Work Text:
"For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky."
In the name of discovering the universe, they were travellers of course. And among the impossibilities of vacuum and suspension of stars, they happened to fall in love.
As you drink a cup of warm tea
As you look above to the Milky Way
You’ll be alright, oh this is a Magic Shop.
In tide of yore and in time long gone before,
Jimin, an immortal was less then knowledgeable on the tale of the moon rabbit.
Every other mortal seemed an expert on the magic of the moon rabbit.
And although he himself was the pionneer of the folklore, Jimin was a forgetful immortal. He didn't know about life on the moon, if it even were a possibility.
But being immortal made him have faith in the impossibilities.
In his first life, he was a crane of magic and mystics, the ever powerful. One day Jungkook, a beautiful rabbit arrogant in his speed and beauty stumbled onto the mystical creature; whom the forests only whispered in awe about. The rabbit although proud of himself, was not fond of the crane who was thought to fulfill all wishes he was affronted with. He was of course beautiful but the rabbit didn't dwell on his incandascent appearance, much rather he dwelled on himself and his arrogance that he was better than this jinnie bird.
So he decided to test the crane, Jimin. Not recalling the whispers of the breeze in the forest warning him to be careful what he wished for. Nonetheless, an eternity of magic couldn't save him from the hands of fate. He went to the crane, who was rare to find as he hid from magic thirsty mortals that wanted to use him for their own greed, and the crane although fearful and surprised and in awe of the rabbit's beauty as well, fell in love at first sight with Jungkook. But they hardly shared the same language.
See, the crane was mute. He could only fulfill wishes. He couldn't deny or wish himself. That was the tragedy of the crane, he was made of wish fulfillment but he could never make wishes of his own to fulfill.
So, when the bold rabbit came to him and without much thought started questioning his "magic" he could not respond--only stare with his pretty eyed daze. The rabbit taken aback by the enchantment lingering in his eyes, confused, flustered and frustrated, started to dislike the crane. He thought the crane thought itself too superior to respond. So, he declared no matter what, even if he didn't respond he was still required to fulfill one of his wishes.
At the heat of the moment of thinking up the impossible he told the crane he wanted to go to the moon. He was smug in his quick wit. Hence he was flabbergasted when the crane, upon the wish, held out its leg for the rabbit to latch onto.
Jungkook was not known to back down--be it the king of jungle, the lion himself-- so how could a mere crane with twiggish limbs do him any harm. And so he grasped the crane and the crane led the rabbit to the moon.
A dangerous journey followed, where the crane protected the rabbit and the rabbit cowered in the face of vacuum and unfamiliarity, questioning at unsteady moments, how he was still able to live in the outerworld when there was no air and he couldn't breathe. The rabbit bled through his paws from latching on too strong and the crane's legs lengthened. And even though it pained the crane, he did not back down, a wish was a wish and the crane could not deny one even if was a matter of giving up his own life. The life of the magical crane was tragic indeed.
Upon landing, red bloody paws patted the crane, the rabbit left the crane's forehead red and his limbs long --how our modern day cranes came to look like. They both fell asleep, was what the rabbit assumed drifting off. Upon waking up from slumber, however, the rabbit found himself turned into a man on the moon but the crane died his first life--that first night on the moon.
A creature knew arrogance and pride but he also knew of sadness. Jungkook's grief peppered little heart seemed to physically hurt at the sight of his dead companion. And then the creature learned of emotions he had never felt before so dark and aching it felt like death was embracing him as well.
The rabbit, now man grew fond of these feelings in a twisted mortal sort of way and declared the crane his first love and cried and cried. Until the mages on the moon (Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok) heard and smelled the presence of a mortal on the moon and came to banish him.
However, upon seeing his state and the immortal in his arms they had a change of heart. Instead they informed him about the world of magic. See, the crane was an immortal and could relive again and again in different bodies. They told this to Jungkook, who before the journey had been oblivious and unbelieving of existence outside his world and of power beyond that of men.
