Author notes at the end

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Taehyung sat up slowly. His entire body ached but his legs ached the most. He'd been in such a hurry, trying to make good time for his shift, that he hadn't seen the dog until it was too late. His legs ramming into the poor pooch and knocking him to the ground as Taehyung flew over him, crashing and burning on hands and knees on the concrete.

With a grimace, he turned onto his side and rolled onto his butt, clasping his knees and immediately releasing a hiss. One of his palms was bleeding and he could feel throbbing under his jeans on both knees so he was pretty sure they were bleeding too, or at least, scraped.

He studied the patch of oozing blood and busted skin on his palm. It was just a graze. Nothing to worry about.

Then he looked around for the dog and stilled when he saw the big bundle of golden fur lying close by. Unmoving.

"Oh my God!" He jolted. "No no no please God no..."

Taehyung crawled toward it- praying it wasn't dead.

His hands hovered over the dogs torso too scared to touch it as he bent down to peek at its face. "Hey, doggy... are you okay? Please be okay," he begged, and as he did the dogs muzzle twitched and his eyes gradually opened.

It wasn't dead after all.

Taehyung let out a sigh of relief and placed a hand on its soft fur, stroking gently as the dog lifted his head and surveyed him with peculiarly intelligent eyes.

"Are you alright?" Taehyung asked and put his other hand on him as well. Feeling through his fur to search for broken bones, blood; anything of concern that would require immediate care.

When he found nothing, he stroked one of his floppy golden ears between his fingers. "You really scared me for a second, Misss-" Taehyung shifted his flank a little and peeked underneath it. "-ter. Oh! Okay, you're a mister!" he chortled. "Where's your master, buddy boy?"

The retriever removed his flank from his hand but carefully sat up and shifted closer as if reassured by his presence, while Taehyung scanned the area over his shoulder.

It was obviously well cared for so its owner had to be around here somewhere. Or had it gotten out? It wasn't a problem he could possibly solve right now and he was running late for work.

Taehyung ran his hand underneath the dogs neck and groaned when he didn't locate a collar. Some people were so irresponsible. What the hell was he going to do? He couldn't very well take him to the restaurant with him.

"Hey bud..." Taehyung began reluctantly, scratching the back of his neck. "I hope you don't hate me for this but I think I'm going to have to leave you here," he said and the dog seemed to perk up in alarm, shaking out the fur around his neck then lifting a paw to place it on his lower leg as if pleading.

"Hey now, don't do that... I can't take you with me, my boss will literally murder me..." he reasoned.

The dog pawed at him so Taehyung locked his jaw with determination then stood, dusting himself off using his uninjured hand.

"Look I'm sorry, I really am. You seem like a real nice dog and everything but there's no way I can take responsibility for you. I'm sure you'll be fi-"

The dog cut him off with a pathetic whine. Peering up at him with a wounded look and big eyes and Taehyung hesitated then sent him a look of exasperation.

"Really? You gonna pull a Puss in Boots on me?" he accused and the dog kept the same expression but started to wag its tail, encouraged by Taehyung's change in tune.

"Dammit," he muttered, blowing out a breath.

He searched the area one last time before looking back down at the dog.

Taehyung stared at him- unblinking, and the dog stared right back. Apparently they belonged to each other, for tonight anyways.

"Can you walk?" he asked finally and the dog got up and barked which made Taehyung chuckle. "Smart dog. Alright then, come on," he said, then started to walk as his new furry friend followed faithfully behind.

Hoseok, Jimin and Yoongi toppled out of the mirror and onto the dirt, piled on top of one another in a messy tangle of limbs.

Hoseok- pancaked under his brothers like a starfish, twisted his head around so he could squint at them quizzically. "What happened to waiting a few seconds before following me in?"

Jimin squirmed around underneath Yoongi, annoyed. "It was scary. I couldn't see where you went and I didn't want to get lost!" he huffed, then shoved Yoongi off of him.

The Pixie yelped as he fell on the scrub, struggling as he got to his knees. "And I felt left out when you both left me," he said, then stopped. "What's that smell?"

Jimin rolled off Hoseok and covered his nose with both hands. "Whatever it is it smells awful. Like our stupid neighbours hidey hole whenever they've roasted too many swamp slugs," he complained nasally and Hoseok chuckled.

"I thought you liked Wonho and his slugs?' he asked and Jimin's hands dropped, lips pursed.

"That was before I found out he was also giving his slugs to Jeongyeon. I mean~ where is his loyalty to me. He shouldn't be sharing his slugs with me and then sharing them with someone else behind my back. That's just gross and unhygienic... and gross. Did I mention gross?"

Yoongi side eyed him. "You don't have to call them slugs-" He finger quoted. "-anymore. We all know what you're really talking about is his penis anyway," he said and Jimin blushed up to his ears.

"That's not true. Even though it does kinda look like a slug, but still..." he grumbled and Yoongi raised his brows, while Hoseok smirked and snagged his brothers arms. Dragging them out of the bush area, towards a clearing they could see through a gap in the shrubbery.

Once they broke through to the other side Jimin pointed.

"Up there!"

They glanced up, and on the horizon but still clearly visible- saw massive buildings rising over the trees; every window filled with white light.

Yoongi pointed another way. "Over there too," he said, and the Pixies turned and let out a chorused "Ooooh" when they saw a huge windmill, lit up in a multi of colours; purple, blue and then green.

