YOURA

I can't sleep.

Yoongi must be waiting for me, but I just can't. My mind is too full with other things.

A week, until I die? If Yoongi doesn't leave me?

Then he'd leave me soon. Maybe tomorrow— maybe today. He'd always put my safety first before anything else, even my feelings.

Then the door suddenly creaks softly open.

"Tae?"

I scramble up on the bed the moment I see him shuffle in timidly, head lowered in the darkness.

"H-Hey, Youra. I can't really sleep."

"Same." I say back, with a comforting smile. He looked paler and exhausted, but he must be thinking what I'd been if he couldn't fall asleep.

"Youra..."

He clasps his hands.

"Do you think they'll really leave?"

My eyes widen. I knew Yoongi was in my dreams, but Jungkook could be listen—

"He's not in my head, if you're worrying about Kookie." He says quietly, plopping down on the edge of the bed.

"He's in— in Dreamland right now."

Oh.

"Well, I think Yoongi will." I say, rubbing at my eyes. "He was even convincing Jungkook, wasn't he?"

Taehyung sniffles.

"I just— I just don't understand." He swallows, pulling at his fingers. "All of this, I don't. But...But I think Jungkook will leave too."

"What? For sure?"

He blinks down at the ground. "He'd do anything to keep me safe."

But then he claps his hands. "But I have a plan. I read a book in psychology a long time ago, and I think I got a perfect solution."

I blink. Psychology? I didn't—

"We leave first."

"What?"

"At our birthday, we'll leave them first so they can't leave us." He says, nodding. And then he pinches his chin thoughtfully.

"Or before— before that happens, anyway."

I breathe.

"Tae. You're a genius."

I'd read about this as well—back a long time ago I'd nearly forgot it. If we disappeared first, then they would get worried and come find us.

And that was much better than not seeing any of them forever.

_________________________

It's the night before our birthday.

We'd both convinced Jungkook and Yoongi to stay in reality form, and they had agreed. They both looked really on edge— not taking a single eye off of us for the entire day.

Besides, it was easy.

I could feel it when Yoongi left my conscience— and he wouldn't want that. I was pretty sure he'd been planning to leave at dawn when I was most deeply asleep.

But now it's eleven, and I was struggling to get to the door without waking him up.

Taehyung's already waiting on the couch.

He looks nervous when I tiptoe out of the doorway, heaving a silent sigh when I look back to see if he was stirring.

Asleep.

"Quiet, 'Kay?" He whispers lowly as he flicks his eyes back to Jungkook's room. "He's a light sleeper."

I nod. Getting into my jacket, I follow closely behind Taehyung as he pushes the front door open.

My heart's beating so fast.

But we manage to get outside— where it's pitch dark. Only the moon and the streetlights illuminate the night.

Taehyung grabs my hand.

"I'm scared of the dark." He confesses, and I smile softly before gripping his hand back.

I was scared, too.

"Where do you want to go?"

He points at the all-night convenience store. And I break into a wide grin when he shows me what he has in his pocket.

Change.

"Let's get snacks and drinks!" He exclaims, cupping his hands together. "And hot packs. Maybe cocoa!"

We run to the store. The cashier there is asleep, so I have to poke him awake.

"Hello? Can we get hot cocoa please?"

Taehyung smiles cutely.

And the man frowns, while taking his change. "Why are you kids out so late? Where's your parents?"

"They're home."

He raises an eyebrow at my chirp. But he checks out our stuff, and we walk out happily sipping on cocoa.

I know I should be worried about what Yoongi and Jungkook were saying— that we were going to die on our birthdays.

But it just didn't seem real.

And right now, I was excited being out this late.

Taehyung suddenly pulls me up from the bench. "I have someplace to show you. It's really pretty— me and Jungkook went there a lot when I usually feel upset."

"A place?"

"It's a park." He smiles as I shuffle after him. "It has a really peaceful lake, and I bet it's really pretty in the moonlight right now."

______________________

YOONGI

I can't stop the cursing.

Jungkook looks frantic as he calls Taehyung's name, kicking open every door in the house. But both of them are gone.

No.

It's happening.

"They're not here."

"But how?" Jungkook whips around, almost shouting. "When were they taken? They couldn't have been, I was right next to T—"

"They weren't taken."

Those two ducklings. They'd overheard me that day, hadn't they. I'd known something was wrong with Youra the moment I'd seen her start crying.

The night's cold.

But my blood is colder as I try to find her, through my mind. I could usually sense her in a range— but I couldn't feel her at all.

She was far.

Or—

"Hot cocoa." Jungkook suddenly says, and I look at him with stressed eyes.

"What do you mean."

"Taehyung loves hot cocoa. And he had change in the jacket he took." He says, voice empty and broken. "He must have gone to get some."

And then he looks up, eyes lined red.

"I can't lose him."

Not again. I think back to the past life— when I'd watched her die right in front of my eyes with a car crash. And the life before that— and even before that.

I was sick of letting her be taken from me over and over.

"We'll find both of them. It's not midnight yet."

He swallows tearfully. "We have fifteen minutes, hyung. It's going to be impossible—"

I cut him off. I didn't even want to think of the alternative.

"You said what. Cocoa?"

___________________________

Taehyung beams.

"It's my secret spot, and now it's yours too." He grins sweetly, cupping his cocoa in his palms. "We can celebrate our birthday here."

I check my phone.

"Five minutes until midnight." I smile, until it fades away. Even though being with Taehyung had made me forget, it was impossible to get it off my mind.

What Yoongi said.

And it's like he reads my mind.

"Don't worry," Taehyung winks. "If we get in trouble, then our dreams will save us. They won't let us get hurt."

Yoongi.

He would never let anyone touch me.

Relaxing, I sit back on the bench and look down at the ticking minutes. Five had turned to three, and down to one.

Taehyung giggles.

"This is like counting down to happy new year. Except it's our birthdays, so it's ten times better."

The digital clock on the screen of my phone shifts to twelve.

And for a second, it's like my heart suddenly stops beating in my chest. I wait for something to happen— anything. I can feel Taehyung tense next to me as well.

But nothing does, for the next minute.

He laughs shakily.

"I guess they were joking after all. It's our birthday, and nothing—"

"Little children shouldn't be out without their guardians."

Taehyung suddenly seizes. His body collapses heavily into me, and I rush to hold him up when I see dark blood trickling down his pale neck.

"Taehyu—"

Someone. Behind us.

It's a man. He's holding a metal bar, and I see the end of it— stained with Taehyung's blood. I look back to his face, but it's shadowed.

I pull my unconscious friend closer in terror.

"W-W-Who..."

My voice is shaking so much.

"I remember you." He smirks, laughing at my tears. "Did he really leave you alone? He is a curse, isn't he?"

I need to help Taehyung.

He's shaking unconsciously, but I can't move. I just stare at the shadowed man standing over me, thin lips stretched into a smile.

He's talking about Yoongi.

"Y-Yoongi isn't a c-curse." I stutter, but he just starts laughing. "He stayed with me when I was h-hurting. I would've, I would've—"

He lifts up the metal, and my throat clutches up.

He's not smiling anymore.

"Well, he's still the reason you'll never grow older than eighteen."

A/n: Just a few more chapters! This will be a shorter story than the others ;)