“What the is that?!”

Jimin could hardly hear Taehyung over the whine of the alarm, its steady ring punctuated by ear-splitting beeps as a light he hadn’t noticed in the corner of the room flared to life, spilling flashes of red into the nearly-barren room.

“Something’s wrong!” shouted Namjoon as he dove at a panel on the wall.

A keycard inserted below the blinking light opened to reveal a concealed glass screen, which had a winding map embossed on its surface. An eerie red glow was shimmering over a section of the map, lighting it up as the crimson illuminated Namjoon’s worried face.

“What’s happening?” panicked Jungkook. “I can’t tell what’s wrong.”

There was terror written on the youngest man’s face, and Jimin realized that he, too, was oblivious as to what was going on in the building. None of the strings he could feel were very different from how they had been a minute ago - although some of them were still alarmingly threatening - and Jimin could tell that the creatures attached were all relatively calm.

“It’s Sector K,” Namjoon panted, the red light still shimmering against the sweat on his face. “Something got out.”

“You guys have ing monsters locked up down here?!” screamed Yoongi, struggling to be heard over the noisy alarm.

“Yeah; I told you we do research!” replied Namjoon, pounding on the computerized alarm to get it to stop. The light and bell both finally shut off, and he turned to address the roomful of nervous men. “If I remember correctly, Sector K is supposed to be where the most top-secret research is conducted. I don’t know a lot about it, but I snuck into my dad’s office to read some files one day, so I have an idea of what could be going on out there - and it isn’t good.”

There was screaming in the hallway, and the sound of many sets of frantic footsteps as the workers evacuated their stations, hurrying toward the main lobby in an attempt to get out of the underground building. Jimin glanced over at the screen on the wall, and read the words that were now flashing there.

Security Breach: Main Doors Locked

Great. No way out.

“There were researchers working on a project with a Level Seven,” Namjoon informed them, although the information meant almost nothing to Jimin.

“Level Seven!” gasped Taehyung. “That’s impossible; there’s no way that anyone could have captured one.”

✧✧✧

“What’s a Level Seven?” choked Jungkook. “Is that bad?”

“The worst,” grimaced Taehyung. “Cryptids are hard to classify because they’re so diverse - extremely inconsistent from one creature to the next. Some people in the community have started to use a Levels system, though, which is loosely correlated to what kind of Sensors can track the creature in question.”

This was at least somewhat familiar to Jimin, who remembered Taehyung mentioning that Hoseok was not powerful enough to help him follow the trail of the hellhounds. That had made sense, because Hoseok was apparently a Medium Power Sensor while Jimin himself was an Ultimate.

“Basically, lower Level cryptids can be seen by less powerful Sensors,” continued Taehyung. “And it takes a more powerful Sensor to sense a connection to a higher Level cryptid.”

“For example, I can reliably track up to a Level Three,” expounded Hoseok. “Anything over that, and I probably can’t keep a good leash on it, mentally.”

Jimin remembered how he had felt the sting attached to the three-headed hellhound fade when he was frightened, and wondered if it was a similar feeling for Hoseok when he tried to Sense a creature that was out of his range, so to speak.

“So, less powerful, generally benign things like nymphs and sprites are Level One or Two,” explained Namjoon. “Things start getting a little more dangerous when you get up to Level Three-”

“The hellhounds were a Level Six,” interjected Taehyung.

That didn’t make any sense, and Jimin paused as he considered it. If hellhounds - creatures that were only able to be seen and tracked by Ultimate Sensors - were only at Level Six, then what could the being that had just escaped possibly be that was more powerful? Jimin still couldn’t decipher any individual string that he thought might belong to the hostile creature, and judging from the clueless look on Jungkook’s face, he guessed that the younger man was unable to Sense anything either.

“What’s a Level Seven?” repeated Jungkook, his voice wavering as shrieks of terror leaked through the door and reverberated inside.

“Something that you and Jimin can’t even Sense,” replied Taehyung.

✧✧✧

“; that’s not good,” shouted Namjoon in reference to another alarm that was sounding from the panel. He turned it off before looking back at the group. “The doors to Sector K aren’t locking; that thing’s gonna get out - and soon.”

“If it hasn’t already,” Taehyung hissed, and Jimin felt his stomach sink as something gnawed at him internally.

“Would the doors actually stop whatever that thing is even if they did work?” questioned Hoseok, as inkling of fear creeping into his normally steady, controlled voice.

