yoongi felt Jimin’s grip loosen on him, so he took advantage of this moment to lean to the side and start rowing towards the island now that he was more free to move around and Jimin was starting to work through his fears. He was now focused on getting them to shore, but he still answered Jimin to help him gain his confidence again, “Maybe this island puts some kind of spell on dragons who come near, making them grow weak and easier to force into submission.”

     “Spell?” Jimin shook his head and looked down, “Magic isn’t real, Yoongi. This is just fear.”

Yoongi shrugged and turned to look at Jimin who was still looking on at the island with a wary stare, “Fear doesn’t make you weak, it just makes you smarter, you know. You’re afraid, so you’re going to get Jin and Tae as fast as you can so we can get the hell of this god forsaken island and back to safety.”

Jimin laughed a little under his breath and nodded his head, “You’re right…” he straightened up, “I’ve come too far to back down now.”

His heart was still beating fast in his chest, but he managed to convince himself that with Yoongi by his side, things were going to be ok. He also thought about how excited he was to see Jin and Taehyung again. His father and best friend whom he would feel hopeless without were going to be back in his life again. If that wasn’t enough to walk up onto the island of the strongest army in the Northern Seas, then Jimin didn’t know what else he could do to gain his courage back.

When their boat came up onto shore, Jimin hopped out and helped Yoongi drag it up into the black sand, now noticing how silent the island was in the shore area. He looked up at the incline of the island, “Do you think they are up there?”

     “I guess we could follow the sounds of roaring,” Yoongi sighed and pulled out his sword, “I hate that we’re walking into a dragon infested land to save them…” Jimin shot him a look and he quickly backtracked, “I mean, I hate that they are trapped in the first place! This is terrible. The humans doing this are terrible.”

     “We might have to kill the humans; are you ok with that?” Jimin decided to ask, though he remembered one of Jin’s last words to him and added, “Not all dragons are good either though. If we have to kill a dragon, I’m ok with that… Let’s just avoid killing any pink ones, I guess.”

     “Is that what Jin looks like?” Yoongi asked and Jimin nodded, moving forward into the treeline to start making his way to where he hoped Jin and Tae were. He also hoped they were as far away as they could be from where the sounds of the dragons’ cries and screams were originating from, but he just wanted to see them if anything at this point.

Yoongi followed closely behind, turning and glancing around them every so often to make sure no dragons were lurking in tree branches or bushes around the forest, preparing to pounce on them. He tried to keep an eye out for a pink dragon too for Jimin, but he had a feeling Jin would be closer to the base probably still resisting the power of the Viking King.

Jimin was walking quickly now that he had his goals in order and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, so Yoongi had to make sure he kept up with him with every turn through the forest, reminding him when Jimin was started to move too fast, “Jimin, if you keep going at a quick pace, we’re going to walk into something we’re not prepared for with no way out. We have to be careful now, ok?”

     “I’ll burn them if they try to hurt us, don’t worry,” Jimin retorted back with, glancing around them just to make sure he wasn’t saying any famous last words. When he found the coast to be relatively clear, he continued on.

Yoongi followed behind him once more though Jimin’s words didn’t necessarily make him feel better. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and muttered out, “That’s the plan for if we run into humans, but what happens when we run into dragons-!” just as he breathed out the name of the beast he used to hate and fear, he heard a clicking noise coming from the branches above them.

His eyes widened and he quickly grabbed Jimin and backed up away from the noise, muttering out, “Sounds like a Red Snapper dragon, too dangerous to negotiate with. It spits venom at you to permanently blind you, so we’re going to have to kill it right here before it has the chance to-!”

     “Wait no, now’s my chance to finally ask about Jin and Tae!” Jimin interrupted Yoongi warnings and jerked himself away from him to go back towards the clicking noise and ask the dragon hiding in the trees, “Hey, I’m a dragon just trying to find my dad and best friend who are on this island! Could you please-!”

     “What the fuck are you doing, Jimin!” Yoongi grabbed Jimin and pulled him back again, “This is a dangerous dragon, and if you think I’m going to let you just stand where it can kill you in a second, you’re a fucking idiot!” he pulled out his sword with one hand and continued to hold Jimin close with his free hand, prepared for the dragon to come out from the treeline and finally show itself to either attack them or make friends with them.

Jimin gripped onto Yoongi’s arm to try to get out of his hold, but he struggled to escape from him, only jerking around in his grip and growling out in frustration, “Yoongi, I thought we agreed-!”

     “-that some dragons are bad,” Yoongi finished his statement though that wasn’t where Jimin had been heading with it. He was glaring up at the trees as he added, “We agreed that some dragons on this island are bad, so naturally, we’re not going to offer ourselves up to them to either be attack or killed before we can even get a chance to see Jin and Tae again, alright?”

He was sure Jimin was going to grow angry at his demands to be safer, but he would rather Jimin hate him for the moment than be dead because he ran up to a heartless beast asking about his father’s whereabouts. Jimin was probably about to muster up a retort to grumble back to Yoongi, but before he could have the chance, the dragon dropped from the tree above them and down onto the ground in front of them, its spiked tail raised in caution and its teeth bared for the two possible threats to see.

Yoongi pointed his sword at it and pushed Jimin behind him, his first instinct to protect him though instead of just going ahead and killing the dragon like he used to do, he asked it in a warning growl, “We’re on the side of the dragons and wanted to save two of our friends that are being held captive here. Can you help us or will I have to kill you?”

The dragon's eyes were glowing yellow as it looked up at Yoongi. Yoongi thought that maybe the dragon would either move forward or back away as its answer, but when the dragon refused to move from its spot, Yoongi bit his lip and turned to Jimin to ask under his breath, “Can dragons understand humans?”

     “Yeah, but you’re pointing a sword at it,” Jimin pushed Yoongi out of the way and stood in front of the dragon now to show it his powers. He held his hands out in front of himself and let a flame dance around his palm and fingers before crouching down and muttering out, “We’re on the same side…. Can you please help me?”

Yoongi watched the dragon’s mouth, ready to behead it if it even so much as thought about opening its mouth to shoot a blinding venom at Jimin. To his relief though, the dragon lowered its tail in Jimin’s presence, realizing he was a dragon that could be trusted. Yoongi still kept his sword drawn, but he watched as the dragon relaxed into a calmer stance and eventually hid its teeth before pressing its snout up against the palm of Jimin’s hand to speak to him.

Yoongi was shocked but also not surprised, knowing how Jimin had his way even with the most ferocious of the beasts.

Jimin smiled when the dragon spoke to him through their silent form of communication, and he wasted no time to quickly ask, “So have you seen a pink dragon here? Or a human brought here by mistake?”

There was a moment of silence as Jimin let the dragon answer him, and just as it went before, Yoongi could tell Jimin didn’t get the answer he had hoped for.

Jimin’s smile fell and he turned to Yoongi, “This dragon was held captive up until he escaped a few days ago, and even he hasn’t seen Jin… a-and,” he started to sniffle, the tears that were forming in his eyes now falling down his cheeks, “Any humans brought here are fed to the alpha dragon they have on the island.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “They have an alpha dragon here?…”

Jimin bit his lip and stood up, muttering out a thank you to the dragon and hurrying over to a tree to lean against it and cry out. Yoongi quickly followed Jimin over to where he was, not wanting to be attacked while in a vulnerable state. He hurried over to wrap an arm around Jimin as the dragon quickly scurried away to finish running away from where he had previously been trapped.

     “Jin wouldn’t let them hurt Taehyung, you know that. I’m sure Jin is protecting him in his dragon form right now, not letting anyone touch him,” Yoongi assured him, running his hand up and down Jimin’s back to let him feel the support he had.

Yoongi hoped that words would be enough to assure Jimin that there was still a reason to fight his way up to the base to try to find Jin and Tae, but when Jimin turned to Yoongi, Yoongi could tell the younger viking was just seconds away from losing it.

And he did.

More tears fell down Jimin’s face before he wrapped his arms around himself and suddenly cried out, “How is he protecting him in his dragon form if no one has even seen Jin’s dragon form?! I don’t understand! Jin is so powerful and yet it’s like he was never even brought here! What if they felt like he was too much trouble and killed him while at sea a-and that’s why no one has seen him? He’s been dead and I’ve been wasting everyone’s time!”

     “What?” Yoongi tried to hug Jimin to reassure him again that everything was ok, but Jimin only pulled away from him and sniffled, “Please just tell me the truth. Is this journey pointless?”

Yoongi held out his hands in front of himself, still holding out for a hug though Jimin didn’t seem interested in one at the moment. He still kept them there though as he sighed and muttered out an unsure answer, “I…” he bit his lip and shrugged, “Jimin, I don’t know. Jin could be…” he searched for a reason no one had seen Jin besides death for a few seconds before offering the idea, “He could be holding out on transforming into a dragon in order to keep his identity hidden from Tae. Or maybe he’s being kept somewhere where he isn't able to safely change into his dragon form. You never know.”

     “What are we even doing though?” Jimin asked, Yoongi’s excuses helping him calm down a little bit though he still was working through his breakdown, “My dad is probably worried sick about me back in the village, and it’s not like I’m helping out in any way by risking my life and doing this! He wanted me to stay back so he’d at least have me, but I couldn’t even do that simple task! I just left him! I’m going to end up getting myself killed, a-and my appa is going to have to live alone and-!”

     “Jimin…” Yoongi finally interrupted Jimin before he could ramble himself down into a pit of fear and helpless nerves. He reached forward and gently wiped Jimin’s tears away, “You’re not going to die, ok? I won’t let you,” he gave Jimin a reassuring smile, finding it easier to do this kind of thing now that they were closer and he had come to love being Jimin's support, “In the end, you’re doing something that will make your dad happy because you will bring Jin home no matter what. You won’t give up because yeah, you’re stubborn and don’t listen to anyone when you should, and you don’t give up.”

Jimin sniffled and looked up at Yoongi with glossy eyes, not surprised by the older viking's kindness anymore though he was just generally surprised that someone could believe in him with so much confidence. Jimin used to feel like he was constantly trying to prove himself to Yoongi, but now it felt like Yoongi was now having to always remind him that he was better than what most people tried to tell him he was. He was more than what even he thought he was.

Jimin didn’t know how to respond, but when Yoongi suddenly added, “Plus, I don’t mate with quitters,” Jimin couldn’t help but snort under his breath and finally give a small smile, “Since when were you so good at cheering me up?”

     “Never, it must be a mate thing,” Yoongi joked and hugged Jimin, “Now tell me just how ready you are going to go up against the most powerful army in the world.”

Jimin let out a short determined breath and straightened up, “Very ready.”

     “Why?” Yoongi stepped back, unable to keep himself from smiling when he noticed Jimin’s eyebrows furrowed in a serious yet still adorable expression.

     “Because I’m powerful,” Jimin answered.

     “Yeah? Is that it?” Yoongi cocked his head with a grin spreading wider across his face. He crossed his arms and leaned against the tree beside them as Jimin shook his head and answered again, “I’m also brave!”

     “Oh yeah,” Yoongi cheered him on under his breath, but Jimin continued, “I won’t quit until I’m dead!”

     “Damn right!” Yoongi watched as Jimin stepped back and straightened up more to create a fire that danced around his hands and arms, “And I can turn people to ash with my fire! I give no mercy!”

Yoongi’s eyes widened in amazement at the fire Jimin was able to effortlessly create, but something behind Jimin caught his eye. Something large with green scales that had been blending into the forest area until just now. His blood ran cold when he saw the dragon that had already crept up too close to them for comfort, “Oh shit-!”

     “And I’ll kill anyone who gets in the way of me and those I love-!” Jimin had been lost in the moment with his newfound confidence, but before he could finish shouting out his promises of bravery, strength, and resilience, Yoongi suddenly yanked him forward while shouting out his name in fear.

Jimin’s eyes widened at the sudden change in tone of the moment, but when he turned to see a dragon running at them with razor sharp teeth and wings bigger than any dragon he had seen before, he was reminded of just why he had needed a pep talk in the first place.

Yoongi stood in front of him as he pulled out his sword, but it was too late to stand up against the beast before it managed to shove Yoongi away with just one swipe of its claws. Jimin screamed out in fear as he watched Yoongi fall off to the side and hit a rock. He watched for a sign to see if Yoongi was ok, but Yoongi didn’t move from where he had landed. He made the mistake of watching his mate for any sign of life, waiting too long to see anything but blood dripping down the rock he had landed on.

     "No..." he breathed out in fear and shook his head, "Yoongi!" he let out a blood-curdling scream, tears falling down his face as his whole body ran cold with fear. He wanted to go to Yoongi, but a set of yellow glowing eyes were now focused on him, a low growl emitting from the mouth of the beast who had already managed to do so much damage within just a few seconds. 

Jimin's eyebrows furrowed and he grit his teeth, deciding now that this was going to be the first dragon he killed. 

     "You fucking monster," he growled out, slowly lifting one of his hands up to create a fire in his palm to use against the beast in front of him. He wished now that he had a sword of his own to slit the dragon's neck with, but fire would be enough. He created another large flame in his other hand, but before he could shoot fire at the beast in front of him, a loud roar emitted from right behind him, and everything went dark. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-One

Jin was sitting alone in the darkness that had become all too familiar in his days of captivity. He almost felt like he was on the edge of giving up, but these moments of just darkness and silence were the only times he could relax and breathe without worrying about the safety of his baby. It was in these bitter sweet moments, he could actually think about the fact that he was pregnant and wonder what the child might be like if he was able to make it to full term.

Would it be like Jimin?

Jin only knew him as baby and young toddler, but he was so lively even earlier on, always so curious of the world around him and quick to recover from certain things that didn’t go his way.

He wondered if the baby would grow up to be like Jimin, sweet and curious… he wasn’t sure how the baby was going to grow up if it was in a place like this, but he just hoped he’d be able to keep it with him at all times… He needed to keep his and Namjoon’s child safe until they hopefully one day found each other again.

Namjoon was keeping Jimin safe and he was keeping this one safe… he smiled at that thought and looked down at his stomach, rubbing his hand across his belly and musing about the day he could maybe see Namjoon again. It’d be almost like the moment he and Joon reunited when Jimin was born, and they’d be happy again, this time permanently.

This time, they’d finally get to raise the baby together too.

Jin was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, stepping heavily with eerie echoes following behind. He looked up at the man walking down to his cell and glared at him, not saying a word though the glow in his eyes gave way to what he felt.

The king made his way over to Jin’s cell, a smirk on his face as he hummed out in amusement at Jin’s glare and muttered, “So we’ve come to a conclusion on what to do about you and your family,” he touched his hand to the bars of Jin’s cell though the heat coming from the metal of the cage burned his hand.

He winced and quickly took his hand off of the bar, “Fuck! What did you do?!”

     “A dragon’s pregnancy brings along some trouble side effects,” Jin muttered in reply, looking down at his lap. He was happy that this unwanted symptom of him being stressed out and frustrated during his pregnancy caused the viking king pain, but he held back his smile in order to keep the baby safe.

He stayed quiet until the king accepted his explanation and sighed out, “Ah… I almost forgot you were pregnant,” he grinned, “I was too busy planning how I’m going to feed you and the chief’s child to the Alpha dragon I have here on the island.”

Jin’s eyes widened and he lifted up his head from his lap to stare up at the chief again, about to say something, but he couldn’t find the words to stand up to this man. He couldn’t think of anything that would help the situation anyway, and he didn’t want to risk hurting the child within him. He just sighed and submitted to the fact that the king was planning a terrible end for him and his family if they ever found him, and he looked away, curling up into himself and hoping the king would just leave without another word.

He sniffled and thought about how maybe Namjoon might come after him but at least Jimin would be safe. Namjoon would never let him step foot out of their village, so it was comforting knowing that nothing bad would happen to him.

All comfort slowly faded to the back of Jin’s mind though when the door to his cell suddenly opened and the king stepped in. Jin’s eyes widened and he curled up more into himself. He wanted to tell the king to leave, but he continued to remain silent, not saying a word and not moving a muscle even as the king grew too close for comfort and muttered, “Don’t burn me or I’ll kill your baby, understand?”

He kneeled down to Jin’s level and leaned in too close for comfort.

Jin felt sick to his stomach and finally muttered out, “Don’t touch me-!”

     “Shhh…” the king hushed him with a smirk growing on his face, “You just… seem so boring,” he laughed a little and moved his hand down to touch Jin’s stomach, “I’ve been wondering for a while what made a great chief like yours want to pursue a family with you.”

Jin’s whole body stiffened up and the yellow glow in his eyes became brighter, “I said don’t touch me!”

He started to move to burn the king, but the king grabbed his hand and held it tight in his grip, his smile falling as he warned, “A-a-a!” his hold around Jin’s hand soon started to hurt him, but Jin remained still now as he watched the king reach into his belt with his free hand for a knife. Jin gasped softly under his breath when the knife was suddenly held up to his neck and the king spoke, “You wouldn’t want your little half breed baby to die, would you?”

Jin looked up at the king with fear in his eyes and he cried out softly at the thought of losing his baby right now. He tried to pull his hand away from his grip as he hurried to apologize, “I’m sorry, I just-!”

     “Hush, dragon,” the king leaned forward and kissed him without warning.

Jin froze once more and felt even sicker to his stomach from the feeling of the man’s touch being forced upon him. Jin’s eyes were wide, but he shut them to try to escape the horrors of his current reality when the viking king started to lift up his shirt with the tip of his knife.

Tears fell down Jin’s cheeks and his heart was beating as heavy and fast as his breaths that were starting to come out. He knew what was coming. He realized only now what the chief had been implying by being curious about why Namjoon was ever interested in Jin. He should have known the king was doing more than just insulting him or trying to get a rise out of him. He was getting ready to put Jin in a far worse hell than he already was in.

Jin wanted to transform into a dragon right now and rip this bastard to shreds, but he had more than himself to think about now. He had a whole life to think about, a baby who was relying on him to make the kinds of decisions that would keep it alive.

So Jin suppressed what he was feeling and remained still as the king’s hand started trail from his stomach down to his pants. He sucked in his breath when the man’s cold hands slipped underneath the fabric of his clothes. He leaned in close to kiss Jin again, his breath heavy as if he was excited to break down the helpless dragon that couldn’t do a single thing to fight back.

Jin tensed up when he felt the king’s hand fighting to fit between his thighs, but before he could manage to do so, a voice could be heard from the stairway, faint and almost pitiful, “King…”

The king froze where he was as if he had been caught doing something against the rules. Seeing as he made the rules on this island though, he relaxed after a moment and turned to the voice with an irritated expression, “Do you need something? I’m busy teaching this bitch a lesson.”

Jin had recognized the voice from when it had faintly spoke up a moment ago, but he received confirmation on who it was when Taehyung stepped closer to the cage and muttered out, “You can’t…” he paused and made brief eye contact with Jin before looking back to the king and continuing, “Please don’t do this to him.”

     “And why not?” the king rocked back a bit to ask with a frown forming on his expression. He still held his knife tightly in his hand, but he finally took it off of Jin’s stomach, “I’m going to kill him in the end anyway, might as well have some fun with him. Aren’t you curious why a dragon killing chief was in love with a dragon? Makes you wonder if maybe he’s a better time than most humans,” he turned to Jin with a grin, but he was immediately thrown back by a surge of fire that Jin shot out from one of his hands as soon as the king decided to let his guard down.

The pain of the flames attacking and enwrapping his skin suddenly ran through the king’s body like a bolt of lightning, causing him to fall to the ground in a fit of screams of pain. He rolled over on the cold surface of the dungeon to try to tame the fire burning his skin and hair before it got out of control, but Jin already took advantage of the distraction to get up and run out of the cage to try to escape. He wasn’t sure how far he’d be able to go without getting caught, but he was at least going to try to find out, because if any time was his only chance, it was now.

He pushed Tae over on his way out of the cell and managed to run up the stairs without being stopped, wasting no time to swing open the doors to the outside and run out them as fast as he could. When he was up and out of the basement, he was taken back by the fresh air and the bright sky that he didn’t realize he missed so much until now. He felt a wave of relief wash over him now that he was finally out, but he didn’t stop there. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, so he kept running as fast as he could, only looking forward towards a treeline that looked promising to at least give him a good place to hide in, but before he could make it to the forest on the island, a force came down upon him and shoved him to the ground.

Jin screamed out in surprised and quickly moved his hands to protect his stomach from being pressed too hard against the ground when the heavy force held him down. A deep growl coming from the throat of the dragon behind him could be heard and he knew that this was his answer to the question he had asked himself when he finally escaped his cage: how far could he make it?

Jin turned his head to look up at the dragon, tears in his eyes as he cried and finally screamed out, “Let me go! Why are you keeping one of your own kind here?!”

The dragon was smaller, definitely only a teenager though it was a stronger type of dragon that held too much power over Jin for him to fight back. His wings were opened in a threatening stance, but his eyes were wide with surprise too. Jin could tell in its expression that it was shocked, but what for?

Jin touched his hand to the dragon’s arm, initiating contact to try to get into its mind, but what he found left Jin just as speechless when he realized that he was now staring up at Taehyung in his dragon form.

     “You…” he breathed out, his eyes still wide with shock when he realized that the boy who was now his enemy could now be in a form too dangerous for his thoughts of revenge right now. The things he could do to Jimin and Namjoon in this form… He may not know how to fly yet, but once he did… O-Once he found out how to get back to his village, everything was over. No one was safe.

Jin’s eyebrows furrowed and he growled out, “You’re a monster. You’re a fucking monster!” Jin dug his nails into Taehyung’s scales, knowing that that didn’t hurt as much to the angry teen though he still tried to do as much as he could to make him feel pain, “I heard the plan that you and the king came up with, and if you think you’re justified for killing your own best friend for revenge on me and Joon, then you’ve never been more fucking wrong!” his words were barely understandable due to how much he was screaming, but he didn’t care. He was going to scream until his voice was raw because that was how frustrated he was now.

Taehyung didn’t move away from him, so Jin continued to scream, “You’re mom was dying and she took it out on families that had no part in your family’s downfall! Namjoon had to kill her to protect his people, but who are you protecting?!”

As soon as he said that, Taehyung quickly dissolved back into his human form, unable to hold his dragon form for too long since it had been a while. He looked down at himself in shock that he was able to do that but then he looked up at Jin again with a glare, angry that he was insisting that his mother was in the wrong for what she did. He opened his mouth to reply to Jin finally, but he didn’t get a chance when Jin stood up and screamed again, “Who the fuck are you protecting by doing this?!”

Taehyung stepped back at the ferocity in Jin’s voice, almost seeming to show guilt now that he was listening to Jin’s desperation and frustration about the whole situation involving Tae’s unreasonable plans for revenge, but he suddenly glanced somewhere else away from Jin and switched back into his dragon form before hurrying away. Without even looking back at Jin, he disappeared into the basement of the cobblestone tower that Jin had just escaped from, leaving Jin alone in the field once more.

Jin stood there stunned for a moment, surprised Taehyung had just left like that though he wasn’t going to wait for him to come back. He turned back to the treeline and started to hurry to it again, holding his stomach as a way to subtly apologize to his baby for putting it through so much stress, but the end was starting to show up in Jin’s sight. If he could just escape the base then he could come back home to his family. He could warn them of Tae and King and maybe help them get to safety before anything bad could happen to them again.

He could finally raise this baby with Namjoon-!

     “J-Jin!” Jin heard his name being called from the different side of the base. The voice sounded familiar, but he almost ignored it and kept running, thinking it was just a guard realizing he was escaping or his mind playing tricks with him.

He almost made it to the treeline, but when that familiar voice call his name again, he finally turned to make sure it wasn’t anyone he knew, but only found his worst nightmare now playing out in front of him.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at a dragon currently holding down his son. Jimin was grabbing at the dragon’s claws and trying to escape from his grip, but his movements were only carried out with a weak effort since he was too focused on trying to get Jin’s attention.

Jimin smiled when Jin turned around to see him, his breaths heavy as he finally ripped himself away from the dragon holding him and fell to the ground. He was bleeding and was trying to catch his breath through a sudden sob every few seconds, but he found the strength to look back up at Jin again and yell, “You’re alive!”

Jin felt his blood run cold when he finally came to realize that he wasn’t having a nightmare and that this was a reality. His stomach turned with nausea and his body went numb when he also realized that now that Jimin was here, the king could hurt him in unimaginable ways.

Without another thought, Jin broke back out into a sprint this time in Jimin’s direction. He knew his chances of escaping were going to dwindle back down to zero, but what was the point if he didn’t have Jimin with him?

He ran up to Jimin to help him up before gripping on tight to his arms and ordering, “Jimin leave,” he glanced around him for any sign of Taehyung and the king though the dragon beside them was also still a threat. He pulled Jimin away from the dragon and continued to speak under his breath, “Leave now. Please, you can’t be here.”

Jimin shook his head and looked around him, blood and sweat dripping down his forehead, “I need to find Taehyung too though. I came here to save you both, and I-I can’t leave until-!”

     “No, Jimin, let’s go now,” Jin started pulling him towards the woods with one hand, ready to shoot fire at the dragon behind Jimin with his other one if it tried to keep them from escaping. He tried to drag his son away from this god forsaken place before he could get hurt, but Jimin refused to leave. He dug the heels of his shoes into the ground and pulled himself away from Jin, “You escape and fly back to appa now before you’re capture again, and I’ll go get Taehyung,” he had tears in his eyes, but he spoke in a confident voice to argue, “Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

Jin heard something in those words that he didn’t like… ‘I’ll be fine’ didn’t mean he felt confident about going further into the base alone to save Tae… He spoke as if it didn’t matter if he escaped or not. As if he was planning on sacrificing himself.

Jin wasn’t sure if that was what Jimin meant by his words, but he wasn’t going to take a chance. He grit his teeth and grabbed onto his son tighter, “I was hoping he’d change his mind before you could ever find out, but I have no choice. Taehyung wants to-!” before he could finish, a dragon landed behind Jimin out of nowhere as the familiar voice of the king spoke from behind Jin, his voice sounding like a song accompanied by the growling base of Taehyung in his dragon form.

     “So Jin!” Jin turned around when the king approached him, his face now burned and bleeding though he made sure to smile as if he couldn’t feel the pain that previously took over his body. He clapped his hands together and continued to speak as he walked closer to the father and son, “This is your son, hm? He’s definitely handsome! Doesn’t look quite powerful to me, but-!”

Jin moved to protect Jimin, his eyes glowing once more in a yellow glare as he snapped at the king, “Don’t you dare come near him! He’s not staying here.”

The chief’s eyes widened in surprise that Jin was suddenly becoming so brave against him, but he didn’t seem to care for too long about it. He just chuckled a little and tilted his head side to side in a sigh, “Didn’t realize you were going to become so feisty with your son here. It makes me want to keep him here longer.”

Jimin held Jin’s hand and whispered, “I’m not leaving without you.”

Jin grit his teeth and turned to Jimin, “Don’t say something so foolish!” he looked back to the king and begged, “Please, I’ll let you do what you want with me. Kill me, use me in your army, do what you were doing earlier, but you have to let him go!”

     “Hmm…” the king thought about what happened earlier for a few seconds as if he was almost considering the thought of letting Jin’s son escape in exchange for his submission, but he ended up shaking his head in the end and giving a quick answer, “No! I’ve made up my mind already about how I’ll deal with you and your family,” he waved for Taehyung’s attention, “Bring them to the cell we were keeping Jin in. I’ll have my men patrol the area for their chief, and hopefully we’ll have the third piece of our fun little collection before killing them!”

     “No…” Jin breathed out, fear coursing through his veins like a useless adrenaline he didn’t know what to do with. He turned to Jimin, “Run. Run, Jimin, now.”

     “No, you need to,” Jimin shook his head, “Trust me, there’s no point in me escaping, but you need to before-!” he cried out in surprise when the dragon behind him pushed him down to the ground before gripping onto him with sharp claws to drag him back to an underground cell.

