The fire that we were thrown into shaped us into who we are today.

In the overwhelming suffocation of taking in too much at a time, dealing with so much in a single day, Inhee ignited the art of moving forward in her heart.

Whether it was her brother who was there with her most of her life under the disguise of a companion or a swordsmith who showed his loyalty to his kingdom, she had to save Jung Hoseok.

Their plan was as simple as that resolution she made. Yoongi and Jimin would distract the anxious dead away from Hoseok for as long as they could and in that time Inhee would take Hoseok out of the palace.

Apart from the sadness of having to leave the other two in this place, Inhee was content with the future they were walking into. That is until Yoongi disclosed the main point he had not revealed yet, heaven's know why.

"As long as Hoseok is alive you can't make the dead disappear." In the shush of the old, forgotten walls, Yoongi's whisper shattered her hopes.

"What?" Inhee could move, neither her legs nor her eyes that stared at her once-under-the-spell-traitor-friend who realized his chances of being decapitated were not entirely gone.

"I'm sorry, should have said that earlier. I was thinking of other ways, but I failed." He had his palms up in defense.

The tightening of Inhee's jaw and her death glare only symbolized her desperation to save the person who jumped into this hellfire for her safety.

Prince Jimin and Yoongi repeated the same morals her inner voice was reciting. "Whatever it takes, we have to save everyone."

Everyone excluding Hoseok?

She just nodded her head, letting the cloud of misery wear down her strength again. She was to go alone to the king's chamber where they expected Hoseok to be.

Meanwhile, Yoongi and Jimin went to the great hall to cause an attention-seeking commotion and hopefully buy her enough time to slide her sword into her own brother's chest.

"I will go," Jimin had said upon reading the difficulty on Inhee's face, "You do not have to go through that."

"This is right. Since I'm not a royal I cannot stand against Hoseok. Snake prince can do that while we both distract those spirits," Yoongi had agreed.

They were giving her an easy way out of everything. All she had to do was close her eyes and count her breath until all the blurry lines were back into focus, but for the life of her, she could not do that. She will not.

"No. I will save Hoseok." The determination in her voice had left no room for an argument.

Inhee tightened her hand on her sword with the same fingers that held Jimin's hand for a torturing, short moment which seemed like the last time before they parted their ways.

After waiting awfully long, she heard angry howls of the spirits going in the direction of the great hall. Her chance to save her brother.

"Hoseok," she called out, appearing out of the blood-crimson curtains. He was sitting on the bed, crown on his head, and eyes boring into his sword. His head lifted gradually, chasing the direction of her voice.

"Hee? Why are you here?" He spoke in a melody, like a lost sailor singing to the night sky.

"Hoseok, I'm here to save you. We have to leave this place before they come for you again." Inhee walked closer to him, putting her hand on his shoulder to shake him out of the haze.

"To where? They will chase me to my death. Kill me." He raised his eyes to meet hers. "Kill me for I cannot bear anymore to see the innocent being slaughtered because of me."

"Ho- Hoseok, I will not do that! Please follow me out. We do not have time." She urged his shoulder, but he did not move.

"This will not work, Hee. They talk to me even when they are not near me. I can hear their voices in my head. You cannot stop them."

You cannot stop them.

_______

"Going faster than this won't cost you your life, would it?" Princess Ira asked in annoyance, tightening her hands around the fire prince's waist belt.

"My life? I'm afraid you'll fly off If we go any faster than this," Jungkook mused, looking at the tight grip the princess had on him. "And you already seem quite scared."

"I'm not scared." He heard her voice, small but firm, which caused another smile to slip up his lips.

"But I am. What if any moment now you slide a knife down my throat?" Jungkook asked, getting the horse to pick up more speed.

The princess yelped from sudden acceleration. "Not like this. I can easily do that any day while facing you. I am not a coward Prince Jungkook."

Jungkook suddenly nudged her hand, taking her attention away from their conversation to the dark clouds that were hovering around the palace. "We will go straight into the palace. The guards seem too occupied with those spirits."

"Once we go in, we must enter the King's chamber. From the stories I have heard, we must kill the heir to the Crimson throne who has called for evil. That is the only way to stop them." Ira stated.

"The heir? You must not harm Princess Inhee!" His hand around hers tightened as if to emphasize the weight of his words. "I won't let anyone lay a finger on her."

Ira scoffed. "Whoever she may be to you, your cousin, or perhaps your lover, she has evil intentions. She caused all of this. You cannot let your feelings come in the way of your responsibilities. Moreover, she is not a princess of The White Kingdom anymore. That leaves you no reason to spare her life."

Jungkook ducked his head as a spirit flew over them along with a man clutched in his hands. He only had a short moment to turn around to bore his eyes into Ira's brown ones, and repeated the same words, less as a guidance but more as a threat. "You must not harm Princess Inhee."

Her little nod was nothing of a promise, and they both knew that.

_______

Prince Jimin was steady on his feet as he stood on guard of Yoongi while he rummaged through some books. With a massive blow of wind, the books surrounding them fell all over the place.

Sinister laughter filled the room. "Is this a prince? I could live well enough for 3000 years by soaking up the energy of those like you." The spirit joyfully said, flying around Jimin and Yoongi.

She was quickly followed by a few others who had the same greed lurking on their faces.

"Stay behind," Jimin said, leading Yoongi back against the bookshelf. Knowing that a messenger cannot defend himself against these monsters, he was more keen on ensuring his safety.

A quick strike of his silver blade resulted in emitting a hiss from the spirit on his left. A look of realization passed her face. "Oh, so you are the one with the light? You know kid, we hate your kingdom the most. That bastard king of yours had nothing but arrogance in his soul. We will kill you first then we will get to that coward."

Jimin knew the king they were addressing was not his cousin but the old king, but still, he couldn't help the offense ignite the fury in his veins.

Matching the stories that were told to praise the prince's combat skills, in a fluid movement he was able to gracefully guide his sword through the spirit's neck.

A momentary screech blocked their hearing senses, and then he heard the sound of something burning, like a piece of paper in fire. He saw the spirit turn into ashes and dust.

The one on his right tormented her facial features through grief and anger. "You won't live to see her die. Your woman. We will give her death, slow and painful."

Jimin clenched his jaw, advancing and taking two spirits at the same time. Whilst, Yoongi turned his attention back to his task, gathering as many books as he could. He threw them close to each other.

As Jimin managed to tear apart one's rib cage with his sharp blade, he heard Yoongi's painful curse. He turned back to see two spirits already closing in on him. He was on his way to save him but just then five more entered the hall through the walls.

However, his priority now was to keep his partner safe and to maintain the spirit's attention, which seemed to be working well so far.

"Call all the dead here! This prince is a pain in my head!" seethed one of the dead.

Jimin smirked. "How many more do you need to fight a single prince?" Making his way to Yoongi, he flung his sword through two spirits, beheading them.

Five more of the dead entered the hall. Jimin laughed. "Do you think that is enough?"

"Can princes not keep their mouths shut for once?" Yoongi hissed, looking at about 50 more spirits filling up the hall.

"Despite your excellence with the sword, you only got two hands." The spirit giggled. "I will make sure to be the one who sucks out your life."

With his hand guarding the messenger, Jimin found both of them at the corner of the room. One thing was clear, he succeeded in the mission of winning their attention. Now, how was he going to fight all of them while keeping his companion safe and sound?