This is one of the first one-shots I wrote about BTS. I hope that you like it. It is set in the MV universe.

Jin's POV

I pull to a stop. I get out of the car and lock the doors. I start to walk down the pathway. The trees provide shade from the blazing sun. I think about the things I left behind as I walk. I haven't been back here for a few years. I didn't want to come back. I wanted to forget this part of my life. The part of my life where I had failed. Even though I tried to put it all behind me, I couldn't. I tried to avoid this forest. I tried to avoid the road that leads to this town. I tried and I failed, again. I remember the pathway. I remember where it leads, but I'm too scared to go there. This place was a part of me for so long. They were an important part of me for so long. Now, I don't know. I feel kind of empty. I wanted everything to go good for us. It was a stupid wish. Something that would never come true. Bad things seemed bound to happen. I tried to avoid them, but no matter what I did things still went down a dark path. All of my efforts were useless. I gave up after I tried to fix things for the fifth...maybe sixth time. I left, I couldn't stay. Staying here reminded me of my failure to protect them. I chose to leave it behind. Now that I'm back, it's lonely. I'm not with the others. It's been a long time since we were all together. This place used to be our safe haven. It used to be the place that we could be ourselves. Now it's just a place with old memories, dead leaves, and broken friendships. What would I give for things to have gone differently? What would I give for their happiness? Everything. I shouldn't be back here. I turn around and start to walk back to my car. "Jin hyung!?" I freeze, as I hear someone I hadn't heard in a long time call my name. I turn around and there is Namjoon. "Hello, Namjoon. It's been a while. How are things? I say giving him a small smile.

He chuckles, "I'm good, hyung. It's been a long time since we last spoke. Two years to be exact. Where did you go? Why did you go? The rest of the guys and I have been trying to get in touch with you. We gave up after a while. I honestly didn't think you would come back." I'm shocked at the fact he mentions the guys so nonchalantly. The group had pretty much went their separate ways, last I remembered. Things were rather shaky between us all. "You guys still hang out. Things must've changed while I was gone. I just needed to clear my head. I went back home for a bit." I reply.

"You were gone for more than a bit. Is your head clear now? Things have changed. You've been gone for a long while. Yeah, we still hang out all the time. It took a while, but things are better between us. Things aren't as they were before everything went crazy but, we're all in a good place." Namjoon explains.

"All of you?" I ask. Namjoon nods his head. I sigh, I never really expected for this to happen. I thought that this part of my life was in the past. I was scared to find out more. Namjoon leans against the tree trunk, "What's on your mind, Jin hyung?"

I shake my head, "I left because I was scared. I left because no matter what I did, things were still bad. We started to drift apart and then everything bad happened. I couldn't stop it all from happening. I wasn't able to protect you all." I stare at the ground with a frown. Namjoon sighs, "Sometimes bad things happen. It's not something you can just stop. It's not your fault that things happened like they did. We were bound to experience something bad somewhere along the line. Everyone goes through something bad in their lives. We're no exception. People try to deny bad things will ever happen to them, but they will. It sounds kind of dark and depressing, but we don't live in a utopian world. There are going to be bad things scattered among the good."

"The things that happened aren't everyday problems. It shattered us. It left us all in pieces," I say in return, "I haven't come back here in a long time. I decided that it would be best if I just forgot what had happened. Forget all of this. This place and all of you.

"Yet, here you are. Remember when we used to say we were bulletproof. We used to say, nothing could hurt us as long as we stuck together. It's kind of a silly thought now that you think about it. Things happened, Jin hyung. We can't go back and change it. What matters is that we were able to keep going. We didn't let those things hold us down." Namjoon tells me.

I frown, "I wanted to forget, but I can't. This pathway. This place. Its home. That's why I came back. I need to see this place one last time. To find out how you are all doing. To make amends with a past I'm trying to bury. What happened to them? The last thing I remember is Jungkook in the hospital, Yoongi on a destructive rampage, Hoseok overdosing, Jimin not knowing what to do with himself, Taehyung getting arrested, and you trying to fix everything."

Namjoon takes a deep breath, "Well. For a long while we stopped talking. We pretended we never knew one another. We imagined that all those times we hung out were only fantasies. I couldn't take it, I decided to go visit Taehyung one day. We talked and tried to fix things. I even helped him get an early leave from prison. I decided to contact the rest of the group after that. It took a while to convince Yoongi, but we eventually all met up. We talked and tried to understand what went wrong. We fixed our relationship. The scars are all still there, they'll never fully heal, but we've come to live with them."

"You all reacted so well to everything that happened," I say, "While I just decided to run from my problems.

Namjoon shakes his head, "In no way did we deal with it well. For the longest time we were dwelling on our issues. Not caring about anything else. Just accepting that we couldn't move past it. That our problems would never go away and we would always have to wear it as a label of shame. It took to long for us to realize that the thing that matters most is how you move past it. We accepted that it had happened and we can't change it. You said before that we were shattered. We were. We were for the longest time, but we picked up the pieces. We rebuilt what had been broken. There are still cracks. There always will be cracks. We've accepted them. We'll always be affected by them, but they won't control our lives. We made the choice to embrace our problems. We choose to take our issues and move on in life. Hoseok still struggles, but he has us to talk to if he needs it. Yoongi has calmed down and Jungkook is still the same bright young man he's always been. Jimin almost always has a genuine smile on his face. Taehyung still feels guilty, but we're all helping him move on. I'm happy, I know that not everything will be fixed and I'm okay with that. There will always be a part of us that wishes for things to go back to the way it was before, but we're happy with our lives. You can still see that something bad happened to us if you look. The thing is that we don't care. It's a part of who we are. We love the people we are now. We love ourselves. Do you love yourself?" I frown, not knowing what to say. The boys have been able to survive the battlefield and come out okay. They won't be the same people they were then, but that's more than alright. I'm not the same person I was then. I will always wish I was. I will always wish that pain like this never existed. But, can I accept it? Will I be able to think back to what had happened and not feel like that it is the end of the story. "Hey, the guys and I were planning to hang out here later tonight. Kind of like when we were younger. We wanted to see if the place changed. Why don't you come?" Namjoon says.

"Are you sure? Am I even welcome?" I ask.

Namjoon scoffs, "Of course, I'm sure. You're always welcome. What type of ridiculous question is that? You've always been welcome to hang out with us. You're family. I'll see you later, Jin hyung, hopefully...."

I nod, "I'll see you later, Namjoon." He smiles and begins to walk away. I came here feeling one way and now I find myself feeling a bit different. Things aren't as bad as I thought they would be. This forest is full with beautiful memories and healing friendships. Maybe it's time I remember my past. Maybe it's time for me to stop avoiding me. It may hurt to remember, but I have a feeling that it won't hurt as much as I fear.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you liked it. Please follow me, vote, add this story to your library and comment on any one-shots you would like me to write. I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.