A/N - (Thanks to SKULLMODEL for the fan art!)

Jungkook ran his fingertips across the polished wooden body of the ship, feeling smooth against his skin. His wings flapped behind his back, both of excitement and fear of stepping back into his home planet after so long, as he silently watched the others staring at the entrance of the ship, which was still sealed, only opening upon the orders of the captain. He took a moment to study everyone's expressions — Everyone was staring in awe but you and Emily in particular were nearly drooling in excitement, babbling about how cool it was to be riding a ship that could cross planets.

When Jungkook noticed that Taehyung wasn't in the group, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was so sudden that his wings straightened, some feathers shedding out of shock. He turned, sighing upon the sight of a snickering Taehyung. "God, don't do that, Taehyung!"

"Heh, you should have seen your face," Taehyung was chuckling with that deep voice of his, using the cup of his sleeve to cover his mouth. "You were like—"

"Oh, shut up," Jungkook snapped the moment Taehyung started to imitate his shocked expression by widening his eyes and exaggeratedly opening his mouth. He looked up at the ship, a bit overwhelmed by its size. It was even bigger than any of warship he's ever seen, including those from the kingdom of Vlam, which specialized in weaponry. It made him wonder which kingdom was in charge of creating this vehicle, but the snake symbol it had gave him an idea. "Hey, Tae, do you know how to operate this thing?"

Taehyung shrugged, placing the staff on his shoulder and following Jungkook's gaze. After a while, he started to levitate, trails of purple mist left behind below his feet. The others were too distracted to notice. "You want to figure it out?"

Jungkook smirked, hoping into the air and spreading his wings. "No need to ask me."

Thankfully, contrary to Jungkook's expectations, there was no forcefield surrounding the ship so he and Taehyung had easy access to the deck. Since it resembled a pirate ship, outside of the ship was open, the cold air hitting them with a crisp. Jungkook saw two flights of stairs crossing one another, leading to the highest part of the deck, where the captain's wheel was located. In between the stairs was a metal door, which Jungkook assumed was the entrance to the captain's quarters.

Jungkook sniffled, scrunching his nose until he let out a loud sneeze, wings straightening once more. Taehyung gave him a look. "What? It's way too dusty in here."

"I can help with that," A voice said from above, Jungkook nearly screeching because of it. Hoseok landed next to him with a pat. Seriously, what's with the other wonders and sneaking up on people? "Jin saw the both of you flying so I decided to check it out. Are you guys trying to get the ship running?"

"Obviously," Taehyung muttered, already halfway up the stairs. He leaned on the railing, holding up the staff like it was a prized possession. "Could you clean this thing real quick?"

"Sure thing," Hoseok flashed a smile and started to inhale. Jungkook didn't need to be told to move away, he didn't want any dust on his white feathers. Wing maintenance was more difficult than what most people thought.

As Jungkook flew up to avoid the dust, he saw Taehyung fiddling with a podium next to the captain's wheel. It was glowing and he could see the bearer of the gem of darkness pressing some buttons. In that moment of silence in the air, he made eye contact with someone. You were staring right back at him, big brown eyes filled with concern. Jungkook wasn't sure whether you cared because you were the guardian or for his own well-being but one thing was for sure... your eyes were beautiful.

Jungkook mentally slapped himself in the face. No, no, no. He knows better than to develop unknown feelings towards you, especially because Yoongi was currently your boyfriend. Even worse, the angel was positive that Taehyung too thought of you differently and he didn't want to get caught up in a possible complicated web of romance.

After all, Jungkook betrayed Taehyung once and he won't be doing it again. He stared at his own hands, remember how hers fit perfectly in his.

What would she think of him at this very moment? Disgusted.

"Jungkook, get down here!"

Looking down, Jungkook saw Taehyung gesturing a hand towards him and so the angel gracefully landed next to him. He stared at the platform of buttons, glancing at the hologram map hovering just before Taehyung's face.

