Daechwita

13

In the last meeting with the parents Hoseok's father didn't show. Namjoon's father was on a battlefield somewhere too, so he didn't show either. But the guys and mood was sensibly lighter than last time. That didn't escape Jin's father. "I am guessing you all grew closer already? Any news on who would be the next king?" Jin smiles. "I am pretty sure we all agree on Yoongi, but he seems to support Sa Hoon, strangely enough." The father raises an eyebrow. "Really now? This is interesting. And confusing. Are you close to both of them?" Jin's eyes twinkle. "You could say that. Yeah. I guess we are." "Excellent. Keep up the good work." He pats Jin kindly on the shoulder.

Jungkook receives gifts and more from his father. Jimin takes a seat with them too. At first the father smiles. Then suddenly his face drops and then he carefully smiles again. He pats Jungkook on his arm and closes his eyes while nodding in approvement. He continues to pat Jimin too. Smiling warmly. When they say goodbye he hugs both of the boys close.

They join the others, who enjoy the free time in the garden. Yoongi is half sleeping in the half shade of a tree while being in it. Namjoon and Hoseok are leaning against the tree, arms crossed. Taehyung, Jin and Sa Rah are sitting in the grass. "Hoseok hyung, your mom and sister are doing well, they are fine in their new life. Also, my father approved of us." He grabs Jimin's hand and looks lovingly at him. The others are surprised. Not at the news, but rather at the sudden outing. They knew something was going on between them, even a blind person could see that. Namjoon and Yoongi are averting their eyes, shocked at how brazen the new couple is. "My father was a bit scared but he has seen the world. He is an amazing warmhearted person and has open mind." "We can see you are a son of your father." Jin concludes. After all their bunny is just the same. He gets up and ruffles through both the younger males' hair. And hangs over their shoulders. They all laugh at this remark and the day is just perfect. None of them worried about the impending future and harsh reality that was about to be thrown onto them. Hard.

They had to work among the villagers. An internship of some sorts. Because the choice would eventually lay with the people as per the late king's wishes. So they got divided. Yoongi and Sa Rah are thrown in the north of the city. Namjoon and Jin in the west. Jungkook and Hoseok in the south. Jimin and Taehyung in the east. They are not to contact each other and have a room in a local inn.

In the north they had a lot of problems with tugs and thieves. Yoongi kept his make up off since there were no eyes on him anymore in the palace. Sa Rah patrolled a few times with him. On their last evening Sa Rah is Helping a girl carrying some rice to her home. Suddenly they are surrounded by thugs. She fought them off, and when they saw they couldn't win from her, one of the thugs grabbed the girl and held a blade at the girl's neck. "Throw down your sword or she dies." Sa Rah has not other option but to surrender. She gets hit in the back of her head. They took the girl too to avoid a scene. When she comes by, she opens her eyes in a stable. She wriggles to get herself free. She can see traps and more in the stable. "Will he come?" "He will. I left enough clues. If he enters here we got him." The guy laughs evil. Sa Rah sees the men who are hiding coating their swords with a substance. A whiff of the smell passes her and her eyes opens wide. It's nightshade! Extremely poisonous when in contact with blood. She is panicking. He should not come. But the girl beside her is whimpering and crying. Her eyes are furious at the thugs. Suddenly she sees them on the move. "He's here!" They prepare for the attack.

Yoongi enters the stable. He looks around and is cautious. Something is wrong. It's too easy. He sees Sa Rah tied up. She is moving her head in weird ways. She is crying at her helplessness because she can't warn him. So she points to where they are hiding. Yoongi luckily notices it and looks around without moving his head. He walks forward towards Sa Rah but she starts to moan again and looks at the floor in front of him and then in his eyes and shakes her head. Yoongi retracts his steps and at seeing how he doesn't land on their trap, they decided to get in the offense instead. All the thugs appear out of their hiding places and attack. After Yoongi dodging the initial attacks, Sa Rah seems to moan again. He jumps and lands on his knee and 1 hand on the floor, holding his sword behind him to protect his back. He makes a way, avoiding the trap to her and pulls the mouth sash down. "THE BLADES ARE POISONED!" Yoongi nods and is even more cautious now. He fights them off, but there are too many. Suddenly one attacks Sa Rah and she quickly turns herself in a sweet hope and... He cuts her free instead of cutting her. Her hands move fast as she opens the ties at her feet. Yoongi fends that guy away from her, giving her time to recover. She helps the girl and shouts "Yoongi, a sword please!" Yoongi swiftly unarmed a thug and throws the sword at Sa Rah, who catches it swiftly and starts to help him. When it's almost over, one of the thugs throws a dagger at the girl. Sa Rah notices and in a whim she reaches out her hand to divert the dagger, and it scrapes past her lightly. The girl runs out but can still hear Sa Rah say "M-Min Yoongi!" before she leaves.

