Arranged | Jinkook ✓

Chapter 27.0

Moonlight.

This was where they belonged. Where children of the night were meant to be. Beneath the cover of falling darkness, finding comfort and peace in the bleak silence.

Something within him had changed. Had broken free. Some wild and feral, dark and dangerous. Something that willing to take on anything, so long as it allowed him to reach his end goal. Something chilling and new, that hadn't been there before. Something that grown deep within his own core, fighting it's way up and out.

His heart beat felt strange within his own chest. Out of place. Like it shouldn't exist. Shouldn't be there. As though it should be as hollow as the one he loved.

But it was the heart that loved, wasn't it? Or were the physical and the metaphorical truly two separate things? Was the heart that felt emotions not the same one that pushed blood to organs and beat a rapid pulse against your ribs? Were they different, located in two separate places?

Or perhaps it was the soul that felt. Certainly it was the thing that carried ones memories, held on to the moments which were most precious and devastating.

He didn't know. And he was so tried of trying to understand. Because none of it made sense. Not anymore.

The only truth that he held fast to was that he loved Jungkook. And that Jungkook loved him in return.

That was all that mattered.

Not the past. Not who he had been within it. But the present and the future that was taking shape before them.

And he knew that now too.

...

It was nothing more than a village. Tiny and quiet, and it felt as though they were intruding simply by stepping foot upon the soil. Barren. The thought came to him the moment his boot touched earth. It was barren. Devoid of life. Incapable of growing anything, as though some curse had been placed upon it.

Perhaps there had been. Or perhaps one of the many battles of the past had been fought upon this land, scorching it until nothing could be done to heal the scars left behind.

Were they meant to be here? Certainly it didn't look like a place where they would find what they sought. There was barely even a proper barn - nothing more than a rough wooden roof and shaky, hastily put together walls, hard dirt covered with dry hay and he hesitated to even leave the horses behind there for fear they would return to find them missing.

"Come." Jungkook's voice broke him out of his thoughts, eyes glancing down in time to catch sight of the princes hand being held out in offering. He took it readily, easily slipping his fingers between that of his princes, squeezing once before stepping over the rocky out cropping meant to separate the horses pasture.

"Jungkook." He was trying desperately not to be afraid. But everything had been so much. Less than a day ago he had woken with thoughts of a ball swirling within his mind. And now here he was, with the knowledge that soon he would be attached to his prince in every way possible.

"It's alright." He didn't want to be a burden. Didn't want to be a weak link in the chain. Didn't want to slow them down. And he knew that he was safe. Knew that Jungkook was right there. That he was strong - so incredibly strong, had won battles of his own. Had fought in wars for his father and turned the tides more times than could be counted. But the fear still boiled up unbidden. "I'm here, love."

"I know." But now he also knew how fragile his love was. How something as simple as the sun could do so much damage. What would they do when the world spun and the light returned? They couldn't go back to that tiny little shack. And there had been no where else. "But what if they are not welcoming? What if they refuse us?"