Warning: This book can get pretty gruesome, but I think this chapter needs a trigger warning for hurting yourself. Please do not read if you get triggered by details, feelings, emotions, anything to do with pain inflicted to oneself. Protect yourself first. Thank you.
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She dreams a beautiful dream, one where she is safe in her bed and put to rest with a loving mother's kiss pressed to her forehead.

Though things change quickly when she falls 'asleep', no longer feeling safe as she did at that moment.

It's a dream within a dream, or rather—a nightmare. The black smoke consumes her, suffocating her like a chain wrapped around her neck. When it clears away, she's standing on the platform among the other 20 contestants.

One by one, she sees their horrific murders reenacted on their platforms, her hand covering her mouth as she holds back her need to gag.

The only ones remaining are her and the new friends she made.

Nara reaches her hand out in fear for what's coming, but before she can say any of their names, they die off in front of her.

N̶O̶.̶1̶0̶ ̶J̶E̶O̶N̶ ̶J̶U̶N̶G̶K̶O̶O̶K̶

N̶O̶.̶ ̶1̶5̶ ̶J̶U̶N̶G̶ ̶H̶O̶S̶E̶O̶K̶ ̶

With tears in her eyes, she meets eyes with the last boy. He looks up at her with his gentle ones and for some reason, he was the one that made her heart hurt the most.

She watches in horror as he brings a knife to his neck.

"D-don't-"

N̶O̶.̶ ̶7̶ ̶K̶I̶M̶ ̶T̶A̶E̶H̶Y̶U̶N̶G̶

Jolting awake, Nara pants, her trembling fingers touching her face.

"Nara?" A soft voice calls for her.

Whipping her head to look at the guy beside her, she feels herself start to calm down.

"I dreamt you died," she reveals.

Covering her face with her hands, she leans over, "I dreamt you died, Taehyung."

Seeing how much that bothers her, he gives her a comforting smile.

"What a silly dream."

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EPISODE 7

PLEASE STAND BY

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When Taehyung had asked Nara if she was afraid of him, she lied.

The truth was that she was afraid of him.

Someone as fragile and quiet as Taehyung had managed to defeat No. 14, Jisoo.

Someone like him was able to pick up the knife.

And someone like him was able to end a life.

Nara was afraid of him, but only because she knew that the game had done that to him and that it wouldn't be long until she was forced to do the same.

She was going to become like him.

Replaying the day prior's events in her head, she sunk into the vivid memory. Into the moment where her eyes had fluttered open for a second and she witnessed the look on Taehyung's face as he stared down at Jisoo's body like a different person.

Nara didn't want to think about that, however.

For her, Taehyung wasn't a killer.

Taehyung hadn't changed.

He was still the same person she knew.

She wanted to believe that so she could look him in the eyes and tell him that she wasn't afraid of him.

It's me who just has to get stronger, she thought.

Nara's ability was 'healing'. If she just learned how to use it properly and quickly, the trio wouldn't have to kill anyone, acting more on defense.

So what happened after for Nara and Taehyung? Before they met up with Jungkook and Hoseok?

Nara had tugged Taehyung close to the ground so she could wrap her arms around him to promise, "I'll protect you from now on."

Before Taehyung could've said anything, Nara closed her eyes and focused her energy from around her to bring it back to Taehyung, Taehyung sinking into her the more he healed.

She smiled as she pulled away, taking a look at him. "How do you feel?"

"Better," he had curled in his fingers and stared down at his arm.

Nara looked down as well to see a long scar running down his arm. "Hm? Can I not heal away scars? How's your other arm?"

As if her fingertips burned to the touch, Taehyung tugged his hand back. Surprised, Nara looked up at him.

"S-sorry. I don't mind the scar really and I guess I'm just protective about the tattoo."

Nara shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad that everything is normal."

He nodded and looked back into the woods where Wendy had escaped to. He knew that he messed up big time by letting her go because Wendy could reveal their location.

Taking Nara's wrist, he gave it a gentle squeeze. She rested her hand over his and smiled up at him, "Why don't we try to find someplace to rest? Someplace so we can collect ourselves together for a bit?"

He angled his head down so he could look at her before surrendering control again and being led out of the woods.

That's when the two had carefully maneuvered through the deserted highway at the end of the trees, using the bushes to hide, cowering behind trees, and even eating and sharing the pears they found along their way. Nara had carefully peeled one and offered to feed Taehyung while the whole time Taehyung couldn't understand how she fed him before herself. How was someone so selfless in a selfish game?

When they faced the entrance of a theme park, they had feared that someone had already taken it as their own playground. They took a moment and scanned around, thinking that they could dip into the tents and just take the risk.

