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simplestarss · 4 months

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What Died Didn’t Stay Dead

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A/N: Hello and welcome to What Died Didn’t Stay Dead! I started working on this fic around the time of TXT’s latest comeback, and after a lot of work (and procrastination) it’s finally ready to be uploaded! I’ll be co-uploading on AO3, so feel free to leave comments and kudos over there as well. Lastly, this is the first long-form fic- or story in general- that I’ve ever written, so my formatting and layout may change. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!

Prologue

6/13/2013

Jin

I never really liked this place, if I’m being honest.

I’m not sure why. Usually, Universtar is a top destination for kids around here. Ever since I had to attend Jungkook’s 10th birthday party, I’ve felt uneasy whenever I go inside.

Especially around those freaky ass robots.

Yet here I am, at 18 years old, parked outside the place waiting for the rest of my friends. Typically, a few would be in the backseat; God knows my truck has the space for it. But Yoongi agreed to swing by the dance studio to get Hoseok and Jimin, and Taehyung is helping Jungkook with math. So my backseat wasn’t needed this time around.

I decided to head inside the place. Namjoon gets off his shift in 5 minutes (I have no idea how he can stand working at this dump, but hey, cash is cash) so I can wait around for him. I push open the glass doors and get a blast of noise. It’s a mix of kids screaming, arcade games playing music, and the robots doing their thing on the main stage. They’re supposed to be some sort of band of misfits, all brightly colored to appeal to the kids. They all make me feel uneasy, but there’s one that there’s something really off about. It’s this giant white alpaca. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s 7 feet tall or that its eyes have this weird glow. Whatever it is, I’ve always been pretty creeped out by RJ.

Eventually, Namjoon emerges from the back. He looks tired, but his eyes brighten when he sees me.

“God, what a fucking day.” he sighs as he flops into a booth near where I’m standing. “Some kid threw up in the ball pit. Guess who had to clean that shit.”

“Damn. How many kids do you think have done that?”

“I try not to dwell on that. Especially since Jungkook always jumps in there.”

I shudder at the thought. I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t do that this time. Almost on cue, the door swings open, and the other 5 pile in, talking loudly amongst themselves. Once they catch sight of us, they quickly head over.

“Joonie! Jin! There you guys are!”

“The ride here was pure hell. Hobi and Jimin were fighting over the radio the whole damn time.”

“He said he hates Baby One More Time.”

“And I’ll do it again!”

“And I’ll slap you both.”

I can’t help but smile at them. We’re all so different, but we go together like a puzzle. Yoongi’s blunt words, Jimin’s free spirit, Jungkook’s rebellious attitude. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

“Enough arguing! Let’s get a pizza. I’m starving.” Taehyung says as he plops down in the firm booth next to Namjoon.

“Great, as long as I don’t have to cook it”

Yoongi starts towards the counter to get our usual order of a pepperoni pizza with a side of nachos, and the younger ones hurry towards the arcade. For a split second, I get this weird gut feeling, like something is about to go seriously wrong.

“Hey JK, don’t get in that ball pit.”

“For the last time, I am not putting my job on the line just so you guys can quote-unquote ‘explore’.”

“Come on Joonie! Please?” Jungkook begs with wide eyes.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun! We promise to be discreet.” Taehyung adds.

The younger 3 have gotten bored of the arcade, and have decided that it’d be a good idea to sneak around in the back where they keep the spare parts for the robots. Namjoon, however, would prefer to keep his job.

“Absolutely not! Besides, it’s a miracle we even convinced Jin to come through the doors. He’s not gonna want to go back there.”

“I can wait out here if it comes down to it,” I say, which causes Jungkook to look at me with wide, grateful eyes.

“See? He says it’s fine!”

“You wouldn’t want to say no to your best friend in the whole world, right Joon?”

“No, I’m his best friend!”

Namjoon puts his thumb and pointer finger between his brows. “Fine. You give me a headache, all of you.”

“YES! You’re the best, Joon!”

I can’t help but laugh to myself. Namjoon may act annoyed, but we all know he can’t say no to the young ones, especially Jungkook. None of us can, honestly. Something about their youthful spirits makes us want to do anything and everything for them.

“You want one of us to wait with you, Jin?” Yoongi asks.

“If you don’t mind, sure. Hobi and Namjoon are in charge.”

“Sweet!” Let’s go then!” Jimin announces, and the 5 of them head off to a door that reads Employees Only in neon yellow letters.

Once they’re out of earshot, Yoongi turns to me. “Wanna smoke?”

“Hey, why not?”

We head outside, and Yoongi grabs a cigarette for us both and his lighter. Namjoon would be throwing a fit if he were here right now. But Yoongi and I are 18 and graduated last week, so we’re in the clear. I light my cigarette and take a drag. It still feels strange going down, and I start hacking my lungs out after a few seconds, which causes Yoongi to chuckle to himself. He lights his and hits it almost perfectly.