They told him however that when bringing him to the moon, the crane had bargained his life for the rabbit to be alive, although there was no air for him to breathe in space. And Jungkook found the answers to his questions. The moon's magic turned him into a magical immortal man. The crane was the bravest and loveliest creature he had ever met and he felt he could trade a life for him back, because Jungkook was a man now but he didn't know of the greed and selfishness of men, he was still a creature of the wild at heart.
So, Jungkook upon hearing the story behind the crane, crumbled into tears and asked how he could fix it. The mages although hesitant, told him of a herb he could make to help the rabbit reincarnate and give him back his immortality and Jungkook would be left with only two lives himself. But the mages warned him, to not play with magic too much as he was not an immortal himself. It could be an addicting cycle and only death could inhibit it's catalysis.
In his second life Jimin was born a calico cat in the moon, as an immortal for whom Jungkook, once a rabbit now a man, pounded herbs to help him reincarnate and get better and recover memories of his first life--which Jimin had lost in the hazardous process of magical bargains.
However, upon recovering Jimin grew affectionate of the big round earth that appeared in hues of blues and greens and chaos much bigger and brighter than the moon and wanted to go back after hearing the lovely reminiscent stories Jungkook told him of life on earth whenever he got homesick.
Jimin lacked memories of himself loving the rabbit and bringing him onto the moon and although Jungkook told him about their journey a billion times he still has no recollection and thus connected less to the painful path they had as travel companions and so was oblivious to Jungkook's affections.
He just wanted to see earth. But he no longer had wings to go back to earth so when he jumped in the name of magic, the rabbit did too and Jungkook turned back into a rabbit but the cat suffered death once again not before he remembered his love for the rabbit and all their memories, his last breathe being a confession.
"I am sorry. I wish I loved you sooner... I-I wish I could have known, sh-should have held you longer, and kissed you, even once."
He told him this through his tears. Jungkook had turned back into a rabbit but didn't die this time while travelling as he still had two more lives. The rabbit however had his herbs ready to bring Jimin back to life. He would not live a day without the love of his life again. He could not. His feelings being reciprocated after centuries fueled his affections even more. He never wanted to loose Jimin again.
In his third life Jimin was born as a winged man, a fairy with bird wings and the rabbit had preserved moondust to turn into a man --Jimin didn't know that jungkook and the rabbit are the same, it's better that way jungkook thought--- but it is limited unlike being on the moon (where he could brew more magical herbs, but there were no such elements on earth) so when he talks to Jimin he acted impossibly hostile so Jimin doesnt remember him or their almost-love.
It was better that way, Jungkook repeated to himself. He did it to get rid of Jimin's affections but Jimin didn't fail to fall in love with him again but when the moon dust ran out only the rabbit remained. And the rabbit accompanied him around not able to remind him of his past because he is the man in the moon not on earth and he regrets so much that he never got to tell Jimin and realises its selfish of him to assume what Jimin wants, remembering his last words, when Jimin didn't know everything.
So Jungkook wishes in whispers, hoping the mages on the moon would hear-- until the image of a rabbit pounding herbs appear on the moon. The moon the fairy was so fond of, like Jimin was so fond of in every life, giving the fairy a reminder of the moon rabbit. But the fairy didn't recall much else and as he had no alternate purpose in life he found himself thinking it will bring him meaning to go to the moon and find the moon rabbit --he had yet to know that the moon rabbit is the pet he keeps.
Nonetheless, he couldn't do it alone, although he had wings now, he also had a terrible fear of flight --traumas from near death experience from his other lives, and to reassure himself he went on a quest to find help from professionals and along the way across the earth in search of aid he meets the rest of the immortals on earth who call themselves The Kim--Namjoon, Taehyung and Jin-- and together with his pet rabbit, passing hurdles The Kim, Jimin and Jungkook reach the moon one day.
When the fairy sees his pet of a best friend turn into Jungkook, a beautiful man, he falls in love once again and recalls their past but Jungkook is only a man in the moon he cannot be anywhere else as anything besides and although the fairy is immortal, Jungkook only has so much to give and the he was no longer immortal so when he travelled in lack of air in space he died. But since he had another life from the mages he doesn't stay dead.