"What is that?," Jungkook stepped forward, brushing his fingers over the holographic screen as they penetrated through it. The screen showed two spheres, one colored blue and the other colored white. Seven red dots were on the white sphere while only one was on the blue.

Taehyung tapped his chin, shutting an eye to think. "These are maps of both Earth and Vrede. The ship is right here."

Jungkook blinked whilst Taehyung pointed at the single red dot on the blue sphere. It took a moment for the light gem bearer to realize that there were Vredeian inscriptions on the map.

"It says here that we need to open a portal that leads straight to Vrede," Taehyung continued, no longer hiding his accent around Jungkok, pressing a button to reveal a black screen with more inscriptions, a blank line right in the middle. "But it needs a passcode and I have no clue what it is. We can't leave until we figure it out."

Jungkook sighed, looking over the deck and seeing Hoseok bringing the others over one by one. Each person who came stared at the ship in awe but Jimin looked like he was this close to turning sea sick, which was weird because they weren't even on water.

Glancing at the snake figurehead of the ship and hearing Taehyung's groans of frustration, Jungkook slowly started to connect the dots. He knew that Taehyung's mother, despite her womanly status, was a great architect and engineer. He wasn't sure if Taehyung knew but it was possible that she could have made the ship against his father.

"Tae," Jungkook breathed, counting the letters of the passcode. Eight. "Your mother was an engineer, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Taehyung raised an eyebrow with a frown. "Why did you mention my mother?"

"Do you think its possible, that she—," Jungkook paused, not wanting to say something that would bother his friend, gently pushing Taehyung aside and glanced at the keypad, the Vredeian letters staring right back at him. "...She made this ship?"

A silence. "Jungkook, what—"

Jungkook swiftly typed out the passcode, the ship's engine whirring to life. He was right about it — the passcode was Taehyung's name.

Everyone shrieked when the ship started to rise, its poles splitting and sails spreading, forming into wings. The vehicle rocked dangerously as it balanced out in the air and soon, it was airborne. Jungkook smirked, realizing that the ship could be used both on water and land.

"A little help?!," A scream came from out of Jungkook's sight and he got hold of the situation when he saw Jin running towards the side of the deck.

"How did you even—," Jin grunted when he pulled Emily in, their bodies colliding as they both collapsed to the floor.

"What's happening to the ground?!," Namjoon's voice made Jungkook down as well and he saw the floor opening up in a spinal pattern, each glowing circle fading as bright light seeped from underground. It looked like a whirlpool, except that it was bright and was filled with rainbow colors.

"It's a portal?!," Yoongi shouted, grabbing your waist tightly to prevent you from falling and hurting yourself. Jungkook heard Taehyung click his tongue. "How are we going in?!"

"Everyone hold onto something or get inside the captain's quarters! I'm going to tilt the ship vertically so we can dive into the portal! Jungkook, get your ass over here!," Taehyung spat out words and started spinning the wheel, the ship tilting ever so slowly. His eyes were glassy and it was obvious that he was flustered, but it didn't stop him from taking control of the situation. Jungkook ran to his aid as fast as he could. "I need you to handle the statistics, there's a button there and you can switch out the map with altitude and aptitude measurements. Tell me if my next move is going to make us crash or not."

Jungkook was baffled by Taehyung's words for a moment but he still obeyed, scanning through the buttons. Although his head spun at the many letters, he still found the right button and was now staring at multiple numbers and a radar that replicated the whole ship, showing if all its parts were damaged or not. "You know how to fly this thing?"

"My dad forced me and my sister to learn everything, including how to fly a plane. This thing is similar, but ten times heavier and bigger," Taehyung whispered softly, the grip on the wheel so tight that his knuckles were turning white. Jungkook stared at him for a moment, feeling pity towards his friend, since he knew a bit of his childhood, until the older boy shattered the silence. "Is everyone inside?"

Jungkook craned his neck and peaked over at the deck, seeing that it was empty, no sign of anyone standing around in danger. "The coast is clear."

