All I need is a little rain,
a little peace
and a lot of you.

■•●•■

We walk and walk.

For days.

Again the cycle repeats but now our destination is different.

'White Forest'

It indeed sounds strange. But to the old lady, it isn't. She or technically her grandson talked about the place like it is the most usual place in the world.

Well.. but we indeed are following her instructions. That not to go anywhere else and go straight up towards the north side. No deviation should come in between or we will lose our track.

And it seems like it. My whole body is screaming that we have lost the right track but no one utters a word knowing no one can say that for sure.

"Do you think we're going in the right way?" Hoseok speaks out with an ever so low voice he can. That is the first word that I am hearing after the start of our journey except the thoughts of my dear ones.

"I don't know too. It just feels strange now," I said, stating the fact that no one is able to say out aloud. But then my hands automatically goes upto my arms and I start rubbing them.

"Is it only me or anyone else can feel the sudden drop of temperature?" I whisper because all of a sudden the weather around us starts getting windy.

Coldness is seeping inside my bones as in no time my teeth starts chattering.

"Are you okay, Pepper?" Taehyung asks in concern as I look towards him. Raising his hand to touch my cheek, he almost flinches away when he feels my icy cold skin. "Why are you getting so cold?"

"It ain't only unnie, oppa," Eunbi mumbles as our eyes meet her's. She is standing at the corner with her back against the tree.

She looks at us and points towards the two boys. Jin is holding Hoseok to his dear life as the latter looks so drained that I even doubt he is breathing till now. His whole body looks pale like the blood in his body has stopped flowing.

"Hoseok?" Jin murmurs but no response comes from the younger one. He is completely unconscious and knowing how movement less he is, anything can be possible.

"I'm feeling quite cold too now," Eunbi rubs her arms. And the same thing happens with her. Blue lips and shivering body in a few seconds that Taehyung isn't even able to get to her before she faints too.

"T- Taehyung?" I stammer as the boy looks at me. His eyes filled with concerned but guilty too as there is nothing he can do. I just smile, indirectly saying it is nothing as he grabs my hand.

"Taehyung I think it's that.. " Our eyes fly towards where Jin is telling us to look.

White coat covering the whole place as all we can see is whiteness in front of us.

Just please tell me it's the 'White Forest'.

"We need to pass this area as fast as possible if this is the reason for their bad condition," Taehyung suggests.

Jin nods and grabs the unconscious boy. Gladly, I am able to move easily but I am quite freezing. The warmth of Taehyung's body is the only thing that is keeping me conscious but now if he carries Eunbi meaning he gets away from me, then I fear I may faint anytime soon.

But I shouldn't care about myself right now. There's no way I'm going to be a selfish person at a time like this. And so I let Taehyung take Eunbi in his arms.

"Is it snow?" I breathe out while rubbing my body. My breathe comes out as mist as my body feels numb to any stimulus. Taehyung narrows his eyes and looks closely at the plant which has some white material on it. Slowly yet softly poking the substance, he keeps it for some time and retracts back. "Strangely, it is."

"But at this time of year?" Jin asks, his face scrunches up because of confusion. "You can expect anything here, Jin," I state the matter of fact. He nods on my statement and looks around.

As I take a step closer to the frozen forest, shivers run down my spine. My body is shivering as if I am in a freezer. The trees are waving at me as I walk through the foot path. The icy cold wind runs aggressively through the wrinkly, naked, brown branches; it is impossible to walk through the ocean of snow. The crystal white snow sinks half of my purple numb body like a lion eating its prey.

The soldiers of trees swaying back and forth trying to look for its next prey. The foggy mist makes it impossible to see in the near distance.

"We need to cross the forest in order to get to 'Hollow Cliffs'," I sigh out. "Stick together at all cost," Taehyung mumbles which is enough for me and Jin to hear. We all make firm yet shaky steps towards the entrance of the forest and the second we step inside, something springs out of the trees beside us and divides the path into two.

All of that happens in such a fast pace that neither me nor Taehyung gets enough time to rethink about the situation. But now when we do, Hoseok and Jin are nowhere near us.

"Jin!!" I scream at the top of my lungs while looking at every corner of the wood like trap and frantically beat it. Of course, nothing is going to happen but still we can't take the chance of them separating from us.

