Beauty and the Monster-A Namjin AU story

Chapter 14

"I haven't danced in years. I'd almost forgotten the feeling."

    After their dance, Namjoon and Seokjin decided to rest on the balcony. It overlooked the stars and the crystal woods beyond. One of the many areas of the castle Seokjin had not known existed.

    "It's very foolish," Namjoon said, "For a creature like me to hope that I may one day earn your...affection."

"Oh, I don't know," Seokjin flirted. Flirting. That was very new to him.

    "Really? You think you could be happy here?"

    "Can anyone be happy if they aren't free?"

    His question hung in the air. Namjoon felt a pang of guilt.

"My father taught me to dance when I was young. I don't remember much except that I stepped on his toes." Seokjin laughed. His laughter couldn't fool Namjoon.

    "You miss him, don't you?"

    "Very much."

    "Would you like to see him?"

    Namjoon lead Seokjin to the west wing. He picked up the mirror beside the withering rose and handed it to him.

    "I want to see my father," Seokjin commanded. His face fell. "There are people! They're taking him away! He's in trouble!"

    Namjoon held his hand. "You must go to him."

    "What?"

"You must go to him. You have no time to waste," his face was unreadable, but his eyes showed deep emotion. "Keep the mirror with you. You'll always have a way to look back on me."

    He held the mirror close to his chest. "Thank you."

    Seokjin turned his back on him and left the palace, leaving Namjoon alone once more.

    Just then, Yoongi strided into the west wing, in jollier spirits than he had been in years.

    "Master, I never thought it could be, but everything is moving like clockwork! I guess true love can win the day!"

    "I let him go," Namjoon said expressionlessly.

    Yoongi did a double take. "You what?"

    Taehyung rushed over to them. "Master, how could you do that?"

    "I had to," Namjoon replied as coldly as before.

    "Because he loves him," said Jimin. It was some time before anyone spoke again.

    "Then why are we not human...?" Taehyung's voice was a pained whisper.

    "Because he doesn't love him in return." Yoongi's normally stern tone was clouded with emotion. "And now it's too late."

    "But he might still come back," Hoseok said hopefully. Everyone glanced at him, then at the rose.

    "No," Namjoon said with finality. "I set him free. I'm sorry I couldn't do the same for all of you. Go. Our time is almost past."

    Taehyung gently wrapped a metal arm around Hoseok. It would be the last they'd ever feel of each other.

    Namjoon was alone once again.

    Once upon a time, there was a man with the world in his hands.

    He was the master of his fate. Solitude was his cloak. Darkness embrace him, and he embraced it with open arms.

    He needed no one in the world but himself. The world told him he was a monster both inside and out.

    Once upon a time, Kim Seokjin brought light into his pitch black world.

    He opened his heart to him, more than he had for anyone.

    He's there.

    He's still there.

    For as long as Namjoon wastes away in his tower, the memory would never escape him. Seokjin was just as much a part of him as his rose. That awful, cursed rose.

    He could fool himself. Tell himself that Seokjin would walk through his doors once again. That they would have their fairytale ending.

    Namjoon was never one to trust lies.

    The last petal would fall. The dark would loom in once more. The memory would torture him.

    Though they would never be together, he could dream.

    He would wait for evermore.

    For who could ever learn to love a beast?