(Y/N) POV:

It's after dinner that I realise I haven't opened the package Namjoon gave me and I turn to Habaek oppa hurriedly.

"Oppa where's that package you took home for me? You said you'd put it away safely." I say turning to face him, where he's next to me drying the dishes and sorting them away.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I put it in the living room drawer- the high one so it couldn't get knocked over or damaged if one of us were taking anything out." He answers. I nod, pulling off my gloves and trailing after him as he leads the way to the living room. His tall frame easily allows him to pluck the packaged book from the higher shelves- easily accessed only by him and he hands it to me before plopping down onto the sofa next to Mi-sun unnie, who smacks him with a pillow when he quips a spoiler as he settles down next to her.

I walk over to the opposite sofa, drawing the package onto my lap- feeling nervous anticipation thrum through me, excitement as I wonder what book it is Namjoon will have chosen. My fingers carefully undo the wrapping, slowly peeling back the packaging and unfolding it to reveal what lies in its centre. It's a beautifully embossed book, dark with gold filigree running up the spine and across the cover. And then my eyes fall to the gold-lettered title. Myths of Old.

My smile bursts across my face, a mythology book. I adore mythology, love reading about tales of heroes, of wars, of gods and goddesses and mythical creatures. It's always been a long-harboured passion and when my hand goes to open the cover, my eyes fall to the small hand-written inscription on the first page- on the blank cream coloured paper.

I enjoy myths too! Hope you enjoy the detail the writer uses- one of my personal favourites are on the way the sea and ocean is home to so many mythical creatures- sirens though perhaps are slightly scary! Let me know what you think! Namjoon 😊 

My fingers that had been carefully trailing over his words, practically feeling the joy and excitement he'd written with suddenly gets washed away with a crashing wave of fear, cold and icy and brutal.

Sirens. Sirens are scary. He mentioned sirens.

And logically I know there's no way he'd known what effect it would have on me, that I'd be able to resonate with that sentence in particular, that it would cause me pain as if I'd been physically struck. But that's how it feels. As if he's struck me across the face with the gilded book, a silent mock and taunt in it.

The sentence glares up at me, as if imbued in all of those fears and insecurities I had- as if looking up at me and silently reminding me that like the fabled mythical creatures- I too was someone to be feared, someone that was a source of horror.

And it hurt. It made my heart ache that I couldn't ever truly escape from what I was, even if I felt that I was slowly making changes, slowly making friends, and allowing myself those moments of happiness. Maybe this was a silent reminder that I shouldn't ever forget, couldn't ever forget.

"What is it? You've suddenly lost that sparkle." Habaek oppa remarks, shifting from the other sofa to get close. He sits down next to me, peering over my shoulder and lets out a small sympathetic sigh.

"Oh cherub, come here." He says, gently lifting the book off my lap. He puts it down to the side, careful before his arms wound around me and lift me onto his lap.

"Don't go down that train of thought. You know Namjoon doesn't know we're sirens. He had no idea that the comment would hit close to home." He says, looping his head over my shoulder and tugging me into him.

I nod.

"I know." I murmur.

"You know but you're letting those thoughts take control, the comment wasn't directed at you. You know he'd never do that." He says.

I nod.

"I know but he's not wrong. Sirens aren't exactly portrayed as nice beings are they?" I ask, turning to face him.

And when I look at him, face soft and understanding and gentle, eyes stray to see that Mi-sun unnie has paused the film to come over- I can't see the merciless creatures myths portray us to be. I can only see two soft kind-hearted people I'm proud to call my own. But that doesn't make it easy to forget the lives we have to take, the people we claim for the Ocean- compelled to. 

That the people we were, we could be are held back because of our service, because like Namjoon said- are scary, are hauntingly beautiful figures who lead unsuspecting people to watery graves.

And that's what makes me fear reading, fear opening the book and losing myself in stories which are about us, about how the world has seen us, how it will continue to see us.

"Sweetheart, you need to always remember that myths are just myths. We're sirens but that doesn't mean that the myths are true about us. For one there would be no male sirens then. And the second is that our sole function isn't service- we have lives beyond that too." Mi-sun unnie says, taking my vacated seat.

