Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In the middle of a vast forest lies a nearly forgotten village, so old, even the elders of the inhabitants can not remember how their ancestors once got here, the origin not written down in any of the history books found in their library. Completely surrounded by trees and cut off from any other form of civilisation, the villagers founded their society, making the best of the resources they can have. With a growing history and an even faster growing population, the people managed to create a small town it is worth living in. In theory, they have everything they need in this little world belonging just to them, all controlled by the chosen mayor. He is fairly new in this position, considering the old mayor resigning just three years ago because of his advanced age. He was a good leader, but a few hundred years from now, people will barley remember him any more, seeing that he didn't bring out any major accomplishments for the village. People will still know his name though, but not because of who he was, but his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather was mayor once too, and till this day worshipped as one of the best. He was the one who divided the village into five districts.

District number one is in the middle of the village, right where the house of the mayor and the great square can be found. Nowadays the square and the small wooden stage in the centre of it are used for the weekly market and a few shows performed by young students or sometimes for announcements or celebrations. Originally though, the stage was build as a gallows to deal with people disobeying any rules of the village, but it's been a long time since the last man was killed on it. Officially the law still has a death penalty established for the worst criminals, but since seventy four years ago a court was introduced into town, nothing so bad has ever happened that someone had to be executed because of their actions.

The courthouse, together with a school, a hospital, a police station, the library, a church and buildings of similar use are put together into the second district. It is surrounding district number one like a belt, protecting the main part of the village.

District number three is relatively close to the second one, but not as put together. It's the district where the villagers are living. Houses and houses next to each other or a bit separated, depending on what the house owner likes. Nevertheless, except for the mayor and his closest relatives and employees, who live in the house in district one, all the others are living in district three. Not having a lot of possibilities of single families or workers to come to great fortune, all people share the same life, the same income, making it worthless to separate the town into a rich and a poor part. This being a bit sad, knowing one could never have a better life, no matter how hard you work, it also brings a positive effect, seeing that there are no homeless people and no poverty in the village. At least not more poverty as all the inhabitants are sharing, seeing that indeed all of them have to work hard to survive.

Most of them are working on farms to provide the food for the village as good as they can, depending on the season and the weather. Those farms, either of plants or animals are put into district four. Probably the biggest of the ring like districts, considering their purpose. And where the districts before were connecting to the others, district four is a bit further away from the third one, just so that people don't get distributed in the nights by animal noises and smells coming over. Also the range of the fourth district is having the positive effect of it separating the parts where the villagers are living from the forest and district five.

District five forms the last and outer ring of the village connecting it to the forest. Here one can find guards patrolling and young men getting trained to become soldiers. And all of that because of the forest.

The forest. Enormous and impenetrably.

If it wouldn't be for these woods, the citizens of the village would have left a long time ago, but everyone who steps foot into the forest gets relentlessly murdered. Murdered by the beast of the forest. Murdered by what they call, simply, but not less frightening: V.

Jungkook, a young villager, had his very own connection to the feared upon forest.

When he was six years old he got into a bad argument with his mother. Not thinking straight and just wanting to get away form her, he ran right into the forest, hearing the screams of some soldiers behind him, but not caring. He is too angry, too stubborn to turn around. He just wants to be alone and sulk. They can yell after him all they want, he won't turn around.

At one point, when his legs already started hurting from running, the screams not longer be heard, he came to a small stream and decided to sit down on a big stone and take a rest. With one hand resting under his chin, a pout on his face, he aimlessly started kicking small stones into the water.

His anger slowly starts dissolving when he can hear his fathers voice in the distant. He looks up and there he can see the older man, “Daddy?” he asks, a bit confused why this seems like such a rare situation. It's strange seeing his father here, in the middle of the forest, but Jungkook can't quite seem to catch on why he never saw his father surrounded by so much green before.

His father is frantically running towards him, pushing back leaves from each of his sides as they get into his way. Jungkook is not moving and just waiting for his dad to come closer, he is still confused about why his father is making such a big deal out of him running away. He was just sulking for a bit in the forest, it's not like he would have never come back.

His father is only a few feet away from him and Jungkook already makes up some apologies inside his head, when a long tongue is licking over his cheek.

Jungkook's breathing stops. His eyes, now big and wide, are still looking at his father, who has a horrified look on his face, not daring to move. A cold shiver runs down his spine and Jungkook starts shaking lightly when he slowly, as his body doesn't allow him any greater action in his fear stated condition, turns around.

In front of him is a monster, so close everything Jungkook can see is his face. A horrendous red brown face with black long eyes is staring back at him.

Jungkook would have wanted to stare some more, but this must have been the moment his body decided to kick in his flight instinct, as he turns around again quickly, trying to get away from the unknown being.

He doesn't come fast as he stumbles over a stone and falls right into the small stream he was sitting at before, scratching up his knee and having some of his blood drip into the water.

But Jungkook is quick to jump back up onto his feet, no time to cry over some blood. His father is close enough to him by now to grab his son by his wrist to pull him further away from the monster.