Things were suddenly so much scarier without Jungkook.

When Nara looked up at Taehyung, she saw something in his eyes. Almost like this place was familiar to him.

"What is it?" She asked him.

Taehyung, who had been frowning deeply, blinked for the first time in a while and shook his head. "I-I just have memories here, and not very good ones. I think there are some costumes in that tent though. Maybe we can change into something."

Nara tilted her head. Taehyung was indeed familiar with the layout of the place, but she knew better than to ask questions. What if he was a runaway? Or could it be that he participated in the circus?

She apologized for her silence when he looked down at her with concern, eventually heading over where luckily not a person was in sight.

They were able to find a variety of things, quickly throwing them together in a bag. Nara had started to change when she realized that Taehyung, who sat on the floor, turned away so abruptly and stared at the ground. The embarrassment hit her just then. She hadn't thought twice about changing in front of him. But what if it was also because he didn't want to look at her?

"I shouldn't look, only because you're too beautiful."

Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink. Taking a moment before she changed, she smiled to herself.

When she was done, she knelt in front of Taehyung and gently picked his face up in her hands.

He stared up at her. Nara always curious about his thoughts, but even more curious at this moment as he just looked at her and watched her with soft eyes. Why is it like he's always on the verge of tears?

Closing her eyes, she leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his.

Taehyung slowly moved his lips along with hers and the happiness radiated inside her. She finally felt like she understood some part of him --- the part that maybe also cared for her.

Her heart raced fast, but she wasn't sure if it was because she had really taken a liking to kissing him or if she was afraid of someone coming in when they were most vulnerable.

She gently stroked his cheek with her thumb and when Taehyung started to pull back from the kiss, she felt a bit of disappointment at thinking he was pulling away for good.

Taehyung didn't plan to, however. Instead, he gently tugged her back into the kiss, his bottom lip playfully nudging her top lip before capturing her lips for good, the pair falling until his back hit the floor.

Then they kissed and kissed until both became lightheaded and their lungs burned for air because they were too busy tasting each other to break away.

Nara was the one to pull away this time, panting for air as she stared down at Taehyung, whose eyes flutter open.

She told him, "Only you can look whenever you want..."

Taehyung bit into his bottom lip. Placing an arm around her, his hand cradled her head, pulling her down into him and hugging her close so that her ear pressed against his racing heart.

"Why?" He asked in a whisper.

Nara raised her eyebrow.

"Why did we have to meet like this?" He clarified.

Nara teared up, agreeing with him. Why? Then again, if they weren't in this situation, what situation would they have been? As selfish as it sounds for Nara, she felt free in the game. No longer in charge of her mother and for once living for herself. It was terrible and twisted.

The two had stayed on the ground together for a while before they decided it was time to pack up and head somewhere safer. Hand in hand, they exited the tent. Taehyung and Nara had changed into darker clothing and Nara carried a backpack containing their old clothing among other things.

Upon seeing the Ferris wheel, they concluded that the top of it would be the safest, plus they could be on the lookout at the same time. It took Nara and Taehyung a bit to climb it, but they did, only to be transported to the platform of origin where the events we know follow.

Bringing us to our present time, where Nara awakens from her nightmare, her last known memory being when she fell asleep beside Jungkook and Taehyung, while Hoseok was on the lookout.

Nara scoots close to Taehyung, grasping his shirt.

It was a silly dream, indeed.

Taehyung closes his eyes and hugs her close to him.

Jungkook starts to stir and sits up. "Dang, I feel so fully rested. Has it only been a couple of hours?"

Nara freezes and turns towards the door. "Did Hoseok forget? Y-you don't think...I mean I had a dream and his name..."

Jungkook runs his hand through his hair, pupils dilating, "No, I think I did too now that you mention it."

Pulling the orb out of his body, he quickly taps it, scrolling until he gets the list of participants.

Jung Hoseok's name is crossed out.

"What is this...?"

He closes his eyes and sees no active markers on the map of his mind.

Without hesitation, he gets up and flings the door open.

Nara pulls away from Taehyung and screams after Jungkook, struggling to stand before stumbling out. Taehyung grabs her bag and follows along.

Jungkook keeps running farther down the tracks, his eyes so wide that they've begun to see dots around the border.

Hoseok isn't dead, is he?

Wouldn't they have heard something?

If it's all true, why didn't the perpetrators travel further in and get to the three of them? In other words, why did Hoseok die alone?

Rounding the corner, he begins to see a pool of red all on the ground causing his legs to buckle beneath him. Falling back against the wall, Jungkook throws a hand over his mouth. 

"Jung-"

Nara's eyes fall upon the sight of Hoseok's mauled body.

