Chapter Text
Jin is just dragging the last crate of grains and rice onto the peeling distribution table, Jimin and Hoseok still hastily clearing off the crumbs and remains of the last one, when Taehyung bursts through the endless lined up families patiently waiting for food. Taehyung’s eyes are shiny with distress, and his chest is heaving, clearly having run the entire way here from his shift at the central village post office. Jin straightens, worried, and Jimin is immediately at Taehyung’s side, tugging him towards them with a firm arm around on his shoulders and concern bright in his surprised gaze.
As Hoseok waves the three of them off with a troubled expression and turns to brightly smile at the next family and cheerily distribute their portion of food, Jimin and Jin usher Taehyung into the dingy back room, pushing him into a chair to catch his breath. Taehyung shoves the crumbled sheet of paper clutched tightly in his fist towards them, and they lean forward, tilting it into the dim light to read it. Jin’s stomach sinks at the sight of the official seal of the duke, and even more so at the terse, smug official proclamation printed boldly across the sheet.
Duke Jeon of Garba West does officially proclaim that until the moment when all required village taxes have been paid in full, the withering curse will not be lifted from the fields.
Jimin slams his fist on the table, and Taehyung grits his teeth and rises from the chair, breath caught now and anger bright in his eyes, echoing the rage rising in Jin’s own chest. It has been a full month since the tyrant duke placed a curse on the crops that has withered the fields and killed the produce, has destroyed the incomes of all the surrounding villages that are meant to be under the duke’s care and maintenance. For as long as Jin can remember, the duke has ruled the area with cruelty and callousness, rich and arrogant and uncaring, spending the funds allocated to their villages by the kingdom on elegant balls for himself and his wealthy friends, and extravagant nonsense celebrations for his son.
And the villages have always managed, have planted their own crops and expanded their fields and sold to nearby areas, traded and maintained their own supplies and repairs, and helped each other through the difficult years. But now the duke has weaponized his magic against them, and there’s never been a way to combat magic. As it is, so few people have magic anymore, and those who do are all descended from the wealthiest of families. Jin’s parents had been afraid that despite very low odds, the duke’s son would somehow have been born with magic, and would have maintained his tyranny even after the duke eventually succumbed to old age. Thankfully, the magical legacy will die with the duke, as the son had been born with no magical ability, as was more likely anyhow.
Taehyung and Jimin are whispering urgently to each other behind him, but Jin leans his head on the peeling wood of the wall and exhales. The weather is already starting to get colder, the edges of autumn blowing in frigid and dry. The duke had cast the curse and sworn it would be lifted at the end of the month, had originally said it was a punishment for the original missed tax that the villages had then scrambled and struggled and gone hungry to pay in full. And it hadn’t mattered, apparently, because he wasn’t going to lift it after all, and if the crops withered for another two weeks, they wouldn’t have the food the villages needed to survive this winter. He leans up to peer through the streaked window, to see Hoseok still hurriedly sorting and handing out food to the families waiting, as they’ve been trying to do for weeks, with however much remains. But it won’t be enough, and they can’t pay the tax, and they can’t starve. Jin sighs, closes his eyes, and nods to himself. He and Namjoon are going to have to move up their plan.
“Jimin, Taehyung,” Jin murmurs, not turning to face them, unable to lighten his expression from the heavy worry settled into the lines of his face. “Tell the others to meet at our spot tonight. We… we have a plan.”
Everyone’s already arrived at the makeshift cabin and are agitatedly discussing the duke’s announcement when Hoseok hurries in, kissing Jin and Namjoon hurriedly in greeting before sinking down beside Jimin on the couch, reaching over to tilt Jimin’s face towards him for a soft kiss. Food distribution had run even longer today, more families than ever waiting the endless hours in line for the scraps of grain and rice and produce he’d been able to provide. The situation was only getting more dire, and the announcement from the duke today was a crushing blow.
