The Bloom After Blood (Taehyung Centric)

The door to the hidden base creaked open with a low scrape of stone against stone.

Yoongi turned, looking back one last time at the boy who was sitting in the corner, knees tucked to his chest, eyes wide and glistening. Taehyung’s hands were gripping the edges of his thin cloak as if it could protect him from the crushing weight of everything outside.

“Hyung,” Taehyung whispered, his voice barely holding together. “Please don’t go. Please. Just stay.”

Yoongi’s heart twisted violently in his chest. But the water was gone. The food had been stretched too far. He had already given Taehyung his share last time. And now, there was nothing.

“I’ll be quick,” Yoongi said gently, crouching down in front of him. “I swear. You just need to stay hidden. No matter what.”

“But I’m scared,” Taehyung whimpered, his lips trembling. “What if something happens to you? What if someone comes?”

Yoongi pulled him into a tight hug, letting the boy bury his face in his chest. He stroked his soft hair slowly.

“Nothing will happen. I promise. I’ll be back before the lantern burns out.”
He stood, slower this time, reluctant. Every instinct in him screamed not to leave, but if he didn’t, Taehyung wouldn’t survive another day.

“Lock the door behind me. Don’t open it unless it’s my voice.”

With that, Yoongi stepped outside. The door shut behind him, the sound heavier than it should have been.
Outside, the forest was wrapped in an eerie stillness.

Not a single bird called. No rustle of leaves. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

He crouched low and moved quickly, keeping to the shadows of trees he had memorized. He had made this trip more than a dozen times in the past weeks. But today it felt different. Wrong.

With every step, the stench of smoke grew stronger. Not just wood. Something worse. Something thicker. A scent that choked the air and twisted the stomach.

He picked up his pace.

His boots hit soft mud as he neared the outer edge of the forest. There was no movement. No birds. No whispers of wind. Just the sharp smell of blood and fire.

When he reached the clearing after an hour or so, that once housed part of the camp, he stopped dead in his tracks.

The earth was soaked in blood. Bodies littered the ground in every direction. Familiar faces. Lifeless eyes. The golden banners of Velmyra trampled and stained.

Yoongi stumbled forward, then fell to his knees. His gaze locked onto a familiar sword lying beside a still hand.

Jungkook.

There was no mistaking that carved handle. The handle Taehyung had once helped Jungkook polish with such pride.

He could not breathe. The air itself had grown too heavy.

Hyunsik.

The king.

Their knights.

All of them were gone.

They had lost.

He didn’t scream. He couldn’t. His heart was screaming loud enough for every person lost on that field.

He stood up abruptly, a new fear overtaking the grief.

Taehyung.

He turned and ran as if the earth itself was collapsing behind him. His lungs burned, his feet slipped on wet roots, but he kept going. Branches tore at his face, mud caked his boots, but nothing would stop him now.

He reached the hidden entrance, yanked the door open, and nearly fell in.

“Taehyung,” he called out, breathless.
Silence.

His heart skipped.

He stepped inside. The cot was empty. The lantern, dark and cold. The small pouch of food he had left was still there. Untouched.

His eyes scanned the room frantically.
“Taehyung?” he called again, this time louder, more desperate.

No response.

The sword. Taehyung's sword was left behind, resting carefully near the cot. Taehyung would never have left that behind.

Yoongi’s chest tightened with dread.
He ran to the back of the base, checked behind the crates, under the makeshift table. Nothing. No signs of struggle. No blood. No overturned furniture. But also no boy.

It wasn’t abandonment. It was an extraction.

He knelt and examined the dirt floor near the entrance. His trained eyes picked up what others might have missed. Boot prints. Multiple. At least two pairs. Maybe three.

And one of them had dragged. Not Taehyung’s size. Someone had carried him.

Yoongi’s hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles cracked. His voice was low and bitter.

“I left you for one hour, Tae. One damn hour.”

He slammed his fist into the dirt floor, again and again until the pain surged through his hand, grounding him. Blood smeared across his knuckles. But he didn't stop until his shoulders sagged from exhaustion.

It had been another hour since Yoongi was staring at a distance, his eyes holding nothing. He was breathing but he looked dead.

He stood finally, eyes glassy but burning with determination.

They didn’t kill him. Not yet. They took him. And that meant there was still time.

Yoongi wrapped his hand with a torn piece of cloth from his cloak, grabbed his sword, and moved back into the forest.

There was no direction. No trail now. But it didn’t matter.

He would track them. He would find Taehyung.

Even if it meant spilling every drop of blood in Mournvak. Even if it meant offering his own.

“I’m coming for you, Taehyung-ah,” he whispered to the trees. “Just hold on. Hyung will bring you home.”

He disappeared into the thick woods like a shadow consumed by nightfall.

The road ahead was unmarked.
But he did not need maps.

He had one purpose, one vow.

To find Taehyung.

The forest ahead offered no guidance, only darkness and the echo of his own breathing.

But Yoongi did not hesitate.

Every broken branch could be a clue. Every disturbed patch of earth, a silent whisper from Taehyung calling him forward.

He had nothing left to lose.

No kingdom. No brothers. No king. Only the last promise he had made, burning like a brand across his heart.

And that was enough.

The night grew colder as he pressed on, but he didn’t feel it.

Pain had dulled into resolve. Fear had turned into fury.

Somewhere out there, Taehyung was waiting.

And Yoongi would not stop. Not until he found him. Not until he brought him back.

Dead or alive, he would bring him back.

That was a vow carved in blood, and he would see it through, even if it led him straight into the gates of hell.

It's a bit short from my other chapters. What do you think about this story till now? 👀👀