"Is that...?"

Jungkook throws up next to them, nothing but bile falling out of his mouth. When he's sure that a lung is the next to come up, he clenches his jaw and drops to the floor.

Nara releases a puff of air, feeling her body grow numb. Hearing Taehyung step next to her, she can't bear to look over at his expression. Instead, she takes a cloth from the bag he holds to hand it over to Jungkook, Taehyung also dropping to his knees to offer Jungkook a water bottle with a shaking hand.

Jungkook takes it and manages to down a tiny sip.

"Dammit, we should have been there for him! I shouldn't have fallen asleep!"

Nara feels a tiny tear prickle in the corner of her eyes. Jungkook grits his teeth as he tries hard for the tears not to fall out, but they do and stream down his face.

Jungkook was so angry that he didn't do better this time. First, Wendy and now Hoseok? How many lives must be sacrificed in this stupid game? How much will everyone be tortured? Was it even worth it?

"Jungkook, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I know you need to process this but can you just check if the area is safe first? We have to get out of here if somebody made it in. I-it's not safe any longer."

Jungkook bawls his hands into fists, checking the area before giving a nod for clearance.

Nara looks over at Taehyung before she gently places her hand over Jungkook's heart.

Jungkook looks up at her, feeling a tiny sensation.

"I'm not sure if this does anything...I can only hope." She cracks a tiny smile.

Jungkook's lip quivers and he bites down on it to stop it from doing so as he cries.

It did help. It helped take the pain that he felt around his heart from all the anger and confusion, so he could finally just cry.

Wiping his tears away, he takes a deep breath and takes his orb. "There are 6 of us left now. That means one of them did it. Namjoon, Hani, or Jimin. Promise me that we'll kill them all. We'll kill them before they can kill us."

Nara's eyes widen, her first instinct to go against revenge, but in the end, it really is kill or be killed.

Jungkook covers his face and sighs, feeling that the words had lost their momentum and reality started to hit. "But how...how are we going to take them? They're probably the last ones because they're strong. What if they're working together? We lost Hoseok and now it's over for us."

Nara understood what he meant. Their personal team all seemed to have abilities that helped protect them more rather than would help them go against anybody.

"We'll kill them," Taehyung finally speaks up, clearing his throat a little.

Jungkook looks up over at him.

Taehyung licks his lips. "In my eyes, we still can win...because we have you."

He shifts his eyes over to Nara, adding, "And Nara."

Her eyebrows rise up, never once considering herself a strength to their team.

"We'll only lose once you guys stop fighting."

"And what about you?" Jungkook asks. "You're important too, Taehyung."

Taehyung's left speechless. "I..."

"You keep us together when we lose it," Nara tells him.

Jungkook places his hand on Taehyung's shoulder.

"Let's give him a proper burial, shall we?" Jungkook says sadly as he stands up.

The trio stand up and walk over to Hoseok's body. Jungkook picks him up as best as he can, trying not to concentrate on the smell or the blood seeping through his shirt. It was outside the tunnel where they found softer ground to kick and dig with a knife for an opening. Placing Hoseok somewhat under the ground, they covered the rest of him with dirt.

With a few silent last words, the trio then started walking farther away, preparing themselves for what they're going to encounter next.

They knew that the border was going to shrink any moment now and just as Jungkook had predicted, it was starting to draw them closer to the cemetery.

The wind blows, giving them the shivers.

"You know what's crazy?" Jungkook says with dead eyes.

Nara tilts her head.

"It's like I'm not even scared anymore."

Nara gulps, knowing that Jungkook was only saying this because of Hoseok's death.

"Taehyung, if something happens to Nara. Promise that you'll protect her?"

Nara scoffs, "Jungkook! Quit talking like that. Nothin-"

"Yes," Taehyung interrupts and Nara gives him an annoyed look, hating being talked over.

She continues, "Anyway, snap out of it and come up with a plan. There are only so many people left. They could also be working together, so we should prepare to fight."

Jungkook nods his head, "Okay, right." Looking around he starts to get an idea.

"We need weapons, but I think we can all agree that if we fight on foot, we aren't going to make it, so what if we're all high up? And we attack down?"

Taehyung creases his eyebrows, "They could find our spot and attack us."

"Which is why we need a spot where we can run around if that's the case, maybe a spot with multiple floors."

Jungkook stares at the side of one of the buildings in the theme park. Envisioning a plan, he imagines them all spread out on the rooftops of all the buildings. If someone were to run below while the wall was shrinking they'd be able to attack it while running from building to building before the wall shrunk. If only they could calculate by how much the wall would shrink.

