▩▩▩ 

the poor little boy stood in the filthy kitchen and desperately pulled the hand of his mother on his hair, and wondered what had happened, and what was going to happen. tears fell from both his lovely eyes whilst violent shivers ran through his lithe body.

"you think i did not know such thing? you clearly have underestimated me and my power, haven't you, dearest?" said the queen.

"I... I-I—" taehyung stammered, shaking all over.

"do you know why i made those rules on you?"

"t-to protect me..." taehyung answered, shudder taking all over his lithe body.

"oh my!" the queen laughed evilly. "you never ceased to amaze me, such a pour, naive soul. it was more than that, actually... guess more, sweetheart."

the queen's tone was as cold as the winter ice as she asked taehyung. "i-i don't know... mother..."

the queen giggled fiendishly. "well, since you still have no idea, i shall tell you. it was quite a long story, so sit still." using her dark magic, the queen managed to gesture a complicated motion from light by her hand to restrain taehyung onto a wooden chair. the poor lad was rooted to the spot, too rigid in surprise of the sudden show.

with a melodious voice, the queen began her story, "once upon a time, far over the misty mountains, cold to valleys deep and caverns old. where men never venture in deep places, where dark things sleep, in hollow halls beneath the fells. a young man in all his glory out of nowhere had come to save me from the ruthless of the darkness. where i had nothing left, even the purpose to live, he turned up to be my light and brought me outside that filthy place.

"just from the first time i saw him, there was something in him that entranced me, and i have come to be attached to him, the very kind man with big heart and soul as brave as the strongest knight. the bond that connected us, it happened not only to me. the destined ones, that's what it's called. we were both very happy at that time. i was also delighted to have hope in my life again. it was like being reborn... that we both were deep in joy. but nature isn't kind, snow white.

"we were too in love that your father had forgotten that he already had your mother waiting in his home. she was having you, sweetie. " she pinched taehyung's cheek, smiling evilly. "then i'd come to think, if your father and i were to meet before your mother had appeared between us, would have we been together.

"but a kind man was your father. he let me live here. but he was too kind that made him so foolish, because as he thought this castle would turn into heaven for both your mother and i, it was only hell. i envied her and she envied me. your father adored her so much. i was blinded by love to you father that i would do anything to have him back. so i made a bargain with the dark side, to have this power that could separate your parents.

"your mother was a pretty thing, just like you taehyung-ah. but as pretty as she was, she was weak. she'd lost before i could've started our battle. i'd encountered this power to fight her, but she gave up just to have you. she died after giving birth to a mistake, a pest, between the special bond your father and I had. the hate i had for her was only doubled because your father only loved you more.

"but i was happy for a while, without another leech sticking to your father. even if he hadn't turned me into his queen, i was so in love to care. i had your father, beauty, and power to conquer the world. but bill comes due, the dark side, as return, asked me to give them my most precious thing. i thought it was beauty that i cared about but it was more than that. your father, they took him away. he sacrificed himself for me because he said, 'who would've taken care of little taehyung-ah. i couldn't lose him after his mother,' that was his last wish for me. once again, i was reminded by the reason that i lost him.

"but i was kind, i spared your life, i raised you, for your father's sake. nothing's wrong had happened in this peaceful life of mine, but then, your prince came. do you know why i am really mad with your little secret, the relationship you have with that jeon?"

taehyung gasped, shocked. "b-because w-we're destined... like you and d-dad..."

a little smirk was present on the queen's beautiful face. "exactly. you've already reminded me so much of your bastard mother, and now you remind me of your father. i never wished to make your life happy, taehyung-ah, but you dare become the consequence of my revenge to your mother!"

"y-you evil! there's nothing good comes from revenging someone!" taehyung cried out. by now his hands and legs had gone red and bruised from his struggles.

"your mother deserved it, you are nothing but a mistake between the special bond your father and i had. it was my own fault for letting you live this far, although i still think to spare you until i find any use of you, taehyung. but you're only giving me more troubles.

