Taehyung glanced over at Amaris as they came to a stop light. She had her head resting against the window with her hair in her face. Her legs were curled up underneath her in an almost catlike way. Like this, she seemed so small, so gentle. This new Amaris that Taehyung was getting to know seemed to hate taking up space. Her body language almost looked as if to say 'don't look at me.' Taehyung wondered what had happened for her to take on this sort of behaviour.

Before, Amaris had always been larger than life. She knew everyone at school, even the faculty. She was bright and adventurous and always looking for new ways to get into trouble. Sixteen year-old Amaris wasn't afraid of curious eyes on her. Frankly, Taehyung thought that she enjoyed the attention she got. She was popular and she knew it, loved it even. But for some reason, she had only ever considered Taehyung a friend. She used to tell him that the others only liked the idea of her, not who she really was.

"The light's green, Tae," she mumbled sleepily.

"Oh." Taehyung snapped so suddenly from his thoughts to press on the gas pedal that it took him entirely too long to notice Amaris' use of his old nickname. 

They drove for a while longer in silence. Taehyung was completely taken aback by Amaris calling him 'Tae' again after years of not hearing that nickname. He didn't want to think too much of it, but he couldn't stop his mind from jumping to all sorts of crazy conclusions.

"Amaris?" Taehyung asked, having half the mind to ask about her feelings for him.

"Yeah?" She lifted her head slowly to look at him with sleep misted eyes.

"...Why do you hate the Oracle so much?" Taehyung faltered before asking a different question than what was on his mind. "I thought it was because she's the reason you've been locked away all this time, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So what is it?"

"I don't hate her anymore." Amaris shook her head. "But I blamed her for ruining my shot at love."

"Really?" Taehyung couldn't mask the surprise in his voice. Was she talking about the letter and what she had told him after reading it?

"There was this guy, I called him Kim number 2," Amaris huffed a small, nostalgic laugh.

"Kim number 2?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow.

"He was one of two Agent Kim's who worked as protective details for me," she explained, "so I called him Kim number 2 since he was the one who had the later shift."

"I see." Taehyung nodded.

"Anyways," Amaris sighed, "I fell in love with him. He was the only person who made me feel like I wasn't alone even though I was constantly surrounded by people. I knew he loved me too, but we never said it to each other. It was too complicated, too messy. We met in secret all the time, but I'm sure the others knew. Honestly, I could have married him if he asked."

"So what happened?" The curiousity was killing Taehyung much more than his slight disappointment that he wasn't the one she had loved.

"One day, he told me he loved me," she said and looked back out the window, "and I was overjoyed. But then I realized that it couldn't work. I loved him and he loved me, but there was someone else there. Someone who didn't approve, someone who would protest at every kiss or loving touch."

"The Oracle." Taehyung nodded. "She didn't like him?"

"She liked him just fine," Amaris laughed bitterly, "she just didn't love him like I did. I couldn't force her to be in a relationship with him just because I was. And I told him that. He understood, he respected it and knew that I loved him as well. That didn't stop him from resigning the next week, though."

"I'm so sorry," Taehyung said softly.

"Nothing to be sorry about." She shook her head. "It wasn't the Oracle's fault and I know that now. I was just too scared to be in love with someone, so I used her as a scapegoat. I blamed her, but really it was me."

Taehyung didn't have anything else he could say to comfort Amaris. Honestly, he didn't know what to say in that kind of situation. He knew she was hurting, blaming herself for hating the Oracle and pushing away the man she had loved. Taehyung had never been in any situation similar to hers. He couldn't relate, couldn't empathize with what she was feeling. Luckily, they arrived at the coordinates the Oracle had given him so he wouldn't have to sit in that terrible silence any longer.

"It's some kind of abandoned bunker," Amaris said as she hopped out of the car.

"How do we get inside?" Taehyung asked, pointing to the rusting padlock that chained the doors shut.

"I think you forget who you're talking to." Amaris grinned at him, and for a moment Taehyung could see the old Amaris.

Kneeling down before the door, Amaris pulled two hairpins from her hair and bent them open. She stuck them in the lock, brow furrowing in concentration. Her hands moved in a way that was nonsensical to Taehyung before a soft click was heard and the lock fell open. 

"You know that's illegal, right?" Taehyung laughed as she pulled the chain away and opened the door for him. "I could arrest you for that."

"I dare you," she said with a smirk before sliding into the dark building.

When Taehyung walked in, the lights were flickering to life. It was a large, cold place that was mostly empty. There were shelves and racks along the walls, but they were all empty. Taehyung wondered what purpose the bunker had served in its prime time. He had half the mind to ask Amaris if the Oracle knew anything about the place, but figured she would say some cryptic thing about putting them in danger if she gave too much away. However, the Oracle had told him everything they needed would be here. As far as he could tell, the place was cleaned out.

"Here," Amaris called out to Taehyung, standing by some archaic control panel.

"What is it?" He asked when he came to stand beside her.

"Doesn't matter what it is," she said, reaching out to press several buttons before pulling a lever.

As soon as she pulled the lever, the wall on the far end of the bunker slid open to reveal a flight of stairs leading to a hidden basement.

"What on Earth?" Taehyung muttered. "How did you know to do that?"

"The Oracle," she answered simply, approaching the stairs, "she showed me just before we left."

"Wait," Taehyung called out and grabbed her arm, "we don't know what's down there. Let me go first." 

Amaris nodded and Taehyung unholstered his gun, leading her down the stairs quietly. As they got deeper, the air became colder and more stale. The concrete walls seemed so uninviting that Taehyung almost wanted to turn around and leave. He kept going, though, until they reached a door at the bottom of the stairs.

"Is it locked?" Amaris asked when Taehyung hesitated with his hand on the doorknob.

"No." He shook his head.

"It's okay to be afraid, Tae," Amaris comforted, "I know this isn't something you're prepared to deal with. It's completely out of your element. But this is still something we have to do if we have any chance of solving this case."

"I suppose you're right," Taehyung sighed and pushed the door open.

Behind the door was a small room with shelves from floor to ceiling. Each shelf was filled with weapons and various other ancient looking things. There were books, boxes, and blades. The most interesting thing, however, was the table in the middle with an ornate box sitting atop it.

"What do you think it is?" Amaris asked as the two of them came to stand before it.

"Only one way to find out." Taehyung reached out and opened the box gingerly, halfway expecting something to jump out of it at them.

Instead, they found an orb inside. It was just large enough to fill Amaris' entire hand when she picked it up, but didn't seem to be heavy. There were tiny tiles on it with lines and strange markings on them. Taehyung watched as Amaris turned the tiles on the orb, rearranging the marked tiles.

"What the hell is it?" Taehyung asked as Amaris continued to inspect it.

"It's some sort of puzzle I think," she answered, "like a Rubik's Cube, but round."

"I think I found a clue to the solution," Taehyung said, pointing to the inside of the lid where there was something carved in the wood panneling.

"Is that even words?" Amaris asked, looking at the strange squiggles. "That doesn't look like any alphabet I've ever seen."

"I'm coming up blank." Taehyung shrugged. "I suppose we could take it back to the station, see if there's any tests we can run to help us."

"Before we go, I think we should take some of these," Amaris said, pointing to the various blades on the shelves, "after all, she told you all we needed was in here, not just some puzzle sphere."

Taehyung nodded and grabbed the short dagger that was closest to him while Amaris grabbed a pair of some sort of mini schythes. As they were leaving, Taehyung couldn't help but wonder why the Oracle had sent them there. Clearly, that orb was something important. But what could be inside it that would help them solve this case and stop the murders? What miracle could fit inside a sphere of that size?