"Your Royal Highness, I bring urgent news! I request entrance to your office."

Namjoon flinched in his seat.

"Come in," the prince mumbled, quickly wiping his eyes clean of tears.

A guard decked in golden armour immediately burst into the prince's study and took a rigid stance.

"Your Royal Highness, I must regretfully inform you that the body of a guard has been found in one of the corridors right outside your brother's chambers."

Namjoon's lips broke apart. "What? Whose?"

"The man was named Jung Wooyoung, Your Highness. He was a slave and a personal guard to prince Jimin, until your younger brother ordered to have him become a taxiarhos."

Namjoon pursed his lips. "My little brother often tends to do that to his guards... doesn't he?"

When the guard stayed silent, Namjoon waved his hand for him to continue.

"How did he die?"

"He was both stabbed and mutilated, Your Highness. Quite brutally, might I add."

Namjoon closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "By Zeus... how many times?"

"It... It is quite hard to tell, Your Highness. I would think at least more than fifty times."

Namjoon leaned back in his chair and tipped his head back to look up at the ceiling of his study.

"Shit..."

"A-also sir-"

"I want my brother to be brought to my office this instant," Namjoon ordered, rolling his shoulders to get rid of the tension that had built in his body.

"Well... Your Highness..."

"Make sure at least five guards escort him here and don't bring him the news yet. I should be the one to tell him and convince him to finally take his safety seriously."

"But - Sir -"

"I also want extra guards to be placed outside the demigod's prison. Perhaps that bastard found a way to escape and decided to claim his revenge... I need to be sure that monster is locked u -"

"P-prince Jimin isn't in the palace... Your Highness..."

Prince namjoon only blinked when he was rudely taken out of his train of thought.

"Excuse me?"

"And the demigod... seems to be missing too..."

The prince regent sat still on his seat for almost a full minute, various facial expressions crossing his face as he let the information sink in.

"My brother..." He said after a while.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And the demigod."

"Also, king Min Yoongi of The Styx and prince Kim Taehyung of Athens."

"They're all missing?"

"Y-yes."

Namjoon nodded slowly.

"What is your command, Your Highness?"

The prince stared out in front of himself, one of his eyelids beginning to twitch slightly.

"Sound... Sound the alarm..." He muttered finally. "Send a group of hoplites after them. I want the demigod killed, but I want the others alive."

The guard gave a curt nod and bowed respectfully. "I will, Sir. I am sure your brother will be back at your side in no time."

"You are sure?" Namjoon broke out of his daze and focused his piercing eyes on the sentry. "What makes you so sure?"

The guard parted his lips to speak, but could only stammer incoherently. "Sir- I only meant-"

"No one asked if you were sure or not, you were ordered to do a task can you not do that simple thing? Should I get an illiterate slave to follow my orders instead?"

"N-no Your High-"

The prince jumped off his seat and forcefully threw his chair backwards. "Then do as I say and keep your thoughts to yourself before I have you hanged for treason!"

"T-treason sir?"

"OUT!" Namjoon screamed, his pupils narrowing and seeming to flee from the expanding whites of his eyes.

The man slammed his fist onto his wooden desk and roared as though he'd gone feral.

"GET OUT!"

_______

"He knows..."

Jimin stared at his home getting further and further away, the impressive golden palace of Delos becoming  nothing more but a small dot in the distance.

"Jimin?" Taehyung asked, gently touching his friend's knee as he sat beside him on the unstable wagon.

The men rocked side to side while a single horse pulled their carriage forward, the rythmic sound of hooves clacking against cobblestone drowning out the thoughtful silence.

"Namjoon," Jimin clarified, tearing his eyes away from the view. "He knows we are gone... I can feel it."

Yoongi hummed a low note, clutching the horse's reins tighter in his hands while holding his cat-like eyes focused on the road. "Meaning we will soon be joined by a bunch of soldiers if we stay on the mainroad at this pace. We should continue on foot once we've made it to the woods, it's safer that way."

Jimin looked up at the pitchblack heavens, and couldn't help but wonder if it would've already been night if the sun had still been part of the sky.

"Don't worry Jiminie," Taehyung said, laying down and resting his head on Jimin's lap. "Namjoon would never dare hurt us. He's too much of a softie for that."

The redhead prince cuddled up closer against Jimin's side and blinked up at his friend with tired eyes.

Jimin smiled and tangled his fingers through Taehyung's cherry locks.

"Yes... I suppose you are right," he sighed, grinning when Taehyung began to purr in delight.

The prince looked up when he felt a pair of eyes pierce into him, and saw the demigod sitting across from him stare at the capitol and bite the inside of his lip like a frightened child.

Jimin cocked his head at the curious display, and let a small smirk play along his lips.

"You have been past the city walls before, haven't you?"

Jungkook turned his head and broke from his trance once he realised he'd been spoken to.

"Huh? Oh..." the demigod scratched behind his ear. "Only when I had to run away from angry mobs..." he answered with a chuckle. "Jin promised to take me hunting in the woods after prince Namjoon's coronation. He was supposed to teach me how to hunt and everything, but... some stuff kind of got in the way."