"now you can see, if you had obeyed the rules, you wouldn't have met jeon and you would live longer under my care."

"i would rather die than not meeting jeongguk at all!" taehyung bawled.

"oh, feisty. i could've made you perish right now, sweetheart, but i have more brilliant solution. what do you think about separating a destined pair? wouldn't that be lovely? like what you mother did to me?"

"you cannot!" taehyung shrieked, paling. "jeongguk will fight to have us together! do not ever underestimate him!"

the queen only laughed aloud as reply. "you are the one who underestimates this power, my dear snow white," she said. "how would your prince charming fight for you if he didn't even remember you?"

"w-what? what did you do to him?!" taehyung was feeling positively flummoxed, and was beginning to lose himself with the wretched truth the queen was about to tell.

"poor, poor snow white," the queen only cooed. "you'll die ugly if you stay mad. there's nothing you can do to save him."

"you're such a demon!"

"doesn't anyone have their own demon inside? now for the punishment time, I've decided one for you." the queen used her magic again to pull taehyung closer and put him into a wooden, dirty cell which was used to be a pig stall long time ago, just next to the garden, locking him inside.

"you can't do this to me!!" taehyung continuously bawled. "let me bloody out! dad trusted you! you cannot do this to me!" the old door rattled with his pulls yet the queen put no mind to it.

the queen said, "you can take a rest for as much as you want now, sweetie. no more works given, isn't that nice? maybe for ever."

holding the trellis with anger, taehyung said, seething, "what you did to mom, dad, and me... you've done nothing but violating the nature law. the bill always comes due. there will always be price to pay. you shall have your consequences of your action."

"oh, snow white, i really thought you have potentials to be powerful like i am if only you were not to be blinded by love."

"it's what makes me strong and hopeful. gukkie will come to me," taehyung spat, determined.

as of now, the dark had come into the cramped cell from the little window that opened in the side of the hill; the firelight flickered—it was October—while the shadow of the two figures wagged against the wall.

the dark filled all the room, and the fire died down, and the shadows were lost, and still they stood on their feet in tranquil.

"dear, I've experienced love myself. it was as painful as having a living death. it's what makes you weak. power and beauty are what one's desired to have to conquer everything. i am doing you a favour by separating you from the love of your life. be grateful. that boy of yours may not be living by now."

▩▩▩

"don't you think that this fight is useless?" a young man said exasperatedly, standing in the middle of the forest. he watched as the other two men fought with their swords not too far from him. he perused the sight around him, as the darkness almost blinded their eyesight, he caught a little cottage on the corner of his eyes.

a young man with hair as dark as the night sky and big dark eyes as deep as the depth of the ocean held his position with sword pointed on the heart of his rival. "i shan't stop until i defeat you. then you will tell me who bloody you are," he panted but still went on.

"look, we've told you we are as clueless as you," another young man, but with skin as pale as winter snow spoke. with great reflex, he dodged the powerful attack the ravenette threw him at.

again the boy hailed them in a loud voice: "Who are you, and of what would you parley?"

the pale man gritted his teeth, holding his sword. "i go by yoongi, it's the only think i can know of myself." now these were fair words and true, if proudly and grimly spoken; and the pale man thought that his rival would at once admit what justice was in them. he did not, of course, expect that he would immediately stop attacking him, he was ready for another battle yet it was a fact he realised that the boy was a lot stronger than him, that he better put an end soon in case the boy's raw power could break both his hands; and that was just as well,for no one ever did want to happen. "and tell me who you are," he asked the ravenette.

the boy was clearly unsatisfied with the response but fortunately, he pulled his sword and slumped his shoulders in great sadness. "i am jeongguk."

yoongi raised an eyebrow, and the boy named jeongguk only shrugged bitterly. they both sighed in defeat.

then another young man who tried to separate them before suddenly approached them. "now that you guys have civilized, listen to me," the young man said. "i'm namjoon and i'm as lost as you both are. i figured we came together here as i saw many hoofs around before something clearly happened. the horses must've gone and left and we have no shelter whilst the night had come. i believe 'when there's life, there's hope', you won't solve anything if you try to kill each other. now come follow me to that little cottage, where the others had come for a check."

