BTS Kidnapped

Part Fifty-Two

Over the course of the next two weeks Bangtan's new owner sent competent and capable medical staff to treat the injured and ill. With strong medicine and breathing treatments Jungkook was coming back to himself, pulled back from the brink and while nobody said it, everyone knew it.

Taehyung had been given a clean bill of health by the mouse of a man Sven had referred to as a doctor, but had been told that his shoulder would always be stiff and would ache when cold. He still favored it, that shoulder, and especially his ribs. He feared he always would.

Hoseok's leg had sustained additional damage, but after being properly stitched and set, it was healing. No one wanted to talk about the likelihood that there was lasting damage, but none of them thought he would walk away without a limp, a hitch, a ruined career... not really.

The guys had heard several times that time healed all wounds, and while physically all of them were better than they had been in some time, mentally they were still in pain - traumatized by the never-ending games their captors played, Bangtan had stopped wondering when they would be safe and had started wondering when they would succumb to the evil that now inhabited their minds, each of them counting the ways they had changed in silent mourning.

It was quiet the morning Sven's guards came for Taehyung, had been quiet for some time. Bangtan had gotten used to being left alone to their own devices, had made peace with the things they were up against.

Jungkook still worried about Jimin, his body seeming to vibrate with it even in the quiet moments, but that could also have been attributed to the pictures only he knew about of himself, his lover, and the man they took to bed. He knew what those pictures could mean to their family and friends and he had chosen to keep it a secret, a vow he had made the night he saw them. Seeing Taehyung healthy and whole, his hair having come in well enough to give a glimpse of what the man used to look like, made Jungkook more grateful than he thought anything could in such a place. He wouldn't ruin that by adding that new stress to his mind. No, he would keep that problem to himself. Would fight for his brothers, his lovers, his friends.

Yoongi was still reclusive but working out of it with the help of his hyung. Jin and Yoongi had always enjoyed a special bond, one that was rarely talked about in the media because it was celebrated behind closed doors. They watched variety shows together, sang off key in the kitchen with reckless abandon, threw together food combinations that made the others gag to think about and enjoyed their concoctions on the steps behind the studio where no fan ever thought to peek. They leaned on that closeness now, Yoongi needing it to pull himself out of his despair and Jin needing it to quell his yearning for what was not to be.

Hoseok and Namjoon orbited each other in respectful silence most of the time. They tried to interact with one another and were successful as long as they didn't get too close. Neither of them wanted it that way - they needed each other more than ever - but Hoseok could still feel Namjoon's teeth on his neck, could still see the strange cruelty in his eyes. And Namjoon, well, he didn't know how to explain what happened, wasn't sure he wanted to acknowledge that he had stepped away, given in to Nineteen and let him touch Hoseok in that way. He was embarrassed that he wasn't strong enough to keep him at bay. He didn't want Hoseok to see the weakness in him.

Mathan was hard at work in the control room, firming up plans and finding out as much as he could about SME and what their involvement could mean for Bangtan Sonyeondan. He was in the middle of a discussion full of hushed words and harsh whispers when Sven's guards arrived at their cell, coming in precisely when Mathan's back was turned... when the men were sitting ducks. The first guard pointed his gun at BTS as he spoke calmly.

"Kim Taehyung, Master Sven requests your company, if you will please come with us."

Yoongi and Jin crowded around Taehyung as Namjoon stepped forward.