Jin saw the dragon beside him moving to push him down too, but he quickly moved towards Taehyung and Jimin before demanding to be left alone, “Don’t touch me, I’ll go on my own,” he glared up at Taehyung and grit his teeth, “I’ll fucking kill you myself if you hurt him in anyway.”

He knew Taehyung was going to ignore him, but he stated his message loud and clear. If any harm came to Jimin, he was going to burn this place down to the ground and give no mercy to anyone who hurt him, even those who he thought used to be good.

~(***)~

The cell was just as dark as ever when Jin was thrown back inside, the air hot and stuffy like before and just as unbearable even with Jimin now with him. If anything, Jimin being with him only made Jin more fearful of what was to come. Just thinking about the king’s promise to kill his family in a gruesome way caused Jin to almost break down in a fit of tears, knowing that it was inevitable now that they were trapped.

He let out a sudden sob and turned to Jimin to yell without thinking, “Why did you come here?! What were you thinking?!”

Jimin had been behind him, trying to burn through the bars of the cell until Jin yelled at him. Now he was staring at his father in shock that he had snapped at him, his eyes wide and mouth falling open a little before he muttered softly, “Appa wasn’t going to save you. He wasn’t doing anything at all to get you back, and I didn’t want to live without you, so I came here instead!”

Jimin didn’t understand why Jin was angry at him for coming to save him. He thought he would be happy he cared so much about him, but it only got worse when Jin yelled again in frustration, “Why?!” he stepped closer, and Jimin pressed up against the bars, afraid of his father’s fury, “Why didn’t you listen to your father?! Why would you come here just to get yourself killed?” he let out another sob as tears started falling from his face, “I….” he let out a quick breath and looked down, running his fingers through his sweaty hair as he muttered, “I could have escaped… I didn’t need you to come here and now we’re both trapped! We’re both going to fucking die now, and I’m sure Namjoon’s on his way to save you now, Fuck-!”

Jin turned away from him, still crying and wiping away his tears as he thought about how real everything was becoming. He made a pact with Namjoon that their child came first no matter what. If Jin disappeared, he would stay and take care of Jimin. He would make sure Jimin was happy and Jimin was alive, but they had never planned on Jimin leaving on his own to save him. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? And knowing Namjoon, there was no way he’d stay in the village now with his whole family gone, so he was definitely on his way… He’d be here soon and then they’d all be dead.

Just thinking about that statement cause Jin to fall to his knees and continuing sobbing uncontrollably, feeling his whole world crash around him though it also didn’t help that this pregnancy was making him more openly emotional than he needed to be.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, trying to calm down from his crying fit that he didn’t notice Jimin just standing there behind him, digesting everything that had just been said to him…

     ‘Why did you have to come here just to get yourself killed….’

     ‘I could have escaped and now we’re both trapped…’

He stared down at his crying father with eyes wide in shock, all of his confidence he once had slowly melting away down to nothing… He really was a burden, wasn’t he? Jin never wanted him to come save him because he knew he’d never be able to successfully do it… Now Yoongi was dead and Jimin was sure he would be dying soon too because they were mates… None of this wouldn’t have happened if he just listened to everyone and stayed home… Maybe Jin would have escaped without Jimin ruining everything, Yoongi would be alive, and Namjoon wouldn’t have to lose his whole family too.

Tears started to fall down his face as he muttered out the only thing he could think of to his father, “I… I’m sorry….”

Sorry such a powerful dragon and chief had such a useless son like him.

He pressed himself up against the wall of the cell and slid down it until he was sitting on the ground. He felt tears burning his eyes from all the stress and the pain he was feeling. He was a burden, he was weak, he lost someone he loved more than anything because he was distracting him with his insecurities, he was going to die soon too, he kept Jin from escaping, he was leaving his appa all alone without even getting to tell him how much he loved him and appreciated him for keeping him safe through the years instead of going after the person he loved most in this world, and…. and Jimin was ready for this journey to be over. It shouldn’t have started in the first place, but he was ready to finally close his eyes and never have to open them again to a world that had been too messed up for anyone to live in happily from the start.

~(***)~

Yoongi woke up against the cold hard surface of the forest, his whole body aching and his head hurting worse than it did when he was hungover. He shut his eyes when he felt his headache and groaned out when he began to feel the pain that was coursing through the rest of his body. He tried to move his hands, hoping that he at least had the strength to do that though he barely could.

What happened last?…

He tried to remember how he got here… was he in battle? Was he at home?

Wait, no. No, he was with Jimin, but then…

His eyes widened and he immediately fell from the rock he had been laying against in panic, his eyes now wide as he looked around for any sign of Jimin. He felt dizzy and his vision was blurry, but he narrowed his eyes to try to see the boy he needed to protect more than anything.

Please, he just couldn’t find him dead. He didn’t know what he would do if he found the only boy he ever loved dead when he was supposed to be protecting him, but he didn’t want to find out.

     “Ji…Jimin…” Yoongi breathed out, grunting under his breath in pain when he forced himself to stumble into a standing position. He held on tight to his stomach that was aching with pain, not even bothered by the blood that was staining his hand because he had worse things to worry about. “Jimin!” he yelled out a little louder, his voice hoarse and his throat dry.

He bent over and coughed, almost falling to the ground again though he managed to catch himself before he could. He told himself not to cry or get frustrated yet, but fear and dread were the only things he could feel. He and Jimin were on this island for less than an hour, and they were already separated. What if Jimin was already dead? What if they were killing him as he stood here still trying to compose himself or figure out what had happened?

How was he going to tell his chief that he lost the most important person to the both of them in a matter of seconds?…

No…

No, he couldn’t think like that. Not yet at least.

The last thing he told Jimin was that he was strong enough to make it home again safe and sound while also achieving his mission. Sure, things were different now and much harder and scarier than they were before, but Yoongi meant every word of what he said.

If anyone could somehow defeat the most dangerous army in the Northern Seas, it was Jimin. Jimin could make it through whatever was happening to him right now. Yoongi just had to get to him soon to help him out of whatever it was.

He glanced around himself for his sword that had found its way to the other side of the rock, finding it painful even to walk towards it, but he needed to keep moving and not stop until he found Jimin again.

He grunted out in pain again as he bent over to pick up his sword and hold it firmly in his hands once more, shutting his eyes and telling himself not to feel the pain in his body until after he brought Jimin back to safety. It was hard to separate himself from his body to numb the pain in his head and stomach, but with his sole focus suddenly on Jimin, he was able to forget about his pain by thinking about his one goal in mind.

He opened his eyes again and stared up at the mountain, the sky now dark and the forest covering most of his view, but he could hear the roars off in the distance and see a few flames dancing up at the top of the mountain that was the king’s base.

If Jimin was anywhere, he was up there, and Yoongi wasn’t going to stop until he got him back.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Two

Yoongi looked up at the mountain as he struggled to walk towards the lights and sounds of where Jimin hopefully was. He was still working on numbing the pain he felt in his body, the only thing able to distract him so far being memories of Jimin to help him through it. Memories of Jimin when they were both children, when they bickered while growing up, and when they discovered their mutual love for each other all swept through his mind like a storm on the ocean.

His stomach hurt with every step he took, but Yoongi told himself that he’d never get to make more memories with Jimin ever again if he didn’t keep going. If he gave up, then he was giving up the life with Jimin he wanted to have after this godforsaken mission.

His mind was zoned towards one goal and one goal only as he stormed up the mountain, but he found himself coming to a stop when he heard voices coming from the right of him. Human voices probably coming from human soldiers that were part of the king’s army.

He quickly hid himself behind a wide oak tree and pulled his sword out of his belt, shutting his eyes to force himself into a killing mode. Should he spare at least one? Maybe one might know where Jimin was… Or should he kill them all? If they weren’t Jimin, they weren’t allowed to live for another second.

Ah, but what if they saved him a lot of time by telling him where Jimin was?

But why would they know where Jimin was? A dragon took him away, it was only dragons that would know where he had been taken.

But what if these humans were dragons? That was a thing now. Human could secretly be dragons too. Would that mean that maybe he should stay in hiding and just let them pass? As soon as he slit one of their throats, the other dragons would change forms and kill him before he had a chance to reach Jimin, and how could he save Jimin if he was dead? That would cause Jimin to die, and then this mission would really have failed.

Yoongi let out a slow exhale of breath through his grit teeth, hating how weak he felt. He wanted to be strong for Jimin, but-!

Yoongi’s thoughts stopped abruptly and his eyes widened when he heard how close the voices were now. The pain in his head was banging against the back of the skull to the point where the voices sounded distorted and muffled, but he was sure they were close. He was sure he could at least threaten them to find out answers, right?

He needed to or else he was never going to get anywhere.

He needed to take a chance or else he feared he was never going to find Jimin again.

Without another thought, Yoongi pushed himself off of the tree and hurried towards the voices to grab the first human he got to and pull him close before wrapped the sword around his neck and shouting, “Where did you take him?! Tell me now or I’m gonna-!” before he could finish, the man in front of him stole his sword and kicked him down to the ground, wasting no time to flip him over on his back and shove the tip of his blade up to his throat before muttering, “Who the fuck-!?” the man jumped a little upon seeing Yoongi’s face and suddenly gasped, “Yoongi?!”

Yoongi was in a world of pain now if he wasn’t before, his head feeling like it had been stabbed from the inside-out and his stomach still stinging with a pain that felt scarily familiar to an open cut. He hoped it wasn’t too deep, but after being shoved to the ground and kicked over, he was sure it opened even more.

He groaned out in pain, barely noticing the sword being held against his neck, but when he heard his name, he let out a breath and narrowed his eyes, hoping that he would see Jimin, though he was still just as relieved when he found Hoseok standing above him instead.

His eyes widened and he grunted out, “Hobi?”

     “Yoongi!” Hoseok sang out and laughed before sinking down to his knees and taking the sword away from his neck, “Holy shit, I honestly was starting to think that maybe you were dead!”

     “No, I…” Yoongi looked down at himself, seeing the scary amount of blood covering his body and rolling over to try to get up again so no one could see him in such a weakened state. “I left with Jimin to keep him safe, but…” he struggled to stand and looked to Hoseok again, “I’m not sure what’s going on right now… I might be imagining you too.”

     “You’re not,” Yoongi heard a voice speak up from behind him in a calm tone that he had always admired though right now feared more than ever.

He turned around to see his chief, the father of his mate. He felt his heart drop down to his stomach that was probably ripped open right now, and his expression fell in fear, “Chief Joon… You're here.”

     “Where’s Jimin?” Namjoon asked the question Yoongi didn’t know he had been dreading until he heard it spoken out loud. His mouth felt dry as he struggled to give the response he was sure he would be killed for, “We were together until earlier today when a dragon attacked us…” blood trickled down his forehead and in front of his eye, letting him know how bad he probably looked right now. He couldn’t imagine how mad Joon was going to be when he found out he couldn’t protect Jimin, “I woke up just moments ago, but I don’t know where he is.”

Namjoon’s shoulders tensed and he looked down with a scowl on his face, obviously unhappy to hear Yoongi’s answer. He grit his teeth as his hands tightened around the handle of his sword, and he turned away, muttering out, “You should probably go back to the boat and wait for us there. It seems you’re too weak to continue on, so-!”

     “No!” Yoongi protested Chief Joon without thinking, not even scared about being killed for talking back to him later because he’d rather die than sit back and let whatever happen to Jimin play out without him to have a say in it. He wasn’t going to tell Joon yet that he was his son’s mate, but he had to let him know that he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew Jimin was safe, “I’m not going to stay back and wait around to find out if Jimin is ok or not. I wasn’t able to protect him the last time I saw him, but if I can the next time I see him, then-!”

     “Yoongi…” Hoseok was the one to speak up this time, lifting Yoongi’s shirt up a little bit as he spoke and cringing at how deep the cut across his stomach was, “You can’t fight like this? It’s ok, just go back to the boat with one of our other men and-!”

     “I said no!” Yoongi snapped and pulled himself away from Hoseok.

Without warning, he suddenly ripped his cloak off his shoulders and wrapped it around his waist, tying it tight to keep his cut closed. It hurt to apply pressure to the wound, but he knew that doing this would be the only way they'd let him fight.

He worked through the pain internally before glaring back up at them and saying, “I’m saving Jimin with or without you guys. I’ll either join you if you let me, or I’ll keep walking up that mountain alone until I’m able to bring him back.”

Everyone was staring at him with wide eyes, Hoseok’s mouth wide open and Namjoon’s lips parting farther apart the more he stared at Yoongi.

Yoongi thought for a moment that maybe everyone was shocked that he, the boy who once treated Namjoon like a god who was never wrong, was now defying him without mercy, but his heart stopped when Namjoon suddenly moved closer to him and grabbed his neck, holding it firm though applying no pressure as he leaned in close and saw the spot of skin that had now been uncovered after he ripped his cloak off.

Yoongi was prepared for Namjoon to choke him to death and leave him to die, but he froze when Joon instead breathed out, “You and Jimin are…” he watched out of the corner of his eye as Namjoon and Hoseok exchanged a knowing eye contact filled with both surprise and dread.

Yoongi had almost forgotten that the last time he saw these two, he and Jimin were at each other’s throats wanting to kill each other, so he explained in a whisper, “Mated, yeah… I know everything.”

Namjoon’s hand tightened around Yoongi’s neck, “Did you hurt him in any way?”

     “No, I love him,” Yoongi shut his eyes as he struggled to answer and breath under Joon’s grip, “I don’t care about any of that anymore.”

     “What?” Namjoon breathed out, letting Yoongi’s neck go and stepping back in shock. His eyes narrowed, “So you?…”

     “I love him,” Yoongi bent down and grabbed his sword that he had lost grip of earlier when threatening Hoseok’s life. He straightened back up and stepped back, “And I need to save him because I don’t think there’s a life for me without him.”

     “There’s not…” Joon muttered looking down. He bit his lip and nodded his head awkwardly to himself before looking back up at Yoongi and deciding, “You’ll help me get him back then. Jin too,” he glanced at Jungkook, “And Tae as well, ok?”

Yoongi glanced behind Namjoon to see Jungkook nod and look up the mountain before asking, “We should go now then.”

     “I agree,” Yoongi stepped back and towards the incline of the mountain, “We have three people to save and one person in particular to kill, so let’s get it over with and finally go home.”

     “Couldn’t agree more with that,” Namjoon made his way past Yoongi to lead his men into the battle that was about to start. He pulled his sword out of his belt to be prepared for anything that was to come his way in the near future, but he couldn’t help but feel scared behind his blade of what he would find when he reached the top.

A dead husband?… A dead son?… His family completely wiped out?…

He glanced back at Yoongi, a love for Jimin lit like a fire in his eyes despite his weakened state hindering him, and he felt for the boy. If he was feeling anything similar to what Namjoon was feeling deep inside, then he hoped that they would be able to save their loved ones before it was too late. Same went for Jungkook as well…

There was no home to go back to after this if they couldn’t save the loved ones they came for.

~(***)~

Jimin was curled up against the wall of the cell, resting his cheek on one of the cold metal bars he had fallen asleep against. He had been awake for awhile now, but he had no motivation to move… There was no point. He and Jin were captured with no way out of this cage, and he was going to die soon anyway.

It wasn’t until he felt something touch his neck when he felt a chill run up his spine and turned quickly to see who was tracing the tip of their finger along the mark Yoongi left on him to complete their bond. He moved closer to the edge of the cell to escape the touch and quickly covered it up when he saw Jin beside him. His father frowned and asked under his breath, “Were you mated by force?….”

Jimin looked down, trying not to think about Yoongi because he’d only remember his body being thrown against the rock and laying lifeless because of Jimin’s mistake. He shut his eyes and tried not to think about the night they mated either. He would only grow sad about the fact that he could never be that way with Yoongi ever again. He couldn’t cry about this or feel bad for himself. He needed to stop being a burden.

     “No…” he answered while holding his breath, hoping that that would help him not speak in such a trembling tone of voice, “We both agreed we wanted it.”

He kept his gaze down, not wanting to look into his father's eyes in fear of what he would say or what thoughts his expression would give away. Maybe he felt like Jimin was still a child?… He couldn’t even take care of himself; how could he be responsible for another person’s life as well? He didn’t need to worry about that anymore though… Yoongi was dead and he would soon be too.

The silence after his answer was long, lasting almost long enough to let Jimin work up the courage to stare up at Jin and ask if he was mad, but Jin spoke before he could, muttering out softly, “I’m sorry for yelling, Jimin…. I was just angry that you’re now here with me. The only thing I could rely on while I was here was your safety, but now I can’t do that.”

     “Don’t worry about me,” Jimin tried to say, but Jin scoffed and shook his head, “As if I could ever do that…”

     “Because I’m weak?” Jimin asked, biting his lip because he knew he shouldn’t have asked that. Guilting Jin wasn’t going to help this situation at all. It was just as bad as being a burden if it didn’t only make him more of one.

Jin looked down at Jimin, guilt already apparent in his expression though when he realized what his words he had shouted earlier meant to his son. He hesitated to speak for a moment, trying to find the words to say to make what happened right, but he only ended up muttering softly, “No, because you’re my son and I love you…” he frowned, “Jimin, you’re not weak.”

     “I am…” Jimin remembered Yoongi trying to assure him he wasn’t weak right before his weakness and cowardness caused him to get killed. He brought his knees up closer to his chest, “I’ve caused so much pain and problems because of how weak I’ve always been. I know you’re thinking it too, so just stop lying to me.”

     “Jimin I’m not lying,” Jin tried to say, but Jimin interrupted him, “You left appa and I the first time because I was weak. You knew I wouldn’t last in your world, so you left. Appa knew it too, that I wasn’t going to make it on my own,” tears formed in his eyes as he told his father his worst fears and everything he blamed on himself, “I’m a fucking burden! You could have escaped if I didn’t show up at the worst possible time, you probably wouldn’t even be here at all if I didn’t step in and try to be strong when it was obvious I wasn’t! People would still be alive if I wasn’t such a fucking burden-!”

     “Jimin stop!” Jin snapped, his shout coming back louder than Jimin’s words had been.

Jimin froze and fell silent when Jin raised his voice, still not used to his father ever seeming angry or disappointed in him. He pressed his back against the side of the cell more and listened as Jin continued to speak in an uncharacteristically stern voice, “I don’t want you here, not because you’re weak or a burden, but I don’t want you feeling the pain I’ve felt here. No parent wants that for their child even if their son is the bravest and strongest warrior the world has ever known,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “Yes, I left because you couldn’t survive my world. Namjoon wouldn’t have been able to even survive my world, so why would I think a toddler could survive it?”

Jimin bit his lip, unsure how to respond though Jin didn’t give him a chance, “When I came back, I was amazed at how strong you were for a human. You stood up against people who hated dragons without even knowing what you were, and you went into the battle that night to defend your village like a chief should,” Jin smiled and reached out to hold Jimin’s hand, “I was so proud of you… I was scared because I didn’t want to lose you, but I was so proud. I’m proud of you for making the journey here alone too. You’re braver than anyone else I’ve ever met, trust me.”

     “But now we’re stuck here,” Jimin muttered and Jin sighed, “Ah, yes…” he shut his eyes and leaned his head back, “I was angry you were here because we’re being held here to be fed to an alpha dragon… only if Namjoon shows up, which I’m praying doesn’t happen, but with both you and I here, you already know he’s probably already almost here.”

Jimin looked down, “I’m so sorry…”

     “Don’t be sorry for coming to save me,” Jin squeezed his hand, “After having more time to think about it, it makes me feel really loved, and it makes me love you more,” he smiled at Jimin, “You really are mine and Joon’s son.”

Jimin couldn’t help but smile at this, feeling a sense of pride that one of the strongest and most amazing people he knew was proud to have him as his son. He almost forgot where he was for a moment, just wanting to go to the forest with Jin and talk more about everything he was feeling to have his father make it all better, but Yoongi’s death still loomed over him like a storm that was never going to go away.

His heart ached at the memory of him, and Jimin looked down, remembering the other dangers Jin mentioned they were going to face, “So we’re going to be fed to a dragon…”

     “If Namjoon shows up,” Jin added, but Jimin sighed, “Which he will…”

Jin nodded and leaned back, “There’s no fighting it either. It’s an alpha dragon… one who will give us no mercy, so we’ll have to escape if we ever get the chance again.”

     “Do you know where Taehyung is?” Jimin asked, “I can’t leave without him.”

     “You’re going to have to,” Jin quickly answered, his frown growing, “He’s not on our side anymore. He wants you dead along with Namjoon and me.”

     “What?” Jimin’s eyes widened, “Why?”

     “A long story…” Jin muttered, glancing to his son, “Though to put it short, he’s a dragon. He’s the son of a dragon who tried to destroy our village a long time ago, the one that Namjoon had to leave me to go kill when I was pregnant with you.”

Jimin’s lips parted in disbelief as Jin told him the truth about his best friend, “Wait…” he muttered, almost breathless upon hearing the news, “That dragon killed Yoongi’s parents.”

Jin nodded, “And Namjoon killed that dragon, Taehyung’s mother.”

     “So he’s mad at appa, but surely he understands, right?” Jimin asked, wishing he was with Taehyung right now to assure him that whatever happened didn’t mean anything that had to ruin their relationship… their friendship they had had now for as long as Jimin could remember, “Yes, he has every right to be mad, but we’re his family. Doesn’t he at least know that we would never do anything to hurt him or anyone he cares about on purpose?”

     “He’s not in the right mindset,” Jin explained, “And I want you to promise me right now that you’re not going to try to speak to him or convince him to change his side,” his eyebrows furrowed and he grew more serious, “He’s made his choice, and you’re going to make yours right now. Do you want to live or die?”

Jimin looked down, knowing in his heart that he didn’t have those options anymore. Without Yoongi, he could only decide to keep going until he died… it wasn’t like there was a point in living anyway. Without the person he was destined to be with, how could he truly live life how he wanted?

Jin saw the hesitation in his answer, and he frowned, quickly grabbing onto Jimin’s shoulders and gritting his teeth as he muttered out in a serious tone of voice, “Jimin, why are you hesitating? You should always choose the option that ensures you live.”

     “What kind of chief would I be if I did that though?” Jimin asked, feeling like Namjoon would never put himself over his people. Jimin needed to take advantage of the fact that he was already dying to find the courage to put both Jin and Taehyung in front of himself and off this island towards safety.

Jin only looked horrified though in response, his eyes wide and lips slightly parted in shock that his son was saying such self-sacrificial things. His eyebrows strained in worry and he looked like he wanted to say something in response, but before he could, he jerked away from Jimin and hurried over to the side of the cell to throw up in a bucket on the other side. He bent himself over in front of the bars and worked through the nausea of his pregnancy though the only thing he could think about was how his son wasn’t showing any signs of wanting to live.

Jimin watched from the other side of the cell as Jin let out a trembling breath and waited for his nausea to pass. He stepped closer and started to ask if Jin was alright, but Jin just put a hand out to stop him from coming closer as he muttered out meekly, “I’m fine, I’m fine… whatever they fed me must not agree with my stomach.”

Jimin’s lips tightened into a straight line and he stood there watching over his father, only finding the words to say after a few minutes, “I’ll get you out of here soon, ok?”

     “You’ll get the both of us out of here,” Jin looked back at him with tired eyes and corrected him. His shoulders sank and he leaned back against the wall with a heavy exhale, “I think I’m going to fall asleep; I’m tired…” he felt terrible falling asleep now of all times, but it had been too long since he had properly rested. His whole body felt weak, his legs heavy and arms aching with every move he made. He just needed a moment to close his eyes and escape it all.

Jimin watched as he laid down and curled up into himself by the wall, a part of him scared that Jin wasn’t going to open his eyes again though he assured himself that Jin probably was just understandably tired after everything that had happened. He stepped back and let Jin have his space again, muttering out, “O-Ok…”

He took a deep breath and found himself sliding down the opposite wall of the cell, not knowing what else to do know while they were alone.

Not having anyone to fight or anyway to escape, Jimin could only sit still. Not having anyone to talk to, Jimin could only think about one thing.

Yoongi.

He bit his lip when he remembered Yoongi all over again and his eyes stung with tears forming in them. He tried not to cry, not wanting Jin to worry about him, but it was hard not to when the only thing he could think about was the fact that he was dead and never going to be alive again to hold him or love him or make him laugh.

Jimin held his breath and shut his eyes to keep himself calm, but one thought refused to leave his mind no matter how hard he tried.

Without Yoongi? Even if Jimin had the choice to live or not, he would never choose to live in a world without the man he loved most.

~(***)~

As soon as Jimin knew Jin was asleep, he finally let himself lose his composure he had been gripping onto so tightly since he had lost Yoongi. Tears broke free from his eyes and fell down his face as he let out a strangled cry that had escaped from the back of his aching throat. He felt like his heart had stopped beating even though it was now only pounding harder than ever against his rib cage.

His soulmate was gone. The love of his life was dead because of him, and soon he would be dead too.

Jimin curled up into himself against the bars of the cage, still trying to remain quiet even as he cried and wished for some kind of escape away from this realty. A distraction only came though when he felt something warm press up against him on the other side of the cage, a material hard and dry that rubbed against his skin and left a mark.

Jimin straightened up a bit and wiped his tears to look at the dragon now staring at him from the other side of the cage, the same one who had dragged him into the basement after he had tried to save Jin.

Its eyes weren’t yellow anymore and it was looking to Jimin for answers as to why he was crying. It leaned in close to try to communicate with Jimin, but Jimin only leaned back to avoid its touch, “I don’t want to talk right now, sorry.”

The dragon’s eyes widened and then narrowed before it emitted a low growl under its breath. It’s impatience caused Jimin to snap, “You dragged me down here, what else do you want from me?”

The dragon huffed and sat down, it’s eyes still narrowed as if it wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Jimin didn’t know why it would even care about why he was crying, but he just leaned against the bar again and muttered, “Maybe you’re good… I’m sorry, I know that you guys are also being threatened by the king… you’re probably good.”

The dragon didn’t respond, but Jimin didn’t care anymore. Talking was helping, and what was the dragon going to do with information about Yoongi being dead?

Jimin closed his eyes and let a few more tears roll down his cheeks at the memory of earlier that day, “I lost someone important to me…" he admitted and took a deep breath before quickly continuing, "He died trying to protect me because I’m weak, and now I’ll never get to see him again.”

The dragon’s eyes widened and it raised its head, huffing in an attempt to say something, though Jimin knew it was pointless trying to understand a dragon without touching it first. He couldn’t bring himself to lift his hand to communicate with it though… He didn’t want to hear what it had to say anyway. Nothing would help him now.

He sniffled and looked down at his trembling hands, “H-He… was bonded to me though, so I know I’m going to die soon too. I just want to at least get Jin out of here and let my parents be happy for once in their lives even though they won’t be able to when I’m dead,” he cried out softly through an exhale and tightened his hands into fists to keep himself from sobbing out, “They always cared too much about me, and now everything’s going to be ruined for them!” he couldn’t stop himself now from crying out louder now, all of his emotions bubbling out like a broken fountain, and his inconsolable tears were the result.

He brought his knees up to his chest and continued crying, unable to stop himself until he suddenly reached through the cell and grabbed the dragon by his hand, holding it tightly even when the dragon growled out in surprise and tried to pull away. Jimin tightened his grip on him and looked him straight in the eyes with his own glossy ones as he muttered out, “Taehyung…” he bit his lip, unsure if he was looking into his best friend’s eyes or not, but who else would come down here and worry about why his own prisoner was crying except for his best friend?

Jimin sniffled and confirmed his suspicions when the dragon’s eyes widened and its tail lowered in shame from being discovered. He had no idea what Taehyung had done so far, to what extent he had messed up, or how far he had gone in causing Jin grief or pain, but he wasn’t going to lose his best friend too now. Before dying, Jimin needed to save at least someone…. he needed to at least get someone he cared about out of here and to safety, “You’re still my best friend,” he muttered, those words true to his heart despite everything that had happened now since the last time they had seen each other, “You’ve been my whole world since we were kids…” he sniffled and glanced back at Jin to make sure he was still sleeping before looking back to Taehyung again, “When I die, please help him live, ok? Help my parents be happy and move on…” tears fell down his face and his bottom lip trembled, but he still tried to continue on as if he was the brave son Jin claimed he was, “I know you’ve chosen to hurt them, but the war is still going on, and you can change your side.”

