Singularity: A BTS Universe Story

Chapter One: Jin

It's never a good idea to start a story at the beginning. Too much has happened to be able to tell it right. So, we start this story where it matters; at the end. They'll never know that I saw it first, and if I do this right they'll never be here again. All that matters is that I save them, and that we're together.

THE END: FUNERAL

"Where the hell have you been?"

He hit me, and my mouth was filled with blood, my lip split.

The others grabbed him, but I didn't try to defend myself. I stood still, my hands by my side with blood and tears on my face.

"We waited for you." He was calmer now, shrugging off their hands. He glared at me, his own pain temporarily masked by his fury. "Where were you?"

"I'm sorry." The words weren't enough. Nothing could be enough in this moment. "I wanted to be here sooner."

We were gathered in front of the temple, only the six of us. He had no one else but us, and I was late. Always too late.

"We tried to wait," Ji-min was pale, eyes haunted. "We couldn't..."

"No, we were here when we should have been." Nam-joon was still glaring, flexing his fist, his knuckles scraped from hitting my teeth. He shoved the tears off his cheeks roughly. "Where were you?"

"It doesn't matter now." Yoon-gi was stoic, eyes dry. I knew behind his cool exterior that we was just as wrecked as the rest of us, he just refused to show it. "He's gone. Why does it matter now?"

"Respect," Nam-joon spat. "We're his friends!"

I looked at the five people I cared about most in the world. We were broken now, shattered into too many pieces to survive. "I went to see his sister."

Five pairs of eyes locked on me.

"She deserved to know what happened from me. " I swallowed hard. Our world was irrevocably changed, and the ripples of sorrow were pressing down on me, heavier with every moment that passed. "I had to tell her I was sorry." I had prostrated myself before her, begging for her forgiveness. I knew it didn't matter, really. I would never forgive myself.

"Sorry for what?" Hobi raised his head, hollow eyes meeting mine. "What did you do that we didn't do ourselves? He's gone." A whisper.

"I didn't protect him." I looked from face to face. Heartbroken Nam-joon, stricken Ji-min. Stoic Yoon-gi, silent Jung-kook. Hobi, lost since childhood. "I didn't protect any of you."

"You're not responsible for us, Seok-jin." Hobi touched my shoulder gently. "We are who we are."

I looked up as the temple bells began to ring. The courtyard was empty, save us. A cold wind drifted past, carrying dancing leaves in its wake. Sadness permeated the air. I opened my coat and took out the single perfect orchid, petals white as snow.

"Where did you find that?" Ji-min caressed the petals gently, eyes wide.

"I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it." I wiped the blood off my lip. "Whatever it takes." A drop of blood landed on the orchid, staining it. A symbol of us, I thought suddenly. Our innocence gone.

"It's too late." Nam-joon shook his head and turned his back on us, walking away.

"He's right," Yoon-gi said quietly. "You can't fix it this time." He touched my shoulder and looked at the others. "Let's go."

I watched the best friends I had ever known walk away, drowning in the sorrow of a loss that none of us knew how to handle.

In the temple I saw the shrine that they'd made, and I was crying again. We didn't have a proper picture of him, so the snapshot of our beach trip sat on top. Smiles and laughter back then, with no idea of the tears that awaited us.