"Okay, on a count of three, we dive into the water and swim for our lives," Yoongi says, blitzball clutched in his one hand.

"You're kidding, right?" Seokjin laughs. 

"No, I'm not, and if there's any hope of getting out of here, you're gonna have to step out of your comfort zone," Yoongi narrows his eyes at the elder, expression stern. "Tae and I will help you, but that's only if you're willing to fork out the effort." 

Seokjin presses his lips into a thin line, before nodding, "Alright, I'm going to go along with your crazy plan for now." 

"Good," Yoongi smiles. "You just hang onto my back, and Tae will help your other side." Taehyung helps Seokjin limp over to the water's edge. Yoongi touches the water's surface with his foot, and splashes some water upwards. The water droplets land back into the water body, and Yoongi, Seokjin and Taehyung hold their breaths, waiting. 

And waiting. 

But nothing happens. Yoongi motions to Taehyung and Seokjin and then dives into the water, the two following suit. Taehyung, with his goggles, can see through the murky water, but Seokjin isn't that lucky. Seokjin never swims, and can barely open his eyes in the water--probably about a fraction of a second--before closing them again.

Taehyung and Yoongi have to drag Seokjin with him as they make their way across the water body.

Yoongi suddenly stops, and Taehyung knows why, even before he feels its presence. He looks at the giant form appearing oh-so-suddenly. Geosgaeno.

Yoongi pushes Taehyung and Seokjin to the left, and Taehyung has to come up for oxygen. He and Seokjin quickly breathe in a breath, before Taehyung dives back down and tries to look for Yoongi. He sees Yoongi managing to swim his way away from the giant creature, and he quickly pulls Seokjin towards the nearest platform. Just their luck to find that creature...

Seokjin feels Yoongi pushing from the back, bumping into Seokjin's back with his shoulder and forcing the two onto a safe platform. 

"Yoongi!" Taehyung peers over the edge as Seokjin coughs out water.

Yoongi kicks against the water, diving back down.

Through the murkiness, Taehyung can see nothing.

******************************************************

"It's getting worse," Hoseok touches Jungkook's forehead. He's stopped coughing blood ever since he went to sleep, but Hoseok can feel the Ronso's body getting hotter and hotter by the minute. He feels Jungkook shiver as the Ronso presses his sweaty head against Hoseok's stomach. 

"I hope Jimin's okay; he's been in there for a long, long time," Namjoon comments, throwing a glance at the entrance to the Cloister of Trials. 

"He's gonna be okay. Jimin beat the warped temple. He can beat this one," Hoseok grins. 

How can you smile at a time like this? Namjoon thinks to himself. How can anyone smile in this situation? It's so dire he can't even bring himself to turn the corner of his lip up, but seeing Hoseok grin like that makes him want to smile too.

Maybe...the only way they've kept going all this time was by forcing a smile.

********************************************************

Yoongi wants to scream in pain as he kicks desperately against Geosgaeno's bite. What's with fishes and their love for biting his legs? 

Screw this sh*t, Yoongi grits his teeth as he slams his blitzball against Geosgaeno's jaw. Geosgaeno screeches and lets go. Yoongi takes this chance and swims to the surface. He's Min Yoongi--too glorious to die here! 

Yoongi won't be able to swim with this wound of his. It almost feels like his leg's been chewed to its bones. He pushes one last bit as he launches himself out of the water, landing heavily on his back.

"Oh my Yevon, Yoongi I thought you were dead!" Taehyung hugs the elder from behind, almost frightening Yoongi and causing the elder to smack him over the head with his blitzball...and with all those spikes, it won't be a pretty sight.

"I don't die that easily," Yoongi mumbles. Too amazing to die here! 

"Sure you won't," Seokjin mutters, as he looks at Yoongi's leg--there's blood oozing out from the wound. "Doesn't it hurt?" 

"No, of course not. It definitely doesn't hurt when a fish just tried to bite off my leg and left me with almost nothing but bone," Yoongi grimaces as he looks at his torn-up leg. It was amazing how he could swim with this. But then again, Min Yoongi is too fabulous to die here. Taehyung snaps something from the clips on his shoulder ("made from Besaid Oak--strongest oak in the world!") and holds it between his teeth as he grabs another Chocobo feather hanging from a bunch tied together with string from his belt ("made of Besaid Oak too!") and pulls it apart, dropping the bone to the ground. He takes the chocobo feather string and ties around a piece of cloth dripping with X-Potion. 

"It should heal faster with X-Potion instead of the normal Potion," says Taehyung. He ties it around Yoongi's leg and Yoongi hisses as the cloth come into contact with his wound. The cloth looks way bigger on his leg than it does in Taehyung's hand and manages to bind around his whole wound. The cloth is soon soaked in blood instead of X-Potion now, and it looks much uglier with red. 