Taehyung’s eyes were wide as he stared at Jimin, his hand still being gripped on tightly by his best friend’s… He didn’t know how to react. Cry? Apologize? Turn back into a human and forget everything he had done in the past week?…

He didn’t want to do anything. No, there was nothing he could do that would make sense right now, so he jerked his hand away from Jimin’s and ran away as fast as he could, hurrying up the stairs and leaving behind the boy who had been his family since they were both just barely able to walk.

Once he was out of the basement though, he overcame his shock of being found out and fell into despair, his human form coming back to him as soon as he let out a roar of a cry and fell to the ground. Tears fell down his pale cheeks and heavy choked back breaths came out ragged and desperate for air. Jimin couldn’t die. Why was Jimin dying? Who did he mate with in the first place? Was it Yoongi? Was Yoongi dead too? Who else that Taehyung cared about but forgot about was also dead? How many more people had to die before he was able to decide what the right side was to be on?

Taehyung cried out in agony and sat up again, feeling his heart drop to his stomach as he replayed the moment Jimin looked him in the eyes and spoke to him with one dying wish to save his parents..

Taehyung didn’t want Jimin to die…. Taehyung couldn’t let Jimin die, but what kind of choice did he have now? That was already going to happen. There was no way to save Jimin, but there was a way to save Jin, wasn’t there?… There was a way to be the best friend that Jimin deserved, but Taehyung knew it was far too late to ever have that family back… especially with Jimin gone.

He stared at the door that led to the basement, to his best friend and his father that were trapped in there until both of them were to die in different ways.

Jimin was right though, the war wasn’t over. Neither of them were dead yet, so maybe… maybe he could change his mind about being the kind of killer he had sworn he hated.

~(***)~

After Taehyung left, Jimin managed to fall asleep to escape the overlooming doom of Yoongi’s death and eventually his own. He had curled up into himself against the uncomfortable bars of the cell, but when he awoke again, he was being held in the familiar warmth of his father’s arms.

Jimin’s eyes fluttered open to the sound of Jin’s heart beat under his ear, and he looked up at his father who was awake and staring down at him with a soft smile.

     “How long was I asleep?” he asked in a hoarse voice, his throat now dry from crying so much.

     “Only a few hours,” Jin answered and ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair, “I missed cradling you as you slept when you were younger, so I couldn’t stop myself from holding you now.”

Jimin’s heart sank when his mind immediately went to the fact that after he died, Jin was never going to get to hold him like this again. Come to think of it, he was probably never going to get to see his appa again, was he?

His expression soured and he almost started to cry again before he could get a grip on his emotions, but Jin thankfully saved him with a sudden change of topic, “So your mate… Who is it?”

And now the topic was going to make Jimin cry even more… He bit his lip though and straightened up as he tried to reply as if everything was normal, “Yoongi… it’s Yoongi.”

     “The dragon slayer?” Jin feigned his shock in a gasp, “Wow, so how’d you talk him into doing the mating ritual then? I assume he now knows you’re half dragon?”

Jimin nodded, “He tried to kill me at first, but after awhile, he decided to trust me and continue to love me,” he tried to smile, but it was hard to do anything without trembling under the weight of knowing that the man he was talking about was dead. “He wanted to make it official by completing the bond.”

     “Wow…” Jin mutters, a smile spreading across his face, “So we’ll have to hold a wedding when we get back to the village, yeah?”

     “Y-Yeah,” Jimin nodded, feeling a tear fall down his face and quickly wiping it away before Jin could notice, though by the time he looked back up at his father, his vision was blurry with the dam of emotions starting to break again. Another bout of tears fell down his cheeks and he sniffled, “I was so happy when he finally decided that he wanted to love me despite me being half dragon. I j-just wish we had more time together,” he let out a shaky breath and decided to stand up then, unable to sit down anymore and talk about Yoongi without struggling to breathe.

He turned away from his father and gripped onto the bars of the cell, wanting to escape from there right now just to have a moment alone to himself to breathe and calm down, but Jin followed him up to a standing position and asked, “Jimin, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

     “I’m sorry…” Jimin muttered, keeping his back turned to Jin since he couldn’t look him in the eyes when he admitted under his breath, “Yoongi was with me when I got to the island, and-!”

     “And he’s fine right?” Jin interrupted him, not wanting to hear what he had a feeling Jimin was going to say, “Is he waiting by a boat or something-?”

     “He’s dead,” Jimin cut him off with the cold truth. He turned around to Jin with tears still forming in his eyes as he forced out the words, “He died protecting me, a-and I know it won’t be long before I do too!”

     “No…” Jin’s eyes widened and he shook his head slowly, stepping back in disbelief and hoping this was some cruel lie Jimin was telling him. He brought his hands to his heart and cried out, “No! Jimin please-!” he let out a strangled sob and covered his mouth, shaking his head and muttering out in a muffled voice, “I can’t lose you… I need you safe more than anything else!”

He was about to ask Jimin when Yoongi died so he could know how much time he had left with his son, but before he could, the door to the basement opened and a face all too familiar to Jin walked in with clothes sloppily thrown on and cheeks rubbed raw from crying. He glared into Taehyung’s bloodshot eyes and shouted, “What the fuck do you want?! Haven’t you done enough?”

He was expecting Taehyung to threaten them or do something to make their lives more miserable than they already were if that was even possible, but instead, Tae didn’t even react to Jin’s words. He only walked up to the door of the cage and pulled out a key to open it for them.

He looked to Jimin and muttered out, “Leave now. The king is in his bedroom right now working through the pain of Jin’s attack on him earlier, so now is your chance to escape and reunite your parents.”

Jimin stared at Taehyung in shock for a moment, not sure what to say before wiping his eyes and hurrying out the door to awkwardly hug Tae and mutter through a thin smile, “I knew you’d change your mind…”

Taehyung hugged him back tightly, “I love you so much, Jimin,” he felt himself starting to cry, but he held it in to breathe out instead, “If there’s anyway I could save you from dying, I would.”

     “It’s ok,” Jimin pulled away, “Just come back with us so Jungkook doesn’t have to lose both of us,” if Taehyung would run away with him and Jin and make it back safely to their village where he could be happy with Jungkook too, then Jimin would feel like he accomplished at least something before dying… At least he successfully accomplished the mission in the end despite losing everything in the process.

Jimin watched as Taehyung’s expression feel. He glanced at Jin for a second and then back to Jimin, shaking his head and muttering out reluctantly, “Jimin I can’t…” he backed away from the two people he used to love, still loved, but didn’t belong with anymore, “I’ve done too much already… the village can no longer be my home.”

     “Sure it can,” Jimin argued, “I know it can! You’re my family, ok? You’re my appa’s family and Jungkook’s family…” Taehyung wasn’t seeming to budge, so Jimin grew desperate and stepped closer, “We’re all your home so just-!”

     “Don’t waste anymore time, Jimin,” Taehyung snapped and shoved him away, “I’ll keep the king distracted while you two escape, ok? You said you wanted your parents happy, right?”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he shook his head, “No… Taehyung-!”

His words were cut off once more by Taehyung bending down and creating a large wall of raging fire to separate himself from Jimin. Jin pulled him back before he could be burned by it, muttering how they needed to leave now. Jimin knew Taehyung had made his decision final and clear, but he still tried to stay back for just a few seconds longer, shouting through the flames that Tae could be forgiven. He tried to shout that if Taehyung died then Jungkook died with him, but Jin started to drag him up the stairs, and Jimin didn’t fight against his father’s freedom.

When he looked to Jin bringing him towards the light above the basement, he told himself to switch his goal to at least get Jin to safety. He had to at least save one person before dying, and maybe if he was lucky, he could see his two father’s smiling faces before he joined Yoongi in Valhalla where no wars could tear apart two lovers or families anymore.

Jimin spared one last glance towards the basement filling with fire before gripping onto Jin’s hand and running alongside him towards freedom.

The king’s army was scattered throughout the base, but he and Jin had a clear line out of there if they just kept to their goal and got to the boat in time without any complications. Jimin felt his heart racing inside his chest as he ran behind Jin and made sure he was safe all the way to the treeline where they gained coverage at least from the human part of the king’s army. They still probably had to worry about dragons, but Jimin was going to kill anything that so much as moved near himself and Jin.

      “This way,” Jimin finally took the lead when he remembered the area he and Yoongi had covered before everything went down. He recognized a patch of wild flowers he had admired before and ran past them towards the clearing where he lost Yoongi. He had the goal in mind that he needed to get Jin to the boat and then to safety, but he wasn’t going to leave Yoongi here to lay dead in the forest of the enemy base.

     “I’m going to get Yoongi,” Jimin started to make his way to the clearing, but then paused and turned to Jin, “Maybe you should just fly back to the village so you’re safe. There’s no point in waiting for me when…”

     “Don’t waste your time telling me to do something you know I’m never going to agree to,” Jin frowned and continued to walk with Jimin, “Plus, you shouldn’t be alone to discover your dead mate’s body…” he looked down, “I can’t imagine what you must be going through… You should never have had to go through this at such a young age.”

     “I never wanted to go through this at all…” Jimin muttered and stepped into the clearing where he lost Yoongi. He saw blood on the rock and held his breath to keep himself from crying out or sobbing when he saw his lifeless body, but after a few seconds, he realized that he should have seen everything by now. Yoongi had hit the rock and lay lifeless with blood dripping down the rock away from his body and head, but his body hadn’t been thrown anywhere else, had it?

Jimin stood there with his heart beating fast as if a humming bird was trapped in his chest. He looked around for any sign of further violence from after he had been taken away from the scene, but there was absolutely nothing.

     “…Is this where everything happened?” Jin asked and Jimin nodded quickly, “His blood is still on the rock. H-His sword is over he-!” he walked around the rock and paused when he saw how Yoongi’s sword was now gone too. Maybe a dragon took care of Yoongi’s body, but why would his sword be missing too?

Jimin was just letting himself have a little bit of hopeful thinking, but with Yoongi’s corpse not here to prove that he was for sure dead, Jimin couldn’t help but turn around and say, “What if he’s not dead?”

Jin’s worried expression didn’t change, but it was obvious he wanted nothing more than to have Jimin’s mate be alive so he didn’t have to lose his son after all this was over. He nodded his head, “Maybe. Maybe he isn’t.”

     “Ok, so he woke up and grabbed his sword,” Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked down at the ground, trying to find a clue for where Yoongi had gone. His vision was still blurry from tears, but with a newfound hope in his heart, he was starting to feel himself calm down a little bit and be able to focus on a new goal.

He gasped when he saw a drop of blood on a leaf on the ground, and he looked past it to see just a barely noticeable trail leading back up the mountain. Jimin’s eyes were wide and he felt like throwing up just out of excitement and fear alone, but he managed to push those feelings down to say to Jin with a smile, “I’m going to find him.”

     “I’m coming with you-!” Jin immediately said, but Jimin stepped away from him and shook his head, “No. No, cause what if we both get trapped again? Just go back to appa and the village for now and let him know that you are safe and that I’m coming home soon, ok?”

Jin’s eyes widened, “Jimin, no-!”

Jimin bent down and touched his hands to the ground, letting his powers spread out beneath his palms and to the earth in between himself and Jin. He then moved his hands to his sides and lifted them up quickly to create a wall of fire tall enough to keep Jin from following him much like the one Taehyung used.

He was sure Jin could just transform into a dragon and follow him all while yelling at him to stop wanting to run into danger alone, but this would at least give him a head start. The wall of fire was longer and larger than anything Jimin had made before, stretching out a few hundred meters and curving around so Jin couldn’t run around it.

Jimin could just barely see Jin’s face beyond the flame because they both had to step back away from the heat, but he caught just a glimpse of his father’s disappointed and scared expression. Yes, the look in Jin’s now glowing eyes was something that made Jimin fear for his life, but he would be thankful to live long enough to be punished by his parents after this for doing something so idiotic. 

     “I’m sorry,” Jimin smiled and turned on his heel to run back up the mountain.

He felt like maybe he was the first viking to ever run face first into a terrible danger with a smile on his face, but how could he not when amidst all the danger was the possibility that his soulmate was still alive? His heart was beating just as fast as before, but this time with hope. Tears were forming in his eyes, but this time with relief.

Memories of Yoongi were filling his head until they were all he could think about, but this time they filled him with love and made him smile more as he realized that just maybe he was going to get to bring him back home where they could all finally have a happy ending.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Jimin ran up the mountain as fast as he could, his breath coming out hard and ragged and his throat feeling like it was on fire. His whole body felt like it was on fire as he overworked every muscle to run up the hill despite everything hurting more than it had before. He welcomed it though. If this pain was the only cost he had to pay to go home safely with Yoongi after everything, then he was going to take it without any complaints and keep going until he was back with the mate he thought was dead until now.

When he ran out of the forest and back into the base of the enemy, he was surprised to see Taehyung now out of the dungeon that once contained him and Jin. He was standing by a few caged dragons and watching as fire now came up from the basement and started to catch on to the grass of the field the base was on.

Jimin wasn’t sure where the king of the army was, but he took the risk to run out in the open field and towards Taehyung to ask him quickly, “Tae, do you know where Yoongi is?”

Taehyung’s breath hitched in fear and surprise when someone came up behind him so suddenly. He turned around with wide eyes and tensed up even more when he saw Jimin, “Jimin, what are you doing back?” he pushed Jimin back towards the forest, “Leave!”

      “I think Yoongi is alive,” Jimin hurried to say before Taehyung could push him away again. His hands trembled with excitement when he said that out loud, and he looked around him as if saying his name would summon him into sight. Yoongi was still nowhere to be found though when Jimin looked around, so he let out a slow breath to calm himself down and continued to explain why he was back, “Yoongi isn’t where I left him, so I think maybe he’s here looking for me or was maybe captured.”

Taehyung glanced behind him to see if they were safe to talk like this, but alas, the king was down from his quarters. Burns were littered across his body, and he struggled to move normally, but Tae could tell a fire for vengeance was in his eyes. He probably wanted Jin dead, but Taehyung was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jimin too if he saw him now.

Taehyung grit his teeth and turned back around to Jimin, “You need to hide. The king is back and if he sees you here, you’re dead. He’ll kill you and then hunt Jin down to kill him as well.”

     “Jin is behind a wall of fire the king wouldn’t be able to get past,” Jimin explained, “I’m not leaving until I-!” his breath hitched when Taehyung grabbed him by his shirt and glared at him with yellow eyes, looking like he was going to kill him until he whispered, “Burn me and run away. I’ll find Yoongi and if he’s here, and I’ll help him escape and send him back down the mountain,” he didn’t wait for Jimin to respond before shouting out loud enough for the king to hear, “Where is you dad?! How did you escape?! Tell me!”

Jimin looked to Tae with wide eyes, realizing that he could either play along with Taehyung’s plan and run away to safety or finally save him too. He bit his lip and put his hands over Tae’s, muttering under his breath so only Tae could hear his words, “I’m not leaving you. You’re my best friend, and i’m not going back home without you,” without warning, he grabbed on tighter to Tae’s hands and threw him down to the ground.

Taehyung landed on his back with a hard thud and looked up at Jimin with wide eyes, about to ask what he was doing, but before he could, Jimin punched him and put his hands on the ground quickly to create a wall of fire around them large enough to keep even a large dragon from seeing them within the circle.

Jimin leaned in close to Taehyung and spoke quickly to make sure he had enough time to tell Taehyung the new plan, “Jin was behind me. You’ll find him by a wall of fire I created in the woods. Take him to the shore to wait for me. If I don’t come back within two hours or if there are any complications, just leave me, ok? I still don’t know if Yoongi is truly alive or dead yet so…” he let out a deep breath and tried to smile despite his words sending a chill down his best friend’s spine, “If I die, just take Jin to my appa so they can finally be together.”

     “I can’t leave without you, Jimin…” Taehyung whispered, tears forming in his eyes as he looked up at his friend who was finally getting off of him as he replied, “I’ll find a way to get back to you somehow, but you’re mated to Jungkook, ok? Don’t let him be left alone too.”

Taehyung started to stand up again to protest Jimin, but before he could say anything else, Jimin grabbed him and pushed him out of the circle of fire and towards the woods. Jimin then lifted his hands to change the shape of the circle into a line that cut him off from Taehyung, giving the other boy no choice but to run into the forest and do what he asked.

After creating the wall of fire, Jimin turned back around to see where the king was, but to his surprise, the king was already right behind him. Jimin could just barely see the king’s sword swing at him right before it slashed across his chest. He yelped out in pain and quickly put space between himself and the king, able to quickly recover since the sword thankfully didn’t go deep enough to damage Jimin too much.

He quickly found the strength to hold fire in his hands to protect himself with as he shouted to the king, “I’m just here to get back one of my men who might have been captured. Lead me to him and no more trouble will be caused, ok?”

The king laughed, “No more trouble?” his eyebrows furrowed and he lifted his sword up again to shout, “Your precious father already burned off half my skin, and you’ve been just as much of a pain in the ass as well!” he swung his sword at Jimin again, but Jimin dodged it this time. He leaned forward as soon as the sword was below him though and grabbed the handle from the king, having more balance than him at the moment to be able to snatch it from him and easily gain the upper hand now.

He put a few more feet between them and moved away from his wall of fire before pointing the blade at the king and speaking calmly, “I’m not going to fight you,” he narrowed his eyes at the king and let the fact that he had the upper-hand speak for itself, “It would be unfair to go against someone obviously so much weaker than me.”

The king scoffed at how Jimin was now speaking to him, but he realized the position he was in and raised his hands to surrender for now, “Alright fine…” he growled and glared in Jimin’s direction, “Just get whoever you are looking for and leave.”

     “Lead me to him,” Jimin demanded, “Where do you keep your human prisoners?”

The king’s expression fell in annoyance and he let his hands drop slightly, “Trust me to show you where?”

     “I’ll kill you if you try anything,” Jimin bit back, feeling the power he was sure Yoongi always felt in battle. It was a kind of adrenaline one must only feel when they were in the position to decide if someone deserved mercy or not. This man deserved absolutely no mercy at all, but Jimin couldn’t kill him just yet. He had no idea where Yoongi could be, but as soon as he found him, he was going to rid the world of this terrible man once and for all.

The king turned on his heel and started walking away from Jimin, glancing at him slightly to make sure he wasn’t going to stab him in the back, though he was sure he was safe until he led Jimin to the place where human prisoners were held. He lead the halfling to the other side of his base that was guarded with soldiers and blood thirsty dragons currently tied up with metal chains to poles and ready to be released at the king’s will to destroy whoever he wanted dead.

The king lead Jimin past it all towards one large cage in the center that held the fiercest dragon of all, currently out of sight and resting under a hatch beneath the cage. His prized alpha would be awake and wondering where a new meal was soon enough, and the king felt confident that a certain son of a chief would be on the menu today. He grinned and turned back around to Jimin, “Here we are!”

     “Where are all the humans?” Jimin asked, glancing warily at the human guards who were glaring at him as he pointed his sword at the king. Jimin immediately shot fire in their direction, letting that be a warning if they tried anything. The king must have noticed his uneasiness and raised his hand to wave away his men, “Leave the two of us alone and make sure this dragon and his father are the only pains in my ass I need to worry about,” his eyes narrowed in Jimin’s direction and he muttered out, “I’m surprised you haven’t realized by now that this is the final stop humans take when I capture them or find them roaming around my island to cause nothing but trouble.”

     “Yoongi’s not here,” Jimin muttered out loud, but the king sang out with a grin forming on his face, “Ah, but he might have been. Found a man earlier today and fed him to my alpha in a matter of minutes. His screams of anguish were quite pitiful as he called out your name over and over again.”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “What?…” fear coursed through his veins like liquid fire, the mental image of Yoongi screaming in pain and calling out his name until his dying breath pressed into his mind like a hot iron against his skin. His vision grew blurry with tears threatening to fall as all he could think about now was how stupid he was to run back up the mountain when it was obvious Yoongi was really dead. He should have focused on Jin. He should have helped him escaped so at least one person could be saved. He should have left with Tae too, but he just had to find out once again that his mate was dead and he was left-!

His eyes widened when the sword in his hand was finally snatched back from the king and laughed, “You cry so easily, little Jimin! All you are is a child, a scared child who shouldn’t have been entrusted to save anyone’s life!”

Tears fell down Jimin’s face, but he told himself to calm down now that there was a sword being pointed at him. He felt his heart drop in fear, but a voice in his mind told him that he was already dying anyway. There was no reason to fight.

     “Did you really think you could lead me here and threaten me?!” the king shouted again, enjoying his advantage over Jimin once again. He scoffed, “Calling me weaker than you was an insult because not even a bug is as weak as the meek little creature you are!” he spit out every word with an angry excitement, his grin widening when he saw Jimin's expression drop into utter hopelessness. He finally stepped closer to Jimin and growled, “Your parents must have been ashamed to have a child like you to burden them.”

Jimin grit his teeth and look down, thinking of Jin and how he had assured him he wasn’t a burden to him or Namjoon. Jimin had to remember that. He couldn’t let himself die because he thought it would benefit everyone else. Maybe he needed to live just long enough to make sure Jin was safe and possibly even see his appa one last time… to let him know that he finally got to be strong, and even though he lost so much in the process… he didn’t regret it. No, not even now in what felt like the worst moment of his life, he wasn’t going to let himself regret the journey that brought him and Yoongi together and led Jin and Taehyung home safely to their mates.

He glared up at the king, and without saying a word, he shot fire at him with one of his hands. He grit his teeth when the king managed to dodge it and laughed, “Wow, someone still has a little fight in him! It’s too bad I have a dragon army!” he gestured to the land his dragons were being held against their will on, “Do you really think I don’t know how to deal with a little fire from a pest like you?!” he swung his sword at Jimin and stepped forward, his actions seeming half witted until he took advantage of Jimin dodging the blade and becoming off balanced to take him by surprise and stab the sword into him. He let out a cry of happiness when he didn’t miss his target, driving the sword through Jimin and keeping him stuck on the blade as he shouted, “Would you look at that!? I think you really were easier to kill than a bug!”

Jimin looked down at the sword lodged into his stomach, his hands starting to tremble as pain spread in him and blood started to seep into his clothing. He let out a soft murmur of pain and looked up at the king with wide eyes, “You…”

     “I killed you?” the king asked with a proud smile on his face, “Not yet, but I suppose if I were to kick you off my blade and leave you here, you’d die soon enough,” he yanked the handle of the sword closer to himself though, bringing Jimin closer to him with it so he could mutter out in their closer proximity, “Where is your father? Tell me now, and maybe I’ll spare your life.”

Jimin winced at the pain he felt when being yanked closer on the blade he couldn’t escape from, but he didn’t waver even when the king threatened his life. For once, Yoongi’s death was finally proving to put him at an advantage. There was no reason to fear for his life because there was no life to live after this moment.

Jimin forced himself to laugh, wanting to seem just as uncaring as the king was about this whole situation before he touched his hands to the blade and muttered, “I won’t tell you shi-shit…” he breathed out and strained to look into the king’s eyes with a grin, “And I’d barely call this a win because I was dying anyway before I even ran back up the mountain to finish you off.”

The king’s eyes widened at the fact that Jimin had already been dying. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he opened his mouth to ask what he even meant by that, but Jimin reached forward and grabbed the king's neck now that they were close enough, wasting no time to shoot fire out of his hands in attempt to burn the king’s skin enough to kill him.

The king screamed out in pain and knocked Jimin back and off the sword, his neck now bloody and burnt from Jimin’s power though he didn’t even pay attention to it as he quickly stormed forward to Jimin who was now on the ground and grabbing his injury that was bleeding out fast. He stabbed Jimin again, this time in the palm of his hand just to pin it down to the ground so he couldn’t fight back as he shouted, “Answer me now! Where is your father?”

     “Far away from here!” Jimin shouted in pain, a scream of agony following behind his words as the king twisted the sword inside his palm. His head arched back as his scream ripped through the air, and he wished the sword would come down on his neck while it was vulnerable so the pain could finally stop.

The king yanked the sword out of Jimin’s hand, and Jimin started sobbing, immediately holding it up to his chest to apply pressure to it as he cried and listened to the king mutter, “I’d bring your head on a stick to show it to your parents when I eventually find them if I wasn’t so sure they’d thank me for getting rid of a little field mouse like you.”

Jimin stared up at the sky, his breath hitching every few seconds and body feeling cold as his blood slowly seeped out of him. His bottom lip trembled and he couldn’t help but mutter out loud, “You’ll never find them. Jin is flying home at speeds you could never reach, and he’ll move our village somewhere where you’ll-!”

     “Your father can’t fly, he’s pregnant,” the king laughed and leaned over to see Jin’s glossy eyes slowly losing the life in them. He watched as Jimin lost his breath at the news of Jin being pregnant, not much else changing in his expression except a small smile forming on his lips before he whispered, “They can finally be happy…”

The king tilted his head, “You’re a sad thing, aren’t you?” He shoved his sword into his belt and bent down to pick Jimin up by the neck of his shirt, “So small and pitiful… Not human enough to fit in with your village and not dragon enough to be any help to your parents,” he pulled a key out of his pocket and used it to open the door to the alpha cage, “You probably won’t even taste good to my alpha, but when she’s hungry, she thankfully isn’t too picky,” he laughed a little and threw Jimin into the cage. "Your father is still on this island probably, so rest easy knowing he'll be joining you soon."

Jimin's eyes widened and he watched as the king turned on his heel to start heading towards the second dragon on his island he needed to kill. Jimin tried to get up after being thrown to the ground, his body protesting in pain and his mind screaming too much for him to be able to think straight. His hand hurt too much to move, so he had to hold it to his chest as he propped himself up with one arm and shouted, "I won't let you kill him!" the end of his shout was a scream of agony as he forced himself up on his feet again. 

He stumbled a little, not having the strength to stand up straight, but he wouldn't let himself fall. Not yet. 

If he was going to let himself die today, he at least needed to make sure his family was safe when he was gone. 

The king turned around before leaving the cage, an amused smile on his face when he noticed how Jimin was up once more now, still putting on a fight. He tilted his head and faced Jimin full on again, "Ah, the little halfling still wants to prove himself, huh?" he pulled out his sword again, and Jimin's heart felt like it froze in fear when he noticed the shine of the sun catching the silver blade of the sword. His shoulders trembled with the shadowed reminder of the pain that was still coursing through his body, and he looked up at the king, "You can't hurt anyone else."

     "Yeah, and how are you going to stop me?" the king asked, stepping forward and laughing at how Jimin quickly stumbled back in fear of being stabbed again, "Look at you; you're nothing! You're bleeding out and trembling more than a crying child! Do you really think you're capable of saving you father who brought everything on himself and your family for being a whore for humans?! He brought you into this world knowing you wouldn't last! You should want him dead! He's going to forget about you with his new baby, and you're going to be an afterthought despite losing everything for him! I bet they'll hope every day that you really are dead so they don't have a weak little halfling like you messing up their new family they've created-!"

     "I'm not weak!" Jimin screamed out, reaching his hand under the cloth of his shirt and pressing his finger along the opening of his wound. It hurt to even touch near it, but he wasn't going to bleed out. He was getting colder, but if he could just last a little longer by burning the cut shut, then he could achieve his goal. He sniffled and shouted again, "You know nothing about me so don't even try to make me think I should do anything but give my parents the life they deserve! If they want to forget about me with their new baby, then they should be able to!"

The king scoffed and rolled his eyes, but Jimin continued, holding his hands out in front of him as the whites of his eyes started to turn a glowing yellow and he felt a feeling in the core of his body that he felt when he lost control to save Yoongi once before. An overflow of his powers was coming now, just one last time, to help him do what should have been done as soon as he faced this man that took everything away from him. 

