The Tail Of Taekook

1 - New Kid

"Now, Tae, don't make it obvious that we're here, okay? You and I both know why we need to leave. Our eyes give us away," my mother hisses, eyes flashing green due to how scared she is.

This is our only chance to escape our lives.

We're trying to get out of the country by ship, trying to make it to an island just off of the mainland. It's safer there, according to what we've heard.

But if they discover us, we'll be chucked over the side. And we won't have a future. We'll just be dead.

"Mother, I don't even have any colour in my eyes yet," I return as quietly as I can, and she rolls hers.
"Don't worry, son, you'll have one at some point. They'll go red or orange, just you wait," she reassures me, and I fix her with a contemptuous look that tells us how stupid that sounds. "Okay, fine, blue or green," she allows, realising how my personality probably fits the latter more than the former.

I take a deep breath, looking over at her in the darkness. Her eyes are still glowing green with fear, so I scoot forward, holding my arms out to her and giving her a hug, allowing her to hide the faint light from the world in my shoulder. We will die if anyone sees it. We both know that. And that knowledge is only making her fear worse. 

"It's gonna be okay," I whisper in her ear, "we'll get there. I promise."

To cut a long story short, we don't get there. We manage to stay hidden for a grand total of two days, before the hunger gets to us, and the growling of our stomachs give us away. We're hauled out of the tiny space by the scruffs of our necks, dragged out and thrown unceremoniously on the deck in front of the captain, who sneers at us and orders that we be bound and thrown over the side. Like all stowaways.

I'm too weak to do a thing. All I can do is watch as my mother is chucked over the side.

And then I am too. And there's nothing I can do to save myself or her from our fate. Nothing.

Jungkook's POV

I wake up one morning to an uncomfortable itch in my tail, which is twitching weirdly. The scales seem almost dry, as if I'm a snake with a second skin.

My eyes widen as an idea comes to my mind, and I lower my hand, running my palm over my fin carefully. The niggling suspicion within me is proved right when the grey skin almost peels away to reveal a new colour, one that has me calling out for my mother in sheer shock.

"Mother! Come quickly!" I call out, and she's in the room within seconds.

"What is it?" she asks worriedly. I point down at my tail, at the shining shade below the dull grey, which is beginning to peel off at other places on one of my most important limbs.

"My tail is changing, Mother," I tell her, "I think we need to pull off all the grey. It won't work until we do."

She nods, coming closer and gently taking hold of the loose flap of grey. "I can't touch your tail, so I'll have to be very careful," she reminds me, and I smile at her.
"This isn't my tail anymore, Mother, it doesn't affect me anymore. Don't worry. Just get it off, and we can talk about this colour below. Because I don't understand it."

After all, this is the first time I've ever seen a golden tail.

Once the old grey scales have been completely peeled away, we sit there for a second, suspended in a state of amazement. "It's oddly beautiful," my mother comments, "I've never seen one like it before, but it's fascinating. Does it show dominance or submission?"

I shrug. "It's warm, I would think," I reply simply, and she nods in understanding.

Then my heartbeat stops for a moment, and I go pale. I can sense something, and my tail throbs with unbearable pain for a second, as if it's hurting in sympathy with another.