“How the fuck are you so good at that already?”

“Shhhhh. Don’t question me, hyung,” he replies with a shit-eating grin. He knows I hate that honorific; it makes me feel like an old man. I hit him in the arm, and he drops his cigarette. He curses, picks it up, and hits it again, which makes me cringe.

“You did not just hit that thing.”

“Hey man, these things are expensive. You’re lucky you’re my friend and gave me rides to work until I got my license.”

I roll my eyes. “And bought you meals. And a new guitar. And concert tickets. And food for your cat.”

“Don’t make me call you hyung again.”

“Asshole.” I turn towards the door. “Doesn’t this place close in, like, 5 minutes?”

“Yeah. Namjoon is usually punctual about time. Huh.” Yoongi puts out his cigarette. “You finish yours. I’ll go hunt them down.”

“Alright. Hey Yoongi?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah.” And with that, he heads inside, letting the glass doors shut behind him.

I take one last hit, and for once don’t hack myself silly. Take that, Yoongles. I step on the cigarette to put it out and head back inside, expecting to bump into the others.

Besides the employee who’s wiping down the faux wood tables, the place is empty. Even the animatronics aren’t on stage anymore; they’re probably being repaired in the back. Not a sign of my friends anywhere.

Looking around the place, I realize that it’s pretty eerie after closing time. All of the arcade games are unplugged, so it’s far darker than usual. The sound of kids and the music is gone. It almost feels like it’s void of life.

I also notice that the door they used to get into the back is still propped open. Maybe they got lost back there. After a bit of pondering, I finally decided to go in and track them down. I’m a grown man, for God’s sake. I can go into the back of a restaurant for kids. I take one last look to make sure no one is watching and slip through the door.

Jesus, it’s dark.

There’s only a handful of emergency lights still on, so it’s pretty difficult to navigate my way through the hallway and check all of the doors. So far, there are only two: the break room and another door that seems to be closed.

I decided to start with the break room since that door was open. I can see there’s a worn-down sofa, a cheap coffee maker, and one of those posters that read You Must Wash Your Hands Before Returning To Work by the door. Upon closer inspection, I see a drawer on the table where the coffee maker is. I quietly walk over and open it. Inside is a flashlight and a note that says: In the event you must enter the Backstage area, carry me at all times.

Okay…? That’s not creepy at all. I grab the flashlight and check if it works, and it does. After doing a 360 around the room with this newfound light, I come to the conclusion they’re not here and leave the room, closing the door behind me.

That leaves the room with the closed door. As I get closer to it, I realize it isn’t closed; rather, it’s open just a crack. I slowly push it open and shine the light inside.

At first, I couldn’t see anything. Once my eyes adjust, I conclude that this is where they repair the robots. There were spare heads, some gears, and various tools scattered around. It was a bit surreal; these things are just robots.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something shiny on the floor. I shine the light onto it and immediately register what it is.

Yoongi’s lighter. Must’ve fallen out of his pocket. Carefully, I reach over and pick it up. He’ll thank me a thousand times over; he just bought this one.

As I’m inspecting the lighter for damage, I see something strange in my peripheral vision. It almost looks like a puddle, but it’s too dark to be water or even oil from the bots. I make my way closer, and the realization of what it is makes my heart stop.

Blood.

I cautiously make my way towards it, a sense of dread washing over me. Once I round the corner that the puddle is coming from, what I see makes my stomach turn over on itself.

My friends are right here before me, but in a way that I’ve never even begun to picture seeing them. Their bodies sprawled about; evidence of struggle on Jimin, Namjoon, and Yoongi. Their eyes staring at me, glazed over and lifeless. Their blood mixing to form a massive puddle that covered everything. On the wall above them, written in this very blood, was a single sentence.

We Are Not Seven With You

Jungkook was closest to me. I knelt over his lifeless form and carefully closed his eyes. It wasn’t until now that I felt the hot tears running down my face, and what had happened to the people I loved more than anything in the entire world finally dawned on me. My whole body seemed to give out, my chest wracking with loud sobs. They’re gone. It’s all over. It’s my fault. It’smyfaultit’smyfaultit’smyfaultit’smy-

A sound behind me brings me back to reality. I wipe my eyes and instantly register a shadow to my right. I turn and see a pair of large white feet standing right in the middle of the puddle. My eyes follow the figure upwards to a red bandana and a pair of glowing eyes.

It’s the fucking RJ bot.

And it has a chef’s knife from the kitchen.

I must’ve blacked out at the sight of it because the next thing I knew I was outside and gasping for air in an alley. I look down and see a deep, bloody gash on my arm. Almost instantly, the pain hits, and I see stars, a whole galaxy behind my eyes.

And everything goes dark.

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