Jimin's lips were trembling along with the rest of his body, but he shut his eyes and focused on his power instead of the pain before he finally muttered out, "Their going to be happy without me," he looked up at the king and glared at him through dragon eyes, "And in a world without you!" he lost his breath as soon as a surge of fire shot out from his hands, his muscles aching already as his body used up any energy he had left to destroy the king with. 

Fire was everywhere around Jimin, moving swiftly like wind in a storm until it wrapped around the king without mercy. Jimin could hear his humbled screams begging for the pain to stop when the fire burned its way through his skin and ate at his insides until they were just ash. The screams were terrifying to Jimin, but the eeriest sound of all was the silence that soon followed when the fire dispersed and all that remained was a pile of ash. 

Jimin knew what had been done. 

He knew he did something good, but that was barely registered in his mind by the time his knees hit the ground and he toppled over on his side. He no longer had the strength to hold himself up anymore, mainly because of the state his body was in before though the overuse of his powers definitely landed the final blow to his strength. He rolled onto his back naturally and let out a slow and stuttered breath, unsure if he had blacked out already or if his powers were letting him stay awake during his final moments of being alive. 

Everything hurt but he was glad he could look up at the sky just once more, his vision blurry for seconds at a time because tears kept falling down his cheeks. He sniffled and brought a bloodied hand up to his necklace, remember when Yoongi gave it back to him and smiling when he thought about how at least one person he loved would be waiting for him in Valhalla. 

Yoongi was going to welcome him soon, he was sure. Jimin was cold and sad and in too much pain to think clearly now, but soon, he would be filled with thoughts of love, warmth, and happiness as soon as Yoongi opened up his arms to him in the afterlife and held him until eternity. Maybe from there, he'd be able to see everyone moving on without him. 

Taehyung and Jungkook could live a happy life together, maybe even have a few children if Taehyung came clean to him about being dragon and if Jungkook could convince him into doing such a thing like making a family with him. Hoseok would probably take over Yoongi's spot in the village's army, and maybe if Namjoon wanted to retire, he'd take over his commander spot as well. He was definitely smart enough for that... Jin and Namjoon would have a new baby to take care of too, and they'd maybe be able to raise it together as well, helping it grow into a strong future chief of the village. 

Jimin was sad he could never have anymore moments with his two appas or his best friends ever again, but he reminded himself that he would be with his family as well soon... happy for eternity... 

He closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep, hoping that the next time he'd wake again would be in Yoongi's arms. 

...That would be an ending to this journey he'd be happy with.

~(***)~

When Jin finally found a way around the wall of flames Jimin left for him to deal with, he was already exhausted with barely enough strength left to make it up the rest of the mountain probably. His head and lower back were aching, and he wanted nothing more than to just be laying on a boat on his way back home, but he had a son to protect. He was angry at Jimin for leaving him alone to run into danger alone yet again, but he understood it. If it was him and Namjoon, he would have done the same thing.

He let out a deep breath and leaned on a tree for support for a moment, trying to work up enough strength to continue on in the direction Jimin ran in, but before he could push off the tree and keep going despite his fatigue, a figure came running towards him, shouting his name in a voice he recognized but had grown to hate.

     “Jin!” Taehyung ran up to him, barely able to slow himself down since he had been sprinting at full speed down the mountain until he found the older dragon.

He was breathless and covered in sweat when he managed to stop himself and bend over with heavy breaths before hurrying to say, “Jimin told me to run and find you!”

     “Where is he?” Jin quickly asked, still leaning on the tree now that there was a reason to stay there a little while longer.

Taehyung straightened up and wiped sweat off his forehead, “Facing off against the king,” he explained, “I tried to make him return to you, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Jin grit his teeth and immediately started to walk up the mountain again towards the base now that he knew his son was stupidly about to risk his life to kill a man who was impossible to defeat. He was not losing Jimin today no matter what that entailed.

Tae realized quickly that Jin was making his way past him to go save Jimin, “Jin, you’re pregnant. Be careful-!”

     “You never gave a shit about me before, so don’t try to start now,” Jin suddenly snapped and turned around to glare at Taehyung with yellow glowing eyes. Tae knew that Jin blamed him for all of this. Taehyung blamed himself for everything too, but it still hurt to know that the impact of what he had done really was irreversible at this point. He lost his breath for a moment, surprised by Jin’s reaction. He feared that backing off and letting Jin go would only make things worse, but he wasn’t given any time to make a decision before the sound of people walking towards them caused both him and Jin to turn in the direction, wary and ready to fight.

Jin saw who was there first, his eyes widening before he muttered out, “Namjoon…”

Taehyung felt his heart drop when he heard the word roll off the older dragon’s tongue. The name was haunting now that Taehyung had betrayed him, and he couldn’t bring himself to turn around and see the man who unknowingly almost lost his husband and son because of Tae.

When Jin suddenly hurried past Taehyung, Tae felt his body moving before his mind could truly react to the situation. He couldn’t see Namjoon yet because he was turned away from him, but he wanted to keep it that way. He couldn't let himself come face to face with the chief yet, especially not with Jimin still in danger.

He found himself on the other side of the wall of fire in a matter of seconds, cutting himself off from Namjoon’s view in fear of receiving the treatment he knew he deserved. Taehyung was going to find himself under Joon’s wrath eventually, he was sure, but for now, he had one thing he needed to make sure he did.

Jin didn’t notice Taehyung quickly hurrying away as he ran to the man he recognized just from his piercing eyes and tossled hair. He breathed out his name on his lips as soon as his eyes landed on him, and his body moved with an aching desire to be with his mate after so long. Every worry that had riddled Jin just moments ago seeped into nothing but one clear goal to run up to Namjoon and never let him go.

He did exactly that, his fast walk turning into an all out sprint for fifty feet before he was crashing into him and shouting out, “You’re here!”

He felt Namjoon freeze for a moment in shock, but it didn’t take him long to breathe out in relief and wrap his arms around Jin. He held him close and spun him around a bit to help Jin body slow back down to a stand still. Jin didn’t want the hug to end, but Namjoon was the first to pull away, quickly holding his hand and checking him over for any injuries as he exclaimed, “You’re alive!” his glossy eyes looked up into Jin’s finally and he grinned, “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

     “However much it is, I’m even happier,” Jin smiled, trying hard not to cry though all his emotions felt amplified due to the pregnancy.

Namjoon seemed to remember it in that moment too, his eyes slowly looking down to Jin’s stomach as he asked shyly, “Is?…”

His words trailed off, his men around him so he couldn’t say what he wanted to say, but Jin knew. He smiled and nodded, “Yeah. Safe,” he glanced around himself to see just who Namjoon rounded up to save him and Jimin. He saw a few familiar faces amongst the older men behind Namjoon, and then he saw Hoseok and Jungkook, two people that were probably on more of a mission to save Taehyung and Jimin. Jin was happy to see everyone here until his eyes finally landed on the bloodied dragon slayer beside Namjoon.

His smile fell completely and he paled, “Yoongi…”

Yoongi’s expression changed when Jin gave him that reaction, his mind immediately going to the worst case scenario as he muttered, “Please tell me he’s alive.”

     “Jimin went back to the top of the mountain to look for you,” Jin explained, turning to Namjoon as all his previous worries suddenly came back in full force, “He’s going against the king of the dragon army. We have to-!”

He didn’t even get a chance to finish before Yoongi ran past him to go up the mountain.

Jin was about to turn and yell at him to stay and make a plan so he didn’t get both himself and Jimin killed, but Jungkook suddenly spoke up and asked, “Seokjin, where’s Taehyung?… Is he alive?”

Just the name alone made Jin remember the betrayal and become irritated again by this whole situation that probably wouldn't be happening right now if Taehyung had just realized that siding with the king was the worst possible thing he could do. He wanted to forget about him, but seeing the terrified look in Jungkook’s eyes as the younger boy waited to find out if the boy he loved was dead or not made Jin’s anger inside his heart settle down a bit.

He glanced behind himself to see if Taehyung followed him down here to see everyone, but when he found that the other boy was nowhere in sight, Jin turned back around to Jungkook and muttered, “He was here just a second ago…”

Why would Taehyung leave right before reuniting with everyone from their village?…

     “Do you think he went back up the mountain?” Jungkook asked, and Jin considered the thought. Why would Taehyung go there when he?… Jimin…. He was going to help Jimin go against the king, wasn’t he?

Jungkook could see Jin’s answer just by his expression alone and didn’t even wait for confirmation before muttering out, “I’m going to go save him,” before running past Jin to run up the mountain right behind Yoongi.

Namjoon’s eyes widened, “Why are all of them calling their own shots now?” he grit his teeth and turned to his men, “All of you go ready the ship so we are prepared to leave quickly if this gets out of hand,” when they sprung into action to follow his orders, Namjoon turned to Hoseok, “You stay with Jin and lead him back to the boat. I’ll follow the others and go get Jimin-!”

     “No you can’t,” Jin interrupted him, “The king wants you dead, and he’s ruthless.”

     “Ok?” Namjoon turned to Jin with his eyebrows furrowed in an indirect anger, “I’ll kill him before he becomes a problem.”

     “And what if he kills you first?” Jin asked, “He has a dragon army, Joon. Trust Yoongi to save Jimin and bring him back to us.”

He was speaking desperately to keep Namjoon from leaving him, but Namjoon only grew more anxious to save Jimin, his stress causing his voice to grow louder, “Yoongi is too injured to do shit, and Jimin is my son! He’s my family; do you really think I’m just going to stand around while he’s in danger?”

     “You’re my family too; do you really think I’m going to let you go and get yourself killed?!” Jin shouted back, “If you die,” he started to get choked up on his words, tears forming in his eyes as he absent-mindedly touched his stomach and spoke, “I die,” he knew Hoseok was standing right beside them, but he couldn’t care anymore now that he was desperate to keep Namjoon with him, “And so will this baby. Jimin is strong, Namjoon. You need to trust him, and you need to stay alive.”

Namjoon bit his lip, wanting to argue further with Jin, but he knew they’d be fighting for hours probably before coming to a conclusion. His mind was shouting at him that Jimin wasn’t going to be safe until he was at the top of the mountain beside him, but for now, he had no choice but to turn to Hoseok and mutter, “Go up the mountain to save Jimin. He is your top priority.”

Hoseok nodded, “I’ll lay my life down for him if I need to, Chief,” not expecting an answer since he immediately turned and ran away to catch up with Jungkook and Yoongi who were out of sight now but still probably running up the mountain.

With him gone, Namjoon turned to Jin and spoke in a serious tone of voice, “I can’t lose Jimin. He’s been all I had for eighteen years now, and if he’s gone-!”

     “He’ll live,” Jin spoke before Namjoon could get choked up on his own words. He held his husband’s hand and assured him, “He’s more powerful than we ever gave him credit for… We’re not going to lose him.”

     “I hope you’re right,” Namjoon whispered and pressed his face into Jin’s shoulder to hide himself as he started to cry under his breath. They were alone in this part of the forest now, but he still didn’t want to seem weak in front of his husband. A weak dad who couldn’t protect his own son from the horrors of the world. Jin only welcomed the tears though, wrapping his arms around Namjoon and speaking softly, “I am… He’s going to keep living and fighting until he has made sure our family is safe again.”

~(***)~

Yoongi was running up the mountain with a limp, struggling to figure out a way to move without his body screaming at him to lay down and give it one damn minute to rest. His chest burned with every breath he took, but he would rather die than quit before finding Jimin. He would rather fight through the pain than to get to Jimin too late to protect him.

He realized a few minutes ago that Jungkook was also on his way up the mountain after the boy passed by him at a speed Yoongi could admit he couldn't match at the moment due to the state his body was in. Jungkook was a little further up ahead, running at a slower speed now that fatigue was catching up to him, but he still had his sword in hand, prepared to reach the top and fight whoever he needed to to get Taehyung back.

Hoseok was also here now, shouting for Jungkook to wait at the top for him and Yoongi to join him. He was staying by Yoongi’s side, but he was just as determined as the other two to save his friends up where the danger was on top of the mountain.

Yoongi winced under his breath when one step caused his body to send him a pain signal stronger than it had previously been doing. He cried out and grabbed his leg quickly, but he continued to fight through the pain and limp a few times until he was back into a running pace.

     “Yoongi you’re really in no position to be going into battle to save Jimin,” Hoseok muttered when he noticed Yoongi’s pained expression and obvious limp that he was trying to hide.

     “I’m fine,” Yoongi bit back but Hoseok only rolled his eyes, “You’re going to get him killed. If you die, he dies. Remember that.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened when Hoseok said that. He already knew what being Jimin’s mate entailed, but what surprised him was the fact that Hoseok knew about it, “You know?”

     “That Jimin’s a dragon? Well… half?” he nodded, “Namjoon told me. I’m glad you’re ok with being in love with one.”

     “Ok with it?” Yoongi muttered and shook his head, “I’m lucky he loves me back after everything.”

They finally reached the top of the hill where Jungkook had thankfully stayed, not because he was listening to Hoseok’s order but because practically everything was on fire now and it was hard to see what was going on. He was watching for now from behind a tree when Yoongi and Hoseok caught up to him, Yoongi saying, “If it isn’t the chief of speed, waiting for us to go in first and get ourselves killed before him.”

     “What? No,” Jungkook looked to them with his eyebrows slightly furrowed in offense, “I can’t see shit. It seems like dragons are a problem here too.”

Yoongi and Hoseok looked to each other, realizing that someone was still not aware of the fact that at least one of their friends was able to wield fire. A silent conversation with their eyes led them to both agree that all the fire on top of the mountain was definitely caused by Jimin, but Hoseok only said out loud, “The only problem here right now is the king of the dragon army. I say we leave dragons alone and just kill the king, ok? Jungkook, you’ve never seen him, but he’s an older man with gray hair and a-!”

Before he could finish, Jungkook let out a short scoff in disagreement and argued, “No, I’m killing anything that isn’t Taehyung. My only goal is to get him back and-!”

     “Don’t touch the dragons,” Yoongi interrupted him, “If you so much as even-!”

     “Why ‘cause you want all the glory?” Jungkook bit back, “We’re here to save our friends, not slay dragons. I’m just doing this to get to Taehyung, so if you two don’t mind, I’m going to go ahead and save them while you two stay here and try to make friends with those fire breathing beasts,” he started to turn away and run into the fire, but Hoseok grabbed the collar of Jungkook’s shirt and suddenly snapped, “Look, I’m not really the type to yell, but all of this running off on our own without making any plans or listening to a leader is pissing me off!”

Yoongi started to smile at Hoseok putting Jungkook in his place until he was suddenly grabbed by the collar and yelled at as well, “You and Jimin caused half of this mess by going off on your own without letting Namjoon know. We could also all be going home now maybe if Jimin hadn’t run back up the mountain without Jin and then Taehyung following right after him into the danger! You two would be absolute idiots if you thought spreading ourselves anymore thin than we already are is a good idea or will help us save our friends!” he huffed and let out a long breath to try to cool down as he finally let Jungkook and Yoongi go out of his clutches, “Now…” he began, touching his fingertips to his forehead to aid the headache he was getting because of this whole dangerous mission, “Let’s think of a plan fast and stick to it, because that is the best way we’ll be able to save Jimin and Taehyung.”

     “I won’t kill dragons unless they attack me,” Jungkook compromised, edging to get out to the battlefield to find Taehyung and get him away from the danger.

     “We’ll all stick together so that when we find Jimin and Taehyung, we can successfully protect the both of them and get the hell out of here,” Yoongi added, “That’s the plan,” he gripped his sword tighter and stepped back, “Bottom line is we just do everything in our power to not lose them.”

     “I can agree with that,” Jungkook muttered and started to step out of the treeline with him.

Hoseok had no choice but to agree or be left behind, but he also had that exact goal in mind now that he had been given the order by Namjoon, so he pulled his sword out of his belt and finally stepped out of the forest with them, “Alright, let’s save our two favorite idiots.”

They all three ran out of the forest into the field on fire, navigating around it and staying quiet to be able to listen for shouts for help or any familiar voices they could run to. So far all they could hear were dragons roaring, chained up in cages that were soon to be overtaken by the fire as well. The sounds sent chills down Yoongi’s spine, but not for the same reason it always used to.

He used to fear the very sound of the beasts that killed his parents, but now all he could think about was how haunting their voices were in the fire… How soon they wouldn’t be able to breathe in the flames, and they too would die from their fiery power.

The him in the past would smile at the thought of all these dragons dying, but now, all he could think about was Jimin. What if one of these dragons was Jimin? What if one of these dragons had a mate who was also fighting their way through the ocean and past lands of evil to get to their loved ones only to find them dead in the end? All of these dragons had families and friends where they were from… Mates with children they couldn’t just leave to go after their loved one… children who weren’t old enough to be able to reach their parents…

Yoongi’s guilt was for some reason taking a strong hold of him at the moment, so without saying a word to Hoseok and Jungkook, he went to the first cage he saw and swung his sword at the lock holding it closed. Jungkook and Hoseok ran after him, trying to stick with the whole ‘stay together’ plan though Jungkook asked in a confused and also irritated voice, “I thought we agreed not to kill dragons?”

     “I’m not killing it,” Yoongi said, swinging his sword down on the dragon’s cage again, this time able to break the lock just enough to be able to open the door. The dragon didn’t understand what was happening and curled up in the farthest corner of the cage, hissing at Yoongi and glaring at him to threaten a breath full of fire if he came any closer, but Yoongi stepped inside anyway and assured it, “I’m here to let you out. We hate the human king of this army just like you.”

The dragon didn’t relax or quiet down from its threatening growling, so Yoongi quickly dropped his sword down to his side and reached his hand out to touch it, “Trust me, I’m trying to do what’s best for you and the other dragons on this island right now.”

The dragon’s eyes widened when Yoongi continued closer, and it kept trying to press itself further into the wall behind it until suddenly, Yoongi touched its face and muttered, “My mate is a halfling and does this when he talks to you guys. I don’t know if it works for full humans, but can you speak to me?”

There was a moment of silence where Yoongi felt like maybe he was a little over confident in his abilities to communicate with a dragon. He almost dropped his hand down from the dragon’s face to just give up and let it be since it was obviously too scared to cooperate, but before he could, he felt a tingling sensation in his mind before a child’s voice spoke to him, “Will you really not hurt me?”

     “I promise,” Yoongi replied, surprised that the dragon in front of him was just a child. Without speaking to it, he thought it was maybe an adult dragon of a smaller breed, but this was really just a kid… How many kids had he killed before now, thinking they were ruthless beasts?… He bit his lip and continued to speak, “You’re going to have to be brave for me though and do me a favor. Is that ok?”

The dragon hesitated but eventually nodded their head and spoke to him again, “Will I get to be free after that?”

     “You’re going to get to be free now, but if you could free the other dragons from their cages before the fire spreads to the whole mountain and kills them, that would be great. Try to get some of them to help you too,” Yoongi spoke fast, afraid that Jimin was in even more danger the longer he stayed here to talk to this child.

It agreed quickly though, relaxing and moving out of its curled up position, “I’ll free all of them!” it moved away from Yoongi’s hand and started to leave the cage to do as he asked. He watched as the dragon made its way to where other dragons were locked up, and he grabbed his sword to continue on with his personal mission.

He ignored Jungkook and Hoseok’s shocked expression and walked past them as Hoseok muttered, “Wow, you really have changed…”

     “Dragons aren’t so bad at all,” he couldn’t help but smile, wishing Jimin could have been here to be proud of him for doing something to help out all the dragons on the island, but his smile immediately fell and his heart dropped with it when Jungkook suddenly shouted out, “Taehyung!” and ran past him towards someone kneeled down in front of a large cage.

Jungkook sprinted across the field as soon as he saw Taehyung, happy to see him alive but also scared that it was all a trick or Taehyung was going to fall over dead before he could get to him. He kept running despite his worries though, not stopping until he fell to the ground on his knees behind Tae and immediately reached forward to wrap him up in his arms, “Tae, I’m so happy you’re alive!” he cried out and pressed his face into Tae’s cold and damp cheek, barely able to control himself as he took in every bit of Tae he could while muttering out through tears, “I thought I lost you… do you know how scared I was?!” he continued to cry and kiss him and speak without waiting for a response, “I’m going to take you home, ok? Everything going to be alright from now on.”

He finally looked up at Taehyung’s expression, expecting to see him smiling or at least looking at Jungkook and paying attention to the fact that he was there and saving him, but all he was doing was looking straight forward with a blank stare, his whole body almost limp in Jungkook’s hold as he could just barely mutter, “I didn’t get to him in time…” his bottom lip trembled and more tears fell from Taehyung eyes.

Jungkook’s eyes widened in fear of what Taehyung could possibly be talking about, and he followed his line of sight to see what he meant by his words. He finally noticed the large cage in front of them, frightened for a moment that maybe a dragon was going to be right there, but he only ended up finding something worse... something so much more horrifying. 

     "Jimin..." Jungkook heard Yoongi cry out under his breath as he hurried into the cage and fell down beside Jimin's bloodied body. 

He fell to his knees in the blood that outlined his mate's body, looking him over but only growing more and more hysterically as he realized just how bad of a shape Jimin was in now. He sobbed out when he saw Jimin’s pale, lifeless expression and picked him up to hold him and mutter through tears, “No, no, wake up, Jimin,” he checked where he had been hurt to see how bad it was and lost his breath when he saw how he had been stabbed through the stomach.

He lost his breath and cried out again, unable to form any words now that Jimin’s body was lifeless in his arms and he really had been too late to save him.

Hoseok, Jungkook, and Taehyung watched from the other side of the cage, Hoseok and Jungkook’s eyes wide in horror and Taehyung starting to cry again now that his best friend’s death was being discovered by everyone else. He could feel Jungkook holding him tighter in fear of losing him too, but instead of acknowledging him, he pulled away and stood up, his legs wobbly underneath him from the fatigue his body felt both physically and emotionally.

He grabbed onto the cage for stability and took a step towards the opened doorway.

Jungkook followed him with his eyes, “Taehyung?… We should leave now-!”

     “No, not yet,” Taehyung hissed under his breath and stepped into the cage. His eyes were wet with tears, and his vision was too blurry for him to see clearly, but he followed the crimson color of Jimin’s blood still dripping from his body that lay limp in Yoongi’s arms.

Guilt burned its way through Taehyung’s body faster than fire ever could, and he found himself dropping to his knees in front of Yoongi. He looked down at his trembling hands and let out a shattered breath from the back of his dry throat, “This is all my fault…”

Yoongi looked up at Taehyung when he spoke, his body trembling like the leaves of a tree in the storm. His eyes were red from crying and tears were still rubbing his cheeks raw as he sniffled and muttered out, “Just because you couldn’t get to him in time doesn’t mean it’s your fault… None of us could-!”

     “No…” Taehyung interrupted him, his voice now louder this time as he came clean and admitted, “I turned on him and Jin. I sided with the king for selfish reasons and helped him keep Jin here… I-I helped him capture Jimin too; I’m the reason why he’s dead!”

Yoongi’s expression fell as if he was angry, but he still muttered out in confusion, “What are you trying to say?”

     “I killed him! I wanted Namjoon and Jin to suffer and lose someone important to them because I found out Chief Joon killed my mom and Jin let it happen,” Taehyung tried to explain, but now he was starting to lose his breath as it came out too quick for him to catch.

Yoongi’s eyes widened in disbelief and he shook his head, “No… He wouldn’t-!”

     “She was a dragon,” Taehyung bit his trembling bottom lip, “The one who killed your parents. I’m her son; I’m a dragon too.”

     “Taehyung what are you trying to do?” Hoseok spoke from the doorway of the cage, but Taehyung couldn’t tear his eyes away from the new expression that was forming on Yoongi’s face as he realized what Tae was saying.

If he was a dragon, his eyes would be bright yellow right now as he grit his teeth and looked to Taehyung with the look of a hunter. No… the look of a dragon slayer who was now set on killing a certain dragon in front of him.

He gripped Jimin’s body in his arms and muttered, “Why would you want Jimin dead… Your own best friend.”

     “I didn’t care about that; I just wanted revenge,” Taehyung closed his eyes, his shoulders tensing when Yoongi suddenly shouted, “You don’t deserve revenge if you’re willing to kill your own best friend for it! What Namjoon did was to protect his people from a bitch like your mother! You-!”

     “Yoongi!” Hoseok shouted as he stepped into the cage now, but Yoongi screamed back at him, “What?! Are you really going to side with him after hearing him confess that he got Jimin killed?!” Yoongi lay his mate down and pulled his sword out of his belt again to hold it up against Taehyung’s neck, “Jimin never did anything wrong in his life! Not all dragons are monsters, I know that now, but you are someone who deserves to be killed-!”

Before he could finish shouting, Jungkook ran into the cage and grabbed the blade of Yoongi's sword before pushing it away from Taehyung’s neck. He kept his hand on the blade and growled out, “Yoongi, if you so much as lay a fucking hand on Taehyung, I will kill you.”

     “Too late,” Yoongi laughed a little under his breath, “I’m dead too now because of this fucking asshole.”

     “What do you mean?…” Jungkook asked, still not truly understanding what was going on here. “Taehyung is obviously just guilty about not getting to Jimin in time and is wanting to make you mad at him, that’s it!”

     “No…” Taehyung shut his eyes and put his hand on Jungkook’s shoulder to move him back again.

He deserved to die. He needed to die before he could see anymore people going through the pain he caused.

He moved Yoongi’s sword back up to his neck and looked up at him, “Kill me, Yoongi. I deserve it and I’m ready to accept this punishment.”

     “Don’t-!” Jungkook started to protest again, pulling his sword out of his belt, but it was Hoseok who finally stepped in to push Yoongi back and say with a glare, “Kill Taehyung and you’ll be no worse than him or his mother or even the king of this god forsaken army,” he bit his lip and looked to Taehyung, “And you, stop thinking about yourself for once and realize that if you die to escape your own guilt, Jungkook dies too. You two are mated, aren’t you?”

Jungkook’s eyes widened and he turned to Taehyung who was staring at him with a new guilty expression on his face as he looked down and avoided everyone’s stare. It was then, he seemed to understand just what was happening.

     “You’re a dragon…” Jungkook breathed out, awkwardly glancing to Hoseok for confirmation though Hoseok had already left to go to Jimin on the ground. He had tears falling down his cheeks after he picked up the halfling that had always been his close friend too, his hands wrapping around Jimin's fragile frame as he checked for any signs of life that could still be in the limp body.

Jungkook had yet to truly look at the boy who had been his best friend too, now covered in blood and killed by a war he should have had no part in, but before he could, Taehyung answered his previous question, “I didn’t know until I was brought here… If I had known, I never would have tricked you into being with something like me.”

     “Wait no, I don’t have a problem with that,” Jungkook muttered and held Taehyung’s hand, “Let’s just go home and talk about this when you are safer.”

     “Jungkook, the village can no longer be my home. Not after everything I’ve done,” Taehyung argued, but Jungkook shook his head and refused to take that as an answer, “You’re living with me in my village as my husband, and if that’s not good enough for you, we’ll find somewhere far away from there to be together. I refuse to let you go again.”

Taehyung’s eyes were on Yoongi who was glaring at him as Jungkook spoke, both of them knowing full well that Taehyung didn’t deserve a happy ending after everything he had done. If Jimin died, he didn’t deserve to live at all after being the one who caused it. That was at least the silent conversation they were having until Hoseok spoke up from behind them, “Guys…” he sounded out of breath as if he had run up the mountain all over again, but all he was doing was looking down at Jimin with his hand pressed to Jimin's bare chest, “I don’t know how, but I think Jimin’s alive?”

Yoongi whipped around within a second and ran to Hoseok’s side, immediately asking in a hurry, “How do you know? What do we do now?”

     “We bring him down the mountain. Namjoon and Jin will know what to do,” Hoseok explained and ripped a strip of fabric off his shirt to use it to wipe away some of the blood on Jimin’s stomach. He was just trying to clean the wound a little to save it from infection, but it was then he saw that Jimin must have burned it shut before passing out. 