Jimin looked up through his lashes. "I do suppose being falsely accused of murder can take up quite some time."

"True..." Jungkook said. "But then there was this grand execution that I simply had to attend. Every royal from The Styx to Arcadia would be there!"

Jimin giggled timidly, and the demigod's eyes seemed to sparkle in the light of the lanterns illuminating the road.

The men stared at each other for a moment, until Jimin's cheeks began to burn from the attention, and he bashfully looked away.

"Jin will teach me when I come back though..." Jungkook continued, curling his lips at the prince as his anxiety vanished. "When I return from saving the world and all that... he will teach me everything he knows."

Jimin nodded, though the smile he'd been wearing slowly began to disappear.

"Right..." he said. "I'm sure he will."

Jimin looked down at his lap when Taehyung stirred and growled in his sleep.

"It's okay Taehyungie..." he whispered, worry flickering across his face when Taehyung bared his teeth and clawed at something invisible.

"We should stop here," Yoongi said, pulling at the reins and slowing down the carriage when they'd reached the last lantern lighting up the road.

"Is he alright?" Jungkook asked, nudging his head towards the redheaded prince.

Jimin sighed when Taehyung scrunched his nose and kept snarling.

"He's fine. He just needs some rest... and food."

Yoongi jumped off the carriage and landed on the ground with a thud. He looked around suspiciously, checking their surroundings with squinted eyes and curling his fingers around the handle of his sword.

"Do you hear that?"

Jimin and Jungkook simultaneously looked to the king. "Hear what?"

Yoongi held his pointer finger against his lips.

"Listen..."

Jimin frowned, but when he focused and heard the sound Yoongi was talking about, his eyes widened.

Galloping horses. And they were getting closer.

"Everyone out of the carriage, now!"

Jimin wasted no time and hopped out of the wagon before assisting Taehyung in doing the same.

The redheaded prince looked around in confusion and wobbled on his unstable feet. "Jiminie? What's wrong?"

"We need to run Taehyungie, the soldiers are coming."

"Run?"

Jimin catched his lower lip between his teeth when looked into his friend's helpless eyes.

"I'll help you," he said reassuringly. "You can lean on me... we'll be okay."

"We have no time to lose, let's go!" Yoongi yelled impatiently as he stood by the edge of the forrest.

"Jimin... I can't run," Taehyung whispered in a panicked tone. "I don't have the strength... you must leave me."

Jimin tried his best to think  of something, but no reasonable  solution came to mind.

"I could..."

A clear voice cut straight through the chaos, and Jungkook held up his hand with a nervous smile when Taehyung and Jimin gave him their attention.

"I could also... carry you," the demigod suggested quietly.

"If... if  that's needed..."

_______

"You have been ordered to halt Your Highness! Ignoring this order is to disobey the prince regent!"

Jimin respired deeply as he leaned against a tree. The prince had been fleeing from the soldiers for nearly an hour now, running through the dark woods and maneuvering between the trees as swiftly as he could to throw them off, though it was of no use.

After fleeing off into the woods and splitting up  - as was Yoongi's brilliant plan - the hoplites had come to the conclusion that their most important target was the brother of the prince regent, and decided to chase after Jimin and Jimin alone.

The prince looked up at the tree he was resting his weight on, and wondered if he could climb it and wait until the soldiers had retreated.

Surely those men would have to give up eventually, right?

Jimin gasped when a rustle in a bush from a few feet away stole his attention.

It is a soldier... grab your dagger.

Jimin fluttered his eyes, shaking his head as he took a few steps backwards.

"I can't just... I can't just kill-"

You are in danger... grab your dagger.

The prince pressed his hands against his ears and turned around on his heels.

"I won't have more blood on my hands..." he whispered to himself, running away as quickly as he could.
"It isn't right!"

You don't believe in right and wrong... grab your dagger.

Jimin kept covering his ears, but he could still hear the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching him, the heavy breath of someone chasing him through the woods sending shivers down his spine.

He is getting closer... grab your dagger.

"Shut up!" Jimin yelled.

You are acting like prey Jimin! Have you forgotten what power tastes like? Have you grown weak so quickly?

Jimin felt tears well in his eyes as his surroundings blurred.

You have forgotten what you are.

"N-no... no," Jimin mumbled, his feet slowing down as it seemed like the earth itself was trying to hold him back.

What are you... Jimin?

The prince shook his head yet he snaked his hand past his robe and carefully snatched his dagger from his belt. "I'm..."

Say it.

"I..."

An intense focus took hold of the prince, and he clenched his dagger tightly in his hand. His mouth began to water as a dark desire that was buried deep inside of him grew until it was too much to contain.

Feel it.

The prince took a deep breath, a wide  grin spreading across his face when his eyes rolled back into his skull.

"I am... the predator."

Kill him.

The young prince turned around swiftly and lunged at the soldier that had been following him, only for someone to grab his wrist with a tight grip, and take away his dagger without a moment of struggle.

Jimin's clear sight returned to him.

It was Jungkook.

It was the demigod who was standing before Jimin, his head cocked in confusion and his gaze shifting from Jimin's hand to his eyes and back.

"Sir?" He asked, a look of concern painted all over his face. "Are you - are you alright?"