The Last Seven - a BTS AU Story

Chapter 7 - Soulmates Finally Meet

The forests of the eastern border are dangerous in terms of geography, but not for Park Jimin, whose elegant blue hair ruffles in tune with his breath as he lay asleep in that very forest. Jimin had narrowly escaped aliens just a few minutes ago during his weekly water-fetching from the river, making him migrate here from his refuge in the mountains. Having spent the journey entirely on foot, Jimin was itching with tiredness and instantly fell asleep. Jimin hesitantly woke up and rubbed his eyes. He felt much better than before, his tiredness was gone. He slowly got to his feet and began to look around the forest. It was very dense and spread till the coast on the eastern side. Jimin soon reached the forest edge and sat on a fallen tree. A sudden scuffle of squirrels from the opposite plain alerted him. He took out a small spyglass of his cousin’s and looked through it. To his surprise and delight, Jimin saw a young boy, almost the same age as himself, running towards the forest on the west coast. He was being chased by (Jimin’s delight turned to horror) a gang of aliens, each one running as fast as their prey. Soon, Jimin lost sight of the boy and the aliens. Hoping that the boy survives, Jimin pocketed the spyglass and returned to his new retreat.

After a little while, Jimin planned to leave the forest. It was good, but the dry season was in, making the trees shed their leaves and make anything hidden underneath clearly visible. Jimin packed his mediocre possessions and left the forest, walking towards the north. It was much emptier here; a few grasses and shrubs grew but the most area was taken by sand and stone. Jimin walked for a long while through them till he spotted a tent erected near a plain. Curiously, Jimin stepped inside.

It was very neat and organised for such a small and cramped space. A neat bed with a stack of folded clothes as a pillow was present, along with a small wooden table and chair, which had a kettle and a sheet of paper on it. Jimin picked up the paper. It seemed to be a missing poster, for it had a picture of a boy with dark curls and bright sultry eyes on it, along with the caption ‘Please find my best friend Kim Taehyung.’ Jimin felt that the profile looked vaguely familiar, then remembered the boy he had seen in the forest. “So his name was Taehyung?” he thought, setting the paper down. A flurry of footsteps and a rasping noise alerted Jimin, who hid his stuff behind a pile of clothes at the very back of the tent and hid under the bed, trying hard not to make his presence seen. Two aliens entered the tent simultaneously. They searched the whole tent but, to Jimin’s relief, didn’t search under the bed or behind the pile of clothes. They were about to leave when one of them stopped near the table. It picked up the paper with one long-fingered hand and began to observe it. Then, saying something to the other alien, exited the tent. Jimin cautiously peeked out and clambered from under the bed. The aliens were surely looking for that boy, who was on the run from their capture. Jimin made up his mind then and there to find that boy before the aliens did, and left the tent.

For long hours Jimin walked, not knowing where he was going. He went through forests and grasslands and plateaus, but the boy was nowhere to be found. Soon, dusk began to set over the land. Jimin was alone. The tent was too far away and no place for inhabitation seemed to be here. The only area was a forest, thick with the branches of trees. Thinking that this would do, Jimin entered it. Just a few minutes walk inside it took Jimin to the person he was so eager to save. The boy named Taehyung was looking at something on the sand, clearly exhausted.