Four | BTS ✓

Six Months Later

Jungkook limps across the grass that is clearly not taken care of, its yellow, dried texture crunching underneath his shoes as he walks toward his destination.

When he sees the marker come into view, his heart feels heavy seeing how lonely it looks, the small stone marker barely visible peeking over the dead grass surrounding it.

Jungkook kneels down beside the area, wincing in pain as he settles down on one knee, reading the name on the marker over and over again, as if he's trying to convince himself that what it says on the stone is reality.

Kennedy Carter.

Jungkook sighs softly, moving a few dead leaves off of her grave marker as he traces the letters with his finger.

"I never thought you'd be much of a flower kinda girl, but I couldn't just show up empty-handed," Jungkook says out loud, placing the single rose beside Kennedy's name.

He glances over and frowns slightly when he sees a bouquet of wildflowers sitting next to her grave, slightly out of reach as the wind must have recently blown it over.

He grabs the bouquet and frowns further when he sees that there is a note stuck down between the flowers. He takes it out and moves to read it.

"I miss you. -T"

Jungkook's lips twitch up into a small smile as he replaces the card and lays the flowers next to Kennedy's name on the other side.

He finds it fitting that Taehyung chose to send wildflowers to Kennedy. He never found out the full extent of their relationship, but he can imagine how the two felt together.

They felt wild. They felt free.

He realizes Jin must have come here on Taehyung's behalf, and it makes Jungkook feel a bit better knowing she hasn't been alone this entire time.

Jungkook couldn't get himself to come here, until today.

It's been a long, hard journey getting to where he is in this moment. He had two surgeries to repair his leg, and he wasn't surprised when he was told he would walk with a permanent limp.

Alongside the scar in his heart, he carries this burden around with him, reminding him every day of the past and what he lost.

He also gained so much.

He walked away from that place with lifelong friendships and a fresh start in life.

He started this journey sleeping in a battered tent in the middle of the woods, and then he was thrown into a job that tested his every limit.

He laughed, he cried and sometimes he wanted to run away and leave that place behind, never looking back for even a second.

He's glad he stayed as long as he did, though.

He hasn't been able to go back to the prison since that day. He just can't handle the thought of being in the same room that Kennedy died in.

He's not sure if he will ever be able to go back, even just to see everyone again.

He's not sure if he would be okay seeing the empty cell.

Where there once was four, there are now three.

Jungkook sighs, running his hand through his hair as he glances down at the rose next to his feet.

"I brought you this because it reminded me of our last conversation," Jungkook explains as he smiles down at it. "I like to think of that happy ending we imagined. It was something that could never happen. Romance, love and even red roses were never your thing. In a different life, though... in the life you could've loved me - in the life you and I would've shared - I feel like you would've loved red roses."

Jungkook stands, closing his eyes as he feels a gentle breeze blowing by, letting himself wish for only a moment that it was her fingertips roaming through the strands of his hair.

The rose catches in the breeze, swaying gently until it passes. As the wind fades, Jungkook limps away from her grave, silently promising himself he'll come visit her again soon.