ℙℝ𝕆𝕃𝕆𝔾𝕌𝔼
CHECKMATE

NAMJOON WAS THE FIRST to arrive.

He was a small little thing—barely even eight years old—and yet, he strolled through the prison gates with a haunted gaze that scoured deep into anyone's soul. He walked with fingers curled up tight into fists and jagged nails digging into his palms—worn t-shirt subtly smelling of car gasoline and smoke. The edges of his hair looked slightly singed, and his bare feet dragged lazily against the cold concrete.

Sejin watched. He was fond of watching, actually, and if one were to identify the thing he did whenever he had nothing else to do with his time, they would refer to this. Sejin observed. Inspected. Scrutinized. He saw.

And while the kings of the jungle barely gave Namjoon a glance, Sejin watched.

The boy was scrawny, thin in a way that bordered on malnourished, and his cheekbones jutted forward in a way that made him look skeletal. When all the boys were rounded together to change, Sejin saw that Namjoon's spine protruded against the ghostly white of his back. He tried to hide it, but the fragility of his body was like a lighthouse on a dark night—blaring white in a sea of darkness. Namjoon did nothing all day, too—after they finished the activities set by the keepers, he sat on the cool, dewy grass of the field situated at the back of the centre and stared blankly in front of him, deep in thought, until they called them back for dinner at 6PM.

Sejin didn't know the reason for his admittance, and there was no outward reason for him to be so invested in the younger boy, but Namjoon exuded an air of ambiguity and Sejin felt—no, knew—that the boy had several layers to him no one had yet to even touch. Maybe Sejin had an itch, at one point, to figure out how to navigate the webbing that criss crossed over Namjoon's being without ripping it apart. No. He never managed to.

Seokjin came next, and with him came a variety of things to discern. When he walked through the gates, nearly a full year later in early November, the stoned look in his eyes glared at his surroundings in an attempt to chase anything and everything away. His hands were trembling, and it was clear that Seokjin had no intentions of being friends with anyone—and, for the most part, Sejin didn't want to approach him, either. The way his feet were almost resisting his steps and the way the tremor in his voice betrayed his distress when he was obviously trying to seem indestructible—it all threw him off.

Seokjin looked fairly healthy for his age. It came off as an initial shock, seeing someone who actually looked well-brought-up strut into the centre. His cheeks maintained what little colour was left. He stood tall, confident, like a knight mounted on his dark horse, and maybe it was a hereditary thing, but Seokjin was scarily tall, looming at 134.8 cm, making him appear like the biggest of a Russian Matryoshka doll set. (Who could blame Sejin, really? The boy had that set-back black hair, plump lips and a goddamn height going on.) Seokjin had an expensive, shiny Rolex watch on his wrist (that was confiscated later on in the day, if his empty wrist explained anything) and his clothes all looked relatively branded, if not rumpled and dishevelled. From his looks, Sejin could only round up one conclusion—Seokjin's family was hella rich. But there were no double takes involved in sending him there.

It was odd. Seokjin and Namjoon were complete polar opposites, but the two of them hit it off almost immediately. While Seokjin seemed to have the initial resolve to befriend nobody in the entirety of his stay at the centre, the moment the two were left together at the last remaining table in the dining hall, Seokjin was immediately endeared by Namjoon's practically nonexistent charms. They were both the same age, if Sejin remembered correctly, and maybe Seokjin never had anyone his age to talk to and that's why he resorted to Namjoon's presence for company—Sejin knew that rich heirs were locked in their rooms for the entirety of their childhood to study maths and god knows what else. Or maybe this was Sejin's lonely ass speaking for itself.

In general, Seokjin and Namjoon kept it quiet at the centre—up until the one day Seokjin decided it would be a great idea to sneak into the dining hall and nick some of the gummy bears that were originally meant for their evening snack. Seokjin wasn't allowed out of his room for three days, and Sejin somehow found it entertaining to see how devastated Namjoon was. Maybe it was his instincts (that got tons sharper after his admittance in ETCC), but Sejin knew this was an insight to his reason for admittance.

Seokjin fidgeted. A lot. Do with that what you will.