Hoseok looks down at where Taehyung is slumped on the ground, listlessly running his fingers up and down his shin, and grimaces. There has to be a way out, there always is, and they’d always managed, but he just doesn’t see how the villages can make it if the curse continues on another even another week, much less any longer. Hoseok’s mother had passed away when he was young, but his father has always worked so hard for him and his sister, and even after his longest shifts, his father has always been cheery, always smiling for them and lifting their spirits. And Hoseok tries to be the same for his boyfriends, to be their strength and hope, to show them smiles and persistence, but this has been such a hard year, and now they know it isn’t going to ease.
Yoongi is lying across Jimin’s lap beside him, eyes closed as Jimin strokes gently through his dark hair, both their faces drawn with exhaustion. Jimin and his brother take extra shifts doing deliveries to other villages to support their aging parents, and Yoongi sometimes works long past his night shifts into the morning when elderly Mister Kim who is supposed to help in the mornings isn’t feeling up to it. Hoseok drops a hand to Yoongi’s shoulder, shaking his head. All his boyfriends work too hard and too long, spend their time too exhausted, and Yoongi’s voice is laden with it when he responds helplessly to Taehyung's anxious murmur, “But there’s nothing we can do.” Over his head, Jin and Namjoon glance at each other, and Jin nods firmly.
“There is.” Namjoon looks around at them all, and his voice is as steady as his gaze. “We need to break the curse.” Taehyung’s head shoots up, Jimin’s hand freezes, and Yoongi’s eyes fly open.
“Can we do that?” Jimin whispers, uncertainty battling with faint hope.
Hoseok tries to keep his voice open, to keep the frustration out. “If the curse could be broken, someone would’ve broken it. The only person in the entire region with magic is the duke, and he’s already said what we’d have to do for him to break it.”
“I researched it.” Namjoon says earnestly, then glances at Jin. “We both did. And we… we found something.”
Jin nods. “The night of the full moon, any curse can be broken. The moon will be full in four days. We can break it then. We need to break it then.” He sighs deeply, and Hoseok leans forward to link their hands, tugging Jin towards them to stand beside the couch and wrapping an arm around his waist. Jin leans into him, dropping his head against Hoseok’s before he goes on. “Some of the families won’t last until next month’s full moon, and the duke… he isn’t going to break it, and we can’t pay him just to starve, we can’t let the villages sell the food for the winter just to pay.”
“How does the curse break?” Yoongi asks sharply, sitting up on the couch and leaning forwards. “What do we do on the night of the full moon?”
Namjoon straightens. “There’s a cursed clearing, in Gaba Forest. We’d need to go there.” He sounds hesitant, and Jimin narrows his eyes beside Hoseok.
“And what do we have to do there?”
Jin sighs against Hoseok, and he can feel his trepidation.
“We have to spill the blood of the castor in the clearing at midnight under the full moon.”
Taehyung gaps quietly, and Hoseok can feel his mind racing. It’s Yoongi who asks in a low voice, “How much blood?”
“All of it.” Namjoon answers grimly. “It has to be a sacrifice.”
Jin isn’t making eye contact when Hoseok looks up at him in shock, but Taehyung grabs at his hand, frightened.
“What difference does this make?” Jimin asks quietly, tightening his hand in a fist against his knee. “We’d never get anywhere near the duke with the castle security, not to mention his magic. No one could get him to the forest.”
“We have a plan.” Jin murmurs, sinking down beside Taehyung to wrap an arm around him. “We need the duke’s blood and its life sacrifice in the clearing, but we don’t need the duke himself or his blood.”
Hoseok stares, confused. “How… you said all his blood, how-”
Taehyung gasps, eyes wide, and Hoseok frowns with confusion as Jin nods solemnly at him.
“What?” Yoongi asks sharply.
“His son.” Jimin says in a hard voice.
