--
"Taehyung... Taehyung! For devil's sake wake up!"

Taehyung jolted awake, feeling groggy as usual as he let out a yawn. It was only a few seconds after the initial haze of post-sleep wore off that he felt the stinging sensation spreading throughout his palm.

He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, bringing his hand up to get a closer look at it.

He observed the small cut just beneath his thumb, running his fingers over the new wound. Taehyung then looked up, surprised when he caught the gaze of all of the other demons. They all looked concerned, upset even, due to a reason that was unknown to Taehyung thus far.

"Taehyung..." Namjoon sighed, his voice soft as he spoke. "While you were asleep, Jimin... He used you to get down to hell." The atmosphere in the room quickly became much more tense.

Taehyung looked back down at the injury on his palm, the new knowlege of how it came to be suddenly making his heart feel heavy. Despite all of their efforts to keep him safe, Jimin still managed to go against their wishes and put himself in danger once again.

"He's so stupid." Taehyung whispered, shocking both himself and the other demons when a lone tear rolled down his cheek. He almost never cried, but it was seeming to happen more and more often as of late. "He's going to die down there." He squeezed his eyes shut, allowing a few more tears to escape his eyes and join the first one. "Him and Jungkook both. They're goners."

He brought his hands up to his face, his hand stinging when the saltiness of his tears came in contact with his wounded palm. His chest felt as if it was squeezing itself, an increasingly intense pain spreading throughout his lungs.

He just wanted Jimin and Jungkook to be safe. The idea of them suffering and being tortured down in hell making him hurt so badly that he could do nothing but cry.

"Taehyung-Ah..." The voice was Yoongi's sounding much more gentle than any of the demons in that room were used to. He was usually cold and harsh, but the tone he used on Taehyung was comforting and warm. "If you're crying because of Jimin leaving, don't. He made his choice, and we can't change that."

"He's going to die, Yoongi." Taehyung countered, tears slipping in between his fingers. He was in pain, but it wasn't just emotional. It extended to something physical, which stuck fear into Taehyung's veins. "We're never going to see him again, how are you so calm?"

"Because that's how we were raised, Tae." Hoseok breathed. "We aren't supposed to bat an eye at tragedy. It's dangerous for us to care. You know this."

"I can't help the way that I'm feeling right now." Taehyung shook his head, wiping at his eyes and attempting to regain his composure. "Do you think that I want to feel like this? Do you think that it's fun for me? I hate change, and so much change for the worse has been forced upon us lately."

"Taehyung-"

"I'm supposed to be sloth, but all of the troubles we've been put through are causing me so much stress." Taehyung huffed. "My mind is always buzzing, so much that it makes it hard for me to sleep. The one time that I do deem it okay to rest, Jimin uses that as an opportunity to leave."

The sight of Taehyung in front of them was not only saddening, but terrifying in a demon's perspective.

They had already watched one demon fall apart, and now it seemed as if they were watching another.

--

"When will you two just give it a rest already?"

Jimin held Jungkook close, hands petting Jungkook's tangled hair in the most calming way he could. His lover was still trembling, so scared to even see the devil now that he had his face hidden in the crook of Jimin's neck.

Her aura was menacing, everything from her intense glare to the overall sense of dread she brought every place she entered.

"Don't you see, Jimin?" The devil gestured to Jungkook, an annoyed expression on her face. "Look how absolutely broken Jungkook is. He used to be this handsome, confident demon - look how far he's fallen. Are you sure you still want him?"

Jimin scowled, his right hand rubbing up and down Jungkook's back soothingly.

"Without him, I'm broken too." Jimin spoke back, gaze hard. "He's a part from me. Living without him is like drowning, with nobody coming to save me. It's hard to breath, and nobody listens to me when I scream at them for help." The devil rolled her eyes. "You really don't understand love, if you think that something like this is going to make me suddenly stop loving him."

"You two have always been so dramatic." The devil sighed. "I don't need a book on why you two love each other so much. Shouldn't you understand by now that I really couldn't care less? There are so many people that get the love of their life ripped away from them every single day. Why are you two so special that you should get to be the ones to get the happy ending?"

Jungkook tensed up, the wire digging into his bound wrists as he clutched Jimin's shirt. He wanted to speak up so badly. It was so absolutely cruel to attempt to take away two of the most important things to him; his love, and his voice.

"We aren't saying that we're more important than everyone else." Jimin countered. "But you can not tell me that everyone who has their love challenged doesn't fight for it. Nobody would ever let their lover be ripped away from them and not do anything to get them back." He gulped, his eyes tearing up a bit. "This is our fight for it. This is me doing something to get Jungkook back."

The devil narrowed her eyes before walking a few steps further, then kneeling down a mere foot in front of the wounded couple. It was almost an amazing sight; the two of them having been through so much, and yet Jimin had no fear in his eyes as he stared straight into the gaze of the devil.

The devil reached forwards, Jimin immediately trying to tug him back when she wrapped her arms around Jungkook's torso. Her grip though, was firm, and the pained whimper that left Jungkook's lips as his still bound wrists were torn at by the wire due to the commotion was painful to hear

"You're hurting him." The devil mumbled, raising an eyebrow as she looked to Jungkook's wrists and watched the way the wire cut at his raw skin.

"You're going to hurt him more." Jimin spat. "Let go of him. Haven't you hurt us enough?"

"I'm giving you what you deserve, Jimin." The devil growled, fresh tears beginning to cascade down Jungkook's face. "You failed at every single thing that you were meant to do. You dragged all of my other demons down with you, and didn't think that you did anything wrong."

Jimin's eyes widened, gulping in realization as he took in the devil's words. "'All I wanted to do was love, master!' And yet you still managed to destroy everything I had worked to create in the process of doing so."

She ripped Jungkook out of Jimin's arms, pulling the wounded demon to her. Jimin watched with an intense pain in his chest as he watched Jungkook's lips form a silent cry, eyes pleading for Jimin to pull him back. To not let him go.

"I would torture you, as a punishment for ruining my plans." The devil began, standing up and pulling Jungkook along with her. He looked so weak, hardly able to keep himself standing. "But I know that watching Jungkook be in pain hurts you so much more."

The next few moments, were what Jimin would describe to be the quickest, and most terrifying sequence of events that he had ever witnessed.

The devil dragged the weak demon over to the edge of the river, the only thing keeping him from falling being her hold on the front of his shirt. Tears freely fell down Jungkook's face, silent sobs leaving his lips as he attempted to come to terms with the fact that he was most likely going to die.

He would have to leave Jimin, again; and for good this time.

As soon as Jimin registered what was going on, he leaped up from where he sat, racing over to snatch Jungkook away from the devil's clutches.

But he was too late. He always seemed to be too late.

His fingers just brushed Jungkook's arm before the devil let go of him, and Jimin's worst nightmare was brought to life right before his very eyes.

Jungkook lost his footing, slipping and tumbling backwards, a look of absolute terror painted across his features as his lips mouthed what was on his mind even during these terrifying moments.

'Jimin!'

He wasn't even granted to privilege of having proper last words, nothing but silence leaving his mouth.

The sound of the splash as Jungkook's back hit the water was deafening, ringing out throughout Jimin's ears and making him have to regretfully accept that the events were truly happening.

Jimin forgot how to breathe, how to move, how to think.

As if Jungkook had dragged all of those abilities down into the water with him.

--