The next year, another two came into the picture. Hoseok arrived like a hurricane—tousled hair and all—eyebags hanging low under his eyes. His hands found a permanent hiding place in the loose pockets of his jeans, and he wore a thick hoodie that swallowed the majority of his frame. The air hissed where he walked—bringing in a heavy storm that crashed heavily against the dorms' leaking window panes.

The same night, Seungmin pushed past the double doors with a loud bang—knocking poor Jooeun with her crooked glasses and pile of books to the floor in the rare happenstance she was briefly passing by. Sopping wet, his eyes glared at the empty hallway from under the soaked strands he irately refused to cut. As he curled his hands into bloody fists and pushed mercilessly past the girl he knocked down a moment before, he left pools of rainwater behind him, in an ominous sign of the chaos to come.

But before the storm, the calm must dig deep into your bones first.

It took two years until the arrival of the next kid who caught Sejin's eye. In the span of two years, Hoseok slowly gravitated to Namjoon and Seokjin, while Seungmin continuously isolated himself from everyone. It was an interlude from the craziness. For once, Sejin found himself bored.

In January of 2011, a week and a day after New Years, a boy clothed in full black walked sullenly into the premises. It was the first one in a while, someone who was escorted in handcuffs. The boy's wrists were chafed red from the restraining metal, and while his fingers darted around nervously—intertwined, released, intertwined, released—the rest of him only spoke of resignation.

Sejin stared longer than necessary, if he were going to be honest. When the boy looked up from the ground for a brief moment to lock eyes with him, all Sejin saw was overwhelming despair dripping from under his fluttering eyelashes. Later, he found out the boy's name was Yoongi, and he was the first school shooter to be confined in the training centre. Even though Sejin knew to never base one's impressions on one's outer appearance—really, all he saw was a small broken boy.

A few months later, another came crying. His body shook like a loose leaf—ready to fall over even at the smallest breeze. Tears ran down his cheeks in a steady stream of incredulity, and occasionally, Sejin would hear (and see) a row of hiccups interrupting his erratic breathing. Jeongin—that was his name—spent hours of his days sitting down with his arms wrapped around his knees, toes curling in an attempt to seem smaller. (Later, Sejin would notice Seungmin and Jeongin slowly inching their way to each other—slowly but surely becoming each other's pillar of strength in the world that was always meant to be against them. Believing, with all the strength they had left, that while they may have lost their battles, that doesn't mean they've lost the war.)

And thus passed 2011. 2012 comes, and Sejin prepares for the apocalypse.

He doesn't know when the world will end, but he knows that it's coming soon. The fact is accentuated by the four new kids who arrive one after another in a peculiar chain of events—disturbing the remaining balance (if any at all) the centre had prior to the beginning of the year.

In the year of 2012, Sejin makes a promise to himself. He will wake up early every morning, maybe around 4 or 5, to make sure he doesn't die in his sleep. That would just be lame. Horribly lame. Imagine if the world went up in flames and Sejin was fast asleep, tucked into his Dora blanket in his equally Dora pyjamas. What an image that would be.

And in a hilarious chain of events, the first comes just as the dark starts blending into the morning one cold February night—clouds peeling apart to leave behind a shimmering trail of light in its wake. Snow still littered the outside gates, yet to be shovelled out of the wide doorway by those responsible for it. The sea of white was left behind in an unnaturally uphill pile, making the doors to the centre practically impossible to push through. Sejin sat in the empty gatekeeper's shed right next to the gate entrance, hugging a pitchfork (and where he found it, he doesn't know) close to his chest in an attempt to feel more at ease. (But really, what's he going to do with it? Shove it up someone's ass?)

Logically, Sejin knew that nothing would happen and he could probably go back to his room to fall back asleep, but he had a gut feeling that something was going to happen, and he couldn't be in his Dora pyjamas while it all went down.

It was around 4:30AM when a dull thud sounded from the low ceiling above him. Sejin was wide awake and war-ready (no he was not), so he picked up his pitchfork from where it was beside him and sneaked out of the shed to investigate (no he does not).

