a laughter fills the air with dry leaves and tiny twigs crackling beneath the feet as the three follow the path that seems to have been lengthened today. taehyung has his eyes on the compass in his hand, the needle points to the left and he stops, having the little girl bumping into hin from behind.

the laughter quietens as both jungkook and aera stare at taehyung's face showing some amount stress as his eyes go back and forth from the compass towards the sky, trying his best to locate the sun, but to his dismay it's a cloudy day. he hisses in frustration, shaking the compass and then looking at it again, the needle is not pointing towards him now.

"what happened?" jungkook asks, stepping forward and peeks over the elder's shoulder, panic slowly washing over him as well, when he realises that north was in some other direction according to the compass a few moments ago. "fuck!"

aera giggles standing on her tippy-toes to see what was so interesting for the boys, "fuck" she repeats.

jungkook glances at her, "no, don't say that. it's bad word." he says despite of the horror in his and taehyung's eyes at the thought of being stuck in a deserted island with rainforests and possibly wild animals, who knows? oh and they have an eight-year-old with them! great!

"let's go?" the girl tilts her head, holding their hands as she walks further, pulling them with her.

"riri" taehyung utters, stopping on his track, "that's- that's not the right way..."

"what is?" jungkook questions, earning a glance from the older boy.

"i have no clue" taehyung whispers, shaking his head. jungkook sighs, eyes whining virtually to his hyung. "don't worry, kook, we'll make it out together."

"yeah," the boy nods, "we will... i hope"

"yes, let's go!"

their eyes turn to aera who is smiling at them, looking so carefree and lively, scaring the boys even more for she doesn't know how bad they all are doomed. taehyung takes her hand, smiling softly as he pats her cheek, "let's go" he says, walking towards the direction his intuition says is north.

jungkook follows them quietly, removing the bushes and twisted branches of trees from his path. his eyes frequently roam up to the sky where he's trying to find the sun, but thanks to their misfortune the clouds are still hovering above them, looking grey-ish in a somewhat dark manner that has him thinking if it's going to rain.

the girl sighs deeply, pouting as she stops walking and looks up at the boys, "i'm tired oppa... when will we reach the tent?"

the two exchange nervous glances, having nothing to answer as even after continuously walking for an hour, they felt like they reached nowhere. the trees are still surrounding them and the weather is getting cold with the clouds looking more dark and dense which alarmed the boys to find a shelter or make one.

"just a little while, baby." jungkook says and crouches down, gesturing her to get on his back.

"it's getting dark koo..." aera mumbles in his shoulder, having her arms wrapped around his neck from behind. "what if a monster comes and eats us?"

"monsters aren't real, princess." he tells her, glancing at taehyung who seems to be in thoughts.

after half an hour of more walking in taehyung's intuitive direction, they finally feel the forests getting less dense. a smile of relief marks the boys' lips, and they give each other a tight hug. the sky looks darker with no stars visible, just clouds - rainy clouds. they move along the coast which seems about a hundred meters away from a high standing cliff.

a thunder lurches with lightening striking far away into the sea. aera holds onto jungkook tighter, letting the boy know that she's scared. he looks at her over his shoulder, caressing her leg with his thumb as he's holding her.

"stay here you two, i'll take a look around and call you if there's something." taehyung says and jogs away leaving jungkook and aera alone for a few minutes.

"ri, will you get off for a while?" jungkook asks, aera nods slowly and he puts her down, stretching his body a little.

his eyes scan around him, finding a rock to sit. aera stands near him, watching the waves hitting the shore with a force that is stronger than normal. another thunder echoes, making the girl flinch as she gasps, turning to face jungkook.

the boy wraps his arm around the girl, bringing her sit on his right leg while hugging her small body, "are you cold?" he asks considering the cold wind and aera's summer romper.

"a little bit" the girl nods, "where's the tent oppa?"

"uh we don't have a tent right now, baby." he says, while bringing her close and rubbing her arms to keep her warm.

"then where will we-"

"jungkook-ah!" taehyung's voice makes jungkook look to his left, seeing taehyung jogging towards them, "there's a small cave kinda thing, we can stay there tonight."

"a cave? hyung seriously? a cave?"

"well, okay, you stay here in the strom. me and aera will use that." taehyung says with a smug look, holding aera's hand as he starts walking away.