It's a gamble to assume that someone was still hanging around the boundaries and not already deep within. There was also the probability that someone was already on the rooftops. Jungkook doubted that since they haven't been struck down upon.

Nara smirks as she looks up at Taehyung. "He's thinking of something."

Jungkook blinks his eyes and looks up at them. "Sorry, I hadn't realized I was silent for so long."

Taking the time to explain his plan to the two, the pair agree that it was a solid idea for being their only option.

Nara reminded them about the knife they had just used to dig up the ground, mentioning that it was something. The schoolhouse came up in Jungkook's mind, but it was surely past the barrier now. Regardless, they couldn't carry around heavy weapons this far. After all, he couldn't carry around the bar he found last time and if Hoseok's bow hadn't broken, they still would have opted out of taking it.

Taehyung cleared his throat, pointing to the tent they could see near the building.

"That's the 'big top' where the circus performed their main show."

Jungkook nods his head, listening.

"They had all kinds of acts. Especially ones with fire...twirlers and such. There should be tons of equipment under the stage that we can use, like fireworks."

Jungkook grins, raising an eyebrow, "You must've enjoyed the circus before if you know this much. You're right, though. If we can get our hands on a couple of Roman Candles, can you imagine how powerful we'd be? Brings me back to my primary school days."

Taehyung digs his nails into his arm, "Is it clear for us to go in?"

Jungkook takes a moment, grabbing their wrists when he was sure of the answer. "Let's go."

Rushing across towards the huge, striped tent, Nara couldn't believe how big it was the closer they got, meaning the building next door was even taller.

It was too bad they lost the Ferris wheel, but they wouldn't have been able to move around it as freely.

Stepping inside, she still looks around, fearing that someone was there despite Jungkook's clearance.

"Wow, I've never set foot in a circus tent before." Nara's eyes go from the empty seats to the tightrope still suspended in the air, envisioning the performers that once dared walk across.

"Me either," Jungkook chimes in.

Taehyung connects his eyes with Nara before biting his lip. "It should be this way."

They follow Taehyung behind the curtain, walking down some steps into a hallway and to a steel door.

Jungkook asks,"Taehyung? You've been back here before?"

Taehyung tenses up.

Nara looks over at Jungkook and gives a little shake of her head, telling him to just drop it.

Jungkook raises his eyebrows up, not fully getting it until a second later.

Taehyung opens the door and they step into the cold room. There are all kinds of large containers stacked around the room, certainly carrying all types of mortars and candles. On the other shelves, there were extras such as poles and hoops for their performances.

"You know... we didn't actually think about how to carry all this stuff," Jungkook whistles.

Taehyung looks up as he fixes Nara's backpack back over her shoulders, licking his lips when he finds something at the storage. Stepping onto one of the metal shelves he reaches up and knocks something down.

It comes crashing down so hard that Nara jumps back in shock, covering her ears.

"It's a wagon?"

"We can put the bigger stuff here. Jungkook and I can possibly carry it over to the roof. We can put the smaller ones in your backpack."

"What if they go off?"

Taehyung shakes his head. "They shouldn't."

Jungkook abruptly pushes them into the room and shuts the door behind them.

They look at him in fear.

"What is it?" Nara asks.

Jungkook's chest starts rising and falling. "There's someone hanging around. They're close, but not that close."

Nara hugs her fist to her chest, eyes wide as her stomach knots at the thought of having to fight someone so soon.

Feeling the weight in her backpack, she turns to look over her shoulder, Taehyung already at work.

He gives her a reassuring smile and she feels a bit comforted.

Jungkook breaths out a sigh of relief, "They're gone."

"Let's hurry then," Nara says, getting her confidence back up.

They gather as much as they can, Jungkook wiping his brow both from nerves and hard work.

Taehyung makes sure to throw in a couple of pyro torches in Nara's backpack, stuffing a regular lighter into his sweater pocket as well.

Taking the roman candles that spilled over on the wagon, they split them amongst each other.

"If at any time, we actually run into someone. We're going to use this, but I think that we will be okay to make it to the roof of the building next door. It's vacant, but let's hope it's not trashed."

Nara gives a determined nod, Taehyung handing them each a lighter.

They quickly make it out of the tent, Taehyung pulling the wagon while Jungkook stayed pushing it from behind to speed it up, the map of his mind letting him know they were still safe to make it to the building next door.

Nara went ahead, clearing up the path on the stairs that had been trashed, an indication that someone had stepped foot inside before.

They climb all the way to the top, Taehyung and Jungkook grabbing one end of the wagon each and knocking open the door to the roof (which took several tries).

"We did it."

