Taehyung stared wide-eyed and in disbelief at the gates to the Palace's pathway, where a certain brunet was trying—yet infuriatingly failing—to flirt his way in by complimenting and smiling at the now annoyed gatekeeping guards.

When did that become a part of his plan? Who let Jimin strut right at them like he owned this place and do that?!

Jeongguk groaned in distaste beside him. The ravenette was right though, they should stop this before in evolved into something else entirely. So he motioned the Prince the Fire to put a stop to this fiasco, making his eyes light up with relief. The blond merely chuckled.

The next second the two guards were slumped on the floor, an emotionless Jeongguk standing behind them, facing a shocked and surprised little Jimin.

"Hey! They were just about to let us through you know! Why would you kill them?!", shrieked Jimin.

Taehyung walked forward and pressed a hand to the brunet's shoulder, "Relax, they aren't dead. Now keep watch, will you?"

The two Princes then slipped inside, leaving a distraught Jimin, who poked at the guards with his toes to confirm the blond's statement.

The guards were indeed alive.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

"The backway entrance should be around here somewhere and should also be unguarded at this time, mostly because it's practically impossible to locate. That's our chance. Once inside, we're not going to speak. Understood?", said Taehyung walking forward, not even looking at the ravenette.

And said ravenette was thankful for that. Because otherwise the blond Prince would catch him having a hard time controlling his smile and bubbling laughter.

"Understood."

The two slipped in through the small door that could easily be mistaken for a part of the castle wall, however not in front of the blond's brown eyes it seemed. Perhaps it was all due to previous experience at his very own castle.

Taehyung took a right turn, making Jeongguk raise his eyebrow, before the blond retraced his steps and pulled him along towards the left, a sheepish expression adorning his face.

"My Lord?" A strong voice resonated through the corridor making both the Princes halt—one ready to fight and the other sad that his fun was ending.

"It's alright, Min hyung. We're just looking around.", replied Jeongguk.

"You know the rules, your highness, visitors are not allowed without trustworthy authenticity.", said the guard, named Min apparently.

Jeongguk only took in a deep breath. "Hyung that's Kim Taehyung, the Prince of the Yang kingdom. That must be authentic enough, no?"

The mint-haired guard gasped lowly. "I apologize, my Lords."

"Hyung! How many times do I have to tell you. It's Jeongguk to you!", the ravenette shouted lowly, sulking right afterwards.

Taehyung watched the conversation from the sidelines, almost embedding himself into the wall beside him, because what the hell? Had he just forgotten that Jeongguk was the Prince of the Yin kingdom and that he lived inside this very Castle, and had also made a plan to break into it along with him?!

"Right, Jeongguk-ah. Now let me assist you alright?", said the guard, beginning to walk away, expecting them to follow.

"Why didn't you tell me!", whisper-shrieked Taehyung, covering up his embarrassment with annoyance.

"I just didn't want to ruin your fun, sweetheart.", winked the ravenette, apparently enjoying this to the fullest.

And if that made someone blush a little, it's certainly none of your business. Besides, that someone was quick enough to cover it up.

"So, who's that?", asked the blond, referring to the guard they were following.

"The Royal commander of the Yin kingdom and a very close friend of mine. Almost the brother I never had, Min Yoongi.", replied Jeongguk, childish fondness clouding his eyes as he looked at the walking man's back.

"The commander?!"

"Jeon, what is it that you're looking for again? I just realised we were walking randomly." The commander, Yoongi had stopped now and was looking at them in boredom.

The Prince of Fire facepalmed so hard, Taehyung was sure he could have heard it from the Palace at Yang.

"Right", said the ravenette, wincing while rubbing his almost broken nose and head sourly, "Hyung, take us to the archives of Gaol-ssi."

"Not the library?", asked Taehyung, not understanding why the other thought searching elsewhere was a better option.

"Yes, but that's because the archives of my former trainer, Sin Gaol, contain the most important documents selectively collected from the library. They've never been put back so that's our best shot."

"I see."

The three of them made their way up a staircase and stopped in front of chamber that looked like it hadn't been visited for eternities. Taehyung momentarily wondered why they hadn't encountered any guards all along the way. Had the staff done what they wanted when there was no one to monitor them?

"Yes, Taehyung-ssi. Most of the low ranking officials have fled, knowing of the dangerous circumstances and fearing their source of livelihood was now gone."

Taehyung looked at the mint-haired male in surprise, before he masked his expressions and nodded. Jeongguk didn't seem fazed, like it was everyday occurrence.