“I don’t know,” replied Namjoon. “But I know I don’t want to find out what happens if they can’t. I’ve gotta go pull the manual override; if we have the doors, then at least we’ve got a chance at being safe.”

“I’ll go with you,” volunteered Taehyung. “I’ve always wanted to see the control room.”

“You didn’t even know that this place existed until an hour ago,” Hoseok chimed in, but the other man shrugged his friend’s remark off.

“Well, ever since then, I’ve been curious about how you guys run the place,” defended Taehyung. “I’m very full of wonder like that, Hoseok.”

“Apparently, whoever does runs this place doesn’t do it well,” criticized Yoongi. “Considering we’re all gonna DIE thanks to you idiots!”

“Hey!” shouted Taehyung. “We’re about to save your , Yoongi, so I think a little appreciation would be nicer than-”

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for people like YOU playing with something that shouldn’t even exist,” countered Yoongi, fire burning in his dark, red-lit eyes.

“Guys, stop. We don’t have time for this,” yelled Hoseok as he sprinted toward the door. “I’m going to go with Namjoon; are you coming or not?”

Taehyung nodded before backing away from Yoongi, eventually turning as he scrambled toward the door. Namjoon unlocked it, and the three men hurried through before the former turned back, his lavender hair a deep maroon in the emergency lights.

“We’ll be back,” he promised. “Try not to die.”

✧✧✧

The lock slid into place with a click that could be heard even over the screeching alarms. Jimin stared after the three men who had just left the sanctuary of the little holding cell, thinking privately that it should have been him who was telling the rest of them not to die. He turned to the other three men left sealed in the room with him, trying not to wonder if the door would hold if that became necessary.

“Of all days,” Yoongi sighed, his anger abating as he slumped against the stone wall. “Of all days I have to be kidnapped and dragged to an underground monster containment base, of course it’s the one that the most powerful creature in the whole godforsaken place escapes.”

Jungkook sounded like he was on the verge of hyperventilating, and the panicked sound did little to settle Jimin’s own frazzled nerves as he took a seat beside his older friend, eyeing Jin all the while out of the corner of his eye.

“How could you keep this from me, Yoongi?” queried Jimin invasively. “Friends are supposed to tell each other these things. Plus, we wouldn’t be in this situation if you or Jin had just told me that he was a Guardian in the first place.”

“What; so all of this is my fault?!” growled Yoongi. “No. This is on you, Jimin. Your crazy so-called ‘friends’ are the ones who lied to me and stuffed me in the back of a truck. We are not here because of anything I did or didn’t tell you, and we’re not getting out of here because everyone in this whole goddamn place is as good as ing DEAD!”

Jungkook continued to wheeze hysterically as Jin sat perfectly still at the table, not taking part in the conversation at all as he stared off into space. Jimin wanted to tell Yoongi that he was being arrogant and ridiculous; that of course the older man had played a role in getting them all into this mess by not admitting to Jimin that Jin was a mythical creature when he’d had the chance. But the young man felt that it wouldn’t do either of them any particular good to keep accusing each other with no end, so he settled for asking Yoongi a different question.

“Why did you keep it from me, then?” questioned Jimin. “Why couldn’t you - either of you - just tell me the truth?”

“That would have defeated the entire purpose of my mission,” answered Jin, not getting up from the little card table. “To let you know that I was not the human you had always assumed me to be would have meant admitting to the existence of monsters. Of Sensors, of Guardians. The cover-up regarding the identity and history of your entire family - everything. My mission depended on total secrecy… and you’re right: I’ve failed.”

“Don’t beat yourself up.” Jimin was surprised at his own words as he tried to comfort the older man, unable to stand seeing him so dejected.

“This - all of this that’s happening here right now? That would’ve happened with or without you messing up and failing to stop me from discovering my powers.”

“Maybe,” mumbled Jin. “Maybe if Jungkook’s Guardian had kept better track of him it would have made a difference. Maybe if I hadn’t left you with Hoseok that afternoon we wouldn’t be here right now. Who’s to say?”

✧✧✧

The youngest man had calmed down considerably although he was still curled up on the floor, and he now scooted closer to the table to join the discussion.

“If I really used to have a Guardian, too, then what happened to them?” he asked Jin. “I don’t feel their string anymore - j-just yours.”

“You said you ran away a lot as a kid, right?” theorized Jimin. “Maybe that’s why your Guardian lost track of you. Heck; you had run away from home again right before Tae and I found you, didn’t you?”

Jungkook nodded.

