THE RAVEN KING, yoonkook

chapter xi: forgotten jobs

The party ends late into the evening, so late it could almost be classified as morning though the moon still hangs brightly in the sky. Yoongi doesn't fall asleep. Instead he prepares, waiting for when he assumes the others may have entered the land of sleep. Then he sneaks out of his own room, creeping down corridors. It is in this moment that he encounters the first problem: locating the king's private suite in this unnecessarily large castle. The assassin doesn't even have a place to start, and is simply wandering aimlessly until he has some direction.

Which isn't the best thing, as it provides him with time to think. Against his will, as Yoongi tip-toes around, his conscience supplies him with memories of his past interactions with the raven. All that surface are positive, which doesn't serve as the best sort of encouragement. With a small shake of his head, he hopes to shake these memories away ― right now, for the sake of his paycheck, he can't afford weakness.

Jungkook, as it turns out, lives at the centre of the castle. His room isn't heavily guarded despite the assassination attempts made on his life ― in fact, for a king, his room doesn't seem very guarded at all. Yoongi only encounters a few making patrols on his way and there are none stationed outside the king's door. The assassin assumes this is due to Jungkook's apparent invulnerability. While he's not complaining as it makes his job easier, it does unnerve him slightly. These sorts of things shouldn't be so easy.

The raven king is, thankfully, asleep when Yoongi slips into his room. The boy's room is sparsely decorated, with only his bed, wardrobe, bookshelf and mirror; it doesn't appear to be as lavish as the rest of the castle.

As the magpie creeps closer to the bed, the boy stirs. With a small groan, he rolls over onto his side. In fear, Yoongi freezes. He can feel his heart thudding loudly in his chest, worried it might be loud enough for Jungkook to hear. But, thankfully, the king doesn't wake. However, his movement does leave more of him exposed and visible to Yoongi ― now the dark haired assassin can see the small teddy the younger male is hugging to his chest. This isn't comforting.

In fact, it coaxes the conflict inside of him further. This is a child he's planning on killing, an innocent child. Yoongi has always had a code (albeit a very loose code) and he's never killed someone who doesn't deserve it. He went into this believing the king to be corrupt and deserving but now, he's not so sure... This conflict almost causes Yoongi to audibly groan in frustration; never has he felt so confused as to what to do.

With a small sigh, closing his eyes for a brief second to return to the mindset, Yoongi makes his decision: he will continue with this attempt. If it fails, it fails and he accepts defeat (he's at a bit of a loss as to how to handle this job anyway). He can recover ― this will only damage what pride he has left, anyhow.

As he approaches the bed, now more confident in his movements, he loosens the dagger that rests at his belt. His hands are gloved, both to cover his fingerprints and reduce the chances of bare skin touching the cool metal of his weapon. In case the wound itself fails to do its job, the dagger is coated in more Hawk poison, as that seemed to have some sort of effect on the boy. This dagger is completely unsheathed once he reaches the edge of the bed, its silver metal glinting dangerously in the darkness of the night. Now close to the boy, Yoongi can make out the individual features of his face, can see the youth still clinging to them; he can't deny that over the time he's spent with the boy, he's gotten rather attached to him. Sincere regret stabs at his gut. But, Yoongi raises his arm all the same.

And that's when it happens.

A hand clutching the bear suddenly lashes out, gripping the unexpecting male's own wrist. Jungkook's grip is strong, to the point where Yoongi isn't sure he'd even be able to escape. Yet, the king's eyes don't open and, other than his arm, he still looks asleep.

"I'd choose your next move wisely, assassin," The boy says, voice clear and confident. The older male can feel something wrapping around his chest and it feels as though something is constricting his heart. Yoongi drops to his knees, unable to hold himself up under the darkness that's filling him. Jungkook still hasn't stirred, "It might be your last."

Yoongi doesn't say anything, not wanting to betray his identity if Jungkook doesn't know yet.

"I'm giving you one chance, assassin: leave now and don't come back." The king's voice is the coldest Yoongi has ever heard it, unnerving. This is only reinforced by the fact the assassin literally feels as though he is dying. "If you try anything ― now or in the future ― I will kill you. Don't make me regret this moment of mercy. Or lapse in judgement, I haven't decided yet." Yoongi lets out a gasp, the pain in his chest growing unbearable. "I'm going to let go of you now. I want you gone in the next ten seconds, before I open my eyes. If you're still there, you're dead. Understand?"

Jungkook doesn't wait for a response and releases the older male's wrist. Yoongi needs no more warning and escapes out the window within seconds. When the king opens his eyes, the room is empty. The raven sits up slowly, wings wrapping around his body as he hugs the teddy closer to his chest. Paranoia fills him as he runs through the list of guests in his mind, knowing it must be one of them.

He only hopes his suspicions are wrong.

NOTE: sorry this is shorter & all that than usual, even though it's not by much

But hey, now we can move onto part two, sorta