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The water laps gently against the shore.
Yoongi's body aches all over but they managed to get Taehyung's name back, just like the White Witch asked. Overhead, the sun that never moved has slowly begun to set. A new day is finally arriving in the city. The reign of the Gold King is over.
"You know, I have forgotten what the stars and the moon looked like. " Somewhere to his right, Seokjin sighs. "It has been so long. His highness says they are one of the most beautiful things the human world has to offer. But I have a hard time believing it."
Yoongi shrugs. "Well, Taehyung does have a knack for over exaggeration but, in this case, he's pretty much spot on."
Seokjin crosses his arms before tilting his head in question. "Do you really think so?"
"I know so." Yoongi nods curtly. "My mother loved the night sky so much, she painted my entire bedroom ceiling just like it. As a child, I would always look up and pretend I'm stargazing."
"Hence the interest in astronomy?"
Yoongi looks back at Seokjin. The young warlock sits on the sand banged up from head to toe. His usually perfectly coiffed hair is now in a state of dissaray, like he'd just come back from being a test dummy in one of Namjoon's spellcasting experiments. And yet, Yoongi's never seen him look prettier, the light of the setting sun casting a golden glow to everything it touches, like the top Seokjin's pink hair or the dip of his pouted lips. Yoongi shakes his head before plopping down on the sand as well.
"Hence the interest in astronomy," he echoes, turning back to the sunset and the sea.
The both of them stay silent for a while, just watching the sun move through the horizon, closer and closer to where the sky meets the sea. The glittering waves sparkle like diamonds on a blanket of orange and gold. The salty sea breeze caresses Yoongi body coolly like a beloved memory of a childhood summer's day.
It's been one hell of a strange week since he arrived in the spirit world and he knows he's close to overstaying his welcome. But being like this under the spirit world's first pink and blue sky in over half a century, there's nothing more that he'd like to do than stay.
Yoongi lays down on the sand, covering his eyes with his arm.
"Hey, Seokjin," he calls out to the young warlock.
Seokjin doesn't respond but Yoongi knows he's listening. "Was what the White Witch said true? " he continues. "That the moment I fall asleep, the next time I wake up, I'll be back home."
He hears Seokjin take a deep breath before he replies slowly but surely, "The White Witch is never wrong, Yoongi."
Yoongi lets out a thoughtful hum. "So does that mean I'll also forget you, Taehyung, Jungkook, Hoseok, and Namjoon?"
Another pause. "That is right."
"I see," Yoongi purses his lips before turning on his side and looking up at the young warlock. "But this wouldn't be the first time, right? We've met before. That's why you hit me when I first came here."
Yoongi watches as Seokjin's face goes through a series of emotions from surprise to confusion to something Yoongi can't quite place because Seokjin faces the sky when he does.
"So you finally remember?" The young warlock phrases the question like a statement.
Yoongi follows his gaze, the sky a little darker now with a couple of stars twinkling in the distance. The moon, however, has yet to rise from her long slumber.
"When we were at Jimin's--I mean, the White Witch's tower, he cryptically talked about long lost promises and warlocks never breaking them. Then he said that nearly a hundred years ago, a little boy managed to slip between the realm of the humans and the spirits. You helped that little boy and he made you promise that if he ever forgot about you and this place, you'd have to--"
"Smack him upside the head so he could remember," Seokjin finishes for him, chuckling. "Yes. Looking back on it now, it was such a ridiculous gesture. You were just a child. But a promise is a promise and a warlock never goes back on his word."
Yoongi sighs. "I didn't remember then though. I honestly thought you were this slap-ready maniac. But when we got on the train to Jungkook's and the mermaids, the scent of the sea made me remember something.
"It was fuzzy and I didn't really get it but in the memory, someone gave me a marble that looked like the world. My world. I... I always kept that marble with me back in the human world even though I didn't know how I got it or who I got it from. But it was the only thing I found in my pockets when I arrived. So when I recalled that memory then showed the marble to Jimin, I..."
The corner of Seokjin's lips quirk upwards. "He made the memory as clear as day?"
Yoongi sits up and digs through his pockets. When he shows Seokjin the marble, now as clear as a dew drop, the young warlock sighs wistfully.
"Jimin said that I should give this back to the one who saved me. So..."
Yoongi offers the marble in his hand but Seokjin just shakes his head. The young warlock wraps his hands around Yoongi's and closes his palm.
"I gave that marble to you as a gift. It is yours and will forever be yours unless you choose to pass it onto someone else."
"But Jimin said that magical items--"
"This marble is not magic. Yes, I imbued it with my powers so that it could act as portal for you to get back home but since the White Witch returned the memories attached to it, it no longer contains any shred of magical power from this world. It is just an ordinary marble for you to do with as you please."
Seokjin lets go of his hand and turns his eyes back upward to the sky. Yoongi opens his palm up once more, the marble sitting on it like it was made of the most fragile glass. Or maybe that's how he feels knowing that the next time he wakes up, it's in a world that is nothing compared to the world that he is in now. Because in this world, there is magic. In this world, he has friends. In this world, he has a purpose bigger than just surviving day after each lonely day. Because he has meaning. Because life has meaning. And it sucks that he won't even remember that.
"I don't want to forget," he mumbles, biting his lips to keep them from shaking.
"Hmm?" Seokjin doesn't look at him which he is thankful for because the last thing he needs is for the warlock to see him crying.
He takes a deep breath and speaks louder, "I'm not going to forget. I'll always remember this. I'll always remember you. I'll always remember Taehyung, Jungkook, Hoseok, Namjoon, and hell, even Jimin! I'm never gonna forget any single one of you, Seokjin. I swear on heart and my life. Just please, promise me that you won't forget about me too. All of you, please promise me that you'll remember me."
Seokjin finally takes his eyes off the night sky and when he looks at Yoongi, he's got tears in his eyes too.
"Why do you always end your goodbyes with a promise? You are taking advantage of a warlock you know."
At that, Yoongi lets out a loud laugh. The loudest he's laughed in years. "How else am I going to make sure I'll see you again?"
Seokjin shakes his head once more but plastered on his face is a grin. "Oh, Yoongi. You are more trouble than you are worth."
"Couldn't save the spirit world without me though."
"Take that up with the young prince. I am merely following his ideas. If it had been up to me..."
"If it had been up to you...?"
Seokjin doesn't grace him with a reply. Instead, the warlock looks back up at the sky which is now littered with thousands upon millions of twinkling stars. The moon has finally shown herself to the spirit-dwellers in over half a century. From somewhere behind him, Yoongi can hear his friends oohs and aahs as they marvel on about the magnificent sight above them. He turns back to Seokjin.
"See? I told you. The stars and the moon are beautiful."
"I can think of one thing the human world has offered which is more beautiful than this."
"Really?" Yoongi almost rolls his eyes. "And what could that be?"
Seokjin looks back down at him again but this time, his eyes are twinkling even brighter than the stars overhead. Slowly, the warlock lessens the distance between them. With only a few inches apart and Yoongi's heart nearly beating out of his chest, Seokjin laughs lighter than a fairy's wing.
"Take a guess?"