Nara quickly works to pull things in front of the door to the roof, creating an obstacle for anyone that could come up. Taehyung and Jungkook place the wagon at the center of the roof before getting to work, Nara joining them after she's done.

They start to place some of the shells around the border of the room, placing a firework inside, ready to light it up if needed.

When they have created a great enough fortress of offense, they each take a side with a couple of roman candles and missile rockets as they wait to spot someone.

Nara looks down and starts to quickly become dizzy, Taehyung's hand on her shoulder causes her to look over at him, surprised that he had walked over.

"Are you okay?" He asks, voice laced with concern.

Nara gulps, nodding. "Yeah, I think I'm just lightheaded since we haven't eaten anything in a while. A-aren't you hungry too?"

Taehyung shakes his head. "That meal we had could be enough to last me a week."

She stares at him like he's crazy.

"It's more than I've ever had."

Nara looks down at her feet, her mouth forming a tiny 'O'.

Taehyung looks over the roof, "I can go look around for leftover food. This is an amusement park, there might be something around."

"No, Taehyung. It's too dangerous. I'll be fine."

"Guys!" Jungkook interrupts.

They turn to look at him.

"There's someone."

They rush over to his side, following his line of vision to see someone in a cloak running across.

"Should we hit them?!" Nara whispers.

"Just watch for now. We don't know what kind of power he has." Jungkook lifts his hand up.

"Where's he headed..." Jungkook's voice trails off as he watches him run towards the circus tent next door.

He was amazed that the cloaked person hadn't even bothered to look up.

They relax a little until a firework streaks up into the sky. They all watch it with wide eyes, the realization that it was going to set off right near them.

"Duck!" Jungkook screams and they all throw themselves to the other side of the roof, covering their heads.

As they fall, the firework explodes and shoots all over the roof.

Nara screams in fear that she could be struck while Taehyung crashes back against the objects blocking the door to the roof, crying out in pain.

Another one gets set off and Nara sees one remain arching down towards Taehyung. Scrambling to pick herself up, she pushes him out of the way, the pair landing harshly on the ground as she covers him.

She quickly stands up and looks at Jungkook, her ears ringing. "What the hell?!"

"He's in the fireworks closet. How did he know? How did he...?"

"No time to make things make sense. These things just happen! Let's fire some back! There's three of us and only one of them!"

Nara wastes no time throwing Jungkook and Taehyung a torch. Jungkook holds his hand up and catches it, quickly turning the valve and running down the line of fireworks set up, Nara and Taehyung doing the same.

As more fireworks come up, they cower in the corners of the roof, watching as the fireworks explode, the roof quickly flooding with smoke as the ones on their end set off as well.

Protecting their ears, they pray that none hit them.

With a growl, Jungkook lights up a roman candlestick in his hand before extending his hand out over the side of the roof, shooting down where there was a hole burning in the tent.

"You two stay down! We don't need to tell him how many of us there are!" Jungkook's throat burns from how loud he has to scream and even then he wasn't sure Taehyung and Nara could hear him.

He watches as the stick repeatedly shoots down, his eyes catching someone running across.

Jungkook's eyes widen, pointing the roman candle to now aim down at the individual.

When nothing happens, he coughs and looks down at Nara and Taehyung.

"Do you think he's struggling with the fire down there?" Nara asks up at Jungkook, waving the smoke away from her face.

Jungkook shrugs, returning to look over the roof, "He's still mov-"

Nara, who was attending to Taehyung's coughing, snaps her attention back to Jungkook.

He takes a step onto the ledge and - to her horror - lets himself fall forward.

Gasping, Nara tries to reach out and grasp his ankle, but she wasn't quick enough.

Jumping out of Taehyung's arms, she steps onto the ledge and doesn't hesitate to go after Jungkook.

"Jungkook!" She screams, arm reaching out, but Jungkook doesn't even move, not even to prepare himself for the fall.

Feeling a push against her back, she crashes into Jungkook and falls through the burning tent, just barely making it past the fire and into a net of some sort which doesn't support them too well, being very brittle.

The two roll down with it, crashing onto the floor, metal ringing loudly next to them.

Jungkook gasps for air and looks at Nara, who whimpers in pain before she heals herself.

"W-what was that?" He says out of breath, scrambling on the ground.

Nara looks beside her to see Taehyung down as well, screaming as he holds his shoulder. She realizes that he must have hit the edge of the net.

"Taehyung!" Nara rushes out and goes over to him as he lay on his side, twisting in pain as he dug his nails into his shoulder. She closes her eyes and heals him as quickly as she can.

The heat surrounding them starts to get to her and she looks around to see the fire crackling from every angle.

If it wasn't for the net, they really could've died.

Just as she finished up healing Jungkook, clapping echoes, startling them.