(Instead, he's woken up by the loud 'CAW CAW MOTHERFUCKERS!' that comes from the said trespasser currently situated on top of the gatekeeper's shed.)

A few hours later, Sejin finds out the boy's name is Jimin, a boy with a chronic breaking-and-entering habit who was scheduled to be escorted into the premises later that day. Why he decided to climb all the way up the gates to get into the centre early, Sejin will never know. But somehow, Jimin was the starting point of the avalanche to come.

At first, Felix just barely passed by his radar. He came like any other kid in the centre—in the middle of the day, quietly, and without any other extra festivities. He did everything a normal kid would do: woke up at 6AM, did chores, ate breakfast, repented for his actions, went to class, went back down at 6PM, ate dinner, took a shower, went to sleep by half-past ten. That is, until he met Jimin. (Jesus, it's all because of Jimin.)

Despite the small age gap, the two immediately clicked. As far as Sejin could see, really—Jimin was loud. For being as short as he was, he had lungs practically twice his size. Felix, despite his equally short disposition and quiet exterior, happened to be just as loud. They were a menace to Sejin's existence.

When Jimin would use his flexibility and insane agility to sneak into places he wasn't allowed to be in, he'd bring Felix along with him. Felix would nick a few things. These missing items would find their way in the weirdest places imaginable—Namjoon's socks went all the way from his closet drawer into the row of sinks in the bathroom right behind the dorms (into the sinks, not behind); Seungmin's hairbrush was found sunk into the grease pit behind the kitchen; and Seokjin's vanished loofah was found a week later swimming with the unknown tadpoles in the abandoned styrofoam box in the dormitory bathrooms. (Horrifyingly, no one knew where they even came from in the first place.)

The duo wreaked havoc. Of course, they were punished for their behaviour, but the discipline didn't do anything to put an end to their antics. Eventually, the winter season came and went, and so did spring. The moment summer arrived, the last two arrived together.

Sejin heard the car first. The tires screeched loudly against the rocky asphalt, before slowly coming to a full stop right outside the training centre. Sejin never really noticed how kids were escorted to the location, but whenever he did, they were usually on foot. (He himself was taken to the premises on foot, especially since his family home was literally just around the corner. The distance doesn't do anything to make him want to run away, though—in fact, it does the opposite. He never wants to go back to that hell hole ever again. Ever.) This time, however, the kid is being brought by car, which either means they're bringing a lot at a time, they're from far away, or the dude's family is rich.

It feels a lot like the former. When the car door opens, blonde is what Sejin sees first. A blondie, and then nothing, because the kid seemingly trips on the way down and faceplants into the hard concrete, leaving Sejin unable to make any judgements on anything other than his clumsiness.

Ow.

Another head pops out of the car door in reaction—"Chan! Are you oka-"—before tripping over the first boy, who groans with the extra weight.

Double ow.

The second guy is practically draped all over the first, and Sejin's pretty sure his elbow banged against the blonde's lower back when he fell after him. Sejin feels bad for the latter, because that position must not be comfortable. At all. What makes it worse is how worried the second guy is for the first—after landing heavily on the blonde's back, he gets off briefly to turn him over before getting all over him again to make sure he isn't injured. The blonde groans painfully before waving the other guy off him. "Get off me first, I'm fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, don't worry."

As the guy (called Chan, Sejin thinks) says that, he rubs his nose, which is as red as a cherry.

The two walk into the centre then, the second boy still fussing over the former. In Sejin's peripheral vision, he sees Jimin and Felix coming out of the front doors, barrelling in the two boys' direction. Weirdly, the two start to sing the beginning lines of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep', before grabbing the hands of the new kids and pulling them voraciously into the building in time with the nursery rhyme's beats. (Meanwhile, Sejin continues to eat his cake.)

And then the seasons change, and they continue to change. 2012 turns into 2013, and the apocalypse doesn't come like Sejin had expected it to. Instead, the new year dawns fast and bright—and while he would usually cringe at rhyming words—the end of the world is practically nowhere in sight.