"Good," Taehyung looked over his shoulder, smirking, his bangs swaying because of the wind and pointed teeth glinting. "Hold onto something, Jungkook. This ride is going to get bumpy."

Jungkook held onto the railing of the deck whilst keeping his eyes on the ship's statistics, which was a difficult feat because of the distance. Still, he pushed through as Taehyung spun the wheel rapidly, the whole ship tilting tremendously. The angel grunted in pain when he nearly fell over the deck, his stomach hitting the platform of buttons.

Hearing the thoughts of the others in the cabin's quarters, which were filled with screams and curse words from Yoongi, Jungkook had the urge to cover his ears but didn't. Letting go would probably cause him to fall into the portal along, and that probably meant he was going to be transported in another part of Vrede by himself. That was a disaster in itself.

Taehyung hinself was struggling to keep his balance but he kept spinning the wheel, the ship completely upright now... but something wasn't right, Jungkook could feel it.

Jungkook trusted his gut feeling, especially when he heard you scream. Following the voice, he saw you barely hanging from the edge of the deck, just in front of him and Taehyung.

"Sky?! What the hell are you doing out here?!," Taehyung hissed as you were at a loss for words. He clicked his tongue and pulled Jungkook by the sleeve, slamming his body against the wheel. "Take over."

"Wha—," Before Jungkook could finish, Taehyung had stepped on the railing and jumped off the deck. He held his breath, trying to balance the ship and search for Taehyung at the same time.

After a few moments of silence, Taehyung flew in the air with you in his arms, landing right next to Jungkook. He sighed, this time in relief.

But Taehyung's reaction was the opposite. He held your shoulders and shook them violently, his eyes bright purple in fury. "Sky, why the hell were you outside?! Do you know how dangerous it was?! If you fell into the portal alone, I'd never get to see you again! Why didn't you stay inside with the others?!"

"I... wanted to make sure that you guys were safe," You said slowly with a smile and the fact that you were so calm after you nearly died was way beyond Jungkook's knowledge. "I'm the guardian, it's my job to protect you."

One thing was for sure, Taehyung's cheeks were tinted a light pink, his eyes widened by a bit — Jungkook noticed this almost immediately. He chuckled a bit, at how Taehyung looked so vulnerable around you, how you failed to see how he really felt.

The softness in the air was broken when there was a loud crackle from below from the portal. Taehyung pat your shoulder before taking over the wheel once more, scowling at how Jungkook was shooting him a teasing expression. "Go back to your position and protect Sky."

"Whatever you say, captain!," Jungkook made a salute sign before gesturing you to walk towards him. He put a hand around your shoulder, just to make sure that you wouldn't fall off again.

"Hey, Taehyung," Jungkook pouted a bit because you called Taehyung instead of starting a conversation with him. "Thanks."

It took a moment for Taehyung to respond and he only did after he pulled a lever, something Jungkook assumed was some sort of brake. "The ship is going to drop. Hold on tight."

Thus, Jungkook closed his eyes the moment he felt the ship falling into the portal, the bile of his stomach rising up due to the sensation. Again, everyone's thoughts were filled with screams.

Still, despite how dizzy Jungkook currently was, he still managed to pull Taehyung towards him, wrapping his wings around you and the bearer of the gem of darkness before the ship plummeted into the portal.

-

Yoongi coughed, groaning at the weight of all the bodies piled on top of him. He was frustrated because of the sweaty armpit on his face, also at the fact that you locked yourself out of the captain's quarters without explaining why. It made him worried, how you were and why you had made such a decision, especially if you got hurt in any way. Unfortunately, the ship tilted completely upright before he could actually open the door and step outside to ensure your safety.

There was a bright light, one that somehow got in the room despite the absence of windows, then the ship tilted back to its original angle. Yoongi sighed in relief, his butt landing on someone's chest. Hoseok released a short scream of pain.

"I'm dizzy," Jimin complained as he wobbled and stood, both hands in his hair. "Are we airborne?"

