It's the final chapter. Wow, it's actually here. I can't believe it. It's absolutely insane how far I've come. This story has been such a major part of my life and it's bittersweet to think it's finally over. I'll go more into depth with my ending author's note, but I really am so thankful to you all. I hope that you enjoyed this story and I hope that you like this final chapter. Let's get into it.
The white light courses through the empty practice room, changing it. Almost as if by some sort of magic, seven young men appear. It's exactly the way it was at the beginning. It's just as they left it. Snacks sprawled out on the table. Shoes kicked off on the floor. Bags shoved into corners. And a cute dog, barking happily at the sudden appearance of his owner. "Tannie!" Taehyung exclaims, instantly scooping up the dog.
Yoongi scoffs, "We get back and the first thing you do is hug your dog." Taehyung sticks his tongue out at Yoongi before placing Yeontan back on the floor. "Do you want a hug too, Yoonie hyungie?" Taehyung asks in a sing-song tone. Yoongi grumbles as the vocalist flings himself onto him. The rapper shakes his head as Taehyung squeezes his middle in a tight embrace and buries his head into his chest. "Jin hyung!" Jungkook exclaims, jumping on top of the eldest. Jin lets out a grunt, stumbling backwards a little, not expecting the maknae to hurl himself at him. "Yah...careful Jeon Jungkook. You're not so little anymore," Jin tuts.
Jungkook nods his head and says in a quiet tone, "I thought I lost you." Jin sighs and gently pats Jungkook's back. "You never lost me. I'm still right here," Jin murmurs. Hoseok and Jimin are holding each other in a tight embrace. They don't look like they're going to let go anytime soon. "I knew that things would work out, but even I was a little skeptical about whether or not we would all be okay," Jimin says, "I was scared something could've went wrong."
Hoseok shakes his head, "It had hope that things would turn out just fine. And they did." Namjoon stands, watching his members quietly. He looks around the room, not believing that he's actually here. That he's actually back. That his members are all alright. That they fixed everything. Namjoon lets out an amused sigh before falling to his knees. Tears start to run down his cheeks and he tilts his head up towards the ceiling. The others look to him with wide eyes before rushing to his side. "Joon? Are you alright?" Yoongi asks.
"Did something happen, hyung?" Jimin questions with a worried expression.
Taehyung's eyes are filled with nervousness, "Did something go wrong?"
"No, we just got out of that mess. There's no way that..." Jungkook exclaims, "Wait a minute...is hyung smiling?" Just as the youngest pointed out, the leader has a smile sprawled across his face. The rest of the group groans, realizing they were worrying for nothing. Jin hits Namjoon in the arm, who reacts with an offended expression. "What was that for?" Namjoon questions.
"For scaring us, you idiot," Jin huffs, "We thought you were hurt."
"Yeah," Hoseok pouts, "You can't just drop like that and expect us not to freak out. After all we went through, not cool Joonie."
Namjoon sighs and sits down on the floor, "I'm sorry. I'm just happy and shocked and surprised and relieved. We're actually back. We're actually home. I...I didn't know if it would've really worked or not. But, it did. We're all here. We're all back. No one's hurt. And we're here. Like nothing happened in the first place. It's almost too good to be true. It's too crazy to think we actually got our happy ending. After we chased it for so long. It felt like we would never get it. I was so scared. So disheartened. I didn't think we would get here....but we did...and I'm so happy that we did..." The boys all look at one another with smiles on their faces. They did it. They dealt with memory loss. They received threats. They survived a roof dropping on their head and comas. They pushed past a gang. They even faced a bad guy, who had stopped at nothing to see their demise. They persevered. They made it. Namjoon wipes the tears from his face before opening his arms wide, "Group hug?"
"You're so cheesy, hyungie," Jungkook teases, poking at him.
"C'mon...I want hugssssss..." Namjoon whines, dragging out his s. The others laugh at their leader's antics, but still join in a group hug. They stay like that for a while, enjoying the comfort of being within each other's arms. "Not to ruin the mood or anything, but what about Theodore?" Yoongi asks, "He's probably still out there plotting our demise." The boys pull away from one another and sit down on the floor. "Can I be honest for a second? I actually felt bad for him," Hoseok says, "His sister suffered. He suffered. It's sad...all he wanted the entire time was to have his sister back. Can you blame him for doing what he did?"
"I guess not," Jin mutters, "But, he did take it pretty far."
"Yeah, he did," Hoseok says with a frown.
Yoongi huffs, "That's exactly why I asked what are we doing about Theodore."
"We'll call the company and ask them about a Theodore Cullen. I'm sure we can work something out in a peaceful manner," Namjoon says. The others nod their heads in agreement, thinking back to the man that dragged them into this mess. "You know...we got really lucky," Taehyung says, "We made it out of all that. It's something that not a lot of people could say they could. There were times when we almost gave up. There were times that we were stuck. But, we still found a way to get out. No matter what was thrown at us we kept going. And we're still standing. How lucky is that?"
"It's not lucky. It's not surprising," Jimin says, "We're Bangtan after all. We do things that you wouldn't think are possible."
Jungkook smiles and looks to the others, who look to their maknae, "I guess we really are bulletproof."
The end. For real this time. It's the actual end of Ripple. Wooo...I've been working on this story for about two years now. It is my first BTS AU and I'm pretty proud of it. It's been a rollercoaster ride and I'm happy that I did it. I just wanted to say thank you so much for supporting me and this story. You are all my lovely readers and I don't think I could've reached this point if it weren't for your support. I appreciate every bit of love you've given this story. I hope that you all enjoyed going on this journey with me and will continue to support my work in the future. I have lots of new stories planned and I can't wait to start those new adventures with you all. Thank you all once again for supporting me and reading my story. It really does mean the absolute world to me. That's all I have to say, so let's do this one last time. If you enjoyed this story and wish to see more from me, please vote, comment, follow me, add this story to your library, and check out my BTS AU Night of Sin (which will be picking up now that this story is complete). Thank you all once again and I will hopefully see you in my next story. Love you readers and ARMY!