It's not like it's a bad thing, exactly. (Though, Sejin finds himself a tad bit disappointed. Because seriously, where was all the aliens? All the epic fights? All the near-death experiences he could've possibly boasted about when he got out of it alive?) It's quite a good thing, really. Even with his love for adventure, it couldn't possibly make him all that pleased to see his world falling apart.

It's this thought that continues to linger in his mind when the next kid arrives, because when Sejin said the year started fast and bright, he never expected it to be this bright. When the gates open one fateful morning, the first thing he notices is the sharp glare of neon pink overalls. Neon pink snapback. Neon pink sneakers. The boy is practically blinding—it's like staring straight at the sun. (Somehow, Sejin feels like his eyes are watering even more looking at the sight of him than the literal sweltering sphere of fire.)

The boy (who he finds out later on is Jisung) has a pair of earbuds in each ear and looks completely unbothered by the fact that he's currently destroying Sejin's perfect 20-20 eyesight. The volunteers at each side of him look equally as bothered; one is looking away the furthest he can without losing track of his ward, and the other looks positively miserable. Maybe that's why the kid's allowed his earbuds. They're too busy looking away to enforce their own rules.

Almost on cue, Jimin and Felix come out practically skipping out of the double doors. (Sejin doesn't know if this'll become a tradition, but it makes it all the more interesting, so he's not going to complain.) Jimin makes it all the way to Jisung's side, before plucking out one of his earbuds and putting it into his ear.

Jisung, affronted, comes to a complete stop, incredulous that someone even had the nerve to do such a thing. Jimin's face is neutral and completely void of emotion while listening to the music playing—and this lasts for a solid minute before he plucks it back out and places it back in its rightful place, Jisung's ear. Then he proceeds to Naruto run the fuck out of there.

Felix, confused out of his mind, hops after him like a poor kangaroo baby who was accidentally yeeted out of his mother's pouch.

After the brief interlude, Jisung rolls his neck before walking after them through the double doors, in all his pink glory. (Oddly enough, Sejin still can't understand why Jimin and Felix avoid Jisung like the plague after that incident. Jisung is literally the least intimidating person ever, especially with his rosé complexion. Right?)

If it was even possible, the year becomes even weirder. Later on in 2013, a boy who seems to have some serious identity problems shakes up the entire establishment. As if the entire establishment wasn't already some kind of messed up. The boy had seemed normal at first glance as far as Sejin could see—at least, until he introduced himself.

"Hi, my name's Taehyung, but I would appreciate it very much if you guys called me Jackson instead!" Insert literal, breathing, boxy smiling face emoji here.

As per tradition, FELIX: "Oh, you mean Percy Jackson?"

TAEHYUNG: "Ah, uh, no."

JIMIN: "Nice, your name's pretty exotic! Never heard of a Perce from around these parts."

TAEHYUNG: "Uh."

FELIX: "Don't worry about others messing up the pronunciation. I'll teach everyone else how to say it!"

TAEHYUNG: "I... I, uh what-"

Which then escalated to the point where clearly Felix and Jimin were poking fun at his name, but would never let the joke go.

FELIX: "EY PERCY!"

TAEHYUNG: "IF YOU DON'T STOP I SWEAR I'LL THROW YOU INTO THE RIVER STYX."

FELIX: "Oh hey, that makes perfect sense. I love your book references, Perce!"

And thus 2013 rolled into 2014.

THE EDUCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE for Children (ETCC) is split in half by a long, winding river that leads all the way into the ocean, narrow enough to traverse, rapid and rocky enough to be somewhat dangerous if one were to slam heavily into its torrents, but deep enough to cushion the fall. While not its actual geographic name, the river is dubbed the River Styx by the centre's occupants, with it being the only passageway to the other side of the compound. Similar to how the original Styx held its name for being the border between the underworld and the land of the living, this one served as the partition of the centre into Neverland and Wonderland, inspired by the grotesque tales most of its inhabitants were told about in their childhood. Across it is an old creaking bridge, nicknamed Charon for the ferryman who brought the souls of the deceased into the underworld.

