a/n- I'm not fully sure what should constitute a trigger warning, but there'll be some blood in this chapter. it may even constitute self-harm? I think it should be fine, but if you're sensitive to these things let me know in the comments and I'll tell you what happens, so you can decide for yourself. Again, I have no idea, it might be completely fine for everyone lol. I just want to be safe!

It would be okay.

She kept telling herself, minute after minute, second after second, and now she was walking, surrounded by the Star Council, controlling her breathing while she tried to keep the words in her head.

It would be okay.

Jungyeon opened a door ahead of them, and the others all trailed in to a large room – the Council room, half dedicated to the sun, half dedicated to the moon. It was clear by the colouring which was which, stark blue fading into a bright yellow. Dahyun would have lost her breath if she wasn’t having so much trouble breathing already. She wished her first time in a room like this was under better circumstances.

“Dahyun, stand by the wall, between the two colours.”

Dahyun nodded to Soonkyu, moving to her destination, still controlling her breathing. It would be okay.

This spell was the first step to her death. But it would be okay.

“Lift your arms,” Soonkyu said, and Dahyun obeyed. “Close your eyes.”

She obeyed.

“Hold very still.”

She listened. All she heard were footsteps, faint against the polished ground, then faint whispering. She shivered, out of fear rather than any sort of magic, and then she felt it. Warmth. It started in her chest, overwhelmingly warm, then spread over the rest of her body, and she breathed out a sigh of actual relief –

It felt just like sunshine. She was feeling it again. Her eyes were stinging, as if tears were about to fall, but there was nothing she could do about that. The situation stayed like that, for so long, until finally the warmth began to fade slightly.

“Open your eyes, Dahyun,” Soonkyu said, and Dahyun did so. The world looked that much brighter – colours shined that much more. Soonkyu was smiling at her, and Dahyun returned it, flooded with relief by the fact that she was still really able to. “You look different.”

“Really?”

Soonkyu nodded, stepping back and glancing at Miyoung, who stood upright quickly, taking a small blade from a scabbard on her belt. Dahyun froze when she saw it – it wasn’t supposed to be this soon, was it?

Then Miyoung raised her arm, her draping sleeves falling down and revealing her forearm. With the blade, Miyoung sliced her own skin open. Dahyun just barely held herself back from exclaiming something, almost taking a step towards her, when Miyoung looked at her, calm even as her blood dripped onto the dark floor.

“Dahyun, give me your hand,” she said, and Dahyun did so as her heart pumped against her ribs. Miyoung pulled her closer, placing her hand on the bleeding wound. “Do you want it to heal?”

Confused, Dahyun nodded.

“Then heal it, Sun Child.”

“How?” Dahyun asked, but Miyoung had no answer, so she looked down at the wound, felt the hot blood against her hand. All she could think was that she wanted it to heal.

And then, somehow, it did. Her eyes widened when she saw it, skin closing under spilled blood, before the stains were the only sign anything was wrong.

She pulled her arm away, mouth open, and she looked at Miyoung – whose expression echoed hers.

“Wow,” Miyoung said quietly. Dahyun felt a hand on her shoulder, Soonkyu’s hand, so she turned to her, grinning.

Soonkyu smiled back at her, and for just a moment Dahyun was excited. She paused when she heard the door open, and quickly the Sun Council repositioned themselves, blocking her from seeing those entering. Or maybe it was the other way around.

“Do you have the bearer?”

It was a man’s voice, one that Dahyun didn’t recognise. Silky – oddly threatening.

“We do,” Nayeon said, standing closer to the door. She stepped aside, and the others cleared the path too, revealing Dahyun to the Moon Council.

She was startled, and she ducked her head in a semi-bow, not sure if it was appropriate to properly bow given the tensions between their people. By the time she looked back up, she could run her eyes over the group of strangers. She didn't expect to recognise a single face.

But she did. She tried to tear her eyes away from his, standing with shoulders squared, in the same expensive-looking clothing as usual. His face was almost unreadable, betrayed by his eyes, which were just slightly wider than usual. He’d mentioned working with the Council – it hadn’t occurred to her that he was a part of it.

She managed to look away, hopefully quickly enough not to avoid suspicion.

