Vote and comment if you would sacrifice eating your favorite food for the rest of your life just to see Jimin smile for 0.5 seconds, or if you think Namjoon has nice thighs. No one will ever know.

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Alana

Darkness terrified her.

Nyctophobia had been one of her countless phobias. Some said she had an issue due to her high level of phobias, and to be fair, they were right, but that didn't stop the phobias from forming inside her the more she lived and learned how petrified she was of death. That was why sleeping had been a chore at time, though somehow, that night, she rested okay. There were no reasons why she should; she was in a new environment with no clue what was going on, yet there she was, fluttering her eyes open to face the day. It was night, but the sentiment was what mattered.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," a male voice said, and after prying through her memory of memories she didn't care to have, she remembered Jimin, the one positive of the entire situation. He could have abandoned her and tried to escape by himself; after all, she had frozen up earlier and forced him to take the lead again despite their agreement of letting her take more risks.

"Morning." Alana yawned and stretched, rolling to her knees. Jimin stood above her, his hand extended. She took it and hoisted herself to her feet. "Thanks. What's the plan?"

"I monitored the building while you were out. Nothing of note, so I think our plan is to go inside the same way we tried last time. It's the farthest we ever got. Maybe if we make no noise and slip past, we can find something upstairs." Jimin paused to point to the top of the giant skyscraper of a hotel. "I'm guessing our answers are going to be at the top."

"And if they're not?"

"Then they're not and we have to search every corner of every floor. But until then, let's start with the obvious and work our way down. I think we should go inside, get up the stairs, find an elevator, and go to the top floor. I'm guessing with a hotel of this size and... well, to put it bluntly, rich-as-fuck-ness, the top floor isn't a floor but a presidential suite of some kind. There might be an answer in there, and if not, we look for roof access."

"If there's nothing on the roof?"

"Then we work our way down, like I said. We'll take it room by room if we need to." Jimin rotated his leg with his hands on his hips, maintaining a steady balance as he did so, doing both legs before planting his feet again. He stretched his arms, too. "I'll take point. If we can disarm a guard, we have a way to fight back."

"You know how to shoot?"

Jimin snorted. "Land of the free, home of the brave, baby. Of course I know how to shoot. You don't?"

"You'd think I would, being from New York and all, but no. I, um..." She picked at her fingers before tangling her hands in her braids. "I don't like violence."

"That's okay." Jimin took her hands away from her braids and squeezed them. "That means your hands were made for healing, not hurting. Wish I could say the same, but that helps us now. I'll do all the fighting, you do the searching. Sound fair?"

Alana nodded without hesitation. "Fair. But, for what it's worth, I think your hands were made for healing, too."

Jimin stiffened, his eyes bulging. And then, he smiled, and she swore she saw a tint of rosiness dust his cheeks. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to, so they embarked on their next journey that could lead to their deaths.

"Can I be honest?" she asked as they walked, and he hummed while staying in front of her. "I'm scared."

"Me too. I wasn't kidding: I pissed my pants at least three times. Thank God wherever we are resets the piss, too."

"Okay, ew. So much for fear. You just grossed me out."

Jimin craned his neck to shoot her a smile. "See? I'm useful for more than fighting and looking pretty."

Yeah, he was. There was something about his presence that had her heart slowing when it should spike. They were in a mysterious situation neither of them knew anything about, yet she didn't scream or sob. She wanted to, but she didn't. Maybe the shock masked her true feelings, or maybe she thought she was dreaming despite there being surplus evidence proving otherwise, but Jimin's gentle touch and adorable smiles soothed her in a way she hadn't expected.

She couldn't laugh or grin, but the internal affect his words had on her surpassed anything a facial expression could display. Her heart warmed. Maybe her soul did, too. She'd take all she could get, considering the circumstances.

"Hey, try not to think too much. We'll be out of here before you get a chance to. Hopefully, anyway."

"Have you?" she asked, and when he didn't reply, she clarified, "thought about it."

"What else is there to do? But I miss Irene, so I'll get through it. You?"

"My sister needs me, so... yeah, me too."

Jimin agreed and brought her to the side door they had gone through last time. The one that had gotten them the furthest. With it being night, she had a sliver of hope that something could change. Maybe they'd have a stronger chance of making it upstairs.

The reality of the situation was beyond human comprehension. If her sister were there, Alana wondered what she would say. At first, she would celebrate having a private space to party, maybe try to flirt with the guards, and find the alcohol. That girl had a nose for it, unlike Alana. But Alana wasn't her sister, so she had to figure it out on her own.

"What's her name?" Jimin asked, placing his hand on the entrance.

"Amari."

"Alana and Amari, the two A's. Good to know." Jimin opened the door and grinned, his eyes grinning with him. "Let's get you back to your lil sis."