"the others?" jeongguk asked, lost.

"yes, the others," namjoon said. "they call themselves hoseok, jimin, and seokjin. this is the only way to stay safe from the dangerous of the forest. now off you both go, stand up!"

and thus, they walked into the cottage with wary. but it was fortunate for them that the cottage was as empty as their memories. the place looked like it was left by a kingdom family and that meant great comfort and lots of opulent things inside. it had a very tall and solid wooden door, painted green, with a shiny golden knob in the exact middle. the door opened on to a small hall: a very comfortable room, with paneled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats. and many little doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries , wardrobes (with lots of clothes), kitchens, dining room,all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. the best rooms for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river. it was indeed a lovely place.

after admiring the cottage, the young men agreed to venture to the kitchen and discovered that lots of food were obtainable, stacked neatly on buffets. they scuttled off to the cellar to fill pints of beer-mugs, and then to a pantry to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes and food like cheese, vegetables, bread, and meat to the table. and as they sat round the table, they ate.

in the meanwhile, the young men sat in darkness, and utter silence fell about them. little they ate and little they spoke. they could not count the passing of time; and they scarcely dared to move, for the whisper of the wind echoed and rustled outside the cottage. if they dozed, they woke still to darkness and to silence going on unbroken. at last after moments of waiting, as it seemed, when they were becoming choked and dazed for want of air, they could bear it no longer. they would almost have welcomed sounds from below of the wolves' return from afar but in the silence of their complicated minds amidst the harsh questioning reality that stuck them, they feared some cunning devilry of the reason behind this problem, but they could not sit there for ever.

▩▩▩

taehyung huddled with knees on his chest and tears falling on them. the birds and rabbits must have sensed his distress while they stayed around him outside the little cell. as the birds sang, the boy felt the love of beautiful things made by nature including the secret of all the magic in the air, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of birds for having been freed and run off with them to explore the world. then something woke up inside him,and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, or anything outside this cell, outside this castle, or outside whatever his stepmother put him through. he looked out of the window. the stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. he thought of jeongguk and his brothers and friends. he thought of the darkness of the forest that gulped them down as they ventured their way to their hometown for justice. he shuddered; and very quickly he was plain, useless, and dirty taehyung again. he got up trembling. he had less than half a mind to go and hide behind the beer-barrels in the corner, and not come out again until the queen had gone away, as if she would have. but suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and the birds and rabbits were all looking at him with eyes shining in the dark.

a little black rabbit jumped, approaching taehyung, a rusty small key on its mouth. taehyung gasped, his skin tingled with euphoria as the little rabbit put the key on his feet where he could reach. he didn't expect the door of the cell would open so easily a few moments later as now he found himself mouthing his teary farewell full of gratefulness to his only friends--the rabbits and the birds.

it was not all hopeless and taehyung knew he got one purpose now, that was to find his home, where jeongguk belonged and save him from the queen before everything was too late. the dark had come upon the land, the wolves howled from afar, and the monsters of the night waited from the depth of night for anyone who willed to be their preys, conscious or not. but still the boy jogged on, never turning round or taking any notice of the castle, into the forest. somewhere behind the grey clouds the sun must have gone down,for it began to get dark as he went down into a deep valley with a river at the bottom. wind got up, and willows along its banks bent and sighed. fortunately the road went over an ancient stone bridge, for the river, swollen with the rains, came rushing down from the hills and mountains in the north.

even the place where taehyung loved to sing and enjoy at, had turned into something petrifying that he had never even dreamed off to walk on at night.