He smiled and wrapped the cloth around Jimin's waist for now to keep the cut from reopening again as he explained outloud, "He burned it shut and kept himself from bleeding out," he laughed a little though he ended up getting choked up again and sniffling, "Fuck, ok, so we have to be fast," he turned to Yoongi, "You remember how to get back to the boat from here, right?" He picked Jimin up in his arms and stood up, but Yoongi was close to him like a magnet, placing his hand on Jimin's shoulder. He was just barely able to answer Hoseok with half a nod and a stutter of the words, "Y-Yeah, we should move fast to avoid getting caught in the fire too."

Hoseok started to move towards the doorway of the cage, but he paused to look in Taehyung and Jungkook's direction to say, “Jungkook needs to go back to the village so his father doesn’t think Namjoon let his son die in a dangerous battle. Are you coming with us or staying?”

Jungkook’s hand that had been holding Taehyung’s hand wrapped around it tighter as the young chief looked to his mate with glossy eyes begging for him not to want to pull away again. Taehyung knew he’d eventually receive an inevitable punishment from Namjoon, but right now, he decided to nod his head warily and turn back to Hoseok, “I’ll go back with you guys. I’ll stay in Jungkook’s village, but I also just want to make sure Jimin….” his words trailed off when he heard something starting to come up from underneath the cage, the hatch on the other side of it propping open a little as a nose nudged it off.

His heart fell down to his stomach as he felt the presence of an alpha dragon joining them without warning. He was frozen in his position, staring at the uncovering hatch as he breathed out in a panicked voice, “...You guys go ahead and get Jimin out of here.”

All eyes slowly turned to what Taehyung was staring at, and one-by-one, everyone realized that there was a new problem on this island they had to worry about before going home. Being woken from its slumber by the recent yelling, the door to the underground chamber of the cage suddenly flew open and the large alpha dragon climbed out, a growl loud enough to bring a brave warrior to his knees rang out throughout the cage, and Taehyung turned back to Hoseok and Yoongi to shout again, “Get out of here now!”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The alpha dragon craned her head around to see who was shouting in her cage right as she was waking up. Despite, her quick movements, she didn’t have a chance to see their faces before Hoseok and Yoongi turned around as soon as Taehyung shouted at them to leave. They sprinted out of the cage as fast as they could with Jimin in Hoseok’s arms.

Normally her meals ran for their lives in circles around her cage, but when she realized that the door to her cage was wide open for an opportunity to escape, she let out a loud roar that caused the ground to rumble around them.

Taehyung turned to Jungkook, “Get out of here too before she turns her attention to you and tries to keep you in here.”

     “We both have to leave,” Jungkook grabbed Taehyung’s hand and stepped towards the cage opening to quickly lead him to safety too, but Tae stood his ground and refused to move, “No, someone needs to stay and take care of the alpha so it doesn’t chase after you guys.”

     “Well you’re not going to do that,” Jungkook kept his hand tightly wrapped around Tae’s, refusing to let him do something as stupid as sacrifice himself for the other’s safety. He had come way too far to lose Taehyung now.

Taehyung tried to pull away, “Jungkook, I’ve done terrible things. I don’t deserve to escape with you.”

The dragon had managed to pull herself up from the underground of the cage, her golden eyes scanning the cage and seeing two prey that weren’t running away like the others. Jungkook locked eyes with the alpha and bit his lip, “Ok, then I’ll stay and die here with you then if I have to-!”

     “Fuck, fine then, let’s go!” Taehyung cut him off when he realized Jungkook wasn't going anywhere without him, and he sprinted towards the opening while dragging Jungkook behind him to get him out of there. He felt guilty for everything he caused, and he wanted to make up for what he had done, but he didn't want his own guilt getting Jungkook killed for no reason.

The dragon roared again and sprayed fire in their direction, but they managed to escape out of the cage just in time, running right behind Hoseok and Yoongi who were currently trying to navigate through the field that was now almost completely on fire.

Taehyung let go of Jungkook and ran to the front of the group to set a clear path through the fire with his powers.

     “Follow me!” he shouted when a burnt path had been made towards the reclining tree line. He glanced back at the cage with the alpha dragon in it and let out a breath of relief when he realized the opening was too small for her to fit through easily though it was only a matter of time before she broke through and continued chasing after them. He turned on his heel and continued to run, leading the group to what was hopefully safety. 

Jungkook hurried to run up beside him, now holding his sword in his hands as he spoke breathlessly, “Now may not be a good time to tell you this, but you having powers is really awesome!”

Taehyung’s eyes widened and he wondered if the heat he felt in his body was because of the fire around him or a growing blush from Jungkook flirting with him in what truly was the worst time to try to set the mood. He couldn’t help but smile though and reply, “I find it really sweet that you came all the way here to save me.”

     “Of course, I would, I love you,” Jungkook looked up at all the dragons that once used to be part of a great dragon army but were now flying out of the flames and towards freedom. He gasped, “Wait, does this mean you can get preg-!”

     “Let’s talk about that another time,” Taehyung quickly replied in a hurry to avoid the embarrassment of talking about that when they were supposed to be fleeing for their lives.

He led everyone down the mountain, trying to avoid any dangers that could still be lurking around the island. The king of the army was dead now thanks to Jimin, but he still had people within his army who were evil both humans and dragons alike. He was preparing himself to have to fight them to protect the rest of the group, but thankfully, their path was empty of troubles all the way to the shore where a large viking boat waited for them along with the mighty chief and his husband whom Tae once made the mistake of hating.

Jungkook ran ahead of Taehyung when he saw the boat. He lowered his sword as he sprinted across the sand and shouted to get both Jin and Namjoon’s attention, “We found them! We need to leave now!”

Taehyung’s pace slowed when Namjoon and Jin turned to see their group escaping from the top of the mountain just as it started to become completely consumed in flames. He let Hoseok and Yoongi run past him since he wanted Namjoon and Jin to see their son before having to deal with him. He also didn’t want to be too close when they reacted to their son being on the brink of death when returned to them.

Hoseok lifted Jimin up a bit more when Namjoon and Jin ran to him and met him half way between the waves and the treeline. His chest heaved up and down with heavy breaths and sweat fell down his face and dripped from his hair. He looked like he was about to pass out any second now, but he managed to stay strong as he spoke to Chief Joon and Jin, “He’s alive. He’s alive, but barely. We need to get him off the island.”

     “Hoseok, what happened?” Namjoon asked quickly, taking Jimin from him and staring down at his son with a horrified expression that no one had ever seen on their chief before.

     “He was stabbed in the stomach, but he burned it shut,” Hoseok bent over to recover from having to run down the mountain at full speed with a body in his hands, “I don’t know if there’s anything else because by the time we got to him, he was already unconscious.”

     “He also killed the king before we arrived,” Yoongi added, staring down at Jimin with the same expression Namjoon had on his face. It only lasted a second though before he looked to Jin and spoke, “There’s an alpha dragon at the top of the mountain trying to escape from its cage to go after us. It’s not strong enough to break out, is it?”

Jin’s eyes widened, “Why is it wanting to go after you?!” a roar erupted from the top of the mountain as a large dragon emerged from the base, and Jin froze, his eyes glowing yellow now as he muttered, “Namjoon, if the alpha is after us then we have no choice but to kill it before leaving. It will come after us and destroy our ship if we put ourselves in a helpless position at sea.”

     “Just our luck to have to go against that thing after everything that’s already happened…” Namjoon grimaced and looked to Yoongi who looked like he was already trying to muster up the strength to fight an alpha dragon even in his condition.

Lucky for him, he had something more important to do.

Namjoon turned to him quickly and nudged him to get his attention before demanding, “Take Jimin to the tree-line away from us. Wait it out until the dragon is either dead or gone, ok?”

Yoongi nodded and quickly took Jimin without any hesitation. He held Jimin carefully and brought the upper half of his body closer to his chest as he asked, “What do I do if you lose?...”

     “Take him back to the village to be the new chief,” Namjoon looked down at his son who was barely alive but hopefully strong enough to make it through. He traveled across an ocean and defeated a powerful king, and if he made it through his injuries, he would surely be the strongest chief their village ever had. Namjoon smiled sadly and turned to the dragon that had now spotted them on the shore, “Take him now. I’m counting on you to protect my son and help him through whatever outcome he’ll have to deal with ok? He’s strong, make sure he knows that.”

     “He already does,” Yoongi breathed out and stepped back, “Live… Please, chief Joon.”

Neither of them exchanged another word before Yoongi turned on his heel and started running with Jimin in his arms towards a new safety away from his family. Jimin’s blood seeped through his shirt and wet Yoongi’s skin with a crimson warmth, but his body was limp and colder than ever before. Sweat dripped from Yoongi’s forehead and tears fell down his cheeks, but he continued to run across the sand, holding Jimin as tight as possible and muttering through heavy breaths that everything was going to be ok.

They were going to make it through this.

He could barely believe his own words in his fear and pain, but he had to at least act like it. For Jimin’s sake. As long as Jimin wasn’t dead, he had to be brave and keep going.

Namjoon watched as Yoongi ran across the beach towards the tree-line to escape with Jimin in his arms, his heart beating fast as he tried his best not to think about how that was probably going to be the last time he saw his son…

Fighting against an alpha dragon was hard, and fighting against one unprepared was impossible.

Still though, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He turned to Jin, “You should hide too-!”

     “Don’t tell me to leave,” Jin interrupted him with a serious scowl, “I’m not going to.”

Jin’s hand was tracing circles around his stomach slowly, his voice close but his mind distant as he said a silent goodbye to this baby he had been trying to protect for so long now. He too knew that there wasn’t any other option but to fight against the alpha and die trying. Even if he did run to safety, Namjoon still had to fight, and there was no hope they would both make it out of this alive.

Namjoon looked away before he could see tears falling from Jin’s eyes, and he turned to Taehyung, “Yoongi and Jimin are both in bad shape, so I need you to protect them, ok? They can’t be alone right now.”

Taehyung glanced at Jin warily almost for permission, but Namjoon managed to steal his attention back by placing a hand on his shoulder and muttering, “He’s the future of our clan, Taehyung…,” he bit his lip and looked down, “And if I could turn back time to stop what happened to you and your family, I would,” he heard Taehyung’s breath hitch and looked up to see the younger boy staring at him with fear filled eyes.

The dragon was drawing closer so Namjoon quickly requested, “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but Jimin has never felt anything but love for you… Please make sure he lives.”

     “I…” Taehyung breathed out, tears falling down his face as the horror of his chief finding out about his plans to hurt him and his family finally became a reality. A chill ran down his spine and he froze in shock for a moment, but a roar coming from the alpha dragon above brought him back to nod quickly and agree to do this one last thing for his chief, “I forgive you. I’m sorry,” he looked to Jin and stepped back, “I’ll protect him, I promise.”

He ran after Yoongi and Jimin without another word, leaving Namjoon to look to Jin once more to make sure he was ok. Jin was already staring at him though, his hand on his stomach and a disapproving frown on his face as he muttered, “You trust him to protect Jimin?”

     “I know you do because you didn’t protest against it,” Namjoon replied, pulling his sword out of his belt. He didn’t need to yell to his tribe to follow his actions because they were already preparing themselves to go against the alpha on their own.

Jin looked down, “I… He risked his life to save us as soon as Jimin showed up. He may hate you and me, but I don’t think he could ever bring himself to hurt Jimin.”

     “Exactly,” Namjoon glanced over at Taehyung sprinting across the sand to catch up with Yoongi and Jimin, “He and Jimin are brothers. He’d be losing his family for a second time if something happened to him.”

His attention was pulled away from Taehyung and his son when Hoseok hurried up to him, now recovered enough to be breathing properly with his sword in his hands as he spoke, “Everyone is ready to fight. Do you have any orders?”

Namjoon looked around at the brave men and women, few in numbers but great in strength, and he shouted, “Everyone prepare to fight until our victory!” even Jungkook was preparing himself to go up against the large dragon headed their way, his eyes full of fear but his brows furrowed in a determination to kill this dragon and stay alive for the mate he just reunited with.

Namjoon had the same goal. To stay alive for the mate he just reunited with and to stay alive so both of their children could continue to grow with the presence of their parents.

     “Don’t get involved unless you need to,” he whispered to Jin, stepping in front of him, “Please.”

     “Only if you’re in danger then,” Jin agreed and stepped back, letting Namjoon and his crew stand before him in the war that was about to begin against the terrifying dragon.

He wished he could do more, but he knew when to step back and let his husband protect him. He knew he had much more than a battle to worry about now, so he was going to make that his first priority above all else.

Namjoon gave him one last small smile, his expression void of any fear because his love for Jin showed through the strongest. Still though, he turned back around to the alpha dragon as it finally landed on the shore and roared at the vikings surrounding it.

Her eyes were glowing yellow and blood still dripped from her fangs, but Namjoon stepped forward to lead his men, shouting out one last time in an unwavering voice that only the bravest of viking chiefs could manage in a situation like this, “Don’t be afraid to die a noble death today!”

He raised his sword, his action followed by the rest of his men, before he shouted one more time, “Valhalla is watching so fight your hardest!”

~(***)~

When Yoongi’s legs were screaming at him that he wasn’t going to be able to hold himself up anymore soon, he finally turned towards the forest on the island and ran into the tree-line for the temporary sanctuary that would hopefully work until the alpha dragon was gone. He only managed to run a few feet into the trees off the shore before collapsing beside a large pine tree and pressing his back up against it quickly to feel a relief from the burning feeling in his lungs and muscles.

Jimin’s body was still clutched close to his chest as he continued to breathe out heavily, trying to overcome his exhaustion and pain to be strong enough to protect Jimin in his vulnerable state. Right now, he felt far from it though. Far from strong. Far from brave. Far from enough.

His mouth was dry, his tongue absently licking the sweat from his upper lip to gain some moisture to help him get through this moment. He couldn’t be bothered by his dehydration though when he started to look over Jimin’s bloody body to see if he was ok.

What did Hoseok do again to see if Jimin was alive?

Touch his neck? His chest?

Yes, his heart. He checked if his heart was still beating.

Yoongi laid Jimin on the ground in front of himself and bent over to open up Jimin’s shirt and press his ear to his bare chest. Yoongi was breathing too quickly and too heavily to hear anything at first, so he held his breath and pressed his ear closer against Jimin’s bloody chest. He didn’t dare let out the air he was holding in or take another breath until he felt the heart beat of his lover.

Thump

..

Thump

..

Thump

..

It was there. The sound of his heart beating.

He closed his eyes and let out his breath in one sigh of relief… Jimin was still alive.

He reached over to hold his hand, smiling a little though his hands were trembling with fear from just the thought that his mate’s heart would stop beating any second now.

He kept his head down and closed his eyes, “You’re going to live…” he whispered through a shaky breath, “You’re going to make it through this.”

He heard someone walking towards them in the forest and quickly looked up in fear of having to fight off someone already in his poor condition, but he only frowned when he saw who had followed them.

He watched Taehyung closely with his eyes and muttered, “You ran away from the fight?”

     “Chief Joon told me to make sure you guys are ok,” Taehyung answered, deciding to ignore Yoongi’s accusatory tone as he sat down on the other side of Jimin. Yoongi was protective over him now. He instinctively brought Jimin closer to himself and glared at Taehyung for even trying to breathe the same air as him.

If old Jimin could see what new Yoongi was doing right now as he lay unconscious, he’d probably squeal excitedly and never stop talking about it for the next few days… His cute one-sided crush on the dragon slayer had really turned into something so much stronger since Taehyung had last seen them, hadn't it? They… oh yeah… they were mated. They were bonded for life. They made the choice to trust their lives in each other’s hands along with their hearts and happiness.

Old Jimin really would be freaking out right now if he saw where he was right now.

Taehyung smiled and looked down, “I’m glad you two are together now… Jimin has always loved you more than anything.

     “He always loved you too,” Yoongi looked down at Jimin’s bloodied face. He then grit his teeth and growled out, “I wonder if he saw it coming that you’d become a fucking traitor.”

Taehyung shut his eyes, knowing that there was no way Yoongi would be able to have a friendly conversation with him. He had every right to be mad though... Taehyung deserved this.

He didn’t receive any punishment from Chief Joon because he was… well he was Namjoon. He was the scariest yet kindest chief anyone would ever have the pleasure of meeting, and Yoongi was… Yoongi. Someone who was not afraid to say what he wanted to say, and someone who was now deeply in love with Jimin whom Taehyung had hurt.

He looked down, “I’m sorry….” he bit his lip, “That’s all I really can say to everyone. I’ll never let myself forget about my mistakes, but right now, I want Jimin to be safe too.”

     “Yeah? What made you suddenly change your mind then?”

Yoongi’s words weren’t spoken with curiosity; they were spoken with malice. Every word was spit out with a verbal strength that he didn’t even look like he could handle right now in the state he was in, but of course he was managing to do so for Jimin’s sake.

     “Jimin,” was all Taehyung could reply.

It was the truth. Jimin was what made him suddenly change his mind about everything out of nowhere. Just seeing him alone made Taehyung realize the mistake he was making. Seeing Jimin made Taehyung ashamed of what he was now: a traitor.

Yoongi scoffed at the answer but didn’t reply. He only looked down at Jimin and quickly wiped away his tears, not wanting to cry in front of Taehyung. His breath still hitched every few moments, but he stayed in silence mostly for a few minutes until finally muttering out, “If I lose him, I’m never going to find it in me to forgive you until the day I die.”

     “If he dies, I won’t forgive myself either…”

Silence again.

They both stared down at Jimin, Taehyung giving him and Yoongi spaced though he watched his best friend - if he even had the right to call him his best friend anymore - to continue to make sure he was living and breathing.

If Jimin could just wake up again so Taehyung could apologize and let him know that he was the only family Tae needed then… then he’d feel better about everything. He wouldn’t feel better or less guilty about his actions, but at least he would know that Jimin knew he never did anything wrong.

Yoongi’s hand was clutched tightly around Jimin’s small hand, once so dainty but now bruised, cut, and covered in blood. Taehyung focused on how horribly hurt the skin of the other boy was, his tears blurring his vision and his eyes burning from the dry air around him. He almost wrote off Jimin’s finger twitching as a wishful hallucination if Yoongi didn’t snap up when he felt his lover’s fingers curl around the palm of his hand.

He gasped and looked to Taehyung, his mouth parted as if he wanted to say something, though he was only at a loss for words now to describe what was going on. Taehyung’s eyes widened when he saw Yoongi’s expression, and the communication had been made.

Jimin was waking up.

Yoongi immediately whipped back around to look at Jimin, his whole body leaning over him now as excitement washed over him and he quickly said, “Hey, I’m here. Are you waking up?”

Jimin’s eyes fluttered open slowly and a quivering breath escaped his lips.

Yoongi grinned, “Thank Odin you’re finally awake…” he kissed Jimin’s forehead and lifted back up again to watch Jimin’s expression and wait for him to finally speak.

Jimin’s eyes were glued on him, his brows twisting in confusion until he probably remembered everything that happened while he was last conscious. His brows relaxed again and he smiled slowly, only managing to give a weak raise of his lips, but it was a smile nonetheless.

     “We’re in Valhalla,” he started to mutter but his breath hitched and he shut his eyes, “Why am I still in pain?” tears fell from his shut eyelids and he gripped onto Yoongi’s hand as tightly as he could, “Yoongi, how do I make it stop?”

     “Don’t move around,” Yoongi searched Jimin quickly for anything that could be causing him pain besides the obvious stab wound, “We’re not in Valhalla, we’re alive.”

Jimin’s eyes opened wide in confusion now, so Yoongi quickly explained himself, “We’re safe and on the shore of the island now, but you’re in really bad shape. You’ll live, but you just need to lay still for me, ok?”

     “Yoongi, do I have all of my limbs?” Jimin stuttered out with scared eyes, “I-I was in the dragon cage, so-!”

     “You have all your limbs!” Yoongi quickly assured him, a smiling spreading across his face though the situation wasn’t amusing at all. Jimin was scared to death, but fuck, he was alive. Yoongi was overjoyed that he was alive and awake! He brushed Jimin’s sweaty hair off of his forehead and continued to speak, “You’re perfectly fine, but you remember how you were stabbed right? That’s the big problem.”

Jimin sighed out in relief, “I can deal with that...”

     “Yeah?” Yoongi laughed under his breath, “You can deal with that?”

Jimin smiled a little and nodded, “I have all my limbs.”

     “You do,” Yoongi nodded back, unable to keep himself from chuckling again and leaning down to kiss Jimin on the forehead again, “You’re really something, Jimin… So strong.”

Jimin’s smile seemed to fade when Yoongi said those words, his fingers tightening around the palm of his hand and his breath hitching again as he muttered, “Where’s Jin?… A-And Tae?” he bit his lip, “I sent Tae to be with Jin, but we got seperated and-!”

     “I’m right here,” Taehyung leaned in to Jimin’s view finally and smiled shyly, “You killed the king, so don’t worry about anything ok?”

     “I did,” Jimin smiled, pausing for a moment before muttering softly, “But where’s Jin?”

     “With Namjoon,” Yoongi decided to tell at least some of the truth, “And Hoseok and Jungkook. I ended up crossing paths with them and they helped me find you.”

Jimin’s weak smile grew a little, “Both of my appas are here?” there was a sparkle in Jimin’s eyes that Yoongi both loved and hated to see.

He loved to see it because he had dreaded just moments ago that he would never be able to see the light in Jimin’s eyes again, but he hated it because Jimin was happy and had no idea that both of his parents were in a battle they were surely not going to make it out of.

Yoongi stayed silent, hoping that Jimin would change the topic, but of course he didn’t.

He had fought to bring his family together, and he wasn’t going to stop until he succeeded.

     “Where are they?” he asked, his voice worried though he kept up a fake smile to seem hopeful.

Yoongi didn’t want to lie to him. He didn’t want Jimin to hate him for not telling him his parents were in danger, but Yoongi knew what would happen if he told the truth. He knew Jimin would do everything in his power to save his parents even in the condition he was in, and he knew he would end up losing Jimin.

He didn’t want to lose Jimin.

He didn’t want to lie, but the last thing he wanted to do was lose Jimin.

So he lied.

     “They’re both ok,” Yoongi faked a smile, “They are readying the boat, but they wanted me to hold you in the treeline as they worked to do that just in case there was anymore trouble.”

     “Oh…” Jimin nodded and looked to Taehyung, “So you’re coming home with us?”

     “Yeah,” Taehyung answered with a small smile, looking down, “Jungkook didn’t give me a choice.”

     “Me neither,” Jimin pouted, “You’re our best friend. Of course we’re not going to go home without you.”

Taehyung looked up at that, “Jimin, you shouldn’t consider me your best friend after everything I did-!”

     “Saved Jin and I from being trapped in the cell even after finding out that my dad killed your mom?” Jimin tilted his head, “I’d be pretty dumb to not consider you my best friend and more after what you’ve done for me.”

Taehyung stared at him in disbelief, unsure if Jimin was a saint or stupid for forgiving him so fast. Still though, he smiled and wiped away a few tears as they began to form, “I’ll try to be a better friend, I promise. I really do love you Jimin-!” before he could finish speaking, a loud roar rang out from the shore and they all froze in fear of how close it was.

How was the battle going?…

Which side was winning?

Jimin looked to Yoongi for an answer this time, “Why?…”

     “A few dragons escaping probably,” Yoongi lied again, his smile faltering.

Jimin looked up at the sky, but it was clear of any dragons. There were only clouds and smoke in the gray sky. Jimin didn’t question it until he heard the roar again, this time louder as the earth shook with the heavy presence of an alpha dragon.

He knew it was an alpha dragon.

What else could be that powerful?

His heart skipped a beat when he realized what was roaring, and he gripped Yoongi’s hand, “Why are you lying to me? Where are my appas?”

     “They’re fine-! Ah-!” Jimin gripped Yoongi’s hand tighter when he tried to lie again. He sat up now and turned to look at the shore where a large red scaled dragon was shooting a line of fire at their village’s vikings who hurried to move out of the way just in time.

His eyes widened and he straightened up, “They’re fighting the alpha,” he turned to Yoongi and spoke louder this time in a frightened shout, “They’re fighting the alpha! They’ll die!”

     “Hey, no they won’t,” Yoongi tried to subtly push Jimin back down, but Jimin slapped his hand away and started to stand, “I have to go help them; they can’t die!”

     “Taehyung help me!” Yoongi grunted out when Jimin stumbled into a standing position and started to take a step out of the tree line. He grabbed one of Jimin’s hands while Taehyung grabbed the other, but Jimin wasted no time to burn them both for a half second before stumbling back onto the sand of the beach.

Yoongi winced and fell to his knees, still unable to hold himself up properly anymore. He was running on adrenaline before, but now that that was all gone. He held his hand in pain and shouted at Jimin, “Jimin stay! You almost died a few minutes ago, and you’ll die out there if you try to help them!”

     “But I don’t want my parents to die,” Jimin’s voice went soft as tears formed in his eyes.

His shoulders tensed when he heard the sound of the dragon’s roar bellow again further down the beach, and he backed up one more step.

Yoongi’s eyes widened in fear, “No, Jimin… I don’t want you to die,” he tried to stand again, groaning out in pain and clutching onto his abdomen that surely had a few broken ribs, “Please… I-I don’t know what I’ll do if I lost you! Think about us! If y-you die then I die, Jimin!”

Jimin’s eyes widened when he remembered that, but he stood his ground. Tears fell down his cheeks and his bottom lip trembled when he thought about the choice he was going to have to make. He didn’t want to let his parents die without trying to save them, and he didn’t want Yoongi to die, but… There was no choice, was there?

He wasn’t being given a choice.

There was no option he’d be truly happy with.

He stepped back again and Yoongi’s expression fell, “No….” his eyebrows furrowed and he reached out as if he could grab his lover and bring him back to safety, “Jimin, no! Stop!” he screamed out in agony, but Jimin took another step back.

     “I’m sorry…” he whispered, more tears rolling down his cheeks.

Taehyung shook his head slowly, wanting to keep Jimin from going out, but he didn’t have a right to step in anymore. Jimin wanted to do this, and he wasn’t going to forgive him if he kept him from saving his parents.

Yoongi glared at Tae and screamed, “Do something!” but by the time he looked back to Jimin, he was already turning and running in the direction of danger, holding his stomach in pain but not letting that stop him as he went to go save his parents.

He made his choice.

He had a chance at a happy ending if he just tried, right? If he kept his parents alive and stayed alive which would keep Yoongi alive, then maybe they could all be together again like before.

Maybe…. Maybe he could get the ending he wanted.

~(***)~

Jin stood as far from the battle field as he could, standing in the water as waves sometimes drew in and wet his leather boots up to his ankles. He followed Namjoon closely with his eyes, making sure he was ok. He had his hand on his stomach as a reminder that he couldn’t just jump in and help him, but he was preparing himself to run to Namjoon’s rescue if his life was in danger.

Jin wanted this baby to be safe, but he needed Namjoon safe above all else.

He breathed in and out slowly, telling himself to remain calm for the baby’s sake, but his heart skipped a beat when he watched as the dragon knocked Namjoon away with his tail and suddenly turned around to him with her teeth showing in a threatening growl. He waited for Namjoon to get up and run. He prayed that Namjoon was going to get up and get away from the dragon before he could get hurt, but when he saw Namjoon recovering too slowly from being knocked down by the heavy blow of an alpha dragon’s tail, Jin stepped out of the water for the first time since the battle started.

He stepped forward slowly across the sand, hoping that Namjoon would get up so he could go back into the water, but as the dragon drew closer to Joon, Jin knew he didn’t have a choice.

His yellow eyes brightened and he broke out into a sprint across the beach, running as fast as he could to beat the dragon to Namjoon before she could do anything to hurt his husband.

He screamed out in fear, his lungs burning almost as much as the muscles in his legs, but he didn’t dare to let himself stop until he was now standing in front of Namjoon and shooting fire up at the dragon as soon as she opened her mouth to try to grab him.

Razor sharp teeth came too close to Jin for comfort, but as soon as he shot his fire into her mouth, she roared out and backed away, stumbling a little and struggling to breathe with fire entering her throat unexpectedly.