Just from the other side of the smoke, they make out a figure standing there.

"Wow," He says, no hint of sarcasm, but amazement. "I got three instead of one. It's my lucky day after all."

Nara starts shaking because the anxiety from the fall had barely worn off and now there was something else being added on.

Jungkook and Taehyung stand at the same time, standing in the way of the person's line of vision to Nara.

Number 1, Kim Namjoon raises his eyebrows.

"Oh?" He laughs.

Jungkook and Taehyung stare at him with serious expressions. The fire causing beads of sweat to drip down their foreheads.

"Must be nice to be a princess in this game." Namjoon tilts his head, attempting to connect his eyes with Nara.

"Is that what you guys have decided? That you'd help her win?"

When nobody responds, Namjoon takes it as a 'yes', bursting into laughter. "Is that so?!"

"No," Nara quietly answers, a knot forming in her stomach at his comment. It made it seem like Nara couldn't do anything for herself and was using Jungkook and Taehyung. Yet, thinking back to all their other fights, what did she do? Did she ever volunteer herself first? All she can think about at the moment were the times she hid behind one of them or was saved by one of them. Has it always been like that? Sure she was healing them, but they were the ones who were getting hurt first.

"Is that how you won the past games, 8?" Namjoon sneers.

"What are you talking about?" Nara gravely questions him.

He puts up his hands, "That's fine if you don't want to answer me. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm going to kill you all."

"We've already killed the past contestant," Jungkook spits out.

"Who? The mind reader?" Namjoon laughs, "I heard about him. Number 5, right? He was killing people because they revealed their ability through their minds. Sneaky, that one."

Jungkook swallows hard. Namjoon could've just been bluffing and hiding the fact that he was the past winner for all they knew, but it felt like he wasn't lying (except for his accusation about Nara).

Looking over his shoulder, he finds her stricken with fear, practically on the verge of tears. It confirms how right he felt about how wrong Namjoon was. "You're right. It doesn't matter anyway, finding out who the past contestant was doesn't matter anyway."

Namjoon smirks before taking control over Jungkook's body once again, keeping him perfectly in place.

Jungkook tries to fight it, but it was just as it was on the roof earlier. He couldn't move anymore.

"You forgot to mention that I'm going to kill you all."

Against his will, Jungkook starts walking towards the fire, His heart accelerating as the heat becomes unbearable the closer he gets.

"J-" Taehyung turns to help but also becomes unable to move.

Nara turns between the two, kicking her legs as she tries to get up.

"Jungkook!" She screams and runs over to pull him back. "Jungkook, what's happening to you, stop!"

She gets dragged by Jungkook as he takes a step in front of the fire, his eyes wide in fear. Nara desperately keeps trying to tug him back, secretly healing him as much as she can from any damage the heat is doing to him.

"Taehyung! Help me!" Nara turns to Taehyung and when she sees him frozen as well, her heart drops. It's his powers. It's No. 1's powers.

"Possession!" She screams out in desperation and when she feels a sting on her arm, she knows she's wrong.

"Take-over magic... I don't know." She bites down on her trembling lip, another sting to her arm. Once again, she felt so useless.

"I'm interested," Namjoon places a hand under his chin, pretending to think. "Who would you rather save, 8? Is it 10 or...?"

"No," Nara whispers, turning her head to witness Taehyung turning around and walking to the fire on the other side.

"Or is it 7?"

"Taehyung..." She whines, reaching her hand out, wishing she could stop him as well.

"Looks like you made your choice."

Nara feels Jungkook slip from her grasp as she's turned Taehyung's way. When she turns around, she sees Jungkook step into the fire, and before she could reach in, she feels an arm snake around her waist and pulls her back.

Jungkook also screams and jumps out as quickly as he jumped in, patting his body as it combusts in flames.

She shouts his name over and over and tries to get her hands on him to heal him.

"Don't," Taehyung growls into her ear as he holds onto her tightly, the aggressive tone shocking her. Seeing Nara's expression, Taehyung corrects, "Wait."

Jungkook covers his face and drops to the floor, rolling and trying to get the flames to go out as he continues crying out for help.

When some of the fire on him goes out, Taehyung lets her go and she rushes over to heal him as best as she could.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." A tear drops from her eyes as she concentrates on taking away all his pain. He looks up at her with a weak smile, a hand wrapping around her wrist.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me."

Taehyung kneels beside Nara and Jungkook, looking into their eyes with determination. "Get up and run right now."

Nara looks puzzled and Taehyung repeats, "Run."

They get up and quickly start navigating away from the fire, jumping over the little ones so they can bolt through an opening in the tent.