Yoongi looks behind him at Sa Rah, and sees her hand bleeding. By the time he looks back at her face, he can see her eyes turn up and she sinks to the floor. He quickly catches her and takes her to the palace again. The others are already back from their boring missions. He kicks the door to the house of Dragon open and Hoseok smiles as he says "Welcome ba-" But he immediately stops at seeing Yoongi carrying a lifeless Sa Rah in his arms. He places her on the bed. "W-what happened?" "She is poisoned." Hoseok looks in a daze, not noticing how Yoongi uses a female pronoun with her. "Go get everyone! At least one of them has to know something!!" Yoongi runs out and Hoseok is stroking her hair. "Stay with me." The others storm in. Namjoon immediately reads her pulse. "It's so slow and weak...She is dying." He opens her top to look for any other deadly injuries and notices the bandages. The others have a shock wave going through them at the sight. Hoseok covers her chest. Taehyung grabs his hairpin and pushes it into her wound. The silver turns black. "It's poison. It's nightshade." He washes his pin and puts it back. It was a gift from his father to make sure no one sneak kills him. 

Jin is boiling water on the fire, not sure if he can help and Jungkook is rummaging through his luggage. He grabs the rubber tube out and ties it firmly around her arm under her armpit. He then asks for a bowl that is being handed to him by Jimin. He places the bowl under her arm and cuts her wrist skillfully. Blood is streaming out and he is wringing it out from her whole arm. The bowl is about half full and it stops bleeding. "Okay, now I need all of your help. I need to be quick. I need someone to give blood and someone to burn the wound." Hoseok steps forward for the blood, and Yoongi drops his sword in the fire. "Everyone ready?"  He unties the rubber tube and takes a dagger. He skillfully cuts her elbow pit and pushes the tube in. He then gets up and cuts quickly into Hoseok's arm, who is standing up so it can flow down. He pushes the tube in and feels a warmth in the tube. The blood is flowing. Yoongi presses his hot sword onto the cut in her hand, thus cauterizing the wound. Jungkook smiles relieved and keeps Hoseok in check. After about 5 minutes he asks Jin and Namjoon to put pressure to the wounds the moment the tube is going to be pulled out. As he pulls out the tube they do as told. Jungkook asks Namjoon to check her pulse again. He grabs her wrist. "Her pulse is still weak but it's faster this time." Jungkook notices a purple haze on her lips. "The poison is still inside her, but most of it is in the bowl. She also got fresh blood now, so the poison is less concentrated. But it is still in her, and it could make her breath stop at points."

He looks at Hoseok "She will need breathing from someone else when it happens. If she survives the night, she will live. If not..." he pauses and the others all know what is next. "Then we have one competitor less." Taehyung says but it was unnecessary. Hoseok goes to lay next to her and places his hand on her stomach, monitoring her breathing. He softly strokes her hair with the other hand while leaning on his elbow. They notice in his eyes that she means more to him then just a roommate. They address the elephant in the room. "So Sa Hoon is a woman?" Namjoon is surprised at it. Yoongi tells them the full story. "So that's why you have been supporting her to get the throne." Jin looks enlightened as if all the pieces of the puzzle fall together. "Keep this a secret guys." Hoseok asks them begging. His hand stopped moving. He leans over her and places his lips on hers and blows in the air. His hand rises again and then goes down. He doesn't blow anymore, and she is breathing on her own. Yet he doesn't take his lips off of her. He is crying and the tears are falling on her face, while he is still having his lips on hers. They can see he is kissing her. They all leave them in private, so that if she dies, he can properly be with her in her last moments. The last thing Yoongi sees is Hoseok cupping her head while crying and leaning his forehead against hers.

That night all houses are hugging each other, taking their lovers in their arms. Praying for the best.