"But isn't that why we're still alive? Because we'd trapped ourselves like this. Because when the Ocean asked if we wanted to be saved, we didn't know the cost would be this service." I ask, turning to face her.

I see the pain flash across her eyes, the silent acknowledgement that for all that they're my pillars of support- they too hurt just as much, they too hate the role just as much as I do.

"Honey that's not fair." She says, voice thick with emotion.

Unfair that I'm bringing it up, bringing up a sore point for all of us- that strikes the most agonising wounds we share.

I reach over to squeeze her hand, eyes filled with apology and tears.

"I'm sorry. I just really, really hate what the Ocean has forced on us. Hate that we never got to live truly normal lives." I confess.

She edges closer.

"I know. But the biggest mercy, the biggest gift is that I got to spend centuries with the people I love most- that through this all we had each other." She says, eyes soft and equally shining with tears, tears that trickle slowly down her cheeks just as they do mine.

"And as horrible as it sounds. If I had to go back to that moment we were drowning, when the Ocean asked if I wanted to be saved. I'd go through all of it again- because it would mean that I got to make all these beautiful memories with the two of you. And I wouldn't give them up for anything." Habaek oppa whispers, pressing a small kiss to my neck but I can feel the wetness and when I turn, I see that he too is silently crying- silently sharing in our common grief, the grief that perhaps will never truly leave us.

But as three, we made it this far and as three we could hang on that final stretch too. We had been broken, bruised, and shattered so much- but still we would piece each other up and help each other stand. It was the only way we could go moving forward.

And an hour later when my phone chimes with an ecstatic, happy message from Namjoon- part thanks and part shocked at the theories he's read, I smile at it. Because he's enjoying the book, he's enjoying what I chose for him.

And now that he's messaged, I can't not reply.

So I send him a reply, thanking him for the book and telling him that he'd picked up on just how much I love mythology- how it was a passion. 

And when he asks which myth I'm reading; I turn the page to the first short story- reading the title and eyes lingering on it.

And yet my fingers type.

The origin of the Sirens. I message him.

And try not to feel the twist in my heart when he sends me a shivering emoji.

I don't blame him- when I read it, it makes me shiver too.

----

You are now mine. Your lives are tethered to mine. A deep voice speaks, bodiless and yet vast.

My fingers dig into my arms, trying to force myself to feel, anything except this cold icy numbness, to try and wake from this nightmare.

Your lives will be spent in service. Service to repay the price you swore to pay. The voice continues, echoing and deep. 

My eyes nervously dart to the two other figures, who are equally pale and shocked, their bodies suspended in the dark waters too.

"What price?" the male asks, voice hoarse and face shadowed with the understand slowly dawning on him.

What does he know?

You all swore to pay anything to be saved. And as such you are now mine, mine to use. Your lives will be spent in sustaining me, in repaying your gratitude. But you don't need to fear- I'm not merciless, you will live your lives immortal, your looks enhanced; you will never feel lacking physically. The world is yours to explore. All I ask is your help occasionally. The voice speaks in a gentle tone, sweet and reassuring- the deep tone a timbre of concern, of offered warmth. That despite the obscurity of their words, they speak with the well-intended thoughts for us.

My eyes hesitantly go to the female, I distantly recognised her face from the cruise, just as I did for the male.

Aren't you all lucky? Blessed. You've been given a new chance at life, a life far more fulfilling. The voice continues, beguilingly gentle and sweet- promising of a life that was far better than the one we'd lived, but I'd liked my life. Wouldn't have exchanged it for anything. But I stay silent.

The other two do too.

"How are we breathing?" the female asks, Mi-sun my mind finally places- the girl who'd kept me company at breakfast, who'd spent time making me laugh as she shared the gossip the cruise seemed to run on. She was nice, friendly.

But right now her beautiful face is pale and shadowed, eyes hollow and guarded.

A part of me is in you. It's what will call you when the time comes. It's one of the many mercies and favours I bestow on you. The disembodied voice replies.

And like that I find two others who share the same fate as me, the three of us washing ashore- still clothed in the apparel from that fateful night- three unfamiliar figures greeting us. And like that I find my life has been signed away without me knowing what the implications were.