"There's a cooldown," Taehyung reveals, gasping out as he continues running alongside Jungkook and Nara.

"W-what?" Jungkook nearly trips.

"He didn't stop controlling us on purpose. It's a guess, but I think he was talking to us because he couldn't use it right after he made you fall from the building, ah!"

Nara spins around and reaches out for Taehyung who had just fallen.

Taehyung stares up at her arm and pulls up her sleeve, panic in his eyes. "Nara, you only have one guess left."

She nods, sadly. Taehyung takes her hand and helps himself up.

Right as he stands, his face is met with Jungkook's fist. Nara screams, watching Jungkook fall onto Taehyung throwing punch after punch.

Her body stiffens abruptly, feeling what the other two have just gone through. She can't move her body or her mouth, all she can move are her eyes which face forward to see an angry Namjoon strut out of the tent.

He's controlling them again – every one of them.

"Running away? You guys don't have any fight in you?!" Namjoon looks over at Taehyung and Jungkook.

"I should just kill you while I have the chance. Fuck the plan."

Jungkook's hands wrap themselves around Taehyung's throat as they constrict around it, Taehyung choking.

Namjoon looks over at Nara and makes her fall aside, commenting, "Stand aside while the big boys fight, useless little shit."

Taehyung starts to lose consciousness, his eyes rolling back.

Namjoon's hand comes from behind his back, a knife revealed to be in it. After knocking Taehyung out, Jungkook stands and walks over to Namjoon so that he can receive the knife into his hand.

Nara frowns as she pushes her upper body up, healing her scraped arms. Namjoon wasn't bothering to possess her anymore, concentrating all his energy on the other two, planning on making one of them kill the other before themself. He didn't bother with her at all because he didn't view her as a threat.

Nara's frown deepens, Namjoon turning to look at her as an evil smile takes over his face, wanting to see Nara's reaction to Jungkook stabbing Taehyung to death. To make it more fun, he was going to make sure that Jungkook doesn't stab Taehyung's vital organs first.

She locks eyes with him. She suspected that Namjoon anticipated that she would scream the boys' names again and desperately get them to stop, all the while thinking about how pathetic she looked. He probably still thought she was so pathetic right at this moment because she wasn't moving to save them at all. He expected her to not believe in herself as he didn't believe in her.

Jungkook's hands wrap around the handle tightly before digging straight into Taehyung's arm.

Nara tries to hide her expression.

"What is it, princess? Would you have preferred it to be the other way around?"

The knife goes into Taehyung's eye this time and her head twitches to the side as she shuts her eyes.

"You're not going to cry for him? He can still hear you, princess."

Nara drops her eyes to the floor.

Namjoon walks over to her but doesn't stop controlling Jungkook.

"Can't do anything, can you? You've already accepted your fate. 'If these boys can't save me, then I'm done for', am I right?"

The sound of the knife plunging into Taehyung was making her sick, just as much as Namjoon's words were.

A knife tumbles onto the ground in front of her, earning her attention.

"I could give you this and you still wouldn't do anything. The first kill is the hardest."

Nara reaches out for it and takes the knife in her hand, looking at herself in its reflection. As she held it, her hands trembled from the idea of plunging it in another body, but if she didn't do anything then two of her friends' lives would be gone.

Standing up, she holds the knife with both her hands, looking at Namjoon who raises an eyebrow in her direction.

Jungkook stops his arm and brings the knife to his throat.

Nara's trembling hands also stop, jerking to her own.

Namjoon throws his head back to laugh, the high of taking three lives hitting him.

This was it. They lost the game.

Or did they?

Nara's finger was digging uncomfortably into the blade. As she healed it, she realized that she could move her finger out of Namjoon's control. There was hope! She began scraping it against her fingers, gaining more control each time, enough to turn the blade and cut her hand, her forearm, and then sneakily moving her forearm to slice her shoulder.

And just like that, she could move her entire arm, bringing it back and throwing the knife straight for Namjoon's cheek with great force.

Namjoon teeters over with a shout, all control lost against the three of them.

Jungkook gasps, wide eye in alarm as he stares down at the damage he's done to Taehyung.

Taehyung lets out a raw scream, writhing on the floor in pain from wounds in his arms, shoulder, and eye.

"O-Off!" Taehyung gargles the blood in his mouth as he urges Jungkook to the side.

Nara catches the look in his face, the same look he had as he looked over Jisoo's body. The rips in his sweater by his shoulder reveal something silver that catches Nara's attention. Taehyung leans over and holds himself up with his palms, glaring Namjoon's way. It gives her a better view to confirm that underneath, Taehyung had a chain around him – the one that he used against Jisoo.

Was he going to do something now?