Dragons could take heat on the outside, but on the inside, they were as vulnerable to it as humans were.

Jin breathed out in relief that he had gotten there just in time to save Namjoon, but he didn’t waste any time to turn around and hurry to check on his husband.

     “Joon, are you ok?” he bent down to Namjoon who was recovering from having the wind knocked out of him. He sucked in a sharp breath quickly when he was able to breathe again, and he grabbed Jin’s hand, “I told you stay back-!”

     “Unless you were about to die and you were,” Jin argued, and grabbed Namjoon’s other hand to help him up, “Don’t get mad at me when I just saved your life.”

     “I’m not I just,” Namjoon saw the dragon still trying to get over the fire in her throat, and he brought Jin in to hug him quickly, “Go back to the water. Please don’t risk your life again.”

Jin hugged Namjoon back but still argued, “I would have died if you died, Joon. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you are safe because without you, there’s no me.”

     “I know, I know, I just-!” Namjoon started to say but fell silent when Jin muttered a silent yet horrified, “Fuck…”

Namjoon’s shoulders tensed in fear, “What?…”

Jin pushed himself away from Namjoon, and Namjoon was about to check Jin over to make sure he and the baby were both safe, but Jin was already moving towards something else that had his attention. Namjoon followed him with his eyes slowly until he looked on in horror at who had joined them in the battlefield.

     “Jimin…” he breathed out and ran over to him as Jin grabbed their son and spoke first, “You have to leave Jimin! Where’s Yoongi and Tae? Go back to them-!”

     “I can’t let you guys fight alone and die!” Jimin interrupted Jin and pushed past him to hurry to Namjoon and hug him, “I’m here to help you fight, appa,” he closed his eyes and pressed his face into his father’s chest, “I missed you so much.”

Hugging his son was something Namjoon though he’d never get to do again, so for this moment, he closed his eyes and held Jimin tight. He wished this moment could never end, but Jin was staring at him with wide and disapproving eyes, waiting for him to tell their son that he wasn’t allowed to risk his life in a battle against an alpha dragon.

Namjoon bit his lip and finally pulled away from Jimin to say, “You need to go back to Yoongi and Taehyung. Are they ok?”

     “I left them,” Jimin smiled, “I’m strong now; I am capable of fighting alongside both of you.”

     “Jimin you’ve always been strong,” Namjoon replied, his hand cupping his son’s face. He used to never want anything to touch his son and harm how perfect he was. He didn’t even want a scratch to be on Jimin’s skin, but now he was covered in scars, bruises, and blood.

Namjoon felt guilty for all of it, feeling like he was to blame for everything that happened to his family. His brows strained in worry when he thought about the horrors Jimin might have had to face to be hurt like this in their time apart, and he continued to speak, “But you can’t fight right now. Not after being on the brink of death just moments ago.”

He wanted Jimin to just accept the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to fight alongside his parents this time, but of course Jimin refused to agree. He frowned and shook his head, stepping away from Joon, “I’ve made my choice. I’m fighting alongside you both,” he didn’t let Namjoon reply or protest his wishes before turning to Jin and muttering, “Jin, you told me to always make the decision that ensured I lived, but I don’t want to if that means I lose everyone else in the process.”

     “Y-You won’t, Jimin,” Jin tried to assure him, but not even he could believe his own words. He opened his mouth to continue, but Jimin stepped closer and spoke first, “I know you’re pregnant,” he smiled and turned back to Namjoon, “I want you both to be able to actually raise one kid together.”

     “We raised you, Jimin. We’re happy with what we got with you!” Joon spoke, getting anxious with the fact that the alpha dragon was recovering and starting to turn back towards them again.

Jimin noticed it too and felt his heart beating hard against his chest.

He was scared. Really scared. This was nothing like the play swords fights he used to have with Taehyung and Jungkook as kids or anything he had had to face on the journey so far. This was a true monster he was now facing, the kind all vikings feared when the topic of dragons came up. This was what they thought about, a monster with bloodied scales and razor sharp teeth and no mercy to give anyone it crossed.

If he chose to live like his parents wanted, he would run right now, but he was done running.

Without another word, he turned and grabbed Namjoon’s sword from his hands, his eyes glued to the sight of the dragon so he wouldn’t have to look in his parents’ eyes and see the fear in them. They didn’t understand right now, and they weren’t going to try to understand, but Jimin would rather die a thousand deaths then let them die here today for his sake.

He took off in a sprint towards the dragon, ignoring the pain in his stomach that spread throughout his whole body. His breath came out desperate and sharp in pain, but he ignored it all. He wouldn’t let himself think about anything else until this dragon was dead.

The dragon was fully recovered from being shot in the throat by a stream of Jin’s fire, but she hadn’t turned around in time to see Jimin coming. She roared out when Jimin suddenly lodged his sword into her neck, gripping onto the silver handle with all of his strength to drag it through her skin. He cried out in pain when lifting his arms up had caused his cut to threaten to reopen, but he refused to let go.

He shut his eyes and breathed out slowly, trying to drag the sword farther across her neck to slip it open. When he noticed it wasn’t moving inside of her skin though, he had no choice but to push off of her skin and pull the sword out and try to stab it into her again in a place that would do more damage.

He dropped to the ground in the sand and decided to aim for her heart this time, running towards her chest and stabbing the sword straight through her rough skin.

She roared out louder this time, standing up on her hind legs and trying to shake Jimin off though Jimin held on tight and refused to give up so easily. He thought he would have another chance to be able to push off her body and stab her again in a different area, but before he could think of moving again, someone grabbed him and pulled him away from her.

Jimin didn’t have a chance to turn and see who had grabbed him, but the reason why had been quickly pulled away was made clear when a line of fire followed them as they ran from the alpha.

Jimin quickly grabbed the shoulders of the person who had saved him from the alpha’s fire and turned to see who it was. His eyes widened and he gasped, “Jungkook!”

Jungkook smiled at him but then glanced back at the alpha who had finally stopped breathing fire and was now trying to take the sword out of her chest. She was so preoccupied with that, she wasn’t even noticing Hoseok now sneaking up on her to stab her in the neck again.

He ran far enough away to be able to set Jimin down and say, “You left without me, so I told on you to your dad.”

     “I see that,” Jimin laughed a little, “I’m sorry I didn’t let you join me.”

     “Ah, I’m not mad,” Jungkook grinned, “Besides, Yoongi and you seemed to have fun on that boat alone. I wouldn’t have wanted to be there while that was happening.”

Jimin blushed, wondering just how he knew about his relationship with Yoongi. Was his mark that visible? Or was it all the hickeys he and Yoongi both left on each other?

Jimin wasn’t given a chance to give it much more thought though when he heard the dragon roar out in agony again. He looked up quickly to see Hoseok on the dragon’s face, stabbing her in the eye until she eventually swiped him off with her claws.

Jimin’s eyes widened and he pushed himself away from Jungkook, “Hoseok!” he was about to start running across the shore to go help Hobi, but Jungkook held him back and pulled him close again, “Jimin, you should go back to Yoongi. You were just stabbed, so-!”

     “Hoseok needs me! You all do!”

     “Yeah, we need you to be safe!” Jungkook argued, and turned Jimin towards his parents, “Go to your dads.”

     “No!” Jimin pushed himself away from Jungkook and finally ran to help Hoseok who had been thrown off to the side.

Jungkook sighed and held his sword close as he muttered to himself, “Why can’t you just die already?…” he glared up at the alpha, but knew words wouldn't help him right now. He needed to kill the beast before anyone else got hurt. He hurried up to the alpha while she was still recovering from the pain of Hobi stabbing her eye, and he grabbed her wing to pull himself up on top of her back.

She immediately noticed his presence, turning her bloodied face around to glare at him with her one good eye left. Jungkook smiled when he noticed the yellow glare and knew exactly what he was going to stab.

He ran along the top of he back and jumped onto her head while stabbing his sword into her one good eye left in one simultaneous motion. He twisted the sword in her socket, but it wasn’t long before she wipped her head forward to fling him off.

Jungkook felt himself suddenly thrown into the air and tried to position himself to land without dying, but before he could start to fall back down, something grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him up in the air. His whole body stiffened, expecting to hit the ground soon, but when he noticed he was still in the air, he froze and his eyes widened, “What the?…”

Before he looked up, a dragon’s claws wrapped around his shoulders to keep him stable before he was flown back to the ground away from the alpha.

He quickly found his footing on the ground as soon as he got close enough to it, feeling thankful to be landing on it and not breaking any bones in the process. The dragon let go of him and let him stand on his own before landing beside him, staring at him with worried eyes that Jungkook could almost instantly recognize.

He hurried forward and wrapped his arms around the dragon’s neck, sighing out happily and singing out, “Thank you so much, Tae,” he pulled away smiling, “You’re Taehyung right?”

The dragon seemed surprised he was recognized, but he nodded his head anyway, ducking it shyly because his boyfriend was seeing his form for the first time ever.

Jungkook’s smile only grew wider though and he muttered, “I knew it… Sexiest dragon in the world.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and swatted Jungkook’s face with his tail. Jungkook laughed, “What?! I’m allowed to love all your forms, aren’t I?” he ran his hand down Taehyung’s back, “You’re very pretty like this, you know that?”

Tae huffed and pressed his forehead to Jungkook’s to speak with him.

     ‘Don’t die, please…’

Jungkook’s eyes widened when he was able to hear Taehyung’s thoughts, but when he took in Tae’s request, he fell silent and closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly, muttering out softly, “Stay safe too… We still need to get married after this, ok?”

Taehyung nuzzled Jungkook’s cheek gently before pulling away and nodding with as much of a smile as he could manage in his dragon form. He then flew up above Jungkook and towards the alpha dragon to start attacking it as well. Jungkook hated that Tae was having to fight in this battle too after being taken against his will and put through so much stress already, but he was excited to get to fight alongside him for the first time ever.

He looked around for the nearest sword to fight with and saw Jimin’s that was still lodged into the alpha’s chest. It would be hard to get, but at least not as impossible as his previous one still stuck in the alpha dragon’s eye socket.

Taehyung had to have someone watching his back in battle, so Jungkook ran into the scene again to be there for his lover if he needed the help.

~(***)~

Jimin was kneeled down in the sand beside Hoseok, cleaning off his wound as much as he could to be able to burn it shut and stop the bleeding. It wasn’t too bad of a slash across Hoseok’s stomach, but Jimin knew something had to be done to keep Hoseok at least awake while in a vulnerable position on the battlefield.

He leaned over to look down at Hoseok’s face from above and warn him, “I’m going to make it so you stop bleeding, but it’s going to hurt a little, ok? Just hang tight and-!”

     “Jimin just go…” Hoseok interrupted him in a mutter, “I’m fine, bu you need to be safe-!”

     “Why does everyone keep telling me to leave?!” Jimin suddenly snapped and leaned away from Hoseok again, “I’m trying to help and you all are making it ten times harder than it needs to be! Just let me protect you ok?” Jimin grit his teeth and looked back down at Hoseok’s bleeding injury across his stomach, “I said I wanted my family alive, and you’re my family too.”

Hoseok shut his eyes and sighed, “Where’s Yoongi?”

     “Treeline,” Jimin muttered, too angry to attempt at responding in full sentences. He glanced up at the alpha to see that she was currently preoccupied with fighting Taehyung off at the moment. Taehyung was in his dragon form, flying circles around her and scratching where he could in an attempt to do some damage.

Jimin wondered if Yoongi had joined the fight as well even with how bad of a shape he was in. He looked around the shore for his lover but thankful didn’t find him anywhere.

Still though, he grit his teeth and muttered under his breath, “Odin, why won’t this piece of shit fucking die?…”

     “You’ve changed,” Hoseok chuckled, pulling Jimin out of his worries with the statement.

Jimin’s eyes widened in surprised that Hobi thought that, but he shook his head and muttered back in response, “Only for this dragon.”

     “No, you’ve changed in more ways that that,” Hoseok’s argued with a smile, “You’re so strong… You’ve always been strong, but now?… wow.”

Jimin looked down, proud that Hoseok thought that but also still unsure if he even deserved that praise since he had barely done anything yet. He went on a mission to save his family, but he wasn't succeeding at that very well at the moment.

He was about to let Hoseok know that he wouldn’t think of himself as strong until he saved everyone from this alpha, but before he could, his two appas ran up to him.

Namjoon spoke first as soon as he was in ear shot, “Jimin you need to get out of here!” he hurried to Jimin’s side and kneeled down beside him, “Good, you can take Hoseok to the boat and care for him there away from-!”

     “I need to help fight the alpha. It’s not going to die unless you have everyone who’s able to fight putting in effort,” Jimin argued, choosing to stand before his father could keep him from doing what he needed to do.

Hoseok still needed someone to care for his wounds, so he looked to Jin who had joined them right behind Namjoon, “Don’t let him die,” he requested, stepping back because he saw it in their expressions that they knew what he was starting to do. Namjoon stood to try to grab Jimin’s hand and stop him from running away, but Jimin turned on his heel and hurried towards the alpha dragon before he could be stopped.

Namjoon grit his teeth and shouted out in frustration, “Jimin get back here! I won’t let you be so reckless!”

Jimin didn’t turn to his shouts though. He just kept running without hesitation into danger.

Jimin knew his parents were probably beyond stressed out about him running around a battle field with one of the most powerful beasts in existence, but he wasn’t going to give up just because they were telling him what they told him his whole life. ‘Run away’ and ‘Go to safety’. He was done running away while everyone else risked their lives for him.

It was time he was the one to protect everyone he loved.

He grabbed onto one of the alpha’s wings that were low to the ground, and climbed up it while she was still distracted with Taehyung attacking her. He stumbled a little when he managed to stand on top of the alpha’s back, but he quickly grabbed onto one of the sharp spikes protruding from her spine and stayed on. He was panting hard from running and his muscles ached from overwork, but he wasn’t going to let himself take a break now.

He looked up to her head and saw a sword sticking out of her eye socket, giving him a crazy idea that maybe he could manage to take it and use it to just protect himself as he thought about a better plan to kill her.

He held his breath and told himself that he had done worse than this so far. He survived a storm at sea and an evil viking king who had his own army that was nothing now. How hard would it be to take a sword from an dragon’s eye?

It couldn’t be too hard, right?

Well he was about to find out.

Without further hesitation, he ran up the alpha’s neck and grabbed onto the handle of the sword before he could possible fall off and risk failing completely. She roared out in pain when he accidentally twisted the sword deeper into her eye socket, but Jimin didn’t hesitate to rip it out and take advantage of the moment he was in right now.

He needed a weapon a-and he had a weapon now! Holy shit, he managed to get the sword!

He stared down at the bloodied mess of a blade and grinned, proud of what he had managed to do so easily. Now he just needed to actually kill her, and then he could be proud of something even greater!

     “Oh hey, you got my sword!” Jimin looked up quickly to see Jungkook climbing up the wing of the alpha and grabbing onto one of the spikes on her back to hoist himself up on top of her. He held up Jimin’s previous sword and laughed a little, “Wanna switch? I don’t like how heavy this one is.”

     “You’re going to let me keep fighting?” Jimin asked, holding the blade close since he didn’t want another one of his swords stolen from Jungkook.

Jungkook stepped up closer to him and shrugged, “Yeah, I’m not your appa. I don’t want you to die, but also I need the help,” he held out the handle of Jimin’s sword to him, “Ready to kill your first dragon?”

Jimin couldn’t help but smile at Jungkook finally supporting him wanting to join the fight. He nodded his head and took the sword from Jungkook before trading him his bloody one. Jungkook gasped happily when he was reunited with his sword again and he stepped forward to stab it into her neck, “How’s Tae doing up there?” he asked, looking to where Tae had previously been attacking the alpha, but his words faded when he didn’t see him anymore.

He glanced around himself and was like, “I… Where?…”

He saw him, laying in the sand on a different part of the shore in his human form. Jimin saw him too and thankfully didn’t see any blood, but his best friend was completely still. The sight sent fear into his heart, and he couldn’t imagine what Jungkook was feeling right now….

     “Go to him,” Jimin spoke softly, staring at Jungkook’s wide eyes that were glossing over with tears. “It’s ok.”

The other boy looked up at him and quickly wiped any tears away, “N-No, I can’t,” he twisted the sword deeper into the alpha dragon’s neck and grunted out, “Fuck!” his fingers were trembling but he gripped on tighter to the sword to yank it out and stab it back down into her neck again as he shouted out, “Why won’t this monster fucking die?!”

     “Go,” Jimin repeated, going over to Jungkook now and putting a hand on his shoulder to assure him it was ok. “If Taehyung dies, you die. Don’t let that happen. Don’t leave me alone without my two best friends in the whole wide world here with me.”

     “I’m not going to leave you here alone!” Jungkook argued, “I don’t want you to die either!”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked around, realizing that he and Jungkook really were the only one’s left. His two appas were fine, but he didn’t want them anywhere close to this dragon. It was him and Jungkook against the alpha, but in a few seconds… it would just be him.

Just him… What could just he do?…

Jimin remembered something that just he could do, but he knew it was risky. Last time it happened, he didn’t even have control over himself nor did he last long to even be able to witness what he had done. All he knew was that he was capable of turning men to ash with a power deep within him, and it happened when he wanted to protect those he loved.

Well right now? He had a lot of people he wanted to protect.

So he just needed to figure out how exactly to bring that power out in the most crucial moment of his life so far.

He curled his fingers around the fabric of Jungkook’s shirt and muttered, “I won’t die, but I need you to keep yourself and Taehyung alive as well, ok? That’s what’s most important to me right now.”

     “But-!”

     “No,” Jimin bit his lip, knowing Jungkook was going to be pissed a few seconds from now. He glanced at how the blind alpha was now trying desperately to find out where the humans she was after were. He knew what he had to do, so he turned back to Jungkook and muttered, “Make sure Taehyung goes home, ok? He belongs with you,” he didn’t give Jungkook a chance to react or respond before pushing him off the back of the alpha and into the sand.

Jungkook managed to land on his knees and recover quickly, staring up at Jimin with wide and terrified eyes, though he didn’t fight what Jimin wanted any longer. He hurried up into a standing position and sprinted across the sand to get to Taehyung and make sure he was ok after suffering a defeat against the alpha.

Now alone, Jimin hurried up to the alpha’s head again and stabbed her in the neck to grab her attention as he shouted at her, “I’m the only one left! You think you’re such a strong alpha, but you can’t even kill a halfling like me?”

Jimin couldn’t see an angry glow in her eyes due to how much blood was covering what little was left of them, but Jimin knew she hated to hear that a halfling was still left. A mighty alpha couldn’t lose to something that wasn’t even full dragon, so she huffed and thrashed her head around to try to get Jimin off of her, roaring louder than before and breathing out fire in a full out attempt to get rid of the last halfling standing.

Jimin dropped to the ground before he could be burned by her fire, taking his sword with him. He managed to land in the sand in a way that wouldn’t hurt, but he let out a sharp cry when he felt his stab wound on his stomach reopen completely. His eyes widened and he gripped onto it as he worked through the pain, but he didn’t have any more than few seconds to get over it and run away from the alpha before she could find him on the ground and kill him right where he fell.

He sucked in his breath to try to force down some of the pain he was feeling, and he sprinted over to where another sword was laying on the ground. He grabbed it quickly and turned back to the dragon before clanging his two blades together and shouting, “I’m over here! You can’t see, but you can still hear, right?!”

The dragon lowered her head in anger and also an attempt to hear her prey better now that that was the sense she was going to have to start relying on more. Blood dripped from her body as she walked cautiously on the sand towards Jimin, her breath smoky now from the fire she recently produced.

Jimin continued to hurry backwards to lead her away from everyone else down the shore, clanging his swords together and shouting, “Your fight’s with me now!”

He found himself far enough away to feel confident that his family would be fine when his power within came out and hopefully took care of this dragon once and for all. His heart was racing and his chest felt tight with worry and fear, but it was the good kind of worry and fear that he needed right now. It was the fear that he was going to lose everyone. It was the fear that he wasn’t going to get to go back home with everyone he loved because a monster was keeping him from doing so.

He could feel his body reacting to the fear, the fire within him heating up in an angry rage because something was keeping him from being happy. Something was keeping him and his family from being safe and going home. His loved ones were in danger, and only one thing was causing it.

His powers wanted that one thing destroyed.

He felt his body growing hot and smiled, feeling what he felt the last time this happened when he thought he was going to lose Yoongi. His body had felt hot. Dread coursed through his veins with a feeling worse than nausea, and he was feeling it right now.

He dropped the two swords he had been holding down on the ground, and he coaxed the dragon to keep creeping closer, “Come on, I’m right here! Your king lost to me, but you’re stronger than him, aren’t you?”

The alpha growled, hating the taunts the halfling was shouting at her.

Jimin felt so small compared to her great size, but when he felt it was time to let his powers come out and take over, he shut his eyes and fell to the ground before muttering a promise to her and himself before he blacked out, “I’m never going to let you even try to hurt my family again…”

~(***)~

Jin was careful when burning Hoseok’s major wounds. He was able to easily burn the minor cuts together to prevent anymore bleeding, but with the deeper ones, he had to put a little more effort in making sure that he was doing more good instead of more damage.

Hoseok was grabbing onto the sand underneath him and twisting in pain as he cried, “This is more painful than when I originally got hurt!”

     “I know, I’m sorry,” Jin bit his lip, glancing at Jimin to see if he was alright as well.

He wasn’t, but at least he was alive.

Alive enough until Namjoon suddenly stood up and shouted in irritation, “Jimin is not leading the alpha away for a solo fight! Why does he have a death wish?!”

Before Jin could respond to that or see for himself the horrors of his son attempting to fight an alpha dragon on his own, Namjoon quickly bent down and took Hoseok’s sword since he probably wouldn’t be using it anymore, “Everyone is either near death or too badly wounded to continue fighting,” he looked around at the battlefield of unconscious viking warriors, “We’ll have to just try to flee and hope the alpha doesn’t follow us and sink our ship.”

     “It will sink our ship,” Jin assured Namjoon, looking down at Hoseok’s last deep cut that he had to burn shut. He warned the younger boy of the pain he was about to feel before using his powers on it.

Hoseok screamed and cried out again in pain, but Jin only held his hand for some support as he looked up as his husband and continued to speak, “Namjoon… I was dreading this option, but there’s really only one person who can defeat a dragon of that size… Without an army, humans just aren’t enough.”

Namjoon tilted his head and stared at Jin with a confused expression on his face until he realized what he was saying. His eyes widened and he shook his head, “No, no, you’re staying out of this,” he grit his teeth and repeated himself once more so Jin wouldn’t try to argue any further, “You’re staying out of this because our baby needs to stay out of this and alive.”

Jin frowned, “Namjoon, I either kill the baby now or it dies later after everyone else is dead too.”

    “Jin, I love you, but no-!”

     “A dragon needs to go up against the alpha!” Jin suddenly got up from Hoseok now that he was done minimizing his bleeding and was fully prepared to argue with his husband for what he believed was necessary. “Taehyung was too new to his form to successfully go up against the alpha, but if you could just let me-!”

     “Let you what?!” Namjoon snapped, “Just kill our baby like that? No, Jin!”

     “Is that the your final decision?” Jin stepped closer, his eyes filled with tears that fell down his cheeks when they grew too heavy, “Because it’s either this baby or Jimin! Which child do you want to have die?! Which one are we going to lose today?” he was trying hard not to break down, but he felt himself coming close, “We can make another baby, but we can’t make another Jimin… You know that!”

Namjoon wavered in his place when Jin gave him the ultimatum he knew he would eventually have to choose from. He had to decide between his kids or have both of him die, but he and Jin both knew the obvious choice here…

Joon looked to Jimin who was now glaring up at the dragon with glowing eyes. In this moment, he looked terrifying with blood all over him and fire sparking around his body as he prepared to fight against the most dangerous predator. He looked like a chief who Namjoon would never dare go against, but…

Namjoon held his breath and felt dread course through his body as he watched Jimin suddenly fall to his knees, blood dripping in the sand from the reopened wound on his stomach.

There was no way he could run to Jimin to save him in time from his impending doom, but… a dragon could fly there fast enough.

Jin could fly there fast enough.

He turned to Jin with his sword now raised, and Jin let out a shuddered breath, “Just stab right here into my stomach,” he pressed his fingers against his lower abdomen and smiled, “Don’t feel guilty. We’re doing this to save our son and our people.”

Tears rolled down Namjoon’s cheeks and his bottom lip trembled, but he stepped forward and muttered, “Please forgive me…”

He grabbed Jin’s shoulder and stared into his husband’s eyes, making sure he was prepared for the pain that was to come. Jin’s piercing glaze was so alien from the usual doe-eyed look he always gave Namjoon. It was something strange to stare into, but Namjoon knew Jin was more than ready to make this sacrifice to save his son. Namjoon wished he was the one on the receiving end of the sword, but sadly, the rest of his family was going to have to suffer while he only inflicted the pain.

He lined the tip of his blade up with the skin of Jin’s lower stomach, hitching his breath when he thought about the child in there that he had been so happy to find out about.

     “It’s ok,” Jin whispered in a hitched breath, his fingers running through Namjoon’s hair to help him through this hard choice he was making. He pressed his forehead to his husband’s and smiled, “We won’t regret this.”

Jin was right… They wouldn’t regret it. They’d mourn over it, but Jimin was everything to them. If Jimin was alive, they’d never regret any decision they made to ensure his safety.

He pressed the tip of the blade deeper against Jin’s skin and turned to Jimin one last time to remind himself of why he was doing this, but his heart only sank when he turned to see his son who was no longer visible among the line of fire between him in the dragon.

It was hard to see anything, but Namjoon knew it was too late to save his son from the horrors of the dragon’s fire enveloping his body at the moment.

Namjoon let out a shuddered breath and a soft cry of realization that his son was dying right before his eyes. He dropped the sword into the sand below him and pressed his forehead to his husband’s shoulder, “We were too late…” he sucked in his breath and let out another cry, “It’s too late.”

     “N-No, Joon it’s not, so just help me kill-!” Jin bent down to grab the sword again to make Namjoon kill their baby so he could transform into a dragon and save Jimin in time, but his eyes caught sight of the fires surrounding his son and he knew it truly was too late for them to save Jimin.

He held the sword loosely in his hand and shook his head, “No…” he cried softly under his breath, “No, he… he’s not dead!”

Namjoon fell to his knees on the ground and wailed in agony, all his composure he had previously kept in tact disappearing as soon as he realized he was unable to protect his son. Jin felt guilty, staring at the fire that still wrapped around Jimin and waiting for it to fade away so he could see the horrors of what was left of his son. He looked down at Namjoon and let the sword go off to the side so he could bend down beside his husband and hold him close, “Don’t look,” he turned Joon’s line of sight away from their dying son with one gentle palm on his cheek.

They kept eye contact with each other, their vision blurry from an abundance of tears, but Jin didn’t dare let go of Namjoon’s cheek to risk him having to have the image of their son burning in his mind forever. Tears rolled down his face, and he tried hard not to cry as much as Namjoon was as he whispered, “Just keep your eyes on me, ok? Everything will be over-!”

The alpha dragon roared out and both of them winced at the sound. Jin gripped on tighter to Namjoon, letting out a shuddered cry though he really was trying his hardest to remain strong.

He didn’t know what for though. Why fight when it was obvious they were never going to make it home now? The alpha was going to come after them soon, and they’d be killed just like Jimin. Even if they did make it out of this, the home they went back to wouldn’t be a home without their child running around and putting a smile on their faces every time he showed how much he loved them or how glad he was their family was finally together.

Realizing their family would never be together again, Jin cried out and buried his face into Namjoon’s shoulder, not letting himself be present in the reality of the situation anymore.

He didn’t want to hear the roars of the monster tearing his family apart or the heat of the fire still wrapping around his son and only growing stronger across the beach. In utter shock and horror, he shut down every sense he could in order to deal with the agony of the moment, separating himself completely from everything that was going on.