"okay fine, i'm coming. how bad can it be?"

aera glances up at taehyung who smiles at her assuringly, and bends down, lifting her in his arms, "riri did a lot of work today hm?"

"oppa did more," she says with a smile, making the older boy chuckle. "are we lost oppa?"

"kind of, but you don't have to worry. taetae and koo will keep you safe."

aera giggles, pulling herself straight as she looks at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "and riri will keep oppa safe!"

"yeah, and that's called team work." taehyung smiles and stops for a moment, "is jungkook coming or not?"

"i am" jungkook says, now walking beside the elder. his eyes scan the area, stopping at a small, stony pit-like depression at the base of the cliff and for a moment he contemplates if it's actually safe because it's still open, and there might be snakes and other things in there.

"come" he looks at taehyung who is already ahead of him by a few steps, placing aera down on her feet as he pulls out his torch and flashes towards the cave.

he turns around raising his brows at jungkook, making the latter sigh and nod his head in agreement, having no better option than this. he gestures the girl to stand aside and starts helping taehyung in inspecting the area around the supposedly-staying-cave.

"looks fine," taehyung voices, turning to the younger boy, "but we do need fire."

"i got it, don't worry." jungkook fishes out a lighter from his pocket, flickering a tiny flame to show taehyung with a grin on his lips.

"great, let's look around, there should be something dry that burns."

"yeah, i'll go this way, and you go that way."

"cool"

"and where do i go?" aera asks, looking up at the boys, making them stop for a moment.

"uh you stay here, we won't go too far." jungkook says and pats her head, "take my bag."

"no don't leave me alone" she whimpers quickly hugging his waist.

"i'll be nearby, we need to find some wood to burn right?"

with that said jungkook smiles at her, kissing her head and kicks off a rocky log, making the little mouse run from there. aera gasps at the rodent and copies her brother, but this time nothing comes out. jungkook tells her to sit on the log and wait for them while they quickly return from their wood-hunt.

aera nods hesitantly, pouting at him but agreed to wait. her eyes wander around on the ground where leaves and little twigs are scattered, some rocks and some algae too. an idea strikes her brain, making her instantly jump on her feet, she places the bag on the log and smiles to herself, picking up the nearest stick.

"i'll get sticks too" and aera continues picking little twigs until she's gotten a good bundle of small twigs and some leaves. she bends down near the log and dumps her gatherings, looking satisfied with her hard-work.

a loud thunder shakes her with a yelp and has her looking around for jungkook who is coming her way, smiling assuringly on hearing the thunder too, knowing his sister must be scared alone.

"it's okay" he whispers, leaning down to match her height, as she hugged him as soon as he placed the the pieces of wood down.

"aera, are you okay?" taehyung asks, coming behind and dumps a few more sticks. "that was a loud one wasn't it?"

aera nods in response and pulls away, suddenly remembering about her surprise for the boys, "oppa look at that, i brought sticks too!" her hand is pointing at the small stack of thin, broken branches and twigs that were lying on the ground here and there, bringing a smile to the boys' faces.

"ah thanks champ," taehyung cooes, ruffling her hair.

"we won't be cold at night now." jungkook chuckles.

taehyung smiles and looks up at the sky as another lightening flashes abruptly, "let's set this up, it's about to rain."

the two start setting the fire up while aera is still busy looking around and picking a few more sticks, giving them to jungkook as he lights up a bundle, bringing brightness in the dark for the first time. the girl looks up, feeling a cold droplet on her forehead, and then another.

"aera, come here it's raining." she follows taehyung's voice, however stopping in her path as her eyes find a new creature on the ground. with an amused smile, the brave girl, grabs the end of it's tail, hanging it upside down and beckons to show it to her oppas.

"oppa look! it's a baby snake!" she smiles widely, shaking the snakelet, earning gasps from the boys.

"oh god! why are you holding that?! throw it away!" jungkook shouts, rushing over to his sister and shakes her hand to loosen her grip on the poor reptile.

aera frowns at them as taehyung kicks it into the bushes, away from their night-stay place, "ah! why did you hurt him? he was so cute!" she whines.

"no, it's not. you don't play with snakes like that. it could bite you, and that will hurt a lot." jungkook says in a voice that is firm enough to scare the eight-year-old.