The centre gates lead directly into Neverland. This is where the gatekeeper's shed, dining hall, pharmacy, and kitchens stand, along with the Neverland dorms in the main building. Once you cross over the River Styx and reach Wonderland, that's where the school, auditorium, exam hall, storage room, church, laundromat, and the rest of the dorms are located. Compared to Wonderland, Neverland is relatively better kept for the sake of the annual checkups conducted by the MGF (Ministry for Gender and Family). Those who come rarely visit the other side.

Unfortunately for him, Sejin lives in Wonderland. It's a pretty boring place, Wonderland, for all that its name suggests. Instead of all the craziness that comes with the infamous moniker, all that's accurate from the tales are probably the tea parties and the fact that time there is horribly skewed. Which is why Sejin usually stays in Neverland, hanging around its insane inhabitants and better facilities. Though, no matter how much he longs to be relocated to the other area of the compound, his placing will always be in Wonderland, and in Wonderland only. (He pities having to leave Neverland before six.)

This only changes when Jeongguk comes, small and frail in his too baggy clothes, but hardly ever so if you meet him in the eye. Jeongguk crosses Charon with an almost ghostly step, feet meeting the ground just so. He's a phantom. Sejin can never tell when he's around, which he originally considered horrifying, but ended up being a delight.

The night Jeongguk settles into the Wonderland dorms, he reckons the place is too plain for his liking, and sneaks out in the dark to spray paint a huge Alice in Wonderland mural on the face of the main building. He's never caught for it either, and even though the officials suspect, they don't have enough evidence to penalize him for the vandalism. As a plus, the higher-ups never go out of their way to paint over it (probably because of a lack of funds), and Sejin happily celebrates this fact.

The day after the mural is painted up, Sejin spends a whole afternoon appreciating its artistry and the significant change of atmosphere in his place of residing with all the colour.

(All of a sudden, Sejin doesn't think he hates Wonderland that much, anymore.)

Though, just when Sejin thought his land of colour was going to make Wonderland worthwhile, the next boy's arrival once again doused the world in a spectrum of black and white, his entrance scaring most of its inhabitants out of their skins. The day started in a cacophony of sirens, coming from far away until the loud sounds eventually found its way right in front of the compound gates.

Sitting in his usual spot on the grass, he spots Jimin poke his head out of the doors of the main Neverland building, clearly searching for the source of the noise, before coming out fully. When he realizes that it's coming from outside, he screams 'WEE WOO WEE WOO WEE WOO BITCH!' before running to the gates to climb up for a sneak peek. Whatever he sees must shock him, because he jumps back down almost immediately and runs back into the building.

Later on, the gates open to a police officer in full uniform, forcefully dragging a young kid into the premises. And Sejin says forcefully, because the boy is fully resisting, twisting and turning to get out of the older man's clutches. He refuses to take a single step, so the officer has to hold him by the collar to physically carry him into the establishment.

Their matron walks out from where Jimin had previously entered, clearly warned about the new addition. As the police officer sees the matron come out, an expression of full relief encompasses his face. Meanwhile, the boy seems to have the complete opposite reaction—he goes practically feral. Another officer steps out of the police car to help his partner keep their ward still.

"Please," the first one pleads, "please never give this guy another drink again. I don't care if it's water or some shit like that. Never let him drink again. Never. I beg of you."

The matron, completely devoid of emotion, responds with a comprehensive nod. Sejin's pretty sure there's been a lot of alcoholics who've come to this centre. He can probably list down a couple just from memory alone. Damn, the things alcohol does to you.

This thought continues on to the next year, because if Sejin thought Minho's arrival was dramatic, then he wasn't prepared for the next two.

Hyunjin and Changbin come together in a car just like Woojin and Chan, but they are much less cooperative. Their personalities remind Sejin of twin tornadoes. Chaotic. Terrifying. Destructive. Loud. When they're brought for their initial medical evaluations, not only do they thrash and turn as much as Minho, but they also scream like fucking banshees that Sejin is almost ready to shove something deadly in their mouths to shut them up.

It's literally Minho, worse, and multiplied by two.

At this point, Sejin wonders if alcohol makes everyone this insane. If it does, he'd rather be at a seven-foot radius from a bottle of alcoholic content at all times.