They make it two steps before Jungkook falls down again. This time though, it's not his own fault. Claws ripped along the skin of his lower leg and the boy lets out a pain struck scream, still holding on to his father.

The man lets go of his sons wrist to jump right at the creature, pushing it off of Jungkook.

All Jungkook sees is the sinister mask, white fur, long fingernails and blood.

So much blood.

Then his father yells, “Jungkook! Run!”

And that's what the young boy does. As quick as his small legs can carry him, he hurries, a bit unsure about the right way, out of the forest, where is mother, older brother and a few soldiers are already waiting.

He is a crying mess when he throws himself into his mother's arms.

As the minutes pass, they all continue staring into the forest, fear visible in their tear filled eyes. But the father and husband never comes back out of the forest.

It's the day that Jungkook decided to never step foot back into the woods.

A few years later, Jungkook has become a handsome young man of the age of 19 by now, he and his best friend Jimin are carrying some water from one of the stone wells back to their houses. It's not an uncommon task for either of the boys as they both choose the road of becoming a nurse rather than the one of a soldier.

They call it a tradition, but obligation would be the better fitting term, at least Jungkook thinks so. After you turn sixteen, everyone has to serve the village by either getting trained as a soldier in the fifth district, getting schooled as a field worker or learning how to tend to sick and injured people. Of course there are exceptions, but if your father isn't a priest or a baker himself, everyone should do good by sticking to the 'tradition'.

Jungkook doesn't mind though. He is happy learning about helping people, treating people and as long as he doesn't have to get to close to the forest, he can't complain about his job.

Especially when seeing how everyone who comes back from the forest is close to death...or, well, doesn't come back.

It's been years since the villagers have been trying to break out, maybe kill the beast, and have the whole population start a new life with less restricted resources. But so far it doesn't seem they even stand a chance.

The reason for that is V. Every soldier who makes it out of the forest alive tells worse stories about the beast. Some say he has long dark horns, others say that his teeth are sharp and white, and yet others talk about his long black nails. But on thing, they can all agree on, is that V is entirely deathly.

Not that Jungkook wouldn't know that already.

“Your brother will be send out tomorrow again, right?” Jimin asks Jungkook as they tip the buckets filled with water out.

“Hmm,” Jungkook nods, he doesn't like to speak about, would wish that his brother would have chosen another path as well.

But that was never an option, since the day their father died in the forest, his brother, eleven at that time, it was clear to him that he wanted to get revenge for their loss by killing the beast.

“Ahh, don't worry, your brother is strong,” Jimin tries to reassure him, but they all know that no one is as strong as the monster inside that forest.

Jungkook couldn't deal with loosing another person to the beast. First his dad, then his mum, who might not be dead, but started hating Jungkook so much after the incident when he was six, that Jungkook can easily count her as a loss, and sooner or later his brother. He is just glad that Jimin is not out training in district five.

The following evening Jungkook finds himself at the edge of district three. He is not about to get any closer towards the forest than necessary, waiting for his brother and his corps to arrive back from the woods.

They went into the dangerous place with eight soldiers, two come back.

The two are heavenly wounded, but Jungkook still has a tear of relief slipping out his eyes, when he sees that one of those two is his brother.

Jungkook himself tends the second soldier, as he is the one who needs treatment more urgently. He has a lot of open wounds who need attention, and Jungkook just takes out a needle to stitch him up, when the guy is throwing himself at Jungkook.

And then all is happening very fast. The dude bites into his arm, Jungkook and him stumbling to the ground and Jungkook lets out a scream of pain, soldiers coming run into the room and harshly taking the mad man away. The guy is not letting himself be manhandled easily as he howls loudly and tries to bite some of the others. The next second someone points a gun at him and Jungkook has just enough time to look away before a shot can be heard and then the sound of a body crashing into the floor.

The wound on Jungkook's arm is hurting, even after putting some herbals onto it, the pain just doesn't seem to fade at all, but this is not the young mans biggest concern right now.

He can hear the others talking about the situation, about him.

“He bit him.”

“You think he will turn crazy, too?”

“There is a chance.”

“But there is also a chance that he won't.”

“Listen, he is just one guy, we loose five kids like him every day in the forest, one more won't hurt anyone.”

“I think he is right. It would be a waste of soldiers to have someone watch over him and we clearly can't leave him without any supervision wandering inside the village.”

“So it's decided?”

“But who should do it?”

“Let his brother do it.”

“Wow, wait a second, man, isn't that too cruel? Jeon is a good guy.”

“But he brought back the diseased guy, should have just left him in the forest.”

“Yeah, but-”

Jungkook heard enough. As quietly as he can he sneaks out of the hospital and through the darkness of the village, only a few lanterns guiding him his way.

There is not much he could do right now. Say goodbye to his mum? Jimin? His mum might not even care, Jimin would cry too much.

So his decision is simple.