I hold onto that tone of warmth and concern. That maternal air the voice seemed to possess.

And let myself believe that She'll look after us.

She won't let us suffer.

----

My eyes snap awake, greeted with darkness, when had I fallen asleep?

I lift my head from the arm of the sofa, where I'd remained curled up as the other two had headed off to bed. My promise to be up soon had dissipated as I'd found myself tugged into the book, unable to stop reading myth after myth and when I'd awoken- the memory still clinging to me- it had been with a light cold sweat that felt eerily like the numbing cold I'd felt all those years ago.

I look down at the book that I'd unconsciously ended up cradling, hand still tucked in on the page I'd been on. I slide it out, letting the book shut fully and hold it to me as I get up, unwinding my feet from under me. Though my body feels heavy, my mind is too wide awake to go to bed now- a glance at my phone, the glare of light making my eyes scrunch shut, tells me it's just past four. I'd gotten a few hours of asleep and wasn't counting on getting anymore.

I turn the lights on, low and dim casting a soft glow around the room. It's not messy by any means but it could be cleaner. I pull my hair up, tying it back before I slowly get to work cleaning- quietly making my way through the downstairs portion of the house.

If my mind is awake, then what better to do then busy it and occupy it from veering off into dangerous territory. What's better than the mindless act of cleaning?

YOONGI POV:

It's earlier than usual I rise this morning, shifting carefully from the bed so Joonie doesn't get disturbed, where finally at some point in the night he'd stumbled in to head to sleep, face soft and smoothened out in sleep, cheek cushioned against the pillow as he continues to sleep on. I brush my hand gently through his hair before leaving, heading off to shower and change.

And it's a surprise when I walk into the kitchen to find Jin hyung already there, waiting patiently for me to join him at the table- breakfast made when my intention had been to grab a cup of coffee, hurriedly down it and leave.

"You weren't thinking of leaving without eating were you Yoongi-ah?" he asks, smiling at me knowingly.

"Of course not hyung." I reply easily, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Good! I know you mentioned something about a few deliveries coming in today, but that doesn't mean an early start lets you off the hook with eating." He says, pushing the filled plate towards me- his busied hands now settled as he watches me begin to eat, a smile curving against his face.

"How long have you been up?" I ask.

He shrugs.

"Not too long before you. I thought since I have an off day I'll head over with you. Give you a helping hand." He says nonchalantly but his words make me smile, reach over to rest my hand on top of his.

"Thank you hyung. You didn't have to; you could've used your day off doing anything else." I say, pausing with my cutlery resting against my plate.

"I know. But I like helping you, taking care of you. Love makes you sacrifice days off too it seems." He adds teasingly, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth.

"Eat." He says simply, waiting for me to continue- pleased to sit there watching until my plate is emptied.

"Come on then let's go." He says, standing up and taking the empty dishes to the sink.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I ask, eyebrows raised.

"Already ate. We'll grab coffee at a café." He says, leading the way out of the kitchen.

Yet despite my initial thought he'd meant grabbing the coffees to go, he leads me to a table and orders pastries too, not budging an inch until the plate has been cleared and the coffee is finished. The café clock alerted me to the fact that I would end up reaching later than planned- the couple of hours I'd set aside to deal with the deliveries before work now became shortened- I'd be lucky to get the deliveries before we opened the shop.

And Jin hyung is cheery as he parks the car a few streets away, hand snagging mine as we walk- smiling and forgetting the slight moment of panic when he tells me to cheer up or he'll drag me home instead.

What neither of us expect though is a pile of boxes, the deliveries of the ordered music and numerous equipment, to be sitting in front of the shut door. And on top of that, is that the boxes come accompanied with (Y/N)- who's standing there, eyes darting to take in all the boxes that surround her.

I hurry forward, Jin hyung spotting her at the same time and when we stop in front of her, I try to make sense of the scene.

"(Y/N)? What are you doing here so early?" I ask, my voice making her whip her head from looking at a large box with curiosity to meet my eyes.