“Good,” said one of them – standing slightly ahead, with all the air of a leader. He sounded a bit surprised. “Shall we get to work, then?”

Dahyun turned to Mother Soonkyu, who nodded, and then they all shifted, leaving Dahyun standing where she was. They all had their places at the table, and they knew where to sit quickly.

“Stand by me, Dahyun,” Soonkyu said, and Dahyun quickly obeyed. “Your voice on this Council serves as a subset of my own.”

She looked over at the other side of the table, and they were all looking at her, but her eyes pulled towards Jimin. She forced herself not to stare.

Though he didn’t return the favour. She felt him staring, so much more potently than anyone else.

“Alright,” Soonkyu said, and Dahyun turned to watch her lean back. “As always, I would request that Park Jimin be removed.”

Dahyun faltered, glancing down at Soonkyu, who had a small, powerful smirk on her face. It was such a strange request.

She looked back over at the Moon Council, and their leader glanced at Jimin quickly, looking almost uncertain suddenly.

“You’re really-”

The leader cut himself off suddenly, sighing.

“All in favour?”

His eyes went straight to Dahyun then. Putting it to a vote – and, Dahyun realised, she was here to tip the scale.

But she didn’t understand. As the six people surrounding her raised their hands, Dahyun was the only one who didn’t.

“Why, Mother Soonkyu?” she asked under her breath. Soonkyu looked at her, quickly, looking almost surprised that Dahyun’s hand wasn't raised.

“He bears the Moon’s Essence, Dahyun. It works opposite to yours. His presence isn’t good for you.”

It was him.

“You didn’t even think to warn her beforehand?” The Moon leader asked, perplexed. Dahyun looked at him, then at Jimin – who, for once, wasn’t watching her, instead staring intensely at his hands – then at Mother Soonkyu. “Well, Sun Child? Will you eject your opposite?”

She turned back to the man, lost.

“Don’t antagonise her, Jongin,” Soonkyu said softly. “Dahyun, he is a murderer.”

That was news to her.

“He kills people – countless people – with just a touch. He doesn’t belong in a room like this.”

Dahyun swallowed, looking down as the information hit her. A murderer? Jimin?

With his power, it made sense – but… Jimin?

“Not his choice, Soonkyu. You keep forgetting.”

“Do you think that matters? That the boy beneath the dark power has any consequence to the grander scheme of things? Jongin, you’re a fool.”

“I won’t eject him.”

She intercepted whatever their leader – Jongin – had been about to say, a single sentence slicing into the confusion.

Both Soonkyu and Jongin were surprised. Dahyun took that in, but mostly, she watched Jimin, who looked up slightly, more unreadable than ever. He was miserable here. Just one look at his face and she could see it.

“It… doesn’t seem right to exclude a part of the Council,” she said, turning to look at Soonkyu, and to pray that she’d forgive her.

“Hm,” Jongin said, once the shock faded. “It appears your machinations have fallen short. Maybe you should brainwash them properly next time?”

Soonkyu said nothing – and that was the worst thing. Dahyun had put the High Mother in a position where she had no rebuttal.

“For once, we even have the majority. Thank you, Sun Child,” Jongin said, almost laughing.

Dahyun didn’t know if she’d done something wrong.

But it definitely seemed less wrong than the alternative. Maybe that should be enough.

***

Jimin wasn't sure what he was doing here. He had a lot to think about, and it all centered around her. The way he’d felt her hand for a moment, the pent-up emotions that he’d managed to push down lately, the pure, blind fear that he’d lose control.

He probably wouldn’t. Most likely, she'd have been fine. That was the problem. This irrational fear that he had less self-control than he truly did – and it was all because he cared. About this girl he’d known a week. He liked her smile, and her company, and the face she made when he . And she was the Sun Bearer, and that was –

He swallowed, pacing back and forth. And now he was here. He’d gone to the garden, a middle point inside the temple, between the Sun and the Moon. He needed refuge from the dichotomy. Because of her. He couldn’t think of her in the way that he did – he shouldn’t think of her at all, ever.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the person approaching, even despite the candle held in hand, until she was close enough for him to see her face from the light. She was surprised to see him too, stopping short when he was cast in the candlelight, and then she took another step forward.