Alana, on instinct, pulled him back, preventing him from progressing. She didn't know why, but she couldn't let him go. Perhaps it was out of fear of the unknown, perhaps the reality of the situation had caught up with her, or maybe she was just stupid, but she had to hold onto him for a moment longer, and he raised a brow at that.

"What about if we get out of this right now? How will I find you? We're on different sides of the country," she said, feeling like she fired out the sentences in one breath.

"Ah, does Alana care about me? You've known me a few hours, princess. Getting all soft on me?"

Alana glared. "We are in a life or death situation, and you have time for... this?"

Jimin beamed. "Yes."

"I'm ignoring that," she said instead of bothering to deal with his "unique" personality. "But please. I want to find you when we get out."

"When." Jimin clicked his tongue and chuckled. "I like that. When we get out, not if. Good mindset. Wish I was a glass half full kind of gal like you, princess. But, sure, I'll bite. You want to find me, just message me on Instagram. My username is Park Jimin. My name. All lowercase, no underscores, nothing fancy. And if that doesn't show up for whatever reason, I work seven days a week for the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. It's part of California State University. Go there and ask for me."

She knitted her brows. "Are you a dance teacher?"

"Something like that."

"I've..." Alana trailed off, and she couldn't stop the soft smile spreading across her lips. "I've always wanted to dance."

Jimin squeezed her hand. "When we get out of here, I'll teach you. Not for free, but I'll give you at least a ten dollar off deal."

"Asshole."

Jimin didn't deny it and instead slipped inside with her, his hand still holding hers. Inside waited... nothing. The guards weren't there, but that didn't mean they weren't elsewhere. Assuming that hellish landscape operated anything like a hotel, the guards had shifts and patrol paths Jimin and her could learn.

Regardless of the discovery of the lack of guards, neither of them spoke. Alana gripped Jimin's hand tightly enough to leave red splotches on his skin. If she had time to apologize, she would, but for the time being, she followed him up the staircase. The stairs creaked under their weight, but no security came to end their lives despite the soft noise.

"Elevators," Jimin mumbled, pointing to the silver objects and leading her to them. He pressed the up arrow, giving Alana a moment to catch her breath and scan the new area.

It wasn't much different than the rest of the hotel she had seen thus far. No blemishes in sight, fancy chandeliers lighting the place, and windows leading to nowhere. The difference was the presence of four elevators, two on each side.

Jimin approached the left side and pressed the call button, and it arrived within a second. They piled in, slamming the top floor and watching the metal slide shut. Somehow they ended up huddled in the corner together. Jimin remained in front of her with his arm stretched out to keep her back. Each ding had her pulse rocketing and her fingers going numb. Or clammy. She couldn't tell. Maybe it was both.

"Do you have a plan?" she asked, and Jimin kept his voice as low and steady as before. It didn't matter; Alana could see his hands shaking anyway.

"Punch the first person I see, take their gun, shoot the second person I see."

About as good a plan as any.

Alana didn't ask any further questions, instead staying silent for the entire minute-long journey to the top of the eighty floors, as the number panel revealed. At least it wasn't over a hundred, like she had feared.

The floor dinged at the eighty mark, and Alana cowered behind Jimin and counted in her head. The seconds slipped by. No gunshots came, even when the doors parted.

"It's okay. It's a presidential."

Jimin peeked his head out and investigated before stepping out and holding her up. He ran a deeper search, disappearing from sight for a moment while Alana stared at the off-white wall in front of her with a tiny painting in a golden frame hanging there. She didn't recognize the painting, but it was of a gorgeous white horse standing on its hind legs.

"All clear," Jimin's voice echoed back to her, and she departed the elevator to immerse herself in the presidential suite.

It was smaller than she had anticipated, with it having a bedroom on the left, a living room space attached to the bedroom, a balcony also attached to the bedroom, and a bathroom on the right that had a golden door matched with a golden handle.

Alana joined Jimin in front of the king-sized bed with white covers. Not a single piece of the bed was out of place, and the same applied to the rest of the vicinity. The living room had a wide couch with LED cupholders and a flat screen mounted on the wall across from it, topped with a mini fridge next to the end of the couch for easy access to alcohol and snacks.

"Let's search for any clues." Jimin paused to clear his throat. "Would you, uh... would you mind checking the balcony? Got a bad fear of heights."

"Yeah, of course." Alana opened the glass door leading to the golden balcony. Yes, golden. Rich people never ceased to amaze her-

"Unauthorized personnel detected," a robotic female voice said from what sounded like the TV of the living room, the voice bouncing around the walls. Alana snapped back around, and Jimin stiffened in front of the bed, his bulging eyes flicking to Alana's. A rumbling hit the floors and almost sent Alana flying. Jimin called for her and reached out, but it didn't matter.

Before either of them could react, the suite exploded, taking them with it.

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