"I'm not sure," Namjoon helped Jin, who was the closest, stand and he in turn helped Emily up as well. "But I think Taehyung successfully got us into the portal, that's the only explanation I can think of at the moment."

"Is everyone alright?," Jin asked out of the blue and Yoongi assumed he had because he was the group's healer, so he could take care of any injuries.

"We're all fine, I guess?," Hoseok stood up and stretched his arms, pushing up his glasses. "Except for the fact that Yoongi broke my ribs with his as—"

"Sky!," Emily suddenly shouted, pointing at the door. She made eye contact with Yoongi, giving him a message, which they both understood in the silence.

"Yoongi, wait! We aren't even sure if we can breath Vrede's air—"

Completely ignoring Namjoon's warning, Yoongi fiddled with the doorknob before pushing it open, the cold air hitting his pale cheeks. For a moment, the sunlight blinded him, but when his vision cleared, his jaw hung open at the sight before him, steps slow and careful as he walked into the deck.

Yoongi noticed the sky, which was basked in a red velvet color, shadows of two spheres, moons, he assumed, hidden within the clouds. It was bright as day but he could see shining stars dotting the sky as well, a perfect mixture of day and night. Below, the grass was green and rich, fields plain and blooming with plant life, nature taking on its course.

"Whoa," Jin murmured the moment he exited the captain's quarters, Emily grabbing his arm tightly. "It's... beautiful."

Namjoon also released a gasp when he stepped into the deck, holding his throat, shocked at how he and everyone else was breathing normally. Jimin stepped out next, eyes sparkling as he pointed at the twin moons in awe. Emily's jaw hung open at the ethereal mixture of colors present in the sky, the view familiar to her.

"Am I the only one who feels so... refreshed?," Hoseok dragged out, reaching his hand towards something in the sky — a bird. It was a strange creature, having only one huge eye above its orange beak, four dark feathered wings flapping behind it. Still, Hoseok wasn't at all bothered by this, instead of fear he felt a sort of attachment towards the bird, stroking its head with two fingers.

Yoongi found this sight unusual, after all, those days hanging around Hoseok made him learn that the younger boy was afraid of almost everything that existed — yet he was petting this alien bird as if it was nothing. He wondered if there was something in the air that erased his fear.

"So, I guess all of you are alive, that's good to know."

Yoongi looked over his shoulder, seeing Taehyung holding the captain's wheel, a cocky smirk on his face. Jungkook was at his right, staring at the hologram screen with full concentration, fingers brushing across the buttons with expertise. To his left was you — leaning on the railing, staring up into the heavens in both awe and admiration.

It was as if Yoongi floated towards the stairs and ran up, engulfing you in a big hug that earned a squeal of surprise from you. Not long passed until you hugged him back, fingers digging into the cloth of his varsity jacket. He pulled away, stroking your soft cheeks with his fingertips. "Sky, why did you lock yourself out? Don't you know how worried I was?"

"I'm sorry, Yoongi," You held Yoongi's hand, pulling it down from your face, lips pursed together in guilt, cheeks slightly pink. "I just wanted to make sure that Taehyung and Jungkook were safe. If anything would happen to them, me as their guardian and all that, I don't know what I would do..."

Yoongi understood, really he did. He couldn't imagine how much pressure you held on your shoulders since you were the guardian, in charge of keeping the seven wonders safe from harm until all the kingdoms of Vrede are reclaimed. Every time one of them would get hurt, you would blame yourself. He wished he could feel the pressure instead but there was nothing else he could do but be there for you. "Hey, it's okay, what matters is you're safe."

You sighed at this, smiling because of how considerate Yoongi was being. Yoongi stared back, suddenly drowning in the beautiful pools of your brown eyes. He thought of you as the ocean, one that would refresh him yet drown him at the same time, putting out his flame whenever it burned too much, the passion and the cinders so hot that it blistered everyone, including himself.

Yoongi found himself drowning once more, your lips sweet against his. Before it could get any more passionate, there was a cough, one that was loud and obviously intentional.