"Hyung!!" Taehyung screams too with an unconscious Eunbi in his arms. I can't believe this is happening to us.

How come it's possible that one second the person is right beside you but the next second they are gone?

We can't even hear any sound of Jin calling out for help. We don't know if both of them are safe or not. What if they are in danger?

"T- Taehyung.." I call him with my voice pouring distress.

Why is this happening to us and in such a fast pace that we aren't even able to take everything in, that happened during the past few days.

Hoseok showing strange signs like vomiting and fatigue.

That's okay when one is anxious and tired and it is obvious at a time like this but when one gets a proper time to rest and there are a plenty of friends with him who succeeds in bringing that anxious side out of him then what is the reason behind it?

All Taehyung's face shows is pure helplessness. He doesn't even seem to take in about what is happening around us, and losing his loved ones one by one, who always stay together in thick and thins since childhood are disappearing right in front of his eyes.

He wants to solve everything. He doesn't want anymore problems in the path and now Hoseok and Jin separating is a big problem itself.

But everything seems like it is pre-planned. Jimin getting away like that and now Hosoek & Jin getting separated without any reason, this can't be a coincidence or a curse.

"Taehyung! Pepper!"

That voice..

"Jin!?"

Me and Taehyung both scream in unison. Mixture of happiness and relief is evident in our voices.

In just a matter of minutes and Jin is back. Nothing can be more luckier than this.

"Hoseok.." He sniffs.

■•●•■

"Why is this happening!?" Taehyung shouts causing the snow above the tree branches to fall down resulting us to get engulfed in some. But neither of us move our head. Hot pool of tears are flowing down of Jin's eyes and the boy looks basically unstoppable right now.

Now what he witness is quite strange. After him and Hoseok are separated from us because of that wooden pieces coming out of nowhere, they got trapped in a maze. A sudden maze made in seconds.

And there was no way to go back. Jin moved forward and kept on doing so but found nothing.

After finally getting to the end point he ran towards the exit with an unconscious Hoseok but the next thing he felt was being pulled by Hoseok. Not in any direction but downwards.

And the next second when he glanced at the boy, he was gone. Far gone inside the manhole someone created for whatever purpose, hidden behind the layers of snow.

Jin screamed his name but for no vail. He cried his name but the reply was absolutely nothing.

He even tried it for minutes but.. he lost every bit of his control and cried. Thinking of the worse thing that could happen to his friend, and he cried.

And then after that he came back. Came back to us as he told us he just walked aimlessly to no particular direction but he somehow got to us.

Stunned, me and Taehyung even think to the extent that Jin may be dreaming of all those happenings but his thoughts that are flowing inside his brain seems to be quite real.

And now that we go back to the place where the hole is supposed to be at, it is nowhere to be found. We clear every bit of the snow and even rub our noses on the snow covered ground but there is nothing. The theory behind the disappearance of hole should be scientific because it won't happen until we live in a magical world and that isn't the case here.

Me and the others having the ability is in our genes, it isn't magic.

But the hole not being found is something fishy.. it shouldn't be like that.

"Taehyung.. I think we're getting ourselves in a big problem," I bite my lip as I look at him. The latter is trying to console the crying boy and biting his lips continuously. I walk towards him and crouch down at his level but still his eyes doesn't meet mine.

"Look at me."

But he doesn't. He is far from even hearing a sound from the surroundings so I grab his head with my hands.

"Listen. I know we all are getting ourselves into a mess and it seems like we won't be able to get back and make everything right," I say so in a single breathe because my heart is almost on the verge of breaking apart.

What I said is the truth and after fighting my inner self for like a thousand times, I finally am managing to say so. It is the harsh reality that Taehyung doesn't want to hear but I'm making him to. Because I know if i don't, then he will just break more.

"But till the end, wherever I am and everyone is, we will always stay together in here," I place my index finger on his chest as his slow heartbeats makes their way towards my hand. "No matter what happens, we all are going to stick together," And with that I move a little upwards and place my lips on his forehead, sealing a promise kiss.

"I'll take that away if I feel like we are breaking apart," I whisper so that only he can hear. His eyes slowly turns teary but he shakes his head.

That's not what I want Taehyung..

He stands up and walks towards the big stone that is placed on the ground, covered in layers of snow.

"Let's go. Next destination."

I just hope everything goes fine now.