“That makes sense,” he agreed. “But there’s still something I don’t quite fully understand. If Jin’s people’s goal is to rid the world of monsters by erasing them from the minds of humans and Sensors… and if Jin is a creature who has a tether himself… Then wouldn’t that mean that you also cease to exist after your mission’s complete?”

There was a long pause as Jin pondered this, and Jimin became keenly aware of the thundering beat of his uneven heart, pounding away as the silence overwhelmed him.

“I suppose your friend Namjoon was right,” admitted Jin heavily. “Sometimes the lives of a few do need to be sacrificed to save many.”

“That’s terrible,” Jimin whimpered. “I’d rather the world be filled with monsters than have to lose you, Jin. You’ve been my friend since… well, since before I even understood what a friend even was.”

“That’s a very egotistical way of thinking, Jimin.” Jin chuckled sadly as he traced lines on the table. “My single life is not worth preserving if it means there’s also uncontrollable evil ading the world.”

There was a loud crash outside the metal door, followed by a series of cries and screams. Jimin wondered if Namjoon, Taehyung, and Hoseok were dead, or if they had managed to get the doors closed in a likely ultimately-doomed attempt to buy everyone more time.

“Looks like you’re gonna get your wish anyway,” hissed Yoongi.

“Besides,” Jin said, ignoring the other man’s poignant negativity, “like I said, this was just the first phase of our mission. You and I both would’ve been long dead anyway before monsters were ever completely eradicated.”

“You’re mortal?” Jimin’s head snapped up, startled by this latest piece of information.

“Of course,” replied Jin. “Didn’t you notice that Hoseok was able to Sense me? Guardians are actually remarkably human-like in almost every noticeable way, and we’d probably be quite low on the whole Levels system or whatever it is that these people use to class supernatural entities. In fact, almost the only exceptional thing about us is that we have the ability to project a small sphere of our essence over somebody else for a period of time - protecting them if that person is out of reach or not responding to other methods of preservation.”

Jimin’s mind drifted to several occasions throughout his childhood where he, Jin, and Yoongi had been playing before getting into an accident. A fall out of a tree, a flipped skateboard on the steep hill by Yoongi’s house - there had even been one time when Jimin had stumbled right off of a roof as he was marching atop his garden shed, pretending to be king of a magical castle. The spill should have caused him to break his neck, but the boy walked away with hardly more than a scratch as Jin had come rushing over to check on him.

“We are very much like the humans we watch over,” Jin maintained as he spun around in his chair to face Jimin. “We’re just a bit different for whatever reason. From a slightly different plane of existence, I guess.”

✧✧✧

Yoongi stood up as he brushed off his pants, staring at the other men as fear replaced the anger that had been in his stare moments ago.

“This is all very heartwarming,” he shifted the conversation. “But no amount of understanding and reconciliation is going to change the fact that there’s some God-knows-what horrible creature on the loose down here that’s probably gonna kill us all. Before it’s released on the rest of the world…”

A realization snapped in Jimin’s weary head, and suddenly he understood why Yoongi hadn’t told him that Jin was a Guardian. Even if it had meant lying to the younger man.

“You’re really afraid, aren’t you, Yoongi?” Jimin’s voice was full of amazement as he gazed up at his friend, whom he had always thought of as fearless and logical. “Is that why you didn’t tell me? Because you wanted the monsters gone so you wouldn’t have to worry about them?”

Yoongi looked like he was about to deny it as he opened his mouth and started to speak, ready to say something about how ridiculous that sounded - but his face softened slightly as he hung his head.

“Yes,” Yoongi admitted. “God, it sounds stupid… But I really was terrified of that long-clawed monster in my attic, y’know?”

Yoongi kicked at imaginary dust on the floor, too shameful to face Jimin even though the younger man thought that it made absolutely perfect sense to be scared.

“When Jin told me it was all… all real, I just-” Yoongi laughed at himself as he remembered the conversation after finding out Jin was a Guardian several months ago. “I wanted to make it not real, you know? So I agreed to keep it a secret from you, and I tried not to think about the existence of monsters.”

“That was actually another method I used to ensure that I’d be around to finish my mission,” interjected Jin. “By having somebody else that believed in me - the real, Guardian me - I would be more able to hold on to the energy that allows me to exist in this world. The same belief that perpetuates monsters like the one loose in this building is what sustains me.”

Jimin was wounded; hurt that his two closest friends had kept such a massive secret from him. But he at least understood the necessity behind it - even if he wasn’t pleased with the outcome.

And it was exactly that outcome that presented itself as the heavy metal door came flying open.