"Excuse me but we should plan out our course," Taehyung spoke with a raised eyebrow, leaning on the wheel with the staff in between his crossed arms. "Ask Jungkook, he's got the map."

Yoongi groaned under his breath, throwing a glare at a smirking Taehyung as you walked towards Jungkook with big eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment, giving each other a single message in the silence, something they both understood. The fire gem bearer gritted his teeth, hands balling into fists. He knew.

The silence was broken when Yoongi spoke, steam coming out of his mouth whilst his eyes turned fiery orange. "Stay away from her."

Taehyung only chuckled. "No promises."

"Yoongi, get over here," You called out, catching Yoongi's attention immediately. He glanced back at Taehyung, seeing him holding the wheel, eyes focused ahead now. Later, he was going to deal with it later.

The sight of the holographic map with multiple colors made Yoongi's small eyes ache. He watches Jungkook switch back and forth from the ship's statistics to the map, mumbling incoherent words to himself. You were standing in silence, chewing on your bottom lip.

"Jungkook has calculated the distance between all the kingdoms and it gives us around a month to pass through them all. That leaves us a few days to reach Hel and defeat the King before he completely destroys Earth," You sighed once more, rubbing your temples with your fingers. Yoongi held your shoulder in reassurance. "We're so pressed for time."

"We can do it. You've found us all, what more can't you do?," Yoongi said with a cheeky and gummy grin.

You smiled. "Thanks—"

"Where's our first stop?," Taehyung interrupted, side-eyeing Yoongi with his bright purple eyes.

"Right," Jungkook coughed, Yoongi stopping himself from punching Taehyung on the spot. The angel pressed a few buttons, the map returning to the screen. He zoomed in on one red dot and clicked on it, revealing a logo — a tree surrounded by wind. Hoseok? "Since the kingdom nearest is Lucht, we'll head there first."

"Lucht?"

"It's the kingdom of air, Hoseok's," Taehyung started to explain, spinning the wheel slightly and dodging some clouds, not wanting the deck to be filled with fog. "I'm not sure if I'm right but I have a vague memory of Vredeain history. Lucht is a kingdom run by nomads and they prioritize the peace of nature more than anything else in the world. They refuse to harm creatures, having this policy for animals, even the predators. It's silly, really."

Yoongi shuffled to the side, taking a peak at Emily and the other wonders, who were hanging around at the deck. Everyone was gathered around near the stairs and staring at Hoseok, who was levitating a few feet up, trying to touch the weird birds flying around him. He was just giggling at the cawing and again, the fire gem bearer was confused because Hoseok wasn't screaming like it was the end of the world.

"Guys!," You shouted from next to Yoongi, everyone's heads turning towards you. "Our first stop is the air kingdom, Lucht! Hoseok, it's your job to reclaim it! Jungkook says that we're already in its vicinity!"

Hoseok smiled brightly, doing a few spins in the air while the birds flew around him. "My kingdom first? That explains why I feel so great!"

"We're in its vicinity?," Being the leader he was, Namjoon sprinted up the flight of stairs and stood behind Jungkook, staring at Vrede's map with squinted eyes. "Where is it? The ground is just a long empty of grass."

"It's above us," Taehyung whispered, looking up.

Namjoon tilted his head. "What?"

"Lucht is above us," Taehyung shrugged and pointed a finger towards the heavens. Yoongi frowned and followed his gaze, eyes widening at what he saw.

Now that the clouds were lessening, Yoongi could see the floating kingdoms of Lucht in all its glory. Small houses, villages, were on top of floating rocks, connected to one another by thin and narrow bridges of wood. Each and every building were painted in a light green hue and he could the logo of Lucht branded into the tallest one... but something wasn't right. There was a purple banner just under it, one that carried a snake logo.

And there were shadows of birds from way up above but the seemed to get bigger the more he stared at them. Everyone was still admiring the beauty of Lucht, missing the shadows completely.