Jungkook just finds himself at the edge of the fourth district. He takes another deep breath before taking a step onto the sand ground. The last time he's been in district five was when he was six. But his decision is simple.

He goes even closer towards the forest, he made sure none of the soldiers are watching this part at the moment, they are just not enough to guide every quarter at all times.

“Jungkook!” A yell comes from behind him and as he turns around, Jimin comes running towards him.

“What are you doing?”

Jungkook sends him a small smile, but by the tears that are already running down Jimin's face, the boy must already know about his choice.

“There is really nothing I can do, Jimin, they want me dead, so I'm going into the forest. I'd rather be killed by some beast than by my own brother...and also, this way it will be my decision. It's that simple.”

“Please don't.” Jimin sobs, but both boys know that it has to end this way. Jungkook doesn't say anything else and Jimin crashes himself onto the younger into one last, messy hug.

When they pull apart, Jimin is still crying heavenly, but Jungkook can't find himself to do the same. It's seems to unreal to him, that he can't bring himself to truly understand his next actions. And maybe it will be better this way.

He pushes Jimin further away and then he turns around and walks into the forest.

This is how Jungkook finds himself wandering through the dark forest. He can barley see where he is going, sometimes stumbling over a stone or a root. But that's not what is having him shaking in fear. Every sound he hears has him turning heads, afraid to be faced by V. But it never shows up.

After Jungkook walked so deep into the forest, the lights from the village vanished from his sight a long time ago, Jungkook decided to sit down. There is not much he can do than wait for his death. He leans his back against a tree, pulls his legs up to his chest and holds them there with his arms. He makes himself as small as possible and if a few tears slip out of his eyes, nobody is there to witness.

He continues sitting in one place for minutes, maybe hours, but still nothing happens. No one, nothing, is attacking him. The wound on his arm is still hurting, but that's as much as his physical discomfort goes.

And without a further care, at one point Jungkook falls asleep.

A rustling sound is what wakes Jungkook up the next day. He slowly opens his eyes, the sunlight hitting his eyes so brightly, Jungkook can barley remember it ever being so radiant. His back hurts and he starts moving his body a bit, he really fell asleep while sitting against a hard tree.

Then he hears another rustling sound and all of a sudden everything comes back to him.

He is in the cursed forest.

Jungkook quickly stands up, his legs a bit shaky from the unpleasant sleeping position he spend the night in. But that's not of importance right now, what comes as truly shocking to him is that he is still alive. He made it trough a whole night without the beast attacking him.

Suddenly Jungkook hears another noise from behind him and he spins around quickly, but again, there is nothing, when he turns his back around, panic rises inside him.

There, only a few meters away from him, is the monster, sitting in a crouching position, looking right at him.

It has somewhat a human body, expect that where his head is supposed to be is a brownish mask with some red and white painting over it, only two small slits for eyes and no mouth? Jungkook wonders.

But other then that? He has a very human like body. Even his hair, a blondish colour, is not completely unheard of in the human world.

His upper body, naked with only two red (blood?) handprints over his muscled chest and a white fur hanging from his shoulders down to his thighs. A necklace of what seems to be small long bones is hanging around his neck and a floral like dark green tattoo is gracing his left arm. His lower parts are hidden by nothing but a leather loincloth.

Jungkook is still staring in a mix of shock and awe when the figure is slowly lifting itself up, taking a step closer towards the village boy.

Jungkook doesn't know what to do, how to act. Even if he would be able to get out of his shock like state, it wouldn't make much sense running away, knowing from not only stories but first hand experience that the creature is way too fast for him to ever run from.

So he just stands there, looking at the so called beast, at V, when it comes closer and closer to him, until it is standing right in front of Jungkook.

It's only a bit bigger than Jungkook himself, so when he is looking at the others face and at those dark slits, he had thought to be the monsters eyes, he can actually make out two beautiful brown eyes from behind them, looking right at Jungkook.

They continue to stare at each other for a bit longer, Jungkook marvelling at the beasts unexpected beauty. For a moment he forgets everything around him, forgets that this person has killed so many people of his village. He feels like he is in a different world, with no one else but the two of them surrounded with what could only be described as a paradisal nature.

Jungkook is in such a daze, he is taken by surprise when the beast grabs his arm in a speed, even if Jungkook would have been prepared for it, there would have been nothing he could have done to prevent it.

All he can think now, as the monster is gripping his arm tightly, already hurting him with just this grasp, that this is the end. This is how he will die.

So Jungkook closes his eyes in fear, accepting his fate as this is why he came into the forest in the beginning.

But then something else happens, instead of ripping his arm off, biting into his skin, or whatever else he expected the beast to do, it just rubs over his wound on his arm. Jungkook can't but hiss at the feeling, opening his eyes up again to be met by the piercing gaze of the other again.

This time, their eye contact doesn't last for long, as the creature turns around, never letting go of his arm, and pulling Jungkook behind him further into the forest. He is hurrying through the woods in such a fast pace, Jungkook is more stumbling behind him than actually walking, but with the strong grip on his arm, there is nothing he can do then follow V.