"Don't move!" Nara commands.

She wasn't going to let him.

Not in front of Jungkook.

She didn't want him to reveal anything.

They were either all in this together or one in this alone. In other words, she wanted to share the judgment with Taehyung.

Namjoon takes the knife out of his cheek as he helps himself up.

"Jungkook, knife!" Nara screams for him to throw her his knife already leaping over to Namjoon.

Catching the knife, she turns to dodge Namjoon's swing and jab her elbows into his ribs.

Ducking under another swing, she takes a step back before swinging her arm under and diving the knife up into Namjoon's jaw, pushing with all her weight for him to go back to the ground.

He doesn't though, instead he wraps his arm around and stabs her in the back. Nara jerks her head back as she cries out in pain, but she won't give up just yet.

She pulls the knife out and stabs his throat this time.

There's so much blood in Namjoons throat, that he can't even scream.

Tackling him to the ground, she yanks it out and watches him bleed out.

"You can't control us again, can you?" She snarls down.

She holds the knife firmly in her hands as she points it over his heart.

"Beg for your life."

Namjoon's eyes flare, looking at her like she's crazy, blood gurgling in his mouth as he struggles to breathe.

"Beg."

"Beg, motherfucker!" She screams before she brings down the knife to his heart.

̶N̶O̶.̶ ̶1̶ ̶K̶I̶M̶ ̶N̶A̶M̶J̶O̶O̶N̶

Nara sees red, not just from all the blood coming out of Namjoon, but from all the anger pent up inside of her. She couldn't really control herself at the moment. It was like she was still under his spell. She only broke out of it once Jungkook was at her side, pulling her away from Namjoon's body.

She whips her head around to him causing Jungkook to stumble back. If she didn't know better, she would think Jungkook was afraid of her.

Nara tries to catch her breath, running her hand through her hair.

"Nara...Taehyung...he's..."

His name worked as the antidote to her madness, calming her enough to remember he was in critical condition.

Nara drops the knife in her hand and rushes over to Taehyung, who was crumpled to the side spitting blood out while applying pressure to his eye with his bad arm while the good arm applied pressure to his shoulder. His bleeding became worse after his attempt to cover for Nara.

Nara apologizes as she swipes his hand away and heals the wound over his shoulder and arm before placing her hand over his eye. Taehyung's chest rises and falls as he controls his breathing, sounding like he was choking on the blood dripping from behind his eye.

Nara's never healed an entire organ. She wasn't confident that she could either, but she wasn't going to lose Taehyung. Not again.

Taehyung reaches up and cups Nara's face, tears falling down her eyes. She closes her eyes and concentrates, begging with all the strength in her body to do something for him. Gathering energy from outside and within her, she prays to the god to grant her the favor this one time to go beyond the boundary. Holding her breath, she pulls back her arm, surprised to see an eye when his lids slowly open. There was a scar left above his eye and below it from where the knife split his skin open, but the eye itself had healed.

Nara's eyebrows rise and she looks at him with a wide smile, until she's met with Taehyung's sad eyes. She gets the feeling that it was about what just happened.

She had picked up a knife.

She had killed somebody in the game.

She was no longer pure.

"You did it," Jungkook says in disbelief, a hand on her shoulder.

"I did..." Nara looks down at her hands. She wasn't sure if Jungkook meant healing Taehyung's wounds or killing Namjoon. Maybe it was both.

Taehyung jerks his head to the side and coughs out the blood, spitting and snorting it out to the best of his ability. Nara searches for her bag to get the water bottle contained within, but then she remembers that it was left on the roof with all their other materials.

Couldn't they just get a break for once?

She stares over to where the knife lay on the ground. Gulping down hard, she reaches for it. Her hand no longer shook while she held it.

Taehyung wipes his face with his sleeve, sitting up and staring at Nara with a tilt of his head as he studied her expression.

Jungkook jerks his head to the side, as a wolf would upon hearing something coming closer.

"Fuck, no." Jungkook heaves out in desperation, hunching over.

Nara's eyes widen as she searches the area.

"Fuck, I'm so tired," Jungkook buries his face into his hands.

Faintly, the sound of carnival music is heard and before they know it, two shadows stand in the smoke. Though covered in smoke, they could make out a shadow in the hole in the entrance, another shadow slowly swinging in the background, perhaps making use of the trapeze inside the canvas tent.

Nara's heart drops, while Jungkook cries out one more time,

"I'm so fucking tired."

________________________

Author's note;;

Thank you all for patiently waiting for updates. This book does take a lot of thought and time to write out. I'm happy that this chapter is about 8K words! I hope that it was a wild ride~ Let me know what your thoughts are, I always appreciate comments.