"Guys—"

Yoongi was cut off by a scream. Emily was the next person who noticed the shadows, and figured that something was coming closer to them. She shuffled forward, stopping before the entrance of the quarters, screaming up at Taehyung. "Something is going to attack us! We have to—"

A knife flew in the air and stabbed Emily in the back, stopping her words. Everyone's throats closed at the sight, Jin in particular running to her aid immediately. She collapsed to the ground, holding her shoulder in pain as he started to heal her.

"Em!," You screamed right before something landed on the deck, Jimin tumbling and landing on his ass out of shock.

An eagle? A dog? A griffin? Yoongi couldn't decipher what exactly he was looking at. The creature had a dog's body, its limbs bent a bit more than usual, big claws nearly tearing onto the wooden floor of the deck. Its eyes were piercing green, thick black beak replacing its snout. Its fur was white, shimmering under the sunlight. Atop it was a soldier bearing green armor, (one made of leather, Yoongi guessed), face covered in a black mask, concealing everything except his beady, also green, eyes, which had a purple rim around it.

More of the things landed on the ship, nearly throwing it off the balance. Some were in the air, the soldiers pointing their weapons towards all nine. Hoseok, who somehow didn't grasp the situation, was still playing with the birds.

"Lucht is completely invaded," Taehyung clicked his tongue, purple mist appearing over his palms. "We can't let them capture us."

Yoongi gritted his teeth and summoned flames around him, not wanting to back down. Seeing that you also had your katana, you obviously didn't protest to Taehyung's words. All of you came all this way and they weren't going to let a small group of soldiers capture them, spoiling their plans and shedding off some of their limited time.

When everyone was battle ready, suddenly there was a scream.

"Don't hurt the animals!," Hoseok shouted, a bird sitting on his head. He flinched when everyone faced him, blinking in confusion. "H-Huh? Why did I say that—"

Everything happened so quickly. There were screams, knives and dust everywhere. The next thing Yoongi knew, he was pinned to the ground by a soldier an another had a knife against your neck. His eyes burned and he concentrated on the soldier's hair, soon it lit up in flames.

This freed you but ended up getting another knife to the throat from a different soldier. He saw Taehyung with his back against the wall, his hands in attack position, but Jungkook was just standing there as if his other comrades weren't getting pinned down or beaten.

"Yoongi, don't," Jungkook spoke, staring at a soldier pointing a knife at him. "These are Luchtian citizens under the control of the King of Hel. They don't know what they're doing."

"Does it matter?! We aren't getting captured, Jungkook!," Taehyung screamed, pointing two fingers at a soldier, pausing when he felt a glare boring into his skull.

"Drive us into Lucht," A soldier said towards Taehyung as Yoongi felt something sharp poke his nape. He bit his lip, shivering at how the blade was so close to penetrating his skin. He wondered why the others didn't fight back, maybe they heard Jungkook, not having the heart to slay innocent civilians. "Or your friends die."

Taehyung shifted his gaze around. Jungkook, who had let a soldier capture him like a dumbass, had his hands behind his back as they were tied together. You had a knife to your throat, a small move threatening your life. Yoongi was on the ground with a blade to his neck. Namjoon was laying unconscious after a soldier had struck him with the blunt edge of a knife, Jimin kneeling next to him with raised arms of defeat. Jin, Emily and Hoseok were cornered, surrounded by armed men.

Truthfully, Taehyung could wipe out all their opponents with a snap of a finger but he chose not to. Taking one last glance at Jungkook, he gripped the wheel, just as Yoongi realized why — it was the only way they could enter Lucht unharmed.

"Fine... but hurt one of my companions and I'm tearing all of your heads off," Taehyung glared at a soldier with a different shade of uniform. General, perhaps? "Get your creatures off my ship. It will be faster that way."

Yoongi gulped. Reclaiming Lucht was definitely going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

-

A/N - #2017BTSFESTA is gonna start in two days and I'm not ready is anyone even ready— and yes Lucht (Air) is first! How exactly can the kingdom be reclaimed hm find out in the next update!