Jungkook gets pulled like this for what can't be more than five minutes, when they reach a huge tree with a huge hole in the lower side, creating a kind of den in which Jungkook can immediately make out some furs and bones lying inside.

This must be the creatures home or nest or whatever. But why did it bring him here?

The beast lets go of his arm to hurry inside the den and seemingly looking around for something. Jungkook can't do anything but just watch his actions, he is still to afraid of even trying to run away. All he can think of his how the monster must have had a good reason to bring him here. Is it to keep him as a snack for some future craving? All he wanted was quick death, was that too much to ask for?

When the creature comes back out of the tree cave, he is holding some kind of plants in his hands and as he steps closer to Jungkook, he lifts up what was only a mask, as the scared boy has already figured, which doesn't mean he was prepared for what he sees now.

Underneath the mask, which is now resting on the top of the others head, was hidden the face of a man. A really attractive man at that. His face is still painted with red and black around his eyes, making him look a bit dirty, a bit wild, but so hot. And Jungkook can't believe he has those kind of thoughts about the man, because he really doesn't seem like a real monster, who killed hundreds of soldiers.

His eyes stare right into Jungkooks soul as he takes the dark green leaves into his mouth to chew on them, stepping back into the others personal space, before spitting them out and into his hand.

He takes Jungkooks injured arm again and puts the chewed up greens directly onto his wound making the boy hiss in pain again, which earns V to look back into his eyes again with a glare. That gets Jungkook to shut up immediately and just endure the small pain.

V works the plant mix into his wound for a few seconds before he lets go of Jungkook all together. Jungkook watches as the other pulls down his mask again, before jumping at a tree nearby and climbing it up in what seem no struggle at all and before Jungkook can really fathom what just happened, the other is gone and he is left alone.

Jungkook is not sure what he is supposed to do now, he waits for a few minutes, not daring to move, but the other never comes back. So he takes a loser look around.

The forest is really beautiful. There are different colours of green everywhere making Jungkook hate the browns and greys of the village, a small stream right next to him with light blue water glistening in the sun. He forgot that he saw that before, forgot that water can occur naturally and not just in a well. The air seems so much fresher here. He takes a deep breath. It even smells better. That all shouldn't be confusing to him, seeing as the village is entirely build on a dirt ground, with no plants around, no nature around, but still, Jungkook wouldn't have thought of the forest being this breathtaking. This amazing.

And maybe, he thinks, just maybe, it's not that bad that he is here right now. He might die soon, but for now, he gets to enjoy this magical place when even a life long stay inside the village wouldn't have made him this happy.

With a smile on his face Jungkook walks closer to the stream. He gets down on his knees and puts his hands into the water. It's cold! He starts laughing lightly.

He takes his hands back out of the water and turns around again, his gaze landing on the nest of the so called beast.

He takes a step closer towards it. Inside are a few different coloured furs like he saw before, but some other things. There are bones, sure, but also different kinds of..shells? Jungkook only read about those in books before. He thinks about taking one into his hand, but he doesn't dare to get into the den.

There is other stuff as well, some leaves, flowers in so many colours, a few feathers a bit of cloth lying in the back. Jungkook really wants to inspect it further, but he decides against it and goes further away from the den again. V hasn't hurt him so far, he is not going to provoke him into doing so.

He is not quite sure why he is still alive in the first place. Is this really the V they all fear in the village?

It's seems wrong.

Jungkook then, unsure of what to with himself, as he doesn't want to go wander off into the forest for the same reason, he is not stepping into the others den, pure fear.

So instead Jungkook spends the day lingering around the small clearing, touching some plants, smelling some, playing a bit with the water, at one point he even took of his shoes to put his feet inside. This is such a crazy feeling!

Dusk is slowly approaching and Jungkook is currently trying to pile as many small rocks he fishes out of the stream on top of each other when he can hear a sound behind him. When he turns around, V is standing there and Jungkook is on high alert again, letting the last pebble slip out of his hand as he rises to a standing position himself.

V takes of his mask completely to put it into his little housing, before taking off his white fur and bone necklace as well, leaving him in nothing but some colours, dirt and a leather loath and Jungkook suddenly is highly aware of the others nakedness and averts his eyes from him.

But then V is coming over to him and with a swift motion grabs his arm once again, bring it down towards the stream and putting water over the herbal clothed wound. Jungkook can only watch as V is rubbing over his wound again, rinsing the natural mixture off of him, but this time is doesn't hurt as much.

When all of the plants are washed away Jungkook realizes with big eyes, that his former flesh wound is nothing more than a small scrape. “What..?” He asks more to himself, confused about the outcome.

But before he can wonder more about his healed injury, he once again gets pulled by his arm, this time into the den.

When V lets go of him, he stands there a bit awkwardly not knowing what to do while V himself sits down on a big brown fur. They lock eyes and V points to another fur next to his and Jungkook hesitantly lowers himself to sit down on it, looking at V in question. But the other doesn't seem to realize Jungkooks internal struggle as V just lies himself down.