His mind went blank as he held onto a sobbing Namjoon, and by the time he was far enough away from reality to feel calm again, he heard a familiar voice of his son’s mate ask a close to unconscious Hoseok, “H-Hobi,” Yoongi grunted, finally limping up to where everyone was, “Where’s Jimin?…”

Just the name sent Jin plunging back into the cruel reality he was facing, and he looked back at Yoongi with red and swollen eyes, “He didn’t make it Yoongi…” he sniffled and held Namjoon closer, his bottom lip trembling as he continued to speak to the younger boy who was already in complete shock, “It’s over… a-and we lost.”

     “No…” Yoongi remained calm, biting his lip and looking around the battlefield, “Where is he? Where is his body?”

Jin’s breath hitched and he pointed a trembling finger over to the fire that… that was now wrapped around the dragon. His brows furrowed, “He… He died, but I don’t know…” before he could finish speaking, Yoongi limped past him and spoke with a smile slowly growing on his face, “Tha-That’s his fire… Jimin’s fire!” his breaths were coming out heavy and labored, but he forced himself to start speeding up into a run so he could get to Jimin and keep him safe while he was still alive, “He’s ok! He’s beating the alpha!”

Jin watched in shock, only realizing now that the dragon was roaring out in agony as Jimin’s fire wrapped around her body and forced itself into her mouth and every opened wound around her body.

This whole time they thought the growing fire was killing Jimin, but it was really just Jiminn’s power growing stronger to kill the alpha.

He gasped and quickly stood up, picking up the sword he had dropped again and grabbing Namjoon’s shoulder to say, “Jimin’s alive!” he helped his husband up and noticed how the alpha’s blood was boiling from the inside out, “He’s winning!”

Yoongi hurried across the sand as fast as he could, wincing when he heard the alpha roaring loudly at such a close distance. His heart beat fast in both fear and exhaustion, but he didn’t stop running. He wasn’t going to stop running until he was by Jimin’s side again and making sure he was safe once and for all.

He ran along the edge of the shore, the waves sometimes washing up along where he ran and wetting his shoes and pants, but he couldn’t care. He was almost to Jimin. He couldn’t care when the heat of the fire sometimes grew too close for comfort, and he only sped up when the ground shook as the might alpha finally fell to the ground in defeat, letting out one last roar loud enough to be heard from across the ocean.

As the ground fell, the fires started to die down, sensing that their job was done. He watched as the fire wipped and sparked back into a more tameable shape, whatever was left of it soon turning to ash that fell around Yoongi as he finally reached Jimin and landed on his knees quickly by his side, “Jimin!” he breathed out and grabbed the boy who fell to the ground on his side from using so much power at once.

He was afraid Jimin would be unconscious, but he breathed out in relief when Jimin grabbed his hand for support and muttered out, “I-I didn’t know I could do that,” he looked to the alpha dragon who was now on the ground, her whole body now black with ash and crumbling in some areas.

He let out a soft breath and leaned his head on Yoongi’s shoulder, “I didn’t want her hurting anyone else I loved, and suddenly fire shot out of me…”

His voice was weak, and Yoongi was sure it would only get worse like last time when Jimin’s power had acted out of control when they were on the island they had fallen in love on. Jimin’s grip on his hand loosened, and Yoongi quickly shouted out at anyone who was in the condition to be able to listen, “Be prepared to go home quickly! The battle is over!” he swiftly turned back around to Jimin and smiled, “You did amazing,” he kissed the top of Jimin’s head, “You made the right choice to save everyone.”

     “I know,” Jimin answered, and leaned away from Yoongi to lay down on his back comfortably in the sand. The taste of blood was in his mouth, but he wasn’t able to worry about that when his father suddenly ran up to the other side of him and fell on his knees just like Yoongi did in the sand, quickly looking over Jimin for any worrying injuries and crying out when he saw the blood.

Jimin always saw his father as such a stoic and brave chief, someone who probably never showed emotion on the battlefield, but here he was crying more than Jimin ever had. He smiled even as his father yelled at him through strangled sobs, “I told you not to fight the alpha on your own. You could have died!” he ran trembling fingers through Jimin’s hair and shouted again, “I thought you died!”

     “I’m happy to see you again appa…” was all Jimin could respond with in his weak voice, a smile still gracing his expression, “I love you so much,” the smile stayed but tears formed in his eyes and he started to become choked up with the emotions he had been trying to surpress this whole battle, “Tha-Thank you so much for always protecting me. I just wanted to protect you return.”

     “Protecting you is my job, Jimin,” Namjoon replied, his stern expression softening when he heard his son’s words, “To see you alive is thanks enough. I just… I need you to stay alive.”

     “I will,” Jimin started to say but saw Jin come into view now too, causing him to feel a sort of peace he hadn’t felt since their family was last together like this.

Jin wiped previous tears away and grinned, “I don’t think I taught you that last trick,” he glanced over at the alpha dragon who was still crumbling into just ash above the sand. He turned back to Jimin, “Where did you learn how to do that?”

     “I can’t control it,” Jimin glanced to Yoongi, “It just happens when someone I love is in danger.”

     “Well it’s amazing,” Jin replied and held Jimin’s hand, “You’re amazing…. I love you, Jimin.”

     “I love you too…” Jimin smiled, his eyelids growing heavier than they were before as the taste of blood grew stronger in his mouth and fatigue finally won over. His eyes closed and he finally fell unconscious from overworking his body beyond what anyone thought was possible.

Namjoon’s shoulders stiffened and he hurried to try to wake Jimin up again, “J-Jimin don’t fall asleep! Not now-!”

     “This happened last time he used a lot of his power,” Yoongi explained and pressed his hand to Jimin’s chest just to make sure his heart was still beating. He felt the slow drumming against the tips of his fingers and breathed out softly in relief, “Yeah, he’s still alive…. We should get him home to the village where he can be properly cared for.”

Namjoon looked around at the shore filled with people starting to recover from the battle, and he nodded, “Yes, we should take everyone home. It’s time.”

Despite also feeling like he was on his last limb, Yoongi picked Jimin up in his arms and started to take him to the boat. Namjoon stood up with them and followed them closely, still worried about the state Jimin was in and occasionally checking his pulse to see if he was still alive.

When they passed by Hoseok though, Namjoon stopped to pick him up, knowing that the younger boy was in too poor of a condition to be able to bring himself to the boat on his own. He held him tight and turned on his heel towards the boat as he asked, “Can you live until we’re home?”

     “I’d like to live long after that too,” Hoseok joked and Namjoon was able to bring himself to smile a little at how Hobi was able to try to make the situation a little more light-hearted even in his condition. He held him closer and nodded, “I’d like that too since I’ve enjoyed having you as my right hand man,” he glanced up ahead at Yoongi laying Jimin down on the row boat they would have to take out to the ship a little farther out in the water, “I have a feeling Yoongi has found someone else to be the right hand man to, so I’m going to need someone to take over his position.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened, “Really? And you want me?”

     “After this battle, I probably need you,” Joon replied, “You can help me bring in a new age for our village where dragons will be able to live alongside us in harmony.”

Hoseok smiled at that and nodded his head eagerly despite still being in a weak physical state, “I’d love to… Thank you chief.”

Jin wanted to walk alongside Yoongi and Namjoon to make sure his son was still safe, but seeing a few men still recovering or unconscious from the battle, he knew someone had to act as chief while Namjoon was too worried about his son to care. Jin pressed his hand to his stomach, a soft smile spreading across his face when he realized he got to keep both children.

He tried not to feel guilty for making a previous decision to sacrifice the baby growing inside of him, but he just told himself that he’d make it up to this one by never leaving it like he did Jimin. This world was changing… Hopefully he wouldn’t have to.

He walked around to all the men who were able to pick themselves up, making sure they were ok and sending them to go help the other who weren’t so lucky to be able to pick themselves up again. Going into this battle, Jin dreaded that the shore would be bloodied and covered with the corpses of Namjoon’s previously alive crew, but thankfully and miraculously, everyone seemed ok… or at least alive. That was enough for now.

He caught sight of Jungkook holding Taehyung and walked over to them.

Jungkook had tears in his eyes as he held Taehyung, his own body bruised and bloodied from various injuries though he could only bring himself to worry about his lover.

He looked up at Jin when he noticed his presence, and he cried out under his breath, “Jin, he won’t wake up…”

Jin frowned and kneeled down in front of him, placing his hand beside Taehyung’s nose and feeling air against his fingers. He brought his hand down to his lap and assured Jungkook, “He’s breathing. That’s good enough for now,” he paused and bit his lip before deciding to also add, “You two are mates by the way,” he pointed to the faded mark on Taehyung’s neck, “If he dies, you die, so even though he’s a dragon-!”

     “I love him,” Jungkook interrupted Jin to assure him of his feelings for the boy he had wanted to be with forever since they were just kids, “As soon as I found out he was a dragon, I love him for it. I’ll never hurt him, I promise.”

Jin smiled, happy that the boy he knew to be a dragon slayer was still in love with Taehyung despite what he truly was.

When he had fallen in love with Namjoon, it was rare for a viking and a dragon to be together, but now that he was seeing it in Yoongi and Jimin and now Taehyung and jungkook, it gave him even more of a hope for a different future where peace was attainable and families weren’t having to be split apart or put in danger just for their differences.

     “Good…” Jin spoke, looking down at the unconscious Taehyung, “He’s been through too much already… He needs his trust in humans back,” he stood up slowly and looked on at everyone starting to make their way onto the large ship that would take them all back home to their village, “It’s time to go home now. Are you in good enough shape to carry him to the ship?”

Jungkook’s eyes widened and he looked behind him to see everyone heading back to the boat. His eyes then found their way to the alpha dragon now dead on the shore and he let out a gasp, “Jimin was able to defeat it?” he looked up at Jin in shock. He didn’t need Jin to respond to know the answer to his question. A grin spread across his face and he stood with Taehyung now in his arms, “He’s going to be the most amazing chief someday…”

     “I have no doubt about that,” Jin replied with a growing smile, proud of what his son had proven himself to be on this day.

He walked with Jungkook to one of the smaller rowboats still on shore, the three of them being the last ones on the ship that was filled with injured and exhausted vikings ready to finally go home. Jin separated from Jungkook and Taehyung when they were on board, glancing around for Namjoon until he found him helping another man with one of the sails.

He held his hand from behind to let him know he was there, pressing his nose to the back of his husband’s neck and muttering, “I’m ready to never leave you again.”

Namjoon turned around to face him, holding his hand back as he muttered, “I don’t think I could handle that happening a third time, so please don’t.”

     “I promise,” Jin notice Yoongi sitting down in the back of the ship with Jimin laying beside him. He was staring down at his mate's unconscious body with a focused stare, his hand wrapped around Jimin’s as if to remind him that he had all the support he needed to wake up again and be in good health once again now that all of his troubles were over. They had a life ahead of them both that they had to spend together.

And so did Jin and Namjoon.

He turned back around to husband and kissed him on the cheek, “We still have a baby to raise together… And we still need to watch Jimin become the strong chief of our village that he was always destined to be.”

Namjoon looked to where Jimin and Yoongi were, a worried expression on his face as he was reminded of the condition his son was in, but he managed to smile anyway and turn to Jimin to reply, “He’s going to live.”

     “He will,” Jin assured him.

     “And we’re all going to be a family,” Namjoon was probably now just reassuring himself too, but Jin was here to support him, pressing their foreheads together and kissing him, “Always… We’ve always been a family no matter how far apart we are, but we’ll always be by each other’s sides now.”

Namjoon let out a breath of relief when he heard those words, glad that Jin was promising to never leave again or get wrapped up in the army of an evil viking king. He was ready to retire from the battles and dragon slaying if it meant he could just be happy and live out a calm rest of his life with Jin.

He brought Jin into a hug and muttered softly, “That sounds amazing…. I’m ready for that.”

Jin could feel Namjoon’s entire body still shaking. The chief viking was able to compose himself in front of his men after the battle, but Jin was able to feel his husband’s heart beating hard against his chest and his arms still trembling from the horror of almost losing his son.

He was glad he could be this close to Joon now, but he hoped he’d never have to feel him in this state again. He hoped he’d never have to see any of his family or the people of his village or any human or dragon hurt again.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around Namjoon’s waist, enjoying the warmth of his body pressed against his as he nuzzled his nose into Joon’s shoulder and muttered softly, “Me too… Let’s be happy by each other's side from here on out.”

~(***)~

Jimin woke up to the familiar smell of his home back in his village. The scent of pine and the ocean not too far from him was a scent he could never forget. The sheets he was wrapped in were warm and soft, the covers quilted by village elders who had passed years ago but had stayed with him in gifts they had given to him in their time alive.

His eyes fluttered open to the sound of a fire crackling in the fireplace in his room and he felt a hand wrapped around his own, unfamiliar at first though when he brushed his fingers across the rough palm of the man’s hand, he knew it was Yoongi beside him.

He opened his eyes and looked to his side to see Yoongi’s head down on the edge of his bed, his back moving up and down slowly with calm breaths. Jimin smiled at how peaceful Yoongi was when sleeping, but when he moved just slightly to shift into a better position to stare at his lover, Yoongi’s head snapped up and he immediately spoke in a tired voice, “You’re awake,” he lifted his hand to touch Jimin’s cheek and then feel his forehead to make sure he wasn’t waking up with a sudden fever, “How are you feeling? Are you in pain?”

Jimin remembered what had happened when he was last awake and shook his head, “No… Are we dead then?”

     “No, we’re alive,” Yoongi laughed a little, “It must hurt less because Namjoon and Jin had your wound stitched shut instead of burned this time,” he played with Jimin’s hand in his own absent-mindedly as he continued speaking, “Are you ok though?”

     “I am,” Jimin nodded, surprised he could even say that so easily after everything that happened. It was true that he wasn’t in too much pain though. Now that Yoongi mentioned the stab wound on his stomach, he was starting to feel it, but it wasn’t too bad. He smiled and looked up to the older viking, “We’re alive… Are my parents?….”

Yoongi nodded, “Everyone is.”

     “That’s good,” Jimin’s smile grew. He nodded again, “Yeah, I’m happy.”

     “That’s good,” Yoongi leaned forward to wrap an arm around him gently and kiss his forehead, “Don’t move around too much yet though, ok? You’re still recovering.”

     “Can I try to sit up?” Jimin asked, holding onto Yoongi’s shoulders, since he was sure he would need help. He had pushed himself too much before to try or even feel like proving himself at the moment.

Yoongi helped him up into a sitting position though and back up a little, kneeling in front of Jimin and watching his expression closely to make sure he wasn’t in any pain or discomfort.

Jimin peeled the sheets off of his body and stared down at how he was only wearing underwear. At first he blushed and looked up at Yoongi as if they hadn’t seen even more of each other before, but then he looked back down at how there were burn marks and scars all over him from the long journey he had been on. His torso was almost completely covered with bandages protecting his major injuries, but the other marks seemed to have also been treated if needed.

     “Are you alright?…” Yoongi asked softly, worried about how long Jimin had been staring at his scars he had gotten from everything that had happened. Yoongi had felt so guilty when Jimin first got hurt when they had started their trip to go save Jin and Tae… Jimin wondered what Yoongi felt like now seeing him like this.

The expression on Yoongi’s face showed just how the older boy felt though…

Jimin hated seeing him with such a guilty expression on his face, so he smiled and nodded, assuring him once more that he was alright, “I look like a really cool viking now, don’t I?” he reached forward and traced along the burn mark that scarred Yoongi’s face too, “You’re even cooler. Maybe I should try to get a matching one of that-!”

     “Absolutely not,” Yoongi took Jimin’s hand and kissed it, “You’ve been asleep for two days though. Are you hungry?” he glanced outside at the setting sun and continued to speak, “It’s evening now, so everyone else in the village is probably just starting to eat dinner.”

Jimin looked out the same window Yoongi was staring out of, and he could just faintly hear the music that had always been played when the sky grew dark in their village. The tagelharpa and drums plays a celebratory song Jimin had always loved to hear when his father and Yoongi would return from battles. He never thought he’d be the one returning from a battle as this song played, but now that he knew what it was like, it left a happy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he wanted to feel more of.

He reached out to hold onto Yoongi’s shoulders again for support, “I want to hear the music better.”

     “Our music here isn’t as good as the music on the island we first mated on,” Yoongi complained, causing Jimin to laugh a little as he stood up from his bed and worked to move over to his dresser where a few of his simple clothes could be found.

     “It’s still fun,” Jimin mused, stepping into a pair of pants with Yoongi’s help. “It’s home. I’ve missed it.”

He stepped into his boots and Yoongi helped him into a black shirt and a fur coat to keep warm before he wrapped an arm around his lovers waist and let him help keep him steady as he walked to the door. He was sore in every part of his body along with all the injuries that had accumulated over the trip, so he was letting himself lean on Yoongi now. It was a dream to do this anyway, being so close to his mate and having him pamper him after having to work so hard.

He laughed a little under his breath, feeling content with how he and Yoongi were until they were at the front door of his house, and he suddenly paused and whispered, “Oh no, wait…”

     “What?” Yoongi asked, already frantically looking Jimin up and down with his eyes to see for any possible areas of pain or any reason he may be having troubles. He was about to lay Jimin back down and tell him that he would just have to eat dinner in bed and hear their village’s music another day, but before he could, he was surprised by a sudden chaste kiss from the younger boy.

Jimin pulled away with a giggle, “I almost got the both of us killed when I was last awake, so thank you for being so understanding about it and still loving me.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened and his brows twisted in confusion, “If you didn’t risk your life like that, no one would be alive,” Yoongi held Jimin’s hand and pulled him close to kiss him a second time, “Also with how heroic you were, how could I not be even more in love with you after everything that happened?”

Jimin grinned, “You’re right,” he tilted his head and leaned into Yoongi again for support, “What I did was pretty heroic. Not even our village dragon slayer has killed an alpha on his own before so-!”

     “Don’t push it,” Yoongi warned, but the two of them laughed afterwards anyway, beginning to walk to the dining hall of their village.

Jimin enjoyed the crisp air of their village that he missed. The saltiness of the sea and the earth smell of the forest around their home all mixed into his senses and gave him a sense of nostalgia since it had been so long since he had been home.

He and Yoongi took their time walking across the village to the dining hall, muttering about how they had missed the place and what they were going to do when they were both completely healed and were able to do all the stuff they used to do before their village had been so brutally attacked.

Jimin felt calm for the first time in a long time until he was standing in front of the closed dining hall doors, staring at up at the large wooden entrance that he had walked into so many times to get drunk and dance with friends or pine over Yoongi and then eventually try to fight him… He also remembered the people of the village he had used to be a laughing stock too.

He frowned and held Yoongi’s hand tighter, “Keep me from killing anyone who calls me weak, ok?”

     “If someone dares to do that to you after everything you’ve done, I’ll help you kill them,” Yoongi laughed and stepped forward to push open the door for Jimin.

Jimin’s breath hitched and he held it in, feeling like he was about to face up against an alpha dragon once more as he saw familiar faces of people who had always doubted him and never saw him as anything more than a disappointment to be the chief’s only son.

He heard the music he loved playing in the background beneath the voices of all the people of his village talking amongst each other and eating, but suddenly, it all went quiet.

Jimin thought that maybe he became deaf when he couldn’t hear the music or the voices anymore, but then he noticed how everyone’s eyes were now on him standing in the doorway.

Why were they staring at him like that?

Were they surprised to see him alive at all after running off? Oh, were they shocked to see him and Yoongi so close together without kill each other? They probably thought Jimin threatened Yoongi into being with him, right? Because why else would the great dragon slayer of the village stoop down to be friends with the weak son of the great viking chief?

He ducked his head a little in embarrassment, hating how everyone was staring at him and was probably going to start making fun of him again even after everything he had done.

He almost wanted to turn and leave, but then Yoongi nudged him and muttered, “Head up, Jimin. You’re the only man who has killed an alpha dragon on his own, you know.”

Jimin’s eyes widened in confusion at what Yoongi was trying to say, but then he heard Hoseok’s voice boom out from a table close to the front, “Everyone! Cheers to our half-dragon future chief who saved our whole village from an evil viking king and a monstrous alpha!”

As soon as he said that, the whole room grew loud once more with claps and cheers and the music beginning to replay again.

Jimin only turned to Yoongi, more confused now, “They all know I’m a half dragon?” he noticed how they all weren’t grabbing their axes and pitchforks, “And they’re ok with it?”

Yoongi nodded with a soft chuckle before explaining, “Namjoon put a ban on killing dragons, and Jin announced his true identity. Namjoon was ready to kill anyone who was mad, but people were happy about it as soon as Jin gave the village a fun fire light show.”

Jimin laughed a little, “Of course he’s capable of turning a bunch of dragon slayers into his fans that easily.”

     “You have fans now too though,” Yoongi brought him further into the room, letting the large wooden entrance doors close behind them, “Once Hoseok was allowed to talk about your true identity, he told everyone about how you single handedly defeated an evil alpha that would have otherwise killed everyone else. He added a few artistic embellishments for effect, but the story is true enough,” Yoongi smiled and held his hand as they both started hearing people at different tables talking about what they had heard happen on the island.

A few people were saying Jimin had created a dragon out of fire and made it fight the alpha to the death. Some even claimed that Jimin himself had turned into a fire dragon and fought the alpha on his own.

Maybe Hoseok’s artistic embellishments were starting to be stretched a bit farther from the truth the more they were passed on, but the smile on Jimin’s face was worth it to see.

He smiled and continued to listen to all the versions of what happened, most stories completely wrong though they all pinned him as the brave viking he had always strived to be. Plus, the true story, though not involving a dragon made of fire, was just as amazing.

Jimin stopped listening to the conversations around him when Chief Namjoon ran up to him and hugged him close. He pulled him away from Yoongi with his hug as he happily exclaimed, “You’re awake!” he pulled away to look Jimin over, smiling when he saw his son in good health again, “How are you? You need food! I wanted to be there with you when you woke up, but Jin forced me to come here and eat.”

     “As he should,” Jimin replied and saw Jin, his smile immediately growing now that his was seeing how his efforts to get his family back had succeeded with Jin here as proof. He stepped forward and hugged his dragon father, “You’re finally safe! And is the baby ok?…”

Jin nodded and touched his hand to his stomach with a proud smile starting to form on his face, “It’s safe thanks to you.”

Jimin reached forward and held both of their hands, happy to finally have this moment with his parents in a place in time where they weren’t fighting for their lives or almost on the brink of death, “I love you both,” he was sure he would always be as happy as he was this moment as long as he could have his family all together like this, “I’m so glad we’re all back.”

He leaned onto Yoongi once more and sighed, “I missed home too… I might not want to leave here for a while.”

     “Yeah, you’re not allowed to leave ever again,” Namjoon muttered, but then Jin elbowed him and he reluctantly retracted his statement with a sigh, “You’re allowed to leave if you want… but be healthy first. Please.”

     “I will,” Jimin promised.

As long as he was happy with his family and friends here, he didn’t see a reason to leave.

     “You should go eat!” Jin suddenly spoke up and started to usher Yoongi and Jimin towards where the feast was, “If your appa stares at you any longer, he’s going to start crying again!”

Jimin laughed and waved to them before Yoongi led him over to the table with quail, fish, fruits, and fresh bread laid out across it that Jimin would be lying if he said he didn’t crave while away.

Yoongi fixed a plate for him that was piled up with all the foods Jimin missed, and they found their spot at an empty table where they could finally take a breath to themselves and rest. Their moment alone only lasted a few seconds though before younger vikings and even a few adults gathered around their table to hear about the story of the viking king and the alpha dragon from Jimin’s point of view.

It was custom for vikings to tell of their tales on the seas or at battle when they came home from a long trip, but Yoongi quickly shooed them away before Jimin could even awkwardly attempt to start telling his story, “Everyone who isn’t his mate leave.”

A few of the children whined that they wanted to hear the story though, but Yoongi shot them a glare and they knew to leave before he had to warn them again. Everyone started to scatter after Yoongi waved them away, but one young viking whined out, “There’s no way you’re his mate! He could have anyone in this village-!”

“Yoongi’s my mate,” Jimin finally spoke up sweetly, wanting to be left alone with Yoongi as well to eat and spend time with him in an atmosphere where they weren’t about to die. He tilted his head and smiled, “I think everyone here knows I’ve pined over him since I was a toddler, so we can all agree that I’m happy with my choice.”

Anyone who was left at their table finally left, and Jimin turned to Yoongi with a giggle, “Wow, I’m the one with admirers now.”

Yoongi pouted and propped his head up with his elbow against the table, “Your mark faded… Dragons may be able to sense it, but humans are still going to think that we aren’t officially together and that they can just flirt with you when they please.”

Jimin started to eat a piece of bread, humming contently when the warm taste touched his tongue. He almost found himself too lost in the food to listen to Yoongi, but Yoongi pouting was too cute to ignore. He listened and assured him, “I’ll only love you though, so don’t worry. I won’t be flirting with anyone else.

“I’m not worry about that, I just-!” Yoongi suddenly huffed and stuffed his hand into the pocket of his coat before pulling a silver ring out and slipping it onto Jimin’s finger as he was still eating, “There,” he looked up at Jimin with a pout still evident in his puckered lips, “So the humans know you’re mine,” he then slipped a black ring onto his own finger, “And I’m yours.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and he almost choked on the bread he was eating. He quickly recovered though and looked down at the ring Yoongi just put on his finger, “Yoongi, di-did you just propose?” he looked up at his lover, surprised he did it so suddenly.

Yoongi only looked down at their rings though and tilted his head, “Well I already said we were married, didn’t I? It’s just, we can’t be married without rings.”

     “Can’t be married without a wedding!” they both froze and turned to who had just spoken to the both of them. Hoseok sat down across from them at their table and rested his chin on the palms of his hands that were propped up by his elbows on the surface of the table, “You two are going to have a wedding, right?”

Jimin and Yoongi looked at each other, their cheeks both a rosey tint as they thought about what their wedding would even be like. Jimin had dreamed of marrying Yoongi and having a wedding with him since the day he first saw the older boy, but he never truly thought it would happen. Even now, he just felt like they would move on with their lives after everything that happened, but was a wedding something they wanted to do?

They bonded their hearts together in the dragon way, but the human way of promising to be in each other’s lives together still needed to be completed.

Hoseok saw that they had not even thought about a wedding and rolled his eyes, “The two future chiefs need to have an official wedding so it’s made clear that you two are together and will rule together.”

     “Official wedding…” Jimin mumbled.

     “Future chiefs…” Yoongi mumbled back, just now realizing what marrying Jimin meant. A chief’s wedding was too important to just skip, wasn’t it?

Jimin’s cheeks were still pink with a nervous blushed as he asked Yoongi warily, “Do you want to?…”

They probably needed to.

But did Yoongi want to?

Of course.

A thousand times ‘of course’.

He smiled and reached forward to smooth the palm of his hand over Jimin’s cute blush, “Jimin I want to do everything with you.”

Jimin’s eyes widened and lit up with a new excitement and he leaned forward to kiss Yoongi and agree with an eager nod and an excited giggle, “Then let’s get married!” he leaned back and felt that happiness in the pit of his stomach that he felt when he first mated with Yoongi coming up again and wrapping his whole body up in a warmth he could only get from his lover, “So everyone knows just how amazing the journey we took together was.”

Chapter Text

THE EPILOGUE

It was winter in the North Sea, snow covering every bit of land in sight and small ponds in the forest iced over until the sun’s rays became warm again. One year had passed since Jimin safely returned home to his village with his family he had fought to keep alive.

The sky was gray and the air was a crisp kind of cold that turned his breath to frosty smoke when he breathed out. In the warmth of the little cabin he was in though, he could only see the visual joys of the what the world became when winter covered the ground in white and laced the windows with ice and snow crystals. Just beyond the snow outside the window, he could see a large fire pit built in celebration of the ceremony that was about to occur soon.

