Nora & the Boys | BTS AU | OT7

Chapter 42

WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF BLOOD, VIOLENCE AND DEATH. PLEASE SKIP PARTS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE AND BE KIND TO YOURSELF.

THANKS!

[Unedited]

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Her home was on fire. 

The angry, red flames from hell, had wrapped themselves around large wooden columns, trying to bring down the structure and destroy the place that she once called her personal haven.

Broken vases, chipped marble statues, some missing a limb or two, rolling across the floor; silk curtains, shredded beyond recognition on the cracked floor, the water fountain sputtering mud and debris everywhere - they were all witnesses to her tragic ending.

The fire covered everything in sight, painting lines of black ash and holes over the furniture in her room, over pieces of memories from her childhood, that she had painstakingly kept hidden, and safe in her closet.

Everything...was gone.

Everything...was beyond saving.

Her peaceful world had come to an end.

Her life had been turned upside-down, because of her negligence.

Her beautiful kingdom had fallen into chaos, reduced to mere embers and cries of pain, because of the monster she had once called brother.

If only she had been quick enough to notice the subtle change in him, if only she had stopped him from going rogue - their kingdom, their people could have been saved.

"I-I...did this." Nora whispered, dragging her eyes down to the blood soaked hands and arms, that were hers, but not.

Her people blamed her for the ruined cities, they blamed her for the homeless children on streets, they blamed her for the houses that were gone, leaving behind a shell made of ashes and tears. 

They blamed her.

And Nora tried her best to accept it.

As she stumbled down the stairs, across a field of dried grass coated in soot, that was once Nora's favorite rose garden, as she half ran and half hobbled through the debris of her home, making her way out of the city gates, she knew - the way back was lost forever.

Nora had nothing to return to, from that day forth.

The royal family was no more, the people hated her and the person she had trusted with her life, the family she had for centuries...she, Nora, had been the one to kill him.

She had thrust the iron dagger into his heart, and felt it shudder and stop, and watched the light go out of her brother's eyes.

Nora had used his gift to kill him - her own blood relative, her little brother.

Her gaze dropped back to the red dripping from her fingers, and her eyes burned with unshed tears.

Not now...not now, hold it in - she repeated the mantra in her head.

Nora wasn't allowed to cry, not yet.

There were still too many glares, and curious eyes around her, there were too many malicious words thrown her way, and hard pushes to her back, urging her to quickly leave the capital.

She wasn't going to cry, not right now.

Nora would have time to grieve her losses once she reached the woods.