In his last life, Jungkook spends on the moon with the immortals he calls Bangtan (a mortal word Kim Namjoon had taught him) and falls in love with the other immortals in a familial bond and Jimin, his loveliest, by his side. And when he dies a natural death on the moon, the image of the rabbit pounding herbs on the moon dissappears.
Jimin couldn't take it knowing eternity awaits him without Jungkook in it and offers his life to the mages again. This time however, the mages tell him its okay, it would become a never ending cycle and theres an alternate way to go about it but they can only do it if Jimin and the Kim go back to earth because they weren't moon creatures and it reduces the magic of the moon. The mages assure that once they return they will see the image reappear and if the rabbit pounds herbs again he can travel once again. Only this time it took longer to get the rabbit back to life and the rabbit has little recollection of it.
Jimin dies again on earth naturally this time from the wait and is reincarnated into his fourth life.
As a man with magic. A man named Park Jimin. As technology advanced and The Kim raised him and with his starry eyed dreams of the moon and his magical soulmate, they helped him become an astronaut so he no longer needs to play with mortality to find the man on the moon. But rocket science was never meant for what Jimin was allowing to risk. Upon reaching the moon he doesn't find Jungkook and the mages tell him what happened. Jungkook was brought back to life but he immedietly wanted to find jimin and upon pounding herbs, he decided to travel and having never travelled alone before, Jungkook was perhaps lost in space.
Jimin was a man on a mission then, he wasn't going to play with magical bargains but he was still an immortal he could use some of his magic to get the ship to travel to other places. He knew Jungkook wasn't on earth because he had searched high and low for him. So he went in search from moon to moon and crossed universes but no sign of the darling man. It brought Jimin to tears and a heart desolate. Something hurt that he couldn't decipher.
Until one day his travel halted.
His rocket glowed to a halt amid the vacuum of impossibilities, and in his ship running on magic, appeared Jungkook.
Jimin could hardly believe. Hardly think, hardly breathe.
He had so many things to ask and Jungkook explained in sweet breathes and salted tears of words and whispered confessions and admidst the entire galaxy they found themselves in love again. Until.
Until Jimin heard Namjoon in the Intercom. He didn't understand how bangtan had found him. Jungkook only smiled like he knew. Jimin didn't understand how they found his ship but he answered namjoon and told him he found Jungkook and they remembered each other and all in the world was right and good.
Yet, instead of being enthusiastic Namjoon told Jimin he should come back to earth because the rabbit mark on the moon had dissappeared the moment Jimin announced he had reached the moon. But Namjoon could not reach Jimin before now because Jimin had adruptly left cutting off contact with the ship.
Apparently, Jungkook had bargained his life with the mages on his last breath while lost among the stars that they let him have one last moment with the love of his life.
His body had already died and dissappeared from the bargain for he was a mortal, a creature never meant for the world of magic. This was a caricature of a farewell. And this was it. The fateful moments of his dying dreams coming true.
There was no jungkook.
Jimin turned to the man beside him. Jungkook smiled his bunny smile as Jimin told him he loved him and why did he do this to Jimin when he could have waited a little longer but he knew the answers in his heart, the answers Jungkook couldn't give, because Jungkook wasn't programmed to answer the millions of words Jimin wanted to hear. He was only programmed to let him know of his love and the anciency of their love stories.
Perhaps, the impatience of desire and the beauty of loving someone was the saddest recipe of fate. Before Jungkook would dissappear, Jimin was hit with recollection of all the centuries they shared together, a part of Jungkook's last wish was to give Jimin all the memories back, no truth left untold, and to let Jimin know he loved him beyond the bounds of earths and moons and satellites and stars and planets and universes. With his eyes still full of stars and gems and a smile full of tenderness and the entire burning sun, Jungkook uttered back his last confession to jimin, this was my love letter to you.
Was.
Jungkook was.
He is no longer in existence.
He is no longer.
And as Jimin watched Jungkook dissappear, he watched him reappear once again in the same way. How the rocket glowed to a halt and the sweetness of his eyes and the confessions. All the same. Jimin realised as he cried that Jungkook had known him for centuries he knew him like memorized lyrics of a lifelong favourite song.