She gives a noncommittal shrug, finger tapping at the delivery slip that sits perched on one of them- indicating that she'd ended up receiving the delivery for me.

I smile gratefully, knowing that had they been left without anyone to receive them- there was the likelihood that they could've been taken and her being her at the right time prevented that.

I open the door, keys slipping into the lock to hurriedly slide it open- moving around to take away some of the boxes that block her off- finally giving her space to slip free from them. But she simply bends down to help lift the boxes, uncomplaining and silently assisting the two of us in moving them in to the shop.

"Thank you (Y/N)-ah, if you hadn't been here it could've become a problem." I say, the casual form of address slipping out. But she doesn't show any dislike towards it, merely nodding and shaking her hand.

"Are you here looking for music? I don't think I'll be able to help- I need to sort all these out first." I say regrettably, looking at her with a dismayed expression. I had been waiting for her to turn up to the shop for so long and now that she had, an obstacle stood in the way of talking to her- in the form of deliveries to be sorted.

"Yoongi-ah, I'll start, you can talk you know?" Jin hyung says but I shake my head. I can't do that to him, especially when he'd woken up early just to come help me. I couldn't leave it all to him.

"But Yugyeom-ah or any other part-timer isn't set to arrive for a while, you can't manage the shop and sort the deliveries." He states reasonably.

There's a hesitant tap on my arm, and I turn to face (Y/N) looking at me, phone angled towards me.

I'll help. Just give me instructions.

I look at her.

"I can't do that. You came for music, not to do errands." I say, shaking my head.

But she nods insistently, phone not turning away from me.

I see the determined glint in her eyes as well as the silent plea. As if she wants me to give her something to do. As if she'd come to the Magic Shop to find a distraction, and this was just another way of giving it to her.

It's that what makes me nod, acquiescing.

Because it's the slight look of wanting to help me as well as needing to have something to do that makes me give her instructions.

That allows her to busy herself alongside Jin hyung and me as the three of us sort out newly delivered records and CDs, sorting out equipment and stocking up on music sheets. That allows us to work in companionable silence, weaving in and around each other when Yugyeom and Bambam arrive- manning the shop whilst we continue to sort things out. And that allows the slightly vacant look leave her eyes, lets her become more and more present and aware as she works.

Because I see that in a way I'd never expect that the Magic Shop ends up helping someone. Because it gave her the time to think and process.

And when Jin hyung declares and orders the three of us take a break, a bright smile lights up her face, and she expresses fond and silent amusement as Jin hyung begins to make jokes- seeming more herself.

And not the first time I wonder what it would be like to hear those untold stories, wonder if perhaps I'd be able to help more if I knew what was bothering her. And what it would feel like to hear her talk about the tales that have made her this lost wandering beautiful soul.

(THERE YOU GO! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND HONESTLY I FELT BAD FOR JOON- COS HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS A SENSITIVE ISSUE AND UNKNOWINGLY BROACHED IT, EVEN COMMENTED ON IT AND I JUST WANNA HUG HIM- COS I KNOW WHEN EVENTUALLY IN THE EXTREMELY LONG RUN WHEN HE FIGURES IT OUT, IT'LL BE HEARTBREAKING FOR HIM AND SO MUCH GUILT! BUT THAT'S LIKE MILES AWAY SO I WON'T WORRY FOR NOW! HOW DID YOU FIND HER REACTION TO THE BOOK, THE SMALL SNIPPET FROM THE PAST AND A CONTINUATION OF YOONGI COS HIS TRUE PRESENCE WAS TO BE HERE- NOTING THAT (Y/N) NEEDS REASSURANCE AND TASKS- RECOGNISING A HABIT ALREADY! HE'S SO PERCEPTIVE!! I LIKED WRITING THE CHAPTER AND I HOPE YOU LIKED READING IT! STAY SAFE AND TAKE CARE!)

QUESTION...IF THERE WAS SOMETHING YOU'D ARGUE WITH BTS ABOUT WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Mine is...I mean I love them all don't get me wrong. But I WILL NOT sit back and have Namjoon, our president, so strongly oppose mint chocolate. And the way he leads the gathering of mint chocolate haters- sorry but I feel I'd argue over that. 

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3