Luckily for him, once they've become accustomed to the centre, they're much more mellow. Still stubborn, but definitely more mellow. Jimin and Felix start approaching the two like how they did to Minho last year. Sejin still can't stop laughing thinking about it.

(When Minho first reached the River Styx to cross to Wonderland, the two troublemakers made it look like the water was poisonous to the touch. They got others to play along as well, which made the joke so much bigger than it was supposed to be. Eventually, it felt like an all-out staged play with Minho being the center of the entire story. Later on, those who were in on the joke—Namjoon, Jisung, Jeongguk— had the best opportunity to yeet Minho into the river as a finalé to the entire series.

Minho had spluttered out of the stream with a choked look on his face, crawling his way desperately out of the water, thinking he was dying. He had looked down at his arms, expecting to see second-degree burns sweltering all across his body from where the water touched him, only to see his fair complexion stare disdainfully back at his dazed face, almost chastising him for naively believing everything the others had said.

After the adrenaline rush cut off a second later, his eyes slowly rolled into the back of his head before he completely fainted from exhaustion.

Needless to say, Minho never trusted the others ever again. And people ask him why he has trust issues.)

Hyunjin and Changbin, always together, are also thrown into the river together a month later.

(Sejin laughs so hard he can't breathe.)

WHEN SOMEONE GRADUATES, they call that the Autumn Revelry.

It's a light reference to Tinker Bell. The Autumn Revelry is a festival that marks the beginning of autumn—a ceremony where a specially-made sceptre is used to catch the moon's light to transfer it into blue pixie dust. Blue pixie dust is the foundation of every single other colour, which serves as a rejuvenator and an augmentor.

It's somewhat akin to each other; they have the same elements and the same concept if Sejin thinks on it for long enough. The centre is the sceptre, and the kid being released is the pixie dust.

It's their chance to turn their lives around.

Despite this, however, sometimes the released come back in a battle of old wills. They call that a failed ceremony, but it only happens occasionally. Most of the time, the kids leave learning their lesson, or they've become old enough to be directed to prison instead of a juvenile centre. A year into his own program, Sejin makes a promise to himself never to come back once he's released.

(He's seen what's happened to one who walked back into the gates after being let out.)

Sejin has been in this hellhole for eleven years. Eleven long years. Eleven long, aching years, and he's finally being released.

He couldn't be any happier.

(Sejin has to admit that he's going to miss the sight of Jimin and Felix bothering the other kids, though. And all the other shit that happened in those premises. They distracted him from the boredom for a long time. It's weird knowing that he'll never see them again.)

He looks out at the gates before him, opening their doors to a whole new world. A whole new world he'll finally get to experience.

Sejin steps out of the centre and doesn't look back.

(Years later, when Sejin's all grown up, has a stable job, a maybe-relationship, and the centre's all just a single page in the long never-ending story of his life, he passes by the area of where it all fatefully started. It's a military base now, and it looks nothing like what it used to, but Sejin is hit by a sense of nostalgia that's difficult to completely erase.

Eventually, he walks away and forgets all about it for the next year, and maybe the next few years after that. It doesn't really bother him. The ETCC was just a chapter in his life anyway, and he's already flipped the page.)

ㅡfin.

〖 AUTHOR'S NOTE ! 〗

HELLO !! so yes, this is trina again. malu and i decided to take turns writing chapters and i happened to write this one, but she'll be writing to y'all next chapter since it's her turn next <3 what did you guys think? this is probably the longest chapter i've ever written in my life (and i'm actually relatively proud of it alsjkjd) but i wouldn't have been able to write it without malu by my side >:(( the loml thank u for letting me borrow ur crackhead braincells

and clearly, the both of us were so high in the process of writing this prologue. you can practically see it oozing out of the lines halfway through. proceed to look at this photo to see our crackassery for yourselves:

and!! did you notice the etcc map in the multimedia portion at the top? malu drew that!! her talent frickin jumped out amirite ;D

i hope y'all liked it and that it makes you a lot more excited to see this af moving, because i know we are!! c: thank you so much for reading, we appreciate it a lot <3