"Do you wanna...rest here first?" Taehyung asks. "Unless, Jinnie, you can walk by yourself?" 

Seokjin presses his lips into a thin line, "I can, I suppose. This wound is healing already." He unwraps the cloth binding his own wound and let it unravel around his leg. All that's left to heal is the bite marks, but the wound has already stopped bleeding.

"Judging from the rest of your exposed skin, I'm sure that's the worst wound you've ever gotten." 

"I got a scar across my stomach." 

"How'd you get that?" Yoongi looks at Seokjin disbelievingly. 

"Training," Seokjin smiles, almost dreamily, as if thinking back to his Warrior Monk days. "It was the Warrior Monk exams." 

"Right, and you got in," Yoongi says, nodding. "That's how you ended up here today." 

"Baaj Temple," Seokjin sighs. "I've only heard about it in legends, and that it existed even during the Zanarkand-Bevelle war, even before people even started believing in Yevon, even before the Yevonite-Al Bhed Riots." 

"Yevonite-Al Bhed Riots? There was such a thing?" 

"That's what the Warrior Monks call it," Seokjin shrugs. "It was in Bevelle, when an Al Bhed airship was detected in the sky. I was a rookie Warrior Monk then, so it was quite recent, but there was a big hoo-ha over it, and people thought the Al Bhed were coming to attack them, but I saw something behind the Al Bhed's ship, almost as if it was controlling the Al Bhed ship instead of the pilots in the ship." 

"Something else?" 

"A Sinspawn or something like that," Seokjin shakes his head. "Sinspawn...let's call it Sinspawn Pisces. It looked like two fish swimming--joined at the tails, but it seemed as if I was the only one who could see it." 

"A Sinspawn that only you can see?" Yoongi mutters. "I can't even begin to imagine what kind of Sinspawn that is." 

"But that Sinspawn took my parents away from me," Seokjin clenches his fist, looking down at the ground. A pang of sympathy shakes up Yoongi's core. He knows what it's like to have his loved ones taken away from him. He's never known his parents, but he knows Deenia, and Deenia was taken away from him. Just like that. "Parents that I saw every day, greeted me with dinner, talked to me about politics and worried about me. That Sinspawn took everything away. That's why I followed Lord Ontio on his pilgrimage--to get revenge. Only a Summoner with the proper training can defeat Sin. That's one of the Rules of Yevon, but now... I don't know anymore." 

"Don't know what?" Yoongi asks.

"What to think," Seokjin answers. "I've believed Yevon all my life, but when I suddenly see the changes in the city after I left...it's almost as if Bevelle has become a different city, and that Bevelle had some kind of dark secret behind it--some of the machina there was going against Yevon's teachings, but the Maesters didn't seem to care, so I..." 

"Whoa, stop talking," Taehyung holds up his hands. "I need a minute to process it all." 

"Must be a lot to take in," Seokjin chuckles. "Never mind. I'll explain on the way." 

"You'd better," Taehyung nods, and Seokjin stands up, almost healed, but limping anyways, and Yoongi is helped by Taehyung.

Together, the three make their way deeper into the maze of ruins, and unknowingly, closer and closer to Jimin, Namjoon, Jungkook and Hoseok.

*****************************************************************

"Jimin!" 

"Hi!" Jimin waves, walking down the stones steps from Baaj Temple. Hoseok presses his lips in a thin line as he feels Jungkook shivering against him every few seconds. Jimin frowns the moment he catches sight of Jungkook. 

"I don't understand," Jimin shakes his head, bending down to brush Jungkook's bangs from his forehead, and withdraws his hand at how much heat is radiating from his body. "Just what's wrong?" He stands up again. "Namjoon, are you coming with me?" 

"Coming? For what?" Namjoon asks, and looks back at Hoseok, who's staring at them with a serious expressio non his face.

"Coming...to explore the place with me. There must be a cure somewhere around here," Jimin says. "Besides, there's a large number of places we haven't explored yet here. I'm going. And Hoseok?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Take care of Jungkook." 

"Will do," Hoseok salutes him.

Namjoon looks over at Jimin, "You sure you want to do this?" 

"Yeah," Jimin nods. "It's the least I can do for Kookie. He's the one who protected me all these years." 

Namjoon mumbles a response, and Jimin beams. Together, they set off into the unexplored ruins of Baaj Temple.

***************************************************************************

Yoongi's ears perk up at a sound. It's not really like an animalistic sound. Rather, it's that of civilized standards. In essence, talking. Human speech--something he can actually understand.

"I hear...Hobi," Taehyung almost trips, and if it were not for Seokjin, he and Yoongi would have tumbled to the ground.

"Hobi?" Seokjin helps Taehyung and Yoongi up.

"Yeah, you know, our green-haired, green-eyed friend," Taehyung purses his lips. "Well, green-eyed...literally. Not like..." 

