"Pick up the sword and try again."

Taehyung felt like his arm was about to fall off as he stared at Jungkook who stood beside a thick tree bough he had found on the beach. He had been making Taehyung try to split it in half for what felt like an eternity, but all Taehyung could do was make marks in it.

"It's impossible."

"No, it's not. Your lack of effort is making it impossible. Now pick up the sword and try again."

Grumbling under his breath, Taehyung bent down to pick up the sword he had dropped in the sand. The minute he held it, Jungkook shook his head.

"You're not holding it how I taught you. That's half the problem."

Taehyung watched as Jungkook walked over to him, moving behind him. Standing behind him, Jungkook grabbed Taehyung's arms and moved them into the correct position.

"You have to hold this stance when you swing. If you don't, you're going to keep leaving nothing but marks like you have been. You want to make a statement with your swing. Pretend your life depends on it."

Taehyung let Jungkook puppeteer him and swing his arms through the air again and again to demonstrate what motion he expected. Taehyung's arms sung with pain, but he sucked it up. Soon Jungkook was backing up away from Taehyung.

"Now chop that bough in half!" Jungkook ordered.

Taehyung grit his teeth as he gripped the sword tighter. He held it in the posture that Jungkook had instructed him to and swung the sword forward with all the strength he could muster.

This time the sword went through the bough like it was butter, stunning Taehyung as he turned to look at Jungkook who was trying to suppress a grin.

- - -

"They usually keep the ship right here," said Tweedle who had woken up from his snooze ten minutes ago due to Suga moving to shake him awake.

"Are you sure you didn't just lead us out in the middle of nowhere to let them get away?" asked Suga.

"I swear!" said Tweedle, terrified of the anger that he saw in Suga's eyes. A tremble came into his voice for fear that Suga was about to throw him overboard.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Suga as he turned to look at Namjoon as if he held all the answers.

Namjoon wasn't sure what to do, leaving the oar across his lap as he looked at the ocean around them. The sun was just starting to rise, throwing orangey hues across the surface of the water.

"We have no choice but to keep going at this point," said Namjoon finally as he looked at Suga. "We can't just give up."

"So, your bright plan is to just aimlessly row about?" asked Suga as he looked at him incredulously.

"We can't go back without Taehyung," said Namjoon. "We don't turn our back on family."

Suga sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, sitting down beside Tweedle before not so gently nudging him in the ribs.

"It's your turn to row again. Help Namjoon out."

Tweedle nodded his head quickly, moving to sit next to Namjoon on the bench. The two of them began to row once more, making slow but steady progress forward. Namjoon didn't know how long they had been rowing before a thin strip of land started to become visible in the distance. Hobi - who had only woken up a few minutes earlier - was the first one to notice it.

"I see land!" said Hobi, pointing it out animatedly with the hay in his hand.

The hay ended up tickling up against Suga's face. Suga reached out a hand to swat it down as he noticed the land that Hobi pointed out too.

"I think we ought to detour towards the land," said Namjoon. "See if there is maybe something to eat before continuing on our journey to find Taehyung."

"That sounds like a good plan. Maybe we can leave Tweedle there too," said Suga.

"Wha-what?!"

- - -

Taehyung woke up on his side in the shelter Jungkook had built them the night before after an intense round of sword training. Even though his limbs still hurt, he was appreciative of the fact that Jungkook was teaching him how to use a sword and not using his sword to slice him to pieces. Sunlight from the rising sun fell on his face as Taehyung opened his eyes, sitting up to stretch. He noticed that Jungkook - who had been sleeping beside him the night before - was nowhere to be seen.

Moving to step out of the shelter, Taehyung scratched at his shirted chest as he looked towards the ocean. The sunrise that rose over it was breathtakingly beautiful. His eyes were averted from it when he heard Jungkook coming out of the tree line. Taehyung noticed that he had managed to ensnare and kill some sort of small mammal. Blood was dripping off Jungkook's fingers as he moved to kneel in front of the fire that was now out.

"Get the fire started again so we can eat," said Jungkook to Taehyung without looking up.

Taehyung was watching with horrified fascination as Jungkook took out his knife and began to try to skin the dead animal. Feeling like he was going to be sick, Taehyung moved to do what Jungkook had instructed him to do. He didn't know why he just automatically obeyed the other as if he were some sort of slave. Taehyung walked alongside the trees, picking up the stray branches that he saw along the way. As he was about to round a corner, he turned to look at the ocean again.

'Wait...is that a boat?' thought Taehyung.

"I think someone is coming!" shouted Taehyung as he turned to look back at Jungkook.

Jungkook lifted his head from his work to look towards the ocean and see that Taehyung was right. Dropping his knife, Jungkook moved to grab his sword again and walked towards the shore. Taehyung paled seeing the weapon and the hard set of Jungkook's jaw as he dropped the twigs he was holding to run over to him.

"You can't just immediately go on the defensive with whoever this is. They might be here to save us," Taehyung tried to reason.

"I always am on the defensive. Keeps me alive," said Jungkook without taking his eyes off the boat that was becoming bigger and bigger the closer it got to shore.

Taehyung sighed as he looked towards the boat as the dots of people on it started to become more visible. A smile broke across his face when he realized he recognized the people that were on the boat. It was his new family.

He turned back to see that Jungkook was gripping his sword tighter, moving to put his hand over Jungkook's to keep the sword down.

"Don't hurt them. These are my companions. My family."

Jungkook looked over at Taehyung perplexed, but Taehyung was already facing forward again, moving to step forward in the water until it came up to his ankles.

"GUYS! Hey!" said Taehyung, waving his arms above his head with a huge grin on his face.

Namjoon swiveled to see Taehyung standing in the shallows, relieved that he was okay. Namjoon hopped out of the boat once they were close enough, walking over to Taehyung and immediately wrapping him in a hug.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" asked Namjoon as he hugged Taehyung tightly.

"I'm fine," said Taehyung as he hugged Namjoon back for a moment. Taehyung soon pulled back from the hug to gesture towards a still tensed up Jungkook on the shore. "He saved me."

Suga, Tweedle, and Hobi meanwhile were dragging the boat up onto the shore so it didn't sail away on them. Tweedle was relieved to see a familiar face, walking over to Jungkook. It was as if he was expecting a hug like Taehyung but that is not what he received. In fact, Jungkook didn't look his way at all. His eyes were staying locked on Namjoon who was still looking over at him.

'Why does he look familiar?' thought Jungkook. 'Why do I feel like I've seen him somewhere else before?'