Jimin looked at himself in the mirror and smiled at how his white fur coat hung down to the floor just behind the heels of his black boots that rose up to his knees. The children of the village had made him a crown of winter flowers as a surprise, placing it on his head just a few hours ago to be part of his wedding with Yoongi.

He was back on the island he and Yoongi had mated on to get married. The people of the village were all joyful to see they were successful with their journey and back to celebrate such a joyous event. When they had heard that Yoongi and Jimin were wanting to hold their wedding in their village, they were excited to host the two hero's special day. They were the two brave vikings that brought dragons back to their forests to watch over them once more, after all.

Jimin had known he wanted to go back to island where he and Yoongi had bonded as dragons to officially bond as humans, which was why it had taken a year for them to finally be able to get married. He needed to recover before his father would allow him to travel again, and then he wanted Jin to safely have his baby. Now that their village was built up again with everything back to normal, it finally felt like the right time.

Other things had happened within a year though too.

Besides Jin and Namjoon officially having their second child, a healthy half-dragon boy, other changes had been made around the village as well. Yoongi had to awkwardly tell Namjoon that he’d no longer be serving and protecting him in battle now that he was bonded to Jimin. He had been so nervous to tell him only to find out that Namjoon had already moved Hoseok up into his position since the day they defeated the alpha at the beach.

Hoseok was somewhat in charge of things around the village while Namjoon was busy taking care of a very pregnant Jin and eventually their newborn son. He took his job of keeping everyone in line a lot less seriously than Yoongi ever did, and when little kids followed him around wanting to be like him, he always set aside time to teach them how to fight dangers or befriend dragons.

Dragons had moved in slowly, living amongst the villagers warily at first and sometimes switching into human form to join them at festivals and learn how to play music and dance with everyone.

At first the village was cautious of their new dragon friends, but they had since come to enjoy them. Some new families started forming with the new bond between the species, and Jimin had a feeling that he and his new baby brother wouldn’t be the only half-dragons in their village soon.

As for him, he enjoyed the down time for most of the year. It took him a while to recover, but Yoongi was there for him the whole time. He was also secretly building a new house for them to move in to. At first they had planned to just move in to Yoongi’s home together, but Namjoon had pressured Yoongi into making something bigger and better for his son.

The two future chiefs of the village needed to reside in a house that showed their power. The bigger the better!

So with the help of Hoseok, Jungkook, and Taehyung, Yoongi was able to build something up to par with Namjoon’s wishes, and he presented it to Jimin as a gift on his birthday. The house that they would soon live in together as the two reigning chiefs of the village was beautiful and built with a lot of care and effort. It sat at the edge of the village near the woods where Yoongi knew Jimin liked to go to think or practice his powers.

It was perfect.

His fiance was perfect.

Speaking of fiances though, Taehyung and Jungkook got married within the year as well. To be more specific, they got married as soon as Jimin was able to walk on his own again to attend the private wedding of his two best friends.

Jungkook’s father had been less than excited about his son marrying a dragon, but after having a stern talking to from Jin and Namjoon, he finally loosened up enough to let his son and his mate get married. He was disgruntled at first about having to see his son marry a member of the enemy species, but during the wedding, Jimin watched as his features softened while he watched his son happily giggle through his vows with his new husband. The man seemed to have a complete change of heart a few hours later when he raised a glass to Jungkook and Taehyung and wished them to be forever happy as they had been throughout the whole day. 

     “Wow, you’re going to be officially married to Yoongi soon…” a voice muttered from behind Jimin, his face suddenly visible in the mirror when he stepped back to fluff Jimin’s fur coat behind him.

Jimin smiled at Taehyung, happy to have his best friend by his side for what felt like the most important day of his life, “Nothing’s going to change. We’ve been doing everything married couples do for the past year.”

     “Yeah, but you’ve been dreaming of this moment since we were kids,” Taehyung smirked and Jimin couldn’t help but laugh and lose his composure for a second to say in a slight squeal, “I know right? I’m so excited! I’ll have to show you the spot where he and I first mated too!”

     “I-!” Taehyung froze awkwardly, staring at Jimin for a moment to see if he was serious about his offer before melting into agreement and accepting the offer, “You know what? Ok! I want to see where my best friend got laid by his childhood crush for the first time ever!”

Jimin smiled and turned around excitedly to hold Taehyung’s hands, “It was such a romantic night, too. We technically had sex before on the boat we travelled on, but I don’t think that counts because Yoongi tried to kill me before we could finish.”

Taehyung snorts, “Yeah I’d definitely say the more romantic time was your first time,” he shook his head, “Love how I get to hear the untold story of the great adventure a half dragon and a dragon slayer went on to defeat an alpha that all the northern lands are talking about these days. If only they knew about all the sexual details.”

     “Let’s hope they never do~” Jimin snickered, but the moment was interrupted when Jungkook walked into the little cabin with three baby dragons crawling up his legs and arm. He picked up the one currently crawling up his shirt and asked excitedly, “Taehyung, can we please have ten of these? Look how adorable they are!”

Taehyung grimaced, “Ten? No way. I agreed to two in the distant future, so be happy with that,” he turned to Jimin with a slight roll of his eyes, “Ever since your parents had your little brother, Jungkook has wanted kids.”

     “Seojun is pretty adorable,” Jimin smiled in understanding which caused Jungkook to become even more excited, “See? Jimin agrees. How distant is the distant future?”

     “Distant,” Taehyung replied and took a step to kiss Jungkook on the cheek since that usually hushed him up, “Is Yoongi ready? We sent you over there ten minutes ago to check.”

Jungkook gasped, “Oh, he is!”

Jimin’s eyes widened, “And you took your sweet time to get back here?”

     “Baby dragons started climbing on me and suddenly my only focus was on being a dad,” he whined and looked down at the little dragons with big eyes and a cute habit of wagging their tails when they were excited. He cooed at them and muttered, “I’d steal you guys if I could, but I’m sure your parents are very scary and would eat me if I tried that, yes?”

     “Yes, now go put them back where you found them,” Taehyung instructed Jungkook to leave and do that fast, rushing him out as he said, “Let everyone know Jimin will be there in two minutes too!”

     “Ok!” Jungkook answered Taehyung before running off to go return the dragon babies and also let Yoongi know that his fiance would be joining him at the altar in just a short period of time.

Taehyung closed the door and sighed, only looking up when Jimin chuckled and spoke as he checked himself over in the mirror to make sure everything about his attire was perfect, “Wow, Jungkook really wants to be a dad.”

A small smile appeared on Taehyung’s face for a moment, but he still acted reluctant about it, “It’s just because he knows there’s a possibility.”

     “And you don’t want it?” Jimin asked.

Taehyung shrugged, “I do… I’m just scared.”

     “Scared about what?” Jimin turned to Taehyung again, “You’d be a great dad.”

     “You think so?” Taehyung asked, tilting his head as he thought about the idea of having a kid with Jungkook. The idea was more of a near future though… He sighed, “I tried to switch into my dragon form yesterday to talk easier with the dragons that live on this island and well…”

Jimin’s eyes widened, and he gasped since he immediately caught on, “You’re pregnant…” he waited for Taehyung to flash him a look of agreement as a reply, and when he received that look, he jumped a bit and gasped again, “What?! Are you serious?”

     “Mhm,” Taehyung finally smiled, “I’m just glad it’s happening now rather than when I didn’t know I was a dragon-!” Jimin hurried to hug him tight, the shorter boy still finding a way to push Taehyung over a bit with the power and energy in just his hug.

That energy was all love though. The most powerful thing about Jimin was his heart, so Taehyung grinned and welcomed the hug, enjoying the feeling of his friend wrapping his arms around him and still loving him after all they had been through.

Taehyung would never take it for granted.

     “I’m an uncle!” Jimin exclaimed, and then grew quiet, “Am I the first one to find out?”

     “Besides Jin who was there when I claimed I was going to turn into a dragon to talk to the others and then awkwardly left when I couldn’t? Yes,” Taehyung admitted, chuckling a little before he continued, “I’ll let Jungkook know later tomorrow, but for now, this is your day.”

     “You’re right, I am getting married…” Jimin suddenly remembered, a smile growing on his face before Taehyung took his hand to lead him out the door and towards the ceremony, “Exactly. This has been your dream since childhood, so take it in, ok?”

     “I will,” Jimin breathed out, now becoming jittery as he stepped out into the cold air and started to walk towards where his future husband was waiting for him.

A whole village was waiting to watch the two get married, but Jimin only had his sights set on one man.

The one man he had pictured this day to be with for as long as he could remember.

Jimin smiled and rushed ahead of Taehyung to join Yoongi at the front of the ceremony where he was waiting, not even noticing how everyone stood when he made his presence known because all he could focus on was the dragon slayer with a dark cloak on and a presence that could intimidate an army of millions. This intimidating viking only grew a light shade of pink though when he noticed Jimin hurrying up to him, the corners of his lips turning into a small smile that couldn’t even intimidate a child.

He held out his palms to Jimin, his large hands wrapping around Jimin’s small ones when they reunited for the first time that morning, now seeing each other in their winter wedding’s full glory. They looked like two chiefs, but thankfully, the only thing they had to look after for now was each other.

Jimin warmed his hands within Yoongi’s own, a small giggle dancing from under his breath before he whispered, “Sorry I’m late.”

     “With you, it’s worth it,” Yoongi replied, his smiling growing for a second before one of the village elders stood up from behind them, taking their place at the front of the ceremony with them to finally make their bond official in the human terms of marriage.

Jimin and Yoongi kept their eyes on each other as the elder read from their village’s marriage scrolls and wrapped their hands together with the flag of their tribe. They would remain loyal to their village and to each other for the rest of their lives, no matter what war, famine, or tragedy occurred.

The elder finished reading their vows, announcing them as married in front of the people from their home who they loved and the people of the village they fell in love in. Jimin was about to turn to his parents to see their faces among the crowd, them together being the one thing he never imagined to see on his wedding day when he was younger and fantasized about his dreams of marrying Yoongi.

Before his eyes could land on them though, Yoongi coughed awkwardly and spoke up with a nervous tremor in his voice, “W-Wait… I want to say something really fast before we move on.”

Jimin turned back to him quickly, his eyes widened slightly in surprise that Yoongi was choosing to say something in front of everyone to him. It wasn’t planned, but Jimin stayed quiet and waited to hear what Yoongi wanted to say.

He watched the other man’s expression warily, wondering what it could be until Yoongi took in a slight breath and spoke up clearly to everyone though mainly Jimin as he stared deeply into his eyes, “I just wanted to say, I… I used to believe there would never be any peace among humans and dragons. And there still isn’t, but with you, I believe there can be… With you, I believe anything can happen.”

Jimin smiled shyly, unsure how to respond since he was now wishing he had prepared something to say to Yoongi in return. He tried to think quickly of a response, but Yoongi ended up continuing to speak, “I want to be your mate, your husband, your partner, and your protector for the rest of my life Jimin. I want to cherish our friendship and love, trust, and honor you until the day we both eventually meet again in Valhalla,” Jimin’s breath hitched as he listened to Yoongi’s words, “What may come, I will always be there. As I am holding your hands right now,” he squeezed Jimin’s hands and smile reassuringly, “I am giving you my life to keep.”

Tears fell down Jimin’s cheeks as he stared at Yoongi, the air around them so silent, he could hear the cold waves crashing on the nearby shore. Jimin had imagined this moment a thousand times over from the moment he laid eyes on Yoongi when they were children, but never did he ever imagine the words that would come from his husband's mouth that were as beautiful as these.

He stammered for a moment, unsure how to respond and eventually giving up since he knew nothing would top that.

     “I love you,” his voice cracked as a sob escaped from his throat.

A few people in the crowd in front of them laughed, Hoseok’s laugh distinct from the others since he found Jimin’s response particularly funny.

Yoongi chuckled under his breath, “I love you too.”

Jimin leaned forward, telling himself that in this moment, actions spoke louder than words and he wanted to be as loud as possible to let Yoongi know he felt the same way. He wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s neck and kissed his warm lips. He wanted to immediately skip the celebration and return to where they were temporarily staying to celebrate their marriage privately. He could tell Yoongi felt the same way too when he pressed his body close to Jimin's and felt his hands around Jimin’s lower back underneath his cloak.

A circle of fire accidentally enwrapped them when Jimin got too excited though, and after hearing a few gasps coming from surprised humans and blushing dragons who were quickly covering their children’s eyes, Jimin pulled back and giggled, “That’s my way of saying I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with you too.”

     “Then let’s do it,” Yoongi grinned, and turned to the crowd of wide eyed vikings and dragons still shocked from the couple’s open affection at the altar, “Let’s celebrate!”

By night fall, music was in the air and most of the people and dragons in the village were intoxicated a good enough amount to freely dance with each other by the large bonfire in the center of the celebration. Jimin danced with the children who were all excited to see him again after his last visit, their excited giggles and shouts for him to pick them up was enough to make Jimin want to spend the rest of his wedding night playing with them.

Yoongi eventually stole him away though, pulling him away from the little vikings and chuckling, “It’s my own wedding night, and you scoundrels are hardly letting me spend time with him.”

     “You’ll get to spend every day together though!” the kids whined, wanting to keep Jimin longer, “Play with us too if you want to spend time with him!”

Jimin laughed, “We’ll be here for a few more days, so we’ll play with you all some other time, ok?” he leaned against his new husband with a soft smile, thinking about how they’d be as parents if their family ever grew.

Of course, Jimin probably wasn’t able to conceive children like other dragons. At first, Yoongi was concerned about accidentally getting Jimin pregnant before they were ready, so they went to Jin for advice and found out that male half dragons very rarely were able to bare children. Even if Jimin had the ability, he probably lost it after everything his body went through with being stabbed and burned and thrown around in battle a year ago.

That was ok though.

His family was Yoongi right now, and with the world they were in, they knew they’d end up being parents one way or another to a child who needed it. A human child like Yoongi when he lost his parents or a dragon child like Taehyung. When the time was right, they’d be happy and readily accepting, but for now, he just liked to play with the children of the village and focus on his attention hungry husband.

When the children left them to run to the woods to find dragon children to play with, Jimin turned to Yoongi and giggled under his breath, “You do know you’re going to get to have me for the rest of the night when we make our way to the cottage they set up for us, right?”

     “I’m excited for that, but I also want to celebrate with my husband right now,” Yoongi replied and kissed Jimin, “I also came to get you though because your parents are looking for you. I think Jin is tired and ready to put your brother to bed, so he wants to say good night.”

     “Oh, it is late, isn’t it?” Jimin’s eyes widened and he looked around for his parents, taking a few moments before he managed to catch his two dads slow dancing together with their newborn son in their arms.

He smiled and squeezed Yoongi’s hand tighter, “Come on. Let’s go say hi~”

The newlyweds made their way through the lively celebration over to the two chiefs, not needing to make themselves known since the two parents immediately lit up when they saw them walking up to them.

Jin was the first one to speak, “Jimin! You look so intimidating in your fur robes!” he looked his son up and down with a proud smile, “Joon cried too because you looked so much like a chief at the ceremony. Ah, I want to hug you, hold on!” he turned to his husband, “Hey, can you hold your son for a moment?”

He started to hand their newborn son to Namjoon, but Joon moved away from him before he could to hold Jimin instead. He wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tight, “I’m not ashamed to admit I cried… I’m so proud of you.”

     “Joon, I meant hold this son?” Jin whined, raising their baby a little, “I want to hug Jimin too.”

His lips puckered up in a pout, but Jimin laughed and hugged his father tighter, “I’m so happy you guys are proud of me,” he let Namjoon finally move to hold his little brother before hugging Jin next, “I always dreamed of marrying Yoongi, but to have you both here together and getting to celebrate this with me is better than I ever imagined this day to be.”

His little brother babbled in Namjoon’s arms, and he stepped forward to give his brother a chaste kiss on the forehead, “I’m also happy he’s going to get to grow up proud of what he is with our family here to protect him.”

     “He’s going to have an amazing older brother to look up to,” Jin smiled and brought Jimin in one more time to hold him tight, “Your two tired old fathers are going to put little Seojun to sleep, but we’ll see you tomorrow,” he glanced at Yoongi and chuckled, “Or sometime in the next week?”

     “Jin…” Jimin whined and pushed away from his embarrassing appas. The two of them weren’t as protective over him anymore, but they always found a way to playfully poke fun at him when they could. They would always be his parents, but now he felt like he was becoming more of a friend to them that they could rely on too. Yoongi assured Jimin that he’d always still be their big baby, but with his little brother now relying on them, they were now able to see Jimin in a new light as future chief and as someone who could take care of himself as well as their village.

Jimin liked the idea of them thinking of him like that, so he didn’t mind it. He was excited for the day he could be chief and show them just how much he had grown and was still growing.

For now though, he was just glad they saw him as someone stronger than he was a year ago.

After Namjoon and Jin parted from the young couple to retire for the night, Yoongi and Jimin were only able to have a short moment alone before Jungkook ran up to Jimin and spoke, “Hi, sorry to ruin the moment, but um?” he tilted his head with his eyes wide in panic, “Tae and I were playing with a few of the little kids, and when Tae went to get some more dessert, one of the dragon kids asked me if Tae was having a girl or a boy. Do you think-?”

     “Ask,” Jimin quickly interrupted Jungkook, not wanting to accidentally spoil the news that Taehyung was waiting to tell.

He was hoping Jungkook would take his answer and leave to go ask his husband about what the dragon children said instead of Jimin, but Jungkook’s eyes only widened, and he gasped, “Odin, you know, don’t you?”

     “Huh?”

Jungkook sucked in a sharp breath and nodded to himself in agreement with his last statement, “Yeah, if you didn’t know, you’d be just as shocked and excited to find out as me right now, but you’re suddenly not making it your business?” he blew out the air he had been holding in, “That’s not like you, so he’s pregnant, isn’t he?”

     “Wait who’s pregnant?” Hoseok walked up and joined in on the conversation only to immediately gasp and turn to Jimin, “Jimin, are you-?!”

     “No, I can’t!” Jimin waved him off quickly, wishing now that Yoongi would steal him away again so he wouldn’t be able to ruin his best friend’s surprise for his mate.

Jungkook had already confidently caught on though, exclaiming an excited reply to Hobi, “Taehyung!”

As soon as he called out his mate’s name, Taehyung walked up to their group and tilted his head in confusion for why Jungkook was shouting his name out so suddenly. He joined their circle and asked nervously, “Yes?…”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Jungkook was unsure how to ask Taehyung if it was really true, Jimin was nervous for Taehyung’s sake, Yoongi was only just now putting the pieces together, and Hoseok blurted out, “You’re pregnant?!”

Now everyone was staring deeply at the man in question, some excited to find out if it was really true and some still nervous about the reaction that would ensue from it. They all watched though as Taehyung’s expression shifted from horror to confusion and then finally to an accusatory stare as he turned to Jimin and muttered, “I didn’t want to tell him yet.”

Jimin hurried to assure Taehyung, “I didn’t tell him, one of the dragon children sensed it on you I guess and asked Jungkook about it.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened in understanding and he huffed, bringing the palm of his hand up to his forehead and muttering, “I forgot dragons can do that… I never learned,” he looked up at Jungkook with a small smile forming though and said, “Secret’s out, I guess.”

     “Are you serious?!” Jungkook squealed out in joy and quickly lunged forward to pick Taehyung up and spin him around in excitement. When he finally set Tae down, he still held him close and muttered, “This is amazing…” he gasped and looked to Jimin, “You’re an uncle!”

     “And you both are fathers!” Jimin smiled, finding those words really weird to say to his two best friends though he was so incredibly happy to be able to say that to them.

A year ago, Jimin didn’t think he was going to be able to even see his best friends alive and happy like this. There were many reasons why he thought the three of them wouldn’t be together again, but he was glad they were here now. He was happy that Taehyung was back home, and now he and Jungkook were starting a family. It made the struggles they all faced so much more worth it to see the outcome today.

Jungkook stole Taehyung away to go celebrate in private without holding Yoongi and Jimin back from celebrating their own special occasion. Hoseok was left to talk about how he couldn’t wait to spoil their child until a dragon in human form came up to shyly ask Hoseok to dance.

He of course could never resist a dance with the fire still big and bright and the music still playing around them. Jimin could see it in his eyes that he especially wasn’t going to miss this dance since the dragon who asked him was especially good looking. A shy blush spread across the viking’s features and he was stolen away to continue celebrating, finally leaving the newlywed couple alone together.

     “Finally a moment alone with my husband,” Jimin smiled up at Yoongi, receiving an unexpected kiss placed chastely on his lips before Yoongi held his hand and started to pull him away from the festivities, “Come with me.”

     “Oooh ok?” Jimin giggled under his breath, letting his husband pull him further away from the celebration and through the woods towards the solemn darkness of the shore outside of the village.

They walked in silence, Yoongi making his way through the woods with determination to find the shore that was empty of people to interrupt their time alone. The sound of their shoes crunching through the snow slowly turned into the soft sounds of sand underneath them as they made their way to where the waves passed onto the land.

It was there, just a few feet away from where the water rose, when Yoongi stopped walking and looked up at the night sky, “People kept interrupting us, so hopefully out here, we can be alone for more than a few seconds at a time.”

It was colder out here away from the fire, the wind coming off the ocean blowing through Jimin’s clothes and making him cuddle closer to his husband for warmth, “I was wondering when you’d finally steal me away from the party to be alone with me.”

     “Should I have done it sooner?” Yoongi noticed Jimin shivering and quickly took off his coat to wrap Jimin up in it. Now, he had no furs to keep himself warm, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to make sure Jimin was comfortable and happy.

The two of them sat down on the sand and leaned into each other. Jimin shrugged with a small smile on his face as he looked out at the dark horizon and replied softly, “Now was a good time. Seeing everyone happy made this day perfect.”

     “Seeing you happy was enough for me,” Yoongi wrapped his arms around Jimin and held him closer.

They both stayed quiet for a few minutes, just staring out at the ocean and listening to the waves crashing in. At times, they’d see the glowing eyes of dragons swimming under the water, looking like stars lost deep in the ocean.

It wasn’t until the music from the village farther inland finally died down when Yoongi whispered softly, “We went through so much to be where we are now… It’s so strange to be here in this moment and remember everything we’ve been through.”

     “Ah yes, every fight… every urge to push you into the ocean and leave,” Jimin mused, nuzzling his chin into Yoongi’s shoulder to appreciate this moment just a little more now that they were reminiscing the times they hated each other. The hate was always fired up by love though. They just needed to open up a bit more to figure out how to deal with their feelings, and when they finally did, everything ended up being ok.

Yoongi glanced at Jimin, watching his features as he smiled and thought about the times they fought until eventually they fell in love. The reflection of the moon sparkled in his eyes, and for a moment, Yoongi could trick himself into thinking that the whole galaxy was trapped inside Jimin’s sparkling gaze.

Jimin looked at him, his smile falling slightly as he started to anticipate a kiss. His lips puckered a little and he started to lean forward to kiss Yoongi, but Yoongi turned away before he could, staring back up at the moon and muttering softly, “I just want to say something to you before we spend the rest of our lives together…”

     “Yes?…”

Yoongi bit his lip, letting out a nervous breath that trembled as it escaped his lips and became visible with how cold the air was around them. He kept his gaze on the sea as he spoke to his husband, “Sometimes I look at you and wonder how I deserve you after how I’ve treated you for so many years…” tears started to form in his eyes and he looked to Jimin, “I just want you to know that I love you and trust you more than anyone and anything, and I’ll always make sure I’m doing everything I can to make you happy for the rest of our lives, ok?”

Jimin’s eyes widened, his breath quivering for a moment as he watched his mate tearing up and saying such words that were even more beautiful than the ones he said at the altar.

He brought a hand up to Yoongi’s cheek and held it there as he muttered, “Yoongi, ever since we were children, no matter how you felt about me, you were always protecting me. You were always making sure I was happy, and sometimes I made it hard to do that so we fought, but you were always… so deserving of me. We were fated from the start just with the love in our hearts that we held for each other,” he sniffled and placed his other hand on Yoongi’s heart before leaning in to kiss him on the lips and assure him one last time, “The best thing that ever happened to me was you forcing your way onto my boat to help me save my family, and for that, I’ll always be happy for as long as we live.”

     “I love you,” Yoongi sniffled, letting out a soft cry under his breath though he quickly got his emotions under control and used the passion he felt in this moment to lean forward and press a deeper kiss against Jimin’s plush lips.

Jimin let out a small content sigh and hooked his leg over Yoongi’s waist to straddle his hips. He quickly took off his fur coats and set them aside in the sand since he wouldn’t need them to keep himself warm for long. He kissed Yoongi back and grinned, “I love you too, Min Yoongi.”

The fire from the village soon died as the celebration came to a close in the middle of the night. The waves crashing onto the shore melted into a blend with the soft moans and mutters of love coming from the two future chiefs making love on the sand. The dragon and the dragon slayer, celebrating their love that was thought to never be possible.

Jimin’s warm hands pressed against Yoongi’s chest as a pleasure rose up in the pit of his stomach. He leaned back and continued to ride against Yoongi’s cock, quickly moving his hands away from his lover’s skin as he grew more and more heated. A quick fire shot out from his hands into the sand, his powers creating a mating circle for a few seconds before the fire slowly died and Jimin came to a still on top of Yoongi.

Yoongi’s hips were still thrusting up into him with small movements as he rode off his orgasm, his eyes shut with content and his hands gripping Jimin’s waist to keep him on. He too came to stop though, finally opening his eyes and looking up at Jimin who had been staring down at him and smiling as he recovered from their third round.

He smoothed his thumb over the warm skin of Jimin’s waist, taking in the beauty of his lover under the moonlight as he smiled and murmured, “I wish we could stay out here forever, but I’m also ready to take you back to the cottage so we can make a fire and see each other better beside the light.”

     “We should also wash off when we get to our quarters so we don’t get sand everywhere,” Jimin giggled and began to slowly raise up from where he was sitting, his breath hitching slightly as Yoongi pulled out and reached over to grab Jimin’s clothes he had thrown to the side in their rush to have sex with each other for the first time being married.

They both got up and got dressed again, just loosely buttoning up their shirts and pants before throwing on their fur cloaks since they both knew they were going to be tearing their clothes off once again as soon as they got to the cottage.

Yoongi turned towards the village to find the route easiest to get back up there without any troubles, but he was prompted to look back at Jimin again when the younger boy held his hand and said, “Hey,” he smiled and stepped closer to lean into Yoongi’s hold, “I’m giving you my life to keep too.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened for a moment, recognizing those words from his vows and slowly realizing that Jimin was giving him his reply. Jimin’s smile was bright, his eyes still glistening under the moonlight as he looked up at Yoongi with a pleased smile. During the ceremony, Yoongi was sure he’d never love Jimin more than he did in that moment, but of course with every moment that came after that, he only grew to love Jimin more and more.

He was sure he’d feel that way for the rest of his life.

He brought Jimin’s hand that was wrapped up in his own up to his heart and whispered softly in return, “I’ll hold it here forever.”

The two of them walked back through the woods to the village, the smell of smoke from the big bonfire still in the air and the sounds of dragons roaming the forest late at night audible as they remained quiet so to not wake anyone up.

Jimin held Yoongi’s hand tight, their fingers interlocking together between them as they walked through the quiet and quaint village at midnight. He looked to his husband every few seconds, the moonlight always hitting his face to show his features that Jimin had been in love with since he was a child.

Now he was grown and had everything he ever wanted in the palm of his hand… His parents, his little brother, Taehyung and Jungkook, Hoseok, and Yoongi…. Everyone was happy and part of his life by some stroke of luck that he never imagined he’d have.

Many had heard of his story of bravery and sacrifice that swept the lands of the Northern Seas rapidly throughout the past year, but he was even more excited about the new one unfolding right before his eyes. This new story was also about dragons and humans, but this time, it’s focus would be on the love between the two species and the peace between them that was finally coming together after being at odds for too long.

As Jimin walked with his husband through the snow, their hands intertwined and their hearts still both beating fast with a love they developed for each other in a world that told them it would never be possible… he had a hope that this new story would never end.