ALADDIN ; BTS AU

ACT I ; SCENE VII

"What do you mean, he's dead?" Miyoung asked. Her voice was quiet, practically being swallowed in the royal hall, and it sounded disconnected from her body as every drop of blood in her veins ran cold. Hansol, her father's royal advisor, patted her shoulder gently. Had she not been feeling absolutely crushed, she would have slapped him off. She had never liked Hansol. His eyes were wandering and malicious, and she felt uncomfortable underneath his scrutinizing gaze.

"He's dead. Hung him up by his neck less than an hour ago for theft and sloth." Hansol said. Here she was, being patted like a lost dog by Hansol as her face paled considerably, her heart feeling ripped into a million pieces. Here she was, heartbroken over a boy she knew, but didn't really know. Jungkook. Jungkook, who saved her life and took her in. Jungkook, who showed her, even if briefly, what it was really like to live outside the palace walls. Jungkook, who was dead. Jungkook, who was dead, and Miyoung couldn't help but feel as if it was her fault.

She thought of the way his eyes glinted with michief and youth, the way he was somehow still hopeful even though his living conditions were far from pleasant. Miyoung remembered the way he gripped her arm as he shielded her from the angry vendor with his own body. She could practically feel the way his breath brushed against her cheeks and almost but not quite taste the tart crispness of apples. The literal ghost of his touch on her skin haunted her. "I'm so sorry, Princess." Hansol said. No, he wasn't. Miyoung was well aware. She knew full and well that Hansol viewed Jungkook the same way her father would: a peasant with a weak work ethic and a waste of space.

"Where's my brother?" Miyoung asked, voice still sounding distant. There were two people in this whole world she wanted to see, and Yoongi was the only one available. Because he was the only one alive.

"Right here." Yoongi's voice pulled Miyoung back into the atmosphere, the clicking of his black dress shoes echoing throughout the great hall. The sight of her brother, pale to the point he was practically translucent, dark hair and dark clothes against sharp features, pouty lips and short frame, was enough to bring her back to reality enough to shake off Hansol's clingy hands. She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him in a bone crushing hug, hanging onto him for dear life. She could feel the wind being knocked out of him, but only squeezed tighter. The reassurance of his own arms clasping around her back made tears spring to her eyes. "Whoa, are you alright? Mimi?" Yoongi asked, putting up with the hug despite not being a very touchy person.

"They killed him. They killed Jungkook." Miyoung cried, clutching the fabric of Yoongi's black dress shirt. Yoongi heard the stuffiness of crying in Miyoung's voice and immediately began to caress her hair, letting his sister dampen his shoulder with tears. He didn't bother to ask who this Jungkook person was or why he was dead. All he saw was his big sister sobbing and gripping his shirt as if her life depended on it.

"Princess, I'm going to request that you cease the dramatics." Hansol spoke up, and Yoongi shot him a look of warning. Miyoung was even easier to upset when she was already upset, and he knew that. Hansol didn't listen. "Your father is not pleased with your little expedition into the marketplace. He'll be here soon with another suitor." Mention of a suitor was enough to spark a burning fire of anger in Miyoung's stomach.

Miyoung turned to Hansol, with eyes blazing and tearstained cheeks. "Do you have no shame? You just killed a man, a kind, sweet man, and you're ready to forget about it? Well, guess what? I'm not going to forget about it, because he's the only person besides Yoongi that hasn't treated me like some kind of prize to be won." She said, her voice soft but firm. "And I guarantee you that whoever my father brings in will be the exact opposite of the man you just murdered. And that's just wrong."

"Good. That's the goal, darling." Hansol sneered, and before Miyoung knew it, her eyes had refilled with tears. "You do realize that you trying to excercise your freedom got street rat killed, right? It wasn't my fault, I was just following orders. The real one at fault is you. He died because of you. You killed him."

"That's more than enough, Hansol." Yoongi intervened, noticing his sister's glassy eyes and quivering lower lip as Hansol's twisted version of reality hit her. His jaw pulsed with anger as he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin arrogantly, embodying the arrogant energy of a prince. "Let the door hit you on the way out. That's an order." He commanded, with just as much sass as usual. Hansol scoffed and obliged, making his way out the door, leaving Yoongi and Miyoung alone in the hall so huge that it practically swallowed them whole.

Yoongi turned, dropping the prince facade and letting his dark eyes reflect the sorrow Miyoung practically radiated. Even though he knew it couldn't have been her fault that someone died, Miyoung was in such a state of hysterics and fragility that she believed Hansol's every word.

"Miyoung noona, don't listen to him. He's an pretentious asshole with an inferiority complex." Yoongi said, resting his hands on Miyoung's shoulders.

"No, Yoongi." Miyoung shook her head. "He's right. If I hadn't been in the marketplace, I wouldn't have met Jungkook and I wouldn't have led the guards straight to him. He wouldn't be dangling from a rope in the gallows right now if I'd have just followed the rules." Yoongi gasped at his sister's morbidity. "I killed him."

"You didn't, Miyoung. You have not an ounce of responsibility for his death. If anything, I'm at more fault than you. I would never have sent the guards looking for you had I known this would happen." Yoongi explained. At his final words, Miyoung's blood ran cold in her veins.

"You sent them?" She whispered, unable to find the strength to speak properly. Yoongi nodded.

"Yes. It was late, and you weren't back. I was worried." He admitted, dropping his eyes to his feet. Disappointment and anger and betrayal surged through Miyoung all at once.

"How could you?" She cried, the tears that had been brewing in her eyes finally pouring down her cheeks again.

"Miyoung, I was worried about you." Yoongi defended himself. Miyoung knew he was right, and that she was being irrational, but she was too out of her right mind to care. All she could think about was Jungkook's warm smile, and how she would never see it again. All she could think about was the one person who didn't treat her like an objet or a lapdog or a fragile little girl, and now she had no one. Not even Yoongi, in her mind.

"I trusted you." She said, voice nearly inaudible. Yoongi let out a sigh in exasperation. He reached for her hand, but she jerked away, walking as quickly as she could, running on the fumes of her anger and passive aggression and defeat, and leaving Yoongi alone, a small, sad figure being overwhelmed by all the nothingness and silence of a big, empty room.

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