Ah of course. The man wasn't a commander for no reason. His experience must make it seem like child's play, to read faces. And the blond's frown hadn't made it any less obvious.

The ravenette pulled out a fancy key from his pocket and placed it in the keyhole. And with a click, the door opened.

Taehyung sucked in a breath, not realising he wasn't breathing in anticipation. If they were lucky, all the solutions to their problems lay just beyond this doorframe. The Lord would be defeated and their kingdoms saved.

Yoongi led the way into the room, his guard up just in case Gaol-ssi had left behind some bizarre, unforeseen calamity. Or perhaps booby traps.

After all the man was pretty possessive of his belongings and never let anyone enter his room. Suspicious? Probably. But he was too revered and trusted for anyone to raise alarm.

Jeongguk pushed his way through, moving the mint-haired commander right out of his way, heading straight for the bookshelves at the back. He didn't waste even a second after, and got right to skimming through the titles on the spines of the volumes.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Ice sought to first assessing the room, because knowledge didn't always only come from books.

Sometimes the things around tell a much different and valuable story than a book can.

The room was simple, however. A single bed, a bedside table, stone floors, empty walls with the paint peeling off, and the bookshelf. Right, the bookshelf it is then.

He joined the ravenette, who had already pulled out and laid several books on the small table by the small fireplace, all their indices open.

'Mysteries of the Princes of Red and Blue? Anecdotes of the Dragon times? Interesting literary preferences.', thought Taehyung.

He picked up the first book, going through its contents as quickly and thoroughly as he could before putting it on the floor as soon as he realised the book was the written form of the play. Something he already had enough knowledge about.

"Hey come look at this.", spoke Jeongguk, eyes not leaving the book he held in his hands.

Taehyung took in the serious expression on the younger's face, before making his way towards him. He looked over the ravenette's—broad and sturdy, ahem—shoulder, and at a wildly illustrated page. Like seriously, there was hardly a paragraph written and the rest of the page just featured weird diagrams.

"The Seeds of Immortality? Uh, and the rest is written in another language? Can you read it?", asked the blond in a mere whisper. Something about these pages made him uneasy. As did the frozen stature of the other Prince.

Jeongguk de-froze instantly and looked at the page intently, "Yes, I think so. It's an old script of the Yin kingdom, but I'm probably a little rusty. Wait for me, yeah?"

And saying so he placed the book on the table, got a sheet of parchment and a quill, and began writing with the speed of the winds. And so so, the seconds turned to minutes, into an hour and then two.

The ravenette leaned back in his chair, stretching while dropping the quill and exhaling deeply. "Done.", he said, albeit a bit morose.

He continued in a serious tone, "All right, you might want to sit down for this, it's not everyday information."

Taehyung arched an eyebrow at the other, only for it to go unnoticed to the ravenette that had ducked his head down on the table. So the blond moved and sat down on another chair beside him, placing a comforting hand on the his shoulder. He smiled slightly when the ravenette leaned into his touch.

"It's alright, you don't have to keep it to yourself, gguk-ah, letting it out will help everyone in more ways than one, right?"

Taehyung paused, only to continue when he received a nod from the Prince of Fire, "That being said, you don't have to tell me anything right now either. Take your time, I'll be around surely."

At that the ravenette chuckled and lifted his head back up, "It's not like that, tae, I was just tired from all the writing and thinking and code breaking.", he said, smiling with his front teeth on display.

Smack. A little slap on the back of the raven head of a certain Prince by another certain blond Prince.

"Brat."

Cue a few more snarky comebacks and giggles and tiny hits, before the atmosphere could return back to it's serious one.

"The seeds of immortality is what they're after—the evil army that is, or whatever they call themselves. It'll grant them immortality and their brethren eternal freedom from their prison, the one created by the first Kings of our kingdoms.

Basically what the text explains is that only the spirits of those trapped remain, and that the fruits from the tree of immortality, will provide them with a body strong enough to end us all."

Taehyung listened to it all, keenly, and then asked, "So what we must do, is prevent them access to the fruit?"

"It's not really that easy, obviously. The seeds were planted in the mystical underworld, which is technically a myth that no one has ever found. The only good news out of this, is that there is only one such fruit in the entire universe. So, I'd say we keep in mind this advancement, and yet do nothing about it, mostly because we can't."

The blond Prince frowned at that but said nothing.

Jeongguk continued speaking. "Seol-hwa noona had told me about such a thing too, except she had called it the 'fruit of life'—also a myth. Which is why I'd decided to leave it out of the way for now."

"Our visit here hasn't been all that fruitful then, huh?"