"I don't think we're in the Nine Kingdoms anymore," Hoseok said. "This is a wonderous place. Look at those lights."

"They must have a ton of candles," Jimin observed with glittering eyes.

Yoongi's face was scrunched up in thought. "If this place isn't one of the Nine Kingdoms do you think we can claim it?" he proposed, and Hoseok and Jimin tore their eyes from the windmill, breaking out into smiles.

Hoseok guffawed and slapped his brother on the back making him stagger forward. "That's a sensational idea! While we're here we can find out how to conquer it!"

Jimin's hands curled into fists, giddy. "Imagine, Hyung would be so proud of us. Also, no more Swamp!"

The Pixies jumped around with enthusiasm but stopped when they heard a high pitched moan. Not knowing what it belonged to they ran over to the nearest bush and dove behind it. Their heads rising over the top, only their eyes exposed to see a young couple sitting on a bench; sucking each others faces off.

Silently, all three crept toward the back of the bench, and when they reached it Yoongi patted around and snatched the girls purse while Hoseok waved a hesitant Jimin onward.

"I hate using my powers. Why can't Yoongi do it?" Jimin whined quietly.

"I have a deep respect for reproduction rituals," Yoongi said and dumped the contents of the purse labelled 'Lalisa' out. He picked up a funny looking white bullet, sniffing it. "Plus, I did the Prince so it's your turn."

Jimin whined again but then relented and began to change.

His body and head grew and expanded- arms and legs swelling with sinew and fat. The pallor of his skin turned a ghastly shade of green and developed grotesque boils; his perfect teeth and button nose turning jagged and bulbous.

The cute Pixie had become a fearsome Troll.

Once his transformation was complete he leaped in front of the tonguing couple and bellowed menacingly.

Startled, the girl and boy let go of each other and shrieked- sheer horror written all over their faces as they quivered into the bench. The girl's hands flew to her cheeks as she wailed, and the boy, trembling from head to toe, pushed her out of the way and ran off.

Yoongi and Hoseok watched behind the bench, chortling, as the girl stared after the boy in shock.

"Kim Hanbin, you MAMAS BOY!" she hollered, then threw a skinny black box at Jimin's Troll chest in terror and ran away too.

Jimin changed back into himself as the black box clattered to the ground and seemed to come alive. Music and voices coming out- singing some kind of catchy tune about lighting up something called dynamite.

"Look, more magic," he giggled, picking the strange thing up and showing it to his brothers as they moved toward him, staring in wonder.

"This place is full of amazing enchantments," Yoongi said and Hoseok smiled.

"Let's bring it with us," he suggested. "It'll be our first treasure from this land and once we've caught the Prince and taken him to the Queen, we can come back here and conquer it, and take more."

The three of them nodded eagerly then set off down the path on the lookout for the Prince, only walking along it for about ten minutes when Hoseok suddenly stopped and pointed down. There was a small spot that had some blood on it and a few puffs of golden fur.

"The Prince has been here," he said.

The Pixies quickly searched the area until Yoongi spotted something lying on the grass nearby. He scooped it up as the others gathered around. It was small and square, and made out of leather.

The Pixie opened it, chucked the green papers inside over his shoulder and pulled out a small piece of hardened, shiny scroll.

It had a picture of a young human on it.

Hoseok looked over Yoongi's shoulder and grinned, reading it aloud.

"If found please return to Kim Taehyung. 42-1 Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan-gu."

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Quiz - Did you catch the song reference?

Wonho (Monsta X) - The slug pixie
Yoo Jeongyeon (Twice) - The side slug pixie
Lisa (Blackpink) - The kissing girl
Kim Hanbin (iKON) - The mamas boy

Everyone's Seoul bound!

Any questions, feel free!

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Summary for the title fairytale...

The Bond of Friendship ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Once upon a time in a land that knew war there lived a little boy with his family. His family knew all too well the turmoil that was caused by living in such an area. People from here and there disagreed with one another. One night the father brought someone home with him. It was a little girl, and her name was Anastasia. She was not much younger than the boy. The father had promised the girl's father, through a bond of friendship, that they would be friends no matter what. The little girl had lost her parents, and the man had agreed to watch over this child as his own. The family lived together for a time, several years passed. The boy would often carry Anastasia with him. One night two men came to the house. They had dinner, and things seemed fine. They went upon their way, and the father served as a guide for a while. Soon other people showed up. They killed the two men and killed the father. They said the family had harbored robbers. The mother, the boy, and Anastasia had to leave. They went and lived somewhere else for a while, which wasn't far away. There they met someone named Aphtanides. Aphtanides was kind to the family and became a good friend to the boy. He was a fisherman. The family grew to miss their home, so they went back. It had been destroyed, but they rebuilt it. Anastasia grew into a beautiful young woman. Aphtanides went away to the sea and had many things to tell the young man when he returned. Aphtanides and the young man agreed to perform the vow of friendship that the boy's father had performed years before. It was a solemn occasion, and they took it seriously. The two friends talked, and Aphtanides asked the young man to reveal the desires of his heart. The young man loved Anastasia and wanted her for his wife. It turns out that Aphtanides also loved Anastasia, but as he had taken a vow of friendship with the young man he let him have Anastasia. Anastasia was married to the young man, and he remained friends with Aphtanides.

| Named for new friends Taehyung and Seokjin, and the mischievous Pixies |