"Yeah, yeah, we understand," Yoongi mutters. "Let's...hurry up and go. I want to find them as much as you do." 

With each step, they get closer and closer, until they find...Hoseok and Jungkook. Taehyung gasps, drops Yoongi (who's caught by Seokjin) and rushes towards Jungkook.

"JUNGKOOKIE ARE YOU OKAY?!" Taehyung yells, and Hoseok glares at him. 

"Don't be a little sh*t. Can't you see he's not okay?" Hoseok scolds. "How'd you...where were you guys?" 

"Trust me, I don't even know, man," Yoongi is staring straight ahead. "You can't exactly tell where you are at a place like this." 

"True, that," Hoseok nods. "As for Jungkookie..." 

The Guado explains whatever happened, and when the topic of Jimin and Namjoon comes up.

"Where are they?" Taehyung asks.

"Went off in that direction," Hoseok says. "Trying to find a cure for Jungkook." 

"In this place? Are they crazy?" Seokjin shakes his head. "They're gonna get themselves killed. Especially if they meet with that fish thing. I'll go after them..." 

"With that leg?" Hoseok gives Yoongi a once-over, eyes landing on that leg. "You're kidding, right? Know your limits, Min Yoongi. You may be the awesomest person out there, but that doesn't mean you can walk, let alone fight, with that." 

"Rude," Yoongi looks over at Hoseok. "So, I take care of Kookie?" 

"More like someone else should stay back and take care of you two," Hoseok chuckles. "Seokjinnie?" 

"Don't call me that," Seokjin grits his teeth.

"But you let me call you Jinni--!" Seokjin shoots Taehyung a death glare and Taehyung shuts up for a second before bursting into laughter. Hoseok feels Jungkook tense beside him. 

Yoongi just shakes his head and clucks his tongue. Hoseok laughs as softly as possible, but that's a little impossible with someone like Hoseok. In the end, all of them except a red-eared Seokjin and a knocked out Jungkook burst into laughter. 

"H-Hey! S-Stop it!" Seokjin complains, flailing his arms about, the most childish gesture that the group has ever seen. "It's not funny! I swear I'll murder all of you!" 

"Murder who?"

Seokjin turns at the voice, and Hoseok already conjured a fireball in his hand, ready to attack the attacker. Yoongi tightens his grip around Jungkook's unconscious body (he replaced Hoseok), and Jungkook sniffles and whimpers, moving nearer Yoongi, as if for warmth, even despite his boiling temperature. Seokjin clenches his hand around his sword's handle. Taehyung's hand has moved to his shoulder guards, a Bomb Fragment already in his hand. 

"Who are you?!" Yoongi shouts into the mist.

"People you know." 

At the voice, Yoongi goes rigid. Taehyung notices too, and begins to worry. Just who are these people that they've even intimidated Yoongi? The three people walk out from the mist, revealing themselves. A rather bold move, Taehyung would say.

"I think only dear Min Yoongi will know," says Cid. "A rather odd name for an Al Bhed." He turns towards Taehyung. "And you must be Kim Taehyung." 

"How'd you know?" Taehyung snaps, getting angry. Taehyung's scary when he's angry.

"I'm Cid," says Cid. "And these are my buddies: Brother and...uh...Buddy." Buddy bows like a gentleman and Brother just waves.

"And I'm Kim Taehyung, like you already said," Taehyung steps forth, already getting irritated by these three people. "And I just want to know what you're doing here." 

"We've been hunting for you after we managed to fix Home," says Cid. "The ten Cactuar Gatekeepers have been at their mischievous ways again, and somehow managed to destroy part of our Home for their fun. Some fun they're having, son of Qactuars..." 

"Home? Cactuar Gatekeepers? What?" Taehyung takes another step forward, until he's right in front of Cid. "Look, if you've nothing better to say than to make Yoongi scared or mad--" 

"What if I said we can get you out of here?" Buddy steps forward now. "And develop a cure for the Ronso?" 

At that, Taehyung stops and considers. It's a risk they're going to take, and judging from Yoongi's response, it looks like what they're saying is indeed true. But what if Buddy's promises are all empty ones?

What if they're going to get themselves killed by following these people? And what about Jimin and Namjoon?

"I..." 

"We'll go with you, if you will, one, do as you said, and two, help us find Jimin and Namjoon," Yoongi says. 

"You're not in any position to make bargains, Min Yoongi," says Cid. "You chose to leave of your own accord." 

"Doesn't mean I cannot make bargains," says Yoongi. "By leaving I just said I didn't have any more affiliation with the Al Bhed." 

"Fine," Cid nods. "We'll help you find your friends and cure your Ronso friend. Brother. Get him onto the Farenheit. The rest of you, follow me." 

"I don't trust him with you," Yoongi says, helping Jungkook sit up, despite the younger burying his face deeper into Yