BAM. 

Yoongi watched the shot hit the target with astounding accuracy. It was almost a little frightening, honestly, to watch Jungkook fire away at the targets. The kid hit dead center nearly every time. It was also more than a little irritating, as Yoongi had been struggling with improving his aim for the past several weeks that he'd been training. 

He made another attempt at it, the shot once again a long way off from the center. Jungkook looked over with mild interest and frowned. "At least you're hitting the target now, hyung. You've gotten better." 

The remark only served to irritate Yoongi further. "Right. I guess we all can't be kid prodigies," he snapped, a little more harshly than he'd intended. It was his inability to get it right that he was frustrated with - not the kid, however much of a twerp he'd proved to be. 

 Jungkook's mouth pressed into a line at the retort, but he didn't snap back. "Whatever. Being able to shoot a gun isn't even the most important part of our training. It's not certain that we'll have access to one when we're out on our missions," he reasoned. Then his lips twisted into a sly grin with the statement, "You're right, though. Not everyone can be child prodigy Jeon Jungkook." 

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "Don't sass me while I'm holding a gun." 

"Oh, please. You'd miss if you tried to shoot me." 

Damn this kid, Yoongi thought bitterly. And damn this whole situation. Almost three weeks ago when he'd first arrived at police headquarters in Area Nine, he'd been paired up with Jungkook as a training partner. They'd been assigned to one another on account of their similar missions - they would both be shipped off to Area One after their third week was up and have to search out and befriend the Zeros they'd been charged with. Yet annoyingly enough, Jungkook had been kicking Yoongi's in virtually every training exercise they'd undergone. The kid was a freak of nature. And it didn't help Yoongi's pride one bit that he was also several years younger - too young to have actually been Numbered, so he'd just been pulled out of his home in Area Nine and prematurely branded a Zero. 

A smirk on his smug little face, Jungkook lined up another shot and fired, once again hitting right on target. Yoongi shook his head in response and promptly his heel, strapping his gun back to his hip and striding out of the firing range facilities.  

Footsteps came clattering behind him as Jungkook scrambled to catch up in the hallway. "Hyung, don't just leave me like that," he complained. "Where are you even going?" 

"Back to the room," Yoongi replied as the other boy fell in step beside him. "I'm tired, I'm pissed off, and my ears are ringing from all the shooting. Plus, it's nearly eleven. We stayed way after our lessons today." 

Jungkook made a hmph sound at that. "Well. Our final examinations are tomorrow." 

"I know." Yoongi was less than pleased about that. He was doing quite well in most areas, but his aim still wasn't up to par. What if they failed him on account of that? Kicked him out, gave him an easier mission- what would even happen if he didn't pass the final examinations? 

The younger boy was quiet for a moment, the only sound being their footsteps echoing lightly down the empty, sterile hallway. The rooms for trainees were not far from the training facilities, tucked away from the main hub of activity at the headquarters. The pair was approaching their quarters, the only other person around a spectacled boy slipping into his own room, when Jungkook said softly, "They're not going to fail you. You know that, right, hyung?" 

Yoongi looked up in surprise, nearly dropping the key card to their room that he'd been fishing out of his pocket. Teasing seemed to be the most common form of interaction from Jungkook. Praising? Not so much. 

"I mean it," the boy said, and the earnestness was clear in his voice. "You may not be the best shot, but you're good at everything else. Great, really. I tried not to show it too much, but I was worried I was falling behind you sometimes." The small smile on his face was a definite change from his usual mischievous smirk. "I actually snuck out one night when you were asleep to practice some of the hand-to-hand combat stuff," he admitted. 

Yoongi shook his head in disbelief as he swiped the key card over the scanner in the door. "Wow. I can't believe Kid Wonder is telling me this," he scoffed as the door slid open. Jungkook just shrugged entered the room after him, both boys tossing their weapons holsters to the floor and changing into more comfortable clothes for sleeping.  

"Just think," Jungkook murmured, pulling a folder out of his desk drawer and flopping down onto his bed with it, "in two days we'll both be off in Area One, starting our first missions." 

The thought was a strangely solemn one. All of the horror stories he had heard about Area One as a young boy came floating back to Yoongi. The people in Area Eight had used it as a sort of scare tactic - "screw up too bad and you'll be sent to Area One, you know. Where all the monsters live. Where they tear apart little boys like you and eat them for dinner." It had always seemed a shadowy, hellish place in Yoongi's mind. A place of legends and nightmares, outside the realm of Yoongi's reality. Yet there he was, getting sent there for work. Unbelievable, really. 

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Yoongi went to peer over at Jungkook's file. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he saw what was inside. 

"Two Zeros? How the hell are you going to manage two of them? And why didn't you tell me?" Yoongi demanded, staring at the pictures of the two boys. Both looked young and relatively innocent, though that didn't really mean much. They obviously weren't completely naïve if they'd managed to evade capture so far. 

Jungkook just shrugged again. "You never told me anything about who you were assigned to, so I didn't say anything, either." 

"Why two, though?" Yoongi pressed. "I think that's pushing it, even for Boy Wonder." 

"Oh, ye of little faith." A hint of the usual grin reappeared on Jungkook's face. "But anyway, there is a reason I've been assigned to two of them. These two apparently stick together all the time. They've been a package deal since before they were even Zeros, when they both lived in Area Five. They're pretty recently turned Zeros, too - they disappeared from Five around three months ago, I've been told. The police that had been trying to track them say they are seen around pretty often, so they're not too good at hiding yet. But they're very good at escaping, and they don't seem to trust anyone but each other. That's why they pulled me in - hopefully since I'm younger than they are and totally on my own, they'll see me as defenseless and take me under their wing."  

Yoongi grimaced at the irony of "defenseless" Jungkook, the very same kid with perfect aim, excellent fighting skills, and a wickedly cunning nature. But he couldn't help but be a little unsettled by the fact that these two Zeros were originally from Area Five. It was certainly shabbier than Eight, but it was even farther from the horrors of Area One. How had these two managed to wind up in this situation? What had they done to sink that low? And it was still strange that they were even being Numbered before they turned twenty - another element of mystery to the Zeros that the police hadn't yet been able to solve. 

"Good luck on your examination tomorrow," Jungkook spoke up again, as Yoongi shuffled towards his bed. 

The older boy turned back with a slight smile. "Thanks. Same to you. Not that you need it, I guess," he mused. 

Jungkook shook his head, but gave a small chuckle. "No - late night combat practice, remember? Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say - good luck on your mission. I know that you'll do great on the exam, but the mission-" he had a faraway look in his eyes, "who knows what we're getting ourselves into." 

Yoongi made a noise of agreement as he crawled beneath the covers and pulled them up over himself. "True," he concurred, "after tomorrow, everything changes." 

** 

The next day, Yoongi managed to pass each test with ease. When it was time for the final exam - the dreaded marksmanship portion - he raised the gun with steady hands and pictured the face of the boy in his file. 

Just you wait, Jung Hoseok. I'm coming for you. I will find you, befriend you, and gain your trust. You're something that isn't meant to exist. I'm something meant to destroy you. 

He hit the target dead center.