"Not a time to be playing around, tae, but I'll admit that's a good one."

The two of them sighed. And then snickered. And burst out into sweet soft laughter.

Once their laughter died down leaving behind hints of smiles, the two just stared at each other, a million thoughts running through both their heads incessantly. Only the sharp and crisp knock on the ebony doors could have broken them from their pleasant-unpleasant reverie. And that it did.

The commander was back from wherever he had left to, looking a tad more ashen then he looked previously.

"I think you're going to have to leave now."

A simple sentence, yet all it's implications clear as daylight; Lord Shen was probably onto them, or perhaps just continuing on with his greed of conquest. Either way, the situations were dire and they had to act quick.

And so in their hurry, the two Princes left the books spread out on the table, believing Yoongi would clear up after them, not noticing one of the fluttering pages.

Perhaps they will be the ones signing their own death warrants.

'...You must not let the Royal blood flow,
For your blood once down the depths of the underworld shall be the cause of eternal darkness and doom.'

Or perhaps, whatever has happened, has indeed happened for good.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The cart was filled with huffs and puffs of three very exhausted men, two looking horror-stricken, and the other merely glancing between the two trying to figure out what in the world was going on.

Taehyung and Jeongguk had burst out of the palace all of a sudden, running as if it were death itself chasing them, and hadn't even given him time nor an explanation, before they each grabbed an arm of the poor brunet, and pulled him along with them, not caring that he was getting dragged along all the while facing in the complete opposite direction.

His screams and shouts were ignored as well. Poor little chim-chim.

"So—"

"Don't just keep looking at us like a moron, drive!", shrieked the Prince of Fire, effectively cutting off the brunet's complaints.

"Woah, geez okay. Where to?"

And before the ravenette could burst out at the poor driver again, Taehyung stepped in, calm as ever.
"Forest."

Jimin turned away from the two of them and grabbed the reins, giving it a sharp tug to restart their journey.

Thud.

The three of them turned around hastily, their eyes falling on the body lying at the back of the cart. Someone had dove right into their cart from the back. Both the Princes plucked out daggers from thin air.

Only the daggers were soon lowered and Jimin was ushered to drive faster when the body was recognised—Min Yoongi, the commander, it was.

The said body began shuffling and sitting up as no one attempted to make a move, "Thank you for helping me get up."

"We weren't the ones that told you to dive headfirst into a running cart, hyung.", replied the raven Prince, now giving Yoongi a hand and helping him get comfortable.

"Can I ask what you're doing here?", asked Taehyung.

"Of course you can."

An awkward 3-second silence later, Jeongguk sighed.
"You were supposed to answer that."

The mint-haired male jumped slightly in his seat, "Oh, right. So I've decided to burden you both with my much needed presence in your obviously perilous journey."

'Not even a request or asking for permission. That's my hyung alright.', thought the Prince of Yin, chuckling afterwards.

Taehyung couldn't help but chuckle alongwith.

"So now since you all are in better moods, can I know what you meant when you said 'forest'?"

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The saffron skies had begun getting inked darker and darker as their cart moved through the dense forest, a simple lantern illuminating their path ahead, aided by the soft silvery glow of the celestial bodies. It was time to stop and set up camp for the night.

"My Prince, we should begin searching for a place to stay the night.", said Yoongi, his usually soft voice loud in the sleeping forest.

"Yea—"

"Hold up, my Prince?" The cart had come to a pit stop, the driver looking at the commander with wide eyes.

The two Princes on the other hand exchanged nervous glances.

"Yes, my Prince. What about it?"

"Are you to not lovers?", asked Jimin, pointing between the ravenette and the blond.

A second or two passed in silence, for Taehyung and Jeongguk had short-circuited, mind not thinking logically any longer, too focused on the fact that Jimin considered them to be lovers. How impossible!

Then the two broke into furious blushes, both shaking their head and denying the statement, however neither of the other two were paying them any attention.

"What has them being lovers got to do with me calling Jeongguk my Prince?"

"We're not lovers for God's sake!", shrieked Taehyung trying to diffuse their misconceptions. To no luck though, for he remained unheard.

Jeongguk still had no idea what to do with the wild yet lovely? statement.

"Who's Jeongguk?", asked Jimin, thoroughly confused.

"What the fuck, boy? Jeon Jeongguk obviously, the Prince of the Yin kingdom. That black-headed buffoon over there!", countered Yoongi, furiously pointing at a dazed Jeongguk.

"Okay okay, enough!", yelled Taehyung, shaking Jeongguk to bring him back to his body from God knows where. The blond sighed.