The realization hits Hoseok like a blunted blow, and he leans back with a deep exhale, resentment simmering. The duke’s mysterious son Jeon Jungkook is of age now. There had been an enormous feast at the castle, the rich of the countryside pouring in and not a single member of any of the villages under the duke’s care invited. Hoseok and his boyfriends had foraged through the duke’s castle trash for hours after the gaudy celebration, and the sheer amount of food that had been tossed untouched had made their blood boil. The uncaring arrogance of it as the villages nearby starved and struggled, all in celebration of the duke’s spoiled son coming of age when none of them had ever had the privilege to celebrate something like that. It still incenses Hoseok to think about the elegant balls the castle has thrown over the years, especially the ridiculous birthday parties every single year. The spotless carriages would glide past him as he sweated in the fields for hours, pulling crops that would inevitably be confiscated by the palace and thrown away after being picked at by the rich.
“His son has his blood.” Namjoon says wearily. “He isn’t magic, so it would be easier to get him to the clearing, and… it would break the curse.”
“But he didn’t cast the curse.” Taehyung mumbles, not looking up, and Jin tightens the arm around his shoulders, looking troubled.
“It would work. We confirmed it, there are hundreds of cases that show precedent.” Namjoon is confident and sure, but it sits uneasy in Hoseok’s mind. Jimin brings the discomfort to voice a moment later, hesitant and slow.
“But he… he’s innocent.”
“Is he?” Yoongi muttered. “He didn’t cast the curse himself but he’s lived off the riches of our misery this whole time. His stupid feasts for his birthdays every year.” Yoongi looks up at them, shoulders hunched defensively. “No one’s even seen him, he’s too arrogant to show his face to anyone not rich enough to be allowed into his stupid castle. He’s never come to the village before, never stood up to the duke about anything. He’s probably the exact same.”
Jin sighs. “It isn’t fair, not really. He’s a bad person, but he isn’t the one who cast the curse, and it isn’t fair for him to be forced to die for his father’s mistakes.” Jin looks down at his hand and clenches his fingers into a fist, and his voice is resolute as he continues. “But it’s more unfair for hundreds of us to starve this winter if we don’t.”
“We can’t get the duke, or we’d sacrifice him to break the curse.” Namjoon says insistently. “But we can get the son.”
Hoseok still feels slightly troubled, but with the duke’s announcement today and the full moon looming, he can’t think of another solution. Jeon Jungkook is a different evil than his father, but the children and elderly and families of the village shouldn’t die for the boy’s father’s mistakes if the boy himself can.
“We can’t let them starve, but…” Jimin says slowly.
“But nothing.” Taehyung whispers defeatedly. “We have to. We… we have to.”
There’s a moment of tense silence between them, then Yoongi clears his throat.
“How would we do this?”
Namjoon nods, turning to pace slowly, concentrating.
“Tomorrow at dawn, the carriages will leave to take the duke’s son from the castle to their winter estate in Qarya Town. We intercept him right out of the castle, and if we make good time, we can make it to Gaba Forest hours almost half a day before the full moon.
Hoseok wraps his hands around his elbows, uncertain. “We tie him up and drag him through the woods for two days to get there? It’s a long journey.”
Jin shakes his head. “I actually had an idea about that.” Namjoon looks uncomfortable, but Jin shoots him a look and continues. “I don’t think taking him by force is the best way.”
“You think he’ll come to his death by choice?” Yoongi raises an eyebrow, and Hoseok shares his skepticism.
“No,” Namjoon sighs. “What we think is that he’s arrogant and foolish, and that it’ll be a lot faster to travel with him if he’s with us by choice, or thinks he is.”
“How?” Taehyung asks, confused.
Jin runs a hand up and down Taehyung’s shoulder, voice quiet and focused. “We destroy the carriage and knock out the guards, but we don’t move on him.” Jin’s gaze travels over them, intense. “He happens upon us in the woods a short distance away from there.” Jimin opens his mouth, but Jin cuts him off to keep explaining. “We tell him we’re traveling to Qarya, and that we can take him with us. He’s never been in the woods before, he’ll want the safety of numbers, and it’ll be a lot faster than restraining him and dragging him and worrying about escape attempts when we’re so short on time.”
