Chapter 1: Discovery
This is the first official chapter to my new AU, Eleven Days! The RFA finally make an appearance, so yay! If you didn’t read the prologue yet, you can check it out here! The link will also be at the bottom of the post. The original idea came from @cupidberry1571, and you can find the original request in the prologue. This is out later than I usually post, I’m sorry! I had some other things to tend to before I sat down and wrote this. I’ve talked enough, so I’ll let you guys get to reading!
Pairing: 707 x MC
Words: 1682
His head felt foggy as he shoved away from his desk and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. They burned, as he had been staring at the computer for over a day. Or had it been longer? Or had it been shorter? He had no clue. All he knew was that his back was incredibly sore and popped loudly as he straightened it, his stomach was growling loudly, and he needed to use the bathroom.
With a groan, Seven stood, knees weak from not having stood in hours. He stumbled out of the dark office, eyes squinted against the light he left on in his messy kitchen. “Where is Vanderwood when I need him?” He sighed, shaking his head before reaching into the slightly open cabinet, hand patting along the shelf, finding nothing. He sighed dejectedly before shutting the cabinet and going to his sink, where he sifted through a seemingly endless pile of dishes to find a glass.
Once he dug out a coffee cup, washed it, and filled it with a cup of coffee, he settled himself on his couch. The cushions smelled of spilt soda and his favorite chips, but he didn’t seem to mind nor care as he pulled his phone out and opened the chat room he created. He scrolled through the previous conversations with the other members of the RFA, laughing to himself at Yoosung’s whining about classes and Zen’s constant talk about his upcoming musical. Jaehee, as usual, was supportive, and complimented his hard work in rehearsal. He also found humor and Jumin and Zen’s bickering.
About halfway through the chats, someone brought up a forest that had been a subject of debate for a while in the media. It had been a sort of rumor that has spread around the city. There were stories of people going in, and disappearing for eleven days, not a word heard from them until the end, when they appear again, unharmed and seeming to have no memory of the days they were gone. Many people had gone in, wanting to see what happened. Most came back unharmed, with no evidence to back up the myth.
Today, Yoosung and Zen were debating it’s existence, and the current open chatroom was Yoosung chatting with him about it again.
*707 has entered the chatroom*
707: hi hi
Zen: Seven! Have you heard of the forest?
Yoosung: Yeah! There was another disappearance and reappearance!
707: ya? Who hasn’t?
707: yoosung, zen, wana go on an adventure there?
Zen: no way! I can’t risk disappearing before the opening of my musical!
707: oh, right! That’s tomorrow! Then
707: yoosung! Let’s go on a grand adventure to the mysterious forest!
Yoosung: no! What if this is a trick?
707: and why would I, God 707, trick you?
707: my intentions are as pure as a lamb!
Zen: *… emoji*
Yoosung: *annoyed emoji*
707: yoosung! I’ll give you HBC if you come!
Yoosung: no way!
707: how about three whole bags?
Yoosung: …fine
Zen: Yoosung! Don’t give in to him! What if he’s lying!
707: I’ll swing by to pick you up in one of my babies in a few!
*707 has left the chatroom*
Seven chuckled and turned off his phone, a grin on his face. Vanderwood was going to kill him for doing this, but what did he have to lose? His brain was melting from all of the coding he’s done for hours straight. Plus he was ahead of schedule on this project; it wasn’t due until the end of the next week at 23:59. He had plenty of time, he could spare a few hours to go search this ‘magic forest’.
He pushed off of the couch and grabbed his signature hoodie, slipping it over his shirt. He had been wearing it for the past two days, but he usually kept his office cold, so he didn’t sweat much, and it shouldn’t have smelled. For good measure though, he sprayed a little cologne in the air and stepped through it before grabbing his phone and keys and leaving the bunker.
“Are we almost there, Seven?” Yoosung whined, head pressed against the headrest of the seat and turned to Seven, whose eyes were locked on the road ahead of them. “Soon~!”
They had been driving for nearly two hours, and poor Yoosung was going crazy with boredom. They had listened to music, talked about LOLOL, talked about the RFA, talked about Yoosung’s not so successful love life. Yoosung had even finished one of the bags of Honey Buddha Chips he was given, which Seven hadn’t expected. Finally they lapsed into silence, Yoosung’s amethyst eyes staring out the window at the passing scenery while Seven’s focused on the road.