"Jimin-ssi, uh we're not actually the people we introduced ourselves to you as. We're sorry about that."

A rough and warm hand made it's way into Taehyung's and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Jeongguk spoke this time, letting Taehyung breathe, "We owe you at least a right introduction for all you've done for us. So here goes, I'm Jeon Jeongguk, Prince of the Yin kingdom and this is Kim Taehyung, the Prince of the Yang kingdom."

Jimin gasped lightly, "Not cool you two, now I'm going to forever have problems with your names.", he whined, pouting.

'That's what he's worried about?'

And then the brunet remembered something, "Wait. The Yang kingdom? T-There has been an attack on the Palace right?"

Taehyung sighed, opening his mouth to speak, only to be stopped by yet another comforting squeeze.

"Let's not talk about grave things and a future of impending doom just yet, shall we?", said Jeongguk, making the other Prince look at him with pretty eyes.

"Right. And this guy?"

"Min Yoongi, Chief Commander of the armed forces of Yin. So not a pleasure to meet you.", replied the mint-haired man, not even looking at the receiver of his answer.

Jimin sulked a little. "So that explains the 'my Prince', huh? I thought it was some sort of pet name that Taeyon—uh, sorry Taehyungie would most likely get jealous of."

Taehyung raised his eyes to meet Jeongguk's, "For the last time, Jeongguk and I aren't lovers.", he said looking right at the ravenette, all sorts of emotions swimming in their eyes.

The atmosphere became charged all of a sudden and anyone, literally anyone—including the rock that lay on the forest floor—could see the tension between the two that kept staring.

It almost begun to look like there was an unspoken competition of 'who blinked first'. Then again, knowing the two, that possibility could not be dismissed.

Yoongi cleared his throat. And just like that Jimin began driving into the night, or at least until they found a suitable spot.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Camp-setting wasn't as hard as it had been when the blond was alone, of course because eight hands worked faster than two.

They'd set up camp beside a river, not too close nor too far. Just a campfire and four beds made of leaves, out in the open right under the blanket of stars. Food would be dealt with tomorrow, leaf hunting had seemingly tired them all out to the point where they could sleep on an empty stomach.

Or perhaps it was because of how inviting the soft leaf-beds looked. Jimin was already fast asleep.

Yoongi soon followed, side-eyeing the Prince of Fire walking hesitantly towards the Prince of Ice near the river. And so smirking to himself, he fell asleep.

Taehyung was having another restful yet restless night. He was glad to have met the three of them, each of who cheered him up in different ways and yet he couldn't ignore the fact that their 'cheerful adventure' was not so at all. Instead, they were out here to protect themselves and eventually somehow learn to protect their people.

The blond exhaled deeply, moving his legs that were dipped in the water a bit, causing little splashes that calmed his heart.

Lovers. Taehyung jolted slightly. Just the thought of that made him feel so...tingly and cutesy. Made him want to smile madly till his cheeks ripped and his heart melted.

But that was out of the question. Their lives weren't tied up for love, it was for them to team up and use their powers to ward off evil, like the two brothers had, centuries ago.

That left no room for feelings, especially since they'd probably weaken them. But wait, did he even like Jeongguk?

"Taehyung.", a smooth, soft voice chimed in his head.

Soon, a body shuffled to sit beside him, legs dipping in the water like his own.

"What's on your mind tonight?"

Brown eyes gazed deep into charcoal ones,

"Just that we're losing, slowly but surely. That we're still at square one and that we are definitely no match for the evil Lord.", Taehyung explained, every word frustrating him further.

"Hey, don't say that. We can't give up, now or ever right? I promise you, we'll get there and we'll win.", Jeongguk said fluidly, trying to calm the other down.

"You're just saying that."

And before Jeongguk could even begin thinking of a counter, Taehyung stood up, harshly ripping off his cloak and vest until all that remained was his pants, and dived head-first into the river. The ravenette was rendered speechless.

The Prince of Ice emerged from under the water, pushing his fingers through his hair.

'Hell, he looks so beautiful.'

"Are you not going to join me, my Prince?", came a sweet purr.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

^Introducing YeonKimin/Agust D/Suga/Min Yoongi/Our little meow meow XD

^Of course, featuring Taekook~

.......

Heyya! Long time no see! How are you?

Like this chapter? Please vote and comment!

Any questions on the story? Want to talk about Taekook's dynamics? ;)

Also, happy new year everybody! I hope 2023 treats you like you deserve to be treated! ♡

Stay tuned for the next part, it's a surprise (hopefully a good one)!