They’re quiet for a moment, considering.
Jimin’s voice is quiet, contemplative. “It might… it might be better anyway. That way, his last days aren’t spent tied up and afraid.”
“Jin said that too.” Namjoon murmurs, stepping over to lean against the wall beside them and looking down at Jin affectionately.
“It’s risky,” Yoongi cautions, dragging long fingers through his hair. “But that does seem better from both sides.”
Hoseok nods fervently. “He shouldn’t have to spend his last days and hours terrified and miserable.” He looks down at his hands. “Even as a bad person, rich and arrogant, he probably doesn’t know better, and… and his sacrifice will save people, so we can treat him well on the way at least.”
Jin’s expression is tender as he looks at Jimin and Taehyung, who are now clutching each other’s hands, but his voice is bracing. “We’re going to try it this way, but only if we don’t think that will stop us from… from doing what needs to be done when we do get to the clearing.”
There’s a moment of charged silence between them as Taehyung ducks his head and Jimin closes his eyes and exhales slowly. Then Taehyung raises his gaze to Jin’s, and it’s assured.
“I know you’re worried about me not being to… to handle us doing this. But my village will run out of food too, and we can’t let the children starve. I know we need to do this, I know we do. You don’t have to worry about me.” Hoseok feels his eyes prickling, and slides off the couch to sit beside Taehyung and wrap an arm around his shoulders, to tilt their heads together. Jimin is smiling faintly, and leans forward to kiss each of them lightly before he looks up at the rest, determined.
“I wish there was another way, but there isn’t. I know we need to do this. And I’m going to try my best to be kind to him until we get to the clearing.”
Hoseok takes a deep breath. “We’ll do our best by him, even if he treats us horribly, and then we’ll do what needs to be done.” He leans into the warmth of Namjoon’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s all down to luck sometimes, right? Us being born into the families we were, his being born into royalty, being born to the duke. His luck’s just… run out. He’s going to have to answer for the crimes of his father.”
Yoongi sounds disgruntled as he leans back. “He owes us anyway. He owes us for all his years in luxury while we starved, while we sifted through their garbage and redistributed their scraps. He’s going to look down on us like his disgusting father, but I’ll treat him well for as long as he isn’t a threat.”
“We’re all in agreement then?” Jin asks with a sobering finality, and they all nod tersely.
“Then get some sleep.” Namjoon murmurs, reaching down to tug Hoseok to his feet. “Jeon Jungkook’s carriage leaves at dawn, and we need to be waiting for it. Timing is going to be everything if we want to make it to the clearing before midnight Friday.”
“To breaking the curse.” Hoseok whispers, and their low answering echoes are almost soothing in their shared anxiety.
“To breaking the curse.”
He leans up to kiss Namjoon and Jin hard, knowing how this must have weighed on their shoulders, knowing they don’t like it, hate it, probably. He leans down to kiss Taehyung soft, to kiss Jimin gentle, before he hugs them and sends them off, the walk to their side of the village being the longest. Yoongi appears at his side a moment later, linking their hands together. They’ll discuss supplies on the way back to the small cottage they share, and Jin will gather the medical supplies they need for the journey, and Namjoon will stop by the wares to gather what food they’ll need.
Yoongi’s warm weight beside him in bed is comforting as always that night, and Hoseok wraps his arms tighter around the smaller body and buries his face in Yoongi’s soft hair and sighs. There’s too many swirling thoughts in his head, so much that can go wrong, so much that depends on everything going exactly the way it needs to. When he drifts uneasily into sleep, his dream is a dark forest of writhing shadows, the duke’s vile face on a younger body under the dappled moonlight, and his own hand with a dagger held before him, steady and unwavering. He wakes gasping quietly, throat dry and heart hammering, wondering what this journey will bring.