And..what? What is happening? Are they really just going to sleep? Next to each other?

Jungkook carefully lies down and turns his eyes over to the other who actually has closed his eyes and..is sleeping?

Jungkook doesn't know if he can do the same. But he has to admit, that lying on a fur is a much better sleeping proposition than sitting upright against a tree like he did the night prior. So he closes his eyes in search for sleep. There is nothing much he can do anyway.

But Jungkook doesn't find sleep. To his own surprise though, it's not because a murderous monster is lying next to him, but because the nights in the forest seem to get very cold.

Jungkook puts his arms around himself trying to make himself as small as possible as he is shaking heavenly. He is only wearing a thin sweatshirt and some pants, which do nothing to stop the cold from grazing his body. He knows that the man next to him is wearing way less, but he doesn't seem to be freezing at all.

Actually, Jungkook thinks as his teeth start chattering and he lets out small puffs of air, it's kind of funny, isn't it? How he was so afraid of the monster killing him, when it's gonna be the night, that does it for him.

He is shaking vigorously when he opens his eyes to be taken aback when he locks eyes with the sharp ones of V.

But there is nothing Jungkook can do at this point, survival instincts having taking over. His eyes close again as he holds himself and his breathing is slowly fading out.

But then the other is grabbing him harshly by his hips and Jungkook finds himself wondering if the other will kill him now out of pity.

What he didn't expect though, is V pulling him close to his body and engaging him in a hug. And fuck, he is warm, like really warm. Jungkook can't but snuggle closer into the others chest. And of course that guy doesn't need more than an open hole in a tree, when he is radiating such a strong heat just by himself.

Jungkooks breathing slowly gets back to normal as he takes up as much of the others body heat as he can, two strong arms holding him close and warm from the back. Before he knows it, he falls asleep.

When Jungkook wakes up the next morning, he is still inside the den, the white fur V was wearing around himself the day prior working as a blanket on top of him, but the other no where to been seen.

Jungkook slowly sits up.

He is still alive, that he knows (and doesn't understand).

The 'monster' did not only not kill him, it healed his wound and protected him from the cold.

Jungkook stands up and takes a step out of the den. Again he is taken aback by the beauty of the forest. He can hear birds singing and the water flowing. How did he ever live without having experienced this?

He just takes another step forward when seemingly out of nowhere V comes falling from above right in front of him, once again, too close. Jungkook lets out a short shrill yelp of surprise as he takes a step back. “Don't scare me like this!”

Yeah, because that makes sense to say to a monster. But V just tilts his head.

Jungkook then takes in the others appearance. Today he is not wearing the fur cape as Jungkook was using it as a blanket. The mask is once again on top of his head, showcasing his blond hair. It makes a nice contrast to his tan skin and Jungkook wonders if it's one of his 'weapons', looking this attractive to lure innocent victims into their death. But before he can think further into it, his gaze goes further down, his toned chest still decorated with the same red handprints, a bit smudged today, and Jungkook can't but wonder if it was because of him and their midnight cuddles only a few hours ago. A lot of bracelets made out of shells and other small objects are adorning his arms and legs.

Jungkook can't help but find himself thinking that out of all the things in the forest, V is truly the most beautiful one.

He was so ingested in checking the other out, he didn't even realise that V was holding something in his hands until the other brings it up, showcasing it to Jungkook. In his hands are lying two dead fish. Jungkook is shortly confused but his stomach seems to answer the obvious to him by growling from hunger. It's food.

V then comes even closer, pressing one of the fish into Jungkooks hands before he brings the other up to his own mouth and bites right into it. Does he really want Jungkook to eat this raw fish?

He could try to make a fire, but that would take forever without the proper tools and would V even like that? A fire? He doesn't want the other to think of him as a source of danger. In the end animals don't really enjoy fire close to them and V seems to have a least a few animalistic parts to him.

So Jungkook, with s small smile on his face, carefully holds the fish back out for the other to take. V furrows his brows in obvious confusion and Jungkook just shakes his head trying to communicate his dislike of the raw animal. “Sorry,” he says as V takes the fish out of his hands. He puts it onto the ground before he jumps back up a tree and once again, he has vanished from Jungkooks sight. The boy sighs. He needs some food.

He goes over to the small stream and leans down, gathering some water into his hands and bringing it up to his mouth, drinking the cold liquid. It's nice. Fresh and not salted like he read in a book before, natural water sometimes is. He just goes down for another sip when V appears back next to him, this time three..fruits in his hands? Jungkook has never seen anything like this. They have some similarities with the apples they have in their village, but are bigger, more oval, and the colour is off.

V sits next to Jungkook and puts two of the things between the two of them before holding the third one out for him to take. Jungkook carefully take it into his hands and slowly brings it up to his mouth, while looking at the other in question. When V just nods at him, a small smile on his lips, Jungkook bites into it.