But Jungkook could only repeat the chorus. The divergence of the verses lost with the life that no longer existed within him. This Jungkook was a caricature alone now, a perfect orchestra that Jungkook himself molded to his realest self to suit Jimin and his reactions, the way he knew Jimin would not notice, a glitch of feelings and magic and forebodingly breathtaking beauty. This Jungkook was a continues occurance, of words and feelings, timeless, beyond the sadness of rereading the ending of the deaths in books and literature that Jimin so hated but couldn't stop himself from reading and crying over. This was infact Jungkook's love letter to Jimin, his last confession, his dying breath.
Jimin in all his immortal glory tried to get him back. Screaming for the mages. Praying towards existence beyond the multiverses. But.
Jungkook was gone, even namjoon the smartest being of existence knew that. The mages could bring back to life but they could not create existence. Jungkook was now scattered in whispers among the stars.
Upon return, on the moon, Jimin pounded herbs then for the love of his life however fruitless it was, hoping one day it was enough for their stars to align into constellation once again.
But once in a while when Jimin was too tired and upset and full of feelings, he returned to his love letter, and watched his lover die before his eyes in the loveliest smiles and prettiest eyes and sweetest of words, and he breathed back tears and tried to smile back.
His last word however, made him open his eyes again and the dam was broken, the doors to the bright room locked him out in the darkness and the tears, they ran again.
"Don't cry anymore my love. I promised you right? All those centuries ago, if you remember and I'm sure you do if my wish has come true. Even if it takes milleniums or more, I'll reach you, and hold you, until you learn to love me again. I'm sorry, it could not be today. And this, the memories we shared--I hope you keep them."
When Jimin closed his eyes he could pretend it was real again, adorned with bunny toothed smiles and promises of eternity, it was his magic shop.
"This was my love letter to you"
Like a rose when blooming
Like a cherry blossom when scattering
Like a lily when withering
Like those beautiful moments.
Little Jeon was already fast asleep, tired after the third death of Jimin, and Park Jimin smiled down at his son. He hadn't named any names to the kid, just shared stories stretching over milleniums, mapped around the universe, and sung through silly lyrics made up by Jimin himself.
His son didn't like the story very much, because of all the deaths he assumed. The endearing kid had burst into tears the first time he learned that people could die, that life had an end. It was cruel really for the day care staff to speak of death to a five year old.
However, his son did like the stupid songs Jimin would sing to tell said story. He said the songs were always better in this story, it made him dream of people in stars and stuff. It was really cool, he said. He wanted to be a rocket scientist, he said. Maybe then he could build a rocket ship that was fast enough to reach Jungkook in time, he said.
He still liked the arabian night tales and the grim fairytales Jimin sang to him but they felt less pretty he said. His dad was the prettiest when he sang about the moon rabbit, the kid always reminded him of that.
However, Little Jeon always hated the end, he said. Dada always cries in the end, he said. So, he always fell asleep before the story finished, maybe then it's non existent. Maybe then Jungkook stayed alive, and Jimin stayed the happiest.
Jimin almost believed him too, and smiled and continued singing softly as night descended, soaking the world in the deepest dark, and moonlight wove brilliantly through the pale curtains waltzing with the wind,
I do believe your galaxy.
I want to hear your melody.
Your stars in the milky way,
don't forget I found you anyway.
Jungkook would then duck into the room, pretending he wasn't listening in all this time, relishing in his husbands beautiful honey-like voice.
He would tuck the blanket around Little Jeon a little higher and peck his forehead goodnight before pulling Jimin away with cheek kisses, and lips pressing his tears away and whine for him to come back to bed, clinging in ways he was still too shy to do in daylight, hiding his face in his husbands neck and nosing around and peppering him in even more kisses--like it wasn't enough, it was never enough; like he had an eternity of debt to collect; like he could never have enough of Jimin.
And Jimin thought then, perhaps love was this. The searching and finding, the stars loud and the lost, found.