“You came here too,” Dahyun said, and she did the last thing she should ever do – she smiled.

“I shouldn’t talk to you,” Jimin said, backing up.

“Why not?”

“Because – you’re the Sun! Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Why should I? You never told me you were the Moon. And I wasn’t, not until earlier today.”

Jimin groaned, pacing back and forth. “We should never have even met, Dahyun. We should definitely never meet again.”

“What?”

He stopped in his tracks, hardly able to believe the hurt in her voice.

“Why not?”

She’d asked that earlier. It was perplexing. He looked at her, realisation dawning.

“They didn’t tell you, did they?”

“They didn’t tell me what?”

“About – about the Sun and the Moon."

She didn't say anything, kept looking at him with that bewildered look on her face.

"About Baekhyun and Taeyeon. About the Eclipse.”

“The Eclipse?”

“They really didn’t?”

Jimin could hardly believe it. He turned away, sighing.

“The sun never came back, Dahyun. Because of Taeyeon. Their feelings for each other – it ruined everything. Ever since, the Bearers of the Sun and the Moon have been forbidden to – to even be in the same room, except for the Council Room, surrounded by everyone else.”

“But of course it came back,” Dahyun said with a feeble laugh. “It’s been there, my whole life.”

“They had to find someone else. Baekhyun died – of course he did, that’s the whole point,” his voice broke slightly, and he just hoped she didn’t know why, the image of her he pushed out. “And Taeyeon vanished. The next Moon Bearer wasn’t born until seventy years later.”

She looked paler than usual. There was a little crinkle between her eyebrows, highlighted by the odd lighting.

“How old were they?”

Jimin blinked. “Does it matter?”

“I don’t know. But why seventy years later?”

“You’ll have to ask a historian.”

Dahyun sighed. “But – just talking to each other – I mean, you’re betrothed – and it just happened once, so-”

“It doesn’t matter. Rules are rules. I should go.”

“Why? Who cares about the rules? That – that story, how long ago was it?”

“Hundreds of years. Why are you asking these questions?”

“It’s mythology. And – and we don’t know the context. And how do feelings do that?” She started moving closer to him, and he didn’t have the strength to move away. “What if I had feelings for you already? What then? It’s too late, that’s it? Poof? Or do you need feelings for me too?”

A second passed, and her cheeks went red.

“Hypothetically.”

“I don’t know,” Jimin sighed, trying not to think about – any of that. “But the rules-”

“How many times do I need to say I don’t care about the rules!?”

Jimin scoffed. “You’re kind of bad at being a blind follower, you know that?”

“Well, for someone so critical of a theocracy, you’re surprisingly good at it.”

Jimin stared at her, seething, feeling the words running through his mind.

“Maybe you're right.”

She started to beam, but then she seemed to remember everything, and her smile dropped.

“I just… I understand now. Why you vanished last time.”

“You touched me.”

Dahyun nodded. “And I like you. I- I mean, I don’t know.” She was blushing again. “We get along well. I’m… I’m going to die soon. I just want to have… people. Friends.”

“You don’t think that’s kind of cruel to them?”

Dahyun scoffed. “I’m always cruel. I’m a liar, and I voted against Mother Soonkyu, and I’m seeing you here even though it might be ruining everything for everyone. I don’t know. I don’t know how to do anything right.”

Jimin froze when he saw how glossy her eyes were getting, reflected so well by the candle she held, and then he felt particularly urgent when a tear started trailing down.

“Don’t-”

He stepped towards her, and she stepped back harshly, looking at his hand – which he’d apparently outstretched.

She didn’t want to be touched.

Oh.

He lowered his hand, drawing in a shaky breath as the realisation hit him, the hurt that he shouldn’t be feeling.

“Don’t… cry. Me – me too. I’ve never been very good at having friends.”

Dahyun looked at him, eyes shining with concern thread all over her face.

“I’d like to get better at it.”

She swallowed, looked down, sniffled.

And then she smiled up at him – and Jimin felt like, for the first time in his whole life, he’d done something good.

a/n- I have no idea if I like this chapter or not D: hopefully you guys do! A lot has happened all at once, huh? it's not a good idea to put the fate of the future in the hands of some lonely kids :(