And gosh, if that's not the most delicious thing he has ever eaten in life! It's orange inside and very soft, unlike apples and also very juicy, some of it's liquid running down Jungkooks chin, but the boy couldn't care less. He is too hungry and this fruit is too yummy. So he takes another bite, enjoying it enough to let out a little moan and only when he hears a deep chuckle from beside him he realizes he even closed his eyes, opening them again so see the happy man next to him. He can't but smile back at him. Is he really the monster?

After Jungkook devoured all three fruits (the other declining to eat one as well, when Jungkook offered), he cleans his face and hands with the water of the stream before leaning back on his hands, taking a deep breath and enjoying having a full stomach and sun shining onto him.

When he looks over he sees the other still staring at him with a small smile on his lips so Jungkook returns it.

And then he decides to try something.

“What's your name?”

No answer is coming and the other just tilts his head again.

“Can you understand me at all?” He asks but once again doesn't get an answer.

At least not a verbal one. Instead V slowly comes crawling closer to Jungkook until they are face to face and Jungkooks breath stops for a second. But this time, not out of fear, but because of the sudden close proximity with the other man.

They look deep into each others eyes and Jungkook whispers out a small “What?” But V just continues staring at him with his deep brown eyes and Jungkook can't help a small blush creeping up his face as he feels naked under this piercing gaze.

Then V brings up his hand to the others face and before Jungkook can react, he smudges something wet just underneath his eyes and over his nose in a long horizontal line. And the next second V jumps up and has vanished into the forest again.

What just happened?

Jungkook leans over the water surface to look at his reflection. And there it is, a red line along the underside of his eyes. He painted on Jungkook just like he does on himself and the boy can't but wonder if it holds any meaning.

He sighs and stands up.

With the other gone, there is once again not much left for Jungkook to do, so he decides that this time, he will take a closer look at the forest. Just the little part which he has seen for the last day is so beautiful, he has the strong urge to look at the rest of it.

He doesn't quite know which way he should go, as he is surrounded by nothing but trees and bushes. There is no path which could tell him where to go and maybe it's a bit freaky, but Jungkook enjoys the freedom is holds. In the village, there is no spot he doesn't know, hasn't seen millions of times already, but here everything in foreign. And as much as it should probably scare the young man, it excites him just as much, if not more.

He decides to walk into the direction just behind the den. He doesn't have any sort of orientation at that point, lost it when he was wandering through the dark forest by himself, and being dragged by V for some minutes definitely didn't help his case. So no matter where he goes, he shouldn't feel guilty, for what reason anyway? And still, without even knowing if he is right or wrong, telling himself that is was just a random decision, he can't fool himself when he chooses this way because something in his head tells him that this direction will lead him deeper into the forest and further away from the village.

As unconscious or not this decision might be, it scares him a bit that he rather would stay in this so claimed dangerous forest with a deadly beast than going back to his former village, so he puts this thoughts far away in his brain and decides to do the needed self reflection another time.

He walks for a few minutes, maybe hours? He can't say for sure, he also doesn't care, the only thing he knows right now is that everything around him is wonderful. Everything is colourful. The leaves of the trees are different vibrant colours of green. Flowers of every colour. He even sees a few small animals which he never has seen before. It's crazy but so amazing. When some kind of insect flies right into his mouth and has him choking for a second there, he can only blame himself and his stupid big grin which won't leave his face as he takes in his surroundings.

At one point he can hear rushing of some kind so he hurries to find out what it is, pushing away leaves as he walks along the forest. The sound is getting louder and louder and then Jungkooks breath gets taken away.

After pushing away a few more leaves the sight of a stone clothed hill with a waterfall leading into a small lake opens up in front of him. Jungkook doesn't think he was ever happier than he is right now.

How can a place this wonderful exist right next to where he spend the first twenty years of his life without him even knowing? One single tear rolls down his face, but he swipes it away quickly.

He takes a few careful steps onto the moss grown stones as he listens the the sound of the water falling down and birds singing in the distance. He didn't know water could make such a beautiful sound.

He starts climbing up the stone wall in hopes to get to the start of the waterfall, wants to see where it comes from. It's a bit tricky as some of the stone are a bit slippery from the water next to it, but Jungkook, even though he never climbed up stones, loved climbing the tree they planted in the fourth district. When he was younger, he even cried when they cut the trees that were especially good to climb, his brother comforting him and some lumberjacks laughing at him, because “That's what we planted the trees for, boy. That's what trees are for.”

After a while he manages to come to the top of the stone wall, where a river is going so far into the distance and into the depth of more jungle, that Jungkook can't see the end of it, but knows now that the waterfall is a part of a river.

When he turns around to take a look from his high position over the forest, he is surprised to see his village from here.

It's far in the distance, but not hard to oversee. Where all around it he can only see the top of trees and the blue sky above it, the village looks like a big dirty spot, not fitting into the beauty that surrounds it.

His village... Jungkook takes a seat at the edge of the small hill.