The sun was setting when they finally reached the so-called magic forest. The tops of the trees glowed orange and red from the setting sun behind them. Long shadows extended out towards where they parked the car off the side of the road, successfully shielding their eyes from the sun’s bright light as they climbed out and stretched their backs and legs.
“Did you bring a flashlight?” Yoosung asked, eyes darting around nervously. “Nope. Did you?” A wicked grin stretched across his lips as he teased Yoosung, whose eyes had widened and face had blanched. “I’m kidding, don’t worry! Agent 707 is always prepared!” Seven’s eyes locked with Yoosung’s as he raised his arm dramatically, keys in hand. With a press of a button, the car’s trunk popped open, and he quickly retrieved a small black flashlight and three huge containers of glow sticks.
“When do you ever need those?”
“Oh, those are for me, not for missions. They are so cool! Plus we can use them to go home when it gets dark.” Seven cracked one of the sticks a few times, shaking until it glowed a vibrant yellow. He repeated the process and connected the two, wrapping it around his neck. Yoosung rolled his eyes, grabbing a few of his own before turning on his heel and heading towards the shadowed woods ahead. “Let’s get this over with, Seven. Why did I even agree to this?” He muttered the last part, shaking his head while cracking the glow sticks.
“Wait for me!” The trunk was slammed, doors locked, and keys pocketed before he took off after Yoosung, who had stopped at the edge and was staring in, back to Seven. “What, are you scared?”
“H-huh? No! Never!” Yoosung’s voice wavered, contradicting his words as he took an uneasy step forwards. “Nono, hold on, let the real men go ahead!”
“I am a real man!” Cheeks aflame with indignation, Yoosung stomped ahead into the woods, eyes darting around. “Man, he’s too easy.” With one last glance back at his baby, Seven strided into the woods, excitement coursing through his body.
It felt like a mission to Seven. He didn’t have his computers or any of the other things he brought with on missions, but that didn’t matter. His mission this time was to investigate the mystery of the disappearing and reappearing people.
“Hey Yoosung, what if we actually disappeared like the other people who have?” Yoosung gave an exasperated sigh, sweeping his flashlight around until it landed on Seven, who was investigating a little creek that was trickling through the woods. It created a lovely little trickling noise that served as background noise in the otherwise quiet and dark forest.
“I don’t know, Seven! You’ve asked me that three times now?”
“Okay, but what if?”
“Go back to looking around! It’s getting late!” The light left Seven’s eyes, and he had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes to the darkness. They continued further into the woods, Yoosung holding the flashlight and sweeping it around their surroundings. Nearby, an owl hooted softly, causing goosebumps to raise on Seven’s arms and causing Yoosung to jump nearly a foot in the air. “Just an owl, it’s fine!”
They continued in for a while, the whole time Seven feeling an unusual sensation in his chest, tugging him closer to the heart of the forest. “Do you feel that?” Yoosung scoffed, ignoring Seven. “Can we head back soon? It’s getting cold.”
“No, Yoosung, do you feel that?” The flashlight fell on his face, sending Yoosung’s figure into shadow and putting the spotlight on Seven. “Feel what, Seven? The cold? The fear? There’s nothing out here, now let’s go home!”
“Yoosung, I want to go further.” He let out a groan of annoyance. “Of course you do! Why did I even come out here with you?” The light shifted off of Seven and onto the forest floor as Yoosung pulled his phone out to check the time. “It’s nearly 11! Let’s go back!” Seven wished he didn’t feel this… tug in his chest, but he did. He needed to go further, but not then.
Hesitantly, he turned the way they came. “Let’s go, Yoosung. You should get going home, you have class tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, thank god you realized that!” He practically ran the way they came from, leaving Seven to hesitantly turn away from the center of the forest and follow the glow of their glowsticks back through the woods, into his car, and back the two hours to drop of Yoosung and go back to his bunker.
When he shut the car off in his garage, he sat there for a while, staring at the wall in front of the car. The tug felt so… wonderful, almost blissful. It turned his whole chest warm, like he was drinking hot chocolate on a chilly day. It made him want to go back and find the source of that blissful sensation again.
He glanced at his phone settled in the console. The time read 2:38am, but he wasn’t tired, despite having not slept for nearly three days. He put the key back into the ignition, twisted it, and pulled out of the garage, heading back to the forest.
He was going to find that sensation again, and this time, he would continue and find the source.
Prologue / Chapter 2