"hurt a lot?" aera asks, looking at her hand, "did he bite me?"

"no, but don't do like that again okay? you don't wanna be in pain, do you?"

aera shakes her head and mumbles out an apology, following the boys inside the rock shelter. she virtually scans the place before sitting down, between taehyung and jungkook, while the fire is burning at a distance of roughly two-three feet from her.

the rain only gets heavier with every hour, and the boys sigh in relief to have a found a place before the situation got worse. aera is curled in jungkook's lap, moving occasionally when a mosquito stings a bite on her pale skin, leaving a faint reddish spot.

"she must be hungry, right?" taehyung sighs.

"probably," jungkook nods, "but she didn't say anything though..."

"she probably understood that we're in a slight trouble and didn't want us to worry more. she even collected sticks for us, jungkook, believe it or not, she's trying to help us without trying to worry us." jungkook smiles at the elder's words, glancing at his little sister's sleeping figure. "you can sleep too, if you want, i'm up."

"no, it's fine"

"are you sure? you must be tired, kook."

"yeah, but not that much. we both worked, so you must be tired too."

taehyung leans back, resting against the rocky surface, "i wonder what the hyungs are doing right now."

"most likely having dinner and thinking that we're enjoying a lot here." taehyung laughs at jungkook's joke that somehow managed to ease him a bit.

his attention shifts to his bag, fishing out the rescue cell and their own phones, looking for signal for the millionth time now, but nothing worked. heaving out a deep sigh he glances at jungkook, shaking his head, "we cannot do anything unless they make a call."

"it won't be until tomorrow then." jungkook shrugs, leaning forward as he adds a few more sticks to the fire.

______

next day

"oppa!" aera calls, jumping in her place as her hand points up at the clear sky after a stormy night.

jungkook and taehyung rush out on hearing the noise of the chopper which sounded more than just a relief. their eyes stared at the familiar grey and white body of the aircraft which landed on the open coast.

"appa!" aera gasps, running towards yoongi who just stepped out of the chopper, followed by jimin, namjoon, hoseok and jin.

"hey my princess," he smiles, instantly carrying the girl in his arms, "are you okay?"

"yeah" she nods, "y'know we were lost in the jungle, and the weather was so bad. i was scared, but koo and taetae oppa hugged me and they said it's okay. then tae oppa found that place and i helped them bring a lot of sticks! and we made fire and did camping, but it was raining then! koo even gave me the last pack of snacks, and they didn't eat! i love koo and taetae so much! it didn't feel like we were lost."

the boys chuckle on hearing so much from the girl, "well, that is good. kookie and tae took good care of aera hm?" jimin says.

"mm-hmm" aera nods.

"how did you-"

"come here?" he asks, completing jungkook's question, "well, we heard about the bad weather here, and we were trying to get in contact with you, but nothing worked. we were worried and decided to come take you."

"wow thanks a lot" jungkook beams, hugging his hyungs one by one, "we were running out of food and water, and it sucks to be stuck here."

"true, we're so tired, especially after spending the night in that rock shelter." taehyung sighs, "my body hurts"

"i'm not hurting," aera says, "i was sleeping on koo's lap."

"then your koo must be hurting" yoongi chuckles, making the others laugh.

"yeah, my back hurts a lot" jungkook confesses.

"let's go then, we're heading jeju from here."

"hell yeah!" the younger boys cheer, jogging straight to their hyung's chopper, letting the elders take their time and join them.

yoongi places aera on the ground, as she wiggled in his arms, running after the boys and climbed up, saving herself a good seat near the pilot, making the man chuckle.

"come here ri," jungkook says, "this seat is better"

"with you?"

"yeah, come"

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a/n- heyy aera is very brave isn't she? like who grabs a snake like that lmao?

also! happy dussehra to everyone whether indian or not. just happy dussehra!😄😄 enjoy a lot, eat a lot of sweets and pan of course that's the speciality! may you and your family have a healthy and prosperous life. i wish you the brightest smiles loaded with love and a chapter with taekook×aera! 😁✨❤️

by the time you're reading this, the first chapter of baby feet will be out too! ✨

please vote and comment to show your support and love! don't be a silent a reader! that's all i gotta say, thank you so much for your precious time ❤️❤️

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