It feels weird looking at it from outside. It's just seems unreal. He could go back. Theoretically speaking that is, as he is healthy. But would they believe him? And even if, how would he explain having survived this long in the forest without any injuries. No, they would most likely kill him. Besides why should he go back? In his village he was a weirdo, not even his mother liked him. His brother is barley home anyway, and most likely...dead soon, as no one survives missions into the forest for long. If you choose to become a soldier, you choose the respect of all and a death within weeks.

There is Jimin, kind and honest Jimin, but even though Jungkook never said anything, he knew that the elder liked him a bit too much. Too much to be friends. With Jungkook out of the picture he might finally be able to live a happy life without him holding the other back any longer.

So he is better staying here, far away from everyone and all alone.

Well, not completely alone, there is V.

The monstrous beast.

But it doesn't seem right to be calling him that as he did nothing but be friendly to Jungkook so far.

The young man sighs once again and lies himself flat on the stone, arms behind his head as the sun is hitting his eyes. He closes them, takes a deep breath of fresh air and then the pleasant sounds of the water and the warm rays of the sun put him to sleep.

The sound of the forest gets him awake again. Jungkook slowly opens his eyes, the sun has already started going down and the air has become colder. Jungkook puts his hands around himself for some warmth as he stands up. He probably should go back to the den, that is if he can find it. He should probably hurry before it gets even darker.

Jungkook just goes over the the spot where he climbed up earlier, when he can hear something rustling close by. He doesn't care that much any more, as he realised on his way here, that the forest isn't silent. It's constantly making sounds.

So he just wants to get down when all of the sudden something jumps right at him, making him fall down, his back painfully hitting the surface of the stone ground.

He lets out a noise of pain, but has no time to focus on it as some wild animal is still sitting on top of him. It looks kinda like one of those cats from the village, but bigger.

Jungkook just wants to push it off gently when the animal takes it claws to slice them over Jungkooks chest, ripping his chest open. Jungkook screams and tries to push the cat off of him with all the strength he can muster. He can barley manage to succeed let alone get up as the pain in his chest is too painful, the cuts to deep. Jungkook catches for breath, a hand put on the wounds in a lose attempt to stop the blood from flowing out of him.

He turns around to see his attacker already in the air, as it's jumping at him once again. But before it can reach Jungkook, something else comes flying at them, pushing the cat away from him. It's V, Jungkook realizes quickly, as the other lands on his feet next to Jungkook, a small stone knife in his hands as he crouches down in front of Jungkook, looking right at the animal with a angered face Jungkook hasn't seem on him before, letting out a deep hiss.

The cat hisses right back at him, but when V takes a step closer towards the animal, it is quick to turn around and run back into the forest.

When V turns his attention towards Jungkook, the boy is still lying on the ground, clutching his chest, and trying to breath. The pain is too much for him and he has seen enough soldiers come out of the forest with blood all over them to know shortly before they collapse and die, to know that it's not a good sign when all you can see when looking down your body is red.

V puts one of his hands onto Jungkooks bloody chest, joining his own and Jungkook looks up at him, pain written all over his face. Their eyes find each other for a second and Jungkook can't deny that seeing the others brown eyes looking at him helps comforting him.

But then V looks away from his eyes again and back onto his chest and in the next moment, he rips Jungkooks shirt open, or what is left of it after the attack. He doesn't know the reason why the other does that, but what he does next surprises him even more.

V brings his head down low and without a warning starts licking all over Jungkooks chest, hurting Jungkook with the touch to his wounds. As he looks down he sees the others face smeared with the red of his own blood, and his last thought is that maybe the other feeds on blood, before everything around him goes black.

Everytime Jungkook wakes up and is once again not in the small bed of his room, but outside, with nature surrounding him, he is confused. He is lying inside the den of the tree he already got acquainted with a fur on top of him.

He slowly sits up, a small headache greeting him as he does. Jungkook groans. It's light outside, but it doesn't seem like the morning sun, but more like it's close to dawn...

and then it all comes back to him. The attack. V. His wound.

Jungkook throws the fur off of him and looks at his naked chest, no indicator of there ever being a wound before. What is going on?

He stands up, his legs a bit wobbly and takes two steps out of the den.

“V!” He yells, but no answer is coming.

“V!” He tries again and this time, he hears a thump behind him. Jungkook turns around and there, right in front of him, close enough for him to feel the others breath hitting his face, is indeed V. Jungkook takes a step back to get a somewhat approximate distance between them.

V is looking at him without concern, his head lightly tilted to one side, not looking bothered at all.

But Jungkook can't deal with that nonchalant behaviour right now. He needs answers. “What happened yesterday? How come I'm still alive”

V only continues staring at him.

Jungkook points at his naked chest. “What happened?”

Again no answer.

Then V comes closer towards him and just when Jungkook thought he might get some sort of physical shown answer from him, the other only puts necklace made of shells around his neck. He smiles at Jungkook.

But this is not want Jungkook needs right now. He is on the edge of going insane. “I can't understand you.” He voices and puts his hands over his eyes, his body lightly shaking. “Why am I still alive?” Jungkook tries one more time, looking at the other, desperation clear in his voice and eyes as he takes his hands away from them again.

This time, V answers with jumping at the tree and climbing it up and away, leaving Jungkook behind.

“Great,” he mumbles to himself and crouches down, not knowing what to do. But before he can sort any of his thoughts, V is already back, this time holding some strange fruits in his hands, holding them out for Jungkook to take. But the boy just shakes his head, “I don't want food, I want answers.”

A few tears slips out of his eyes. “But you can't understand me.” He mumbles into his hands.

V then crouches down next to him, putting one of his big hands onto Jungkooks cheeks, pushing the tears away.

“You were alone. Needed help.”

Jungkook stares at him with big eyes.

“You..you do understand me!”

The other just nods.

“Why did you never talk to me?”

“Words. It's weird for me. I learned your language, but without any human here, I don't talk.”

Jungkook is at a loss of words. He can't believe the other can understand him, they can talk, could talk. He has a deep voice, is one of the first things he notices. It's charming.

Jungkook shakes his head in a try to get his thoughts straight again.

“What..what are you doing here?”

“I'm the god of this forest.”

“The god?”

“Hmm,” the other nods.

“This is so crazy,” Jungkook mumbles to himself. Here he was, thinking that if the other could only understand him, maybe everything would make more sense, but now that they can communicate, he is just that much more confused.

“Is V your name?”

“People have given me many names. You call me V.”

“What do you call yourself?”

“I don't.”

“You..don't..?” Jungkook is confused, “You don't have a name?”

“As I said, I have many.”

“So..what do you enjoy being called then?”

“The forest has named me Taehyung, it's the dearest to me, so I treasure it the most.”

So maybe Jungkook can't get his head around everything this conversation might bring, but he won't let that stop him from asking everything that comes to his mind anyway.

But before he can say something else, Taehyung takes him by the hand and help him up and over to the small stream where he gets softly pushed down again. As they sit there, their feet in the water, Taehyung takes some of the water and brings it close to Jungkooks face. Jungkook needs a second to realize that the other is washing his dried tears away for him.

“I-” Jungkook clears his throat, “Why do you kill the people coming into the forest?”

“Village can't go out. They're evil.”

“I'm from the village,” Jungkook reasons and V, Taehyung, just turns to look at him for a moment before he speaks again.

“You're different.”

“The other monster thought differently.”

“The other?”

“The one before you, I guess. When I was a child I was attacked in the forest.”

“It was always just me.”

“That has been over fifteen years ago,” Jungkook chuckles a bit as he says it but when the other only nods, his laughter dries in his throat.

“You can't be that old.”

“I am a god. I don't age.”

Jungkook just looks at him for a moment. This is all so surreal.

“I remember you,” Taehyung than goes on.

“So you know you attacked me!”

“But I didn't kill you.”

Jungkook nods in what he thinks understanding, “Because my father saved me.”

“Because I didn't intend to,” Taehyung corrects him.

“You hurt me.”

“As a warning.”

“What?”

“To never come back into the forest.”

“But I did.”

“You did.”

“And you still didn't kill me.”

“You're no danger to the forest.”

“But my father was?” Jungkook just has to ask, but Taehyung only looks at him in confusion, so he elaborates, “The man who came to get me when I was a child.”

“He was evil. Killed lots of animals. You never did, never intended to hurt the forest in any way.” With that said Taehyung gets up again, holding out a hand which Jungkook takes and then he gets pulled up, too. Taehyung leads him over to the den, the sky already dark by now.

“Let's sleep.” Taehyung says as he lies himself down onto one of the furs.

“I have more questions.”

“Another time.”

With a little pouts gracing his face, Jungkook lies down inside the den as well just next to the elder.

“Come to me,” Taehyung offers and opens up his arms.

Jungkook hesitates for a moment. It's weird. Now that he isn't afraid of the other any longer, all he can think about is how he is cuddled close to a very attractive but strange man, their naked chests pressed against each other.

But he also knows that if he isn't embraced by the other, he won't survive the night in the cold forest, so he slowly rolls over and puts himself right inside the others arms. Taehyung closes them around him right away, pushing him even closer and fuck, his warmth is so nice. Jungkook puts his hands up against the others strong and warm chest. “How are you so hot?” He mumbles quietly against the skin in front of his lips.

“It comes with being a god,” the other answers

“It's amazing,” Jungkook slurs already about to fall asleep when he feels Taehyung softly caressing his hair.

“Hey, emm, “ Jungkook speaks up once again.

“Hmm?” The other only makes a deep sound in question, and Jungkook can feel the vibrations of it inside against his hands on the others chest. “I'm Jungkook, by the way, just, you know, if you want to call me or something.”

And then he can hear (and feel) the other chuckle lightly in this deep baritone and Jungkook thinks that not even the sound of the waterfall was as beautiful as this.

Taehyung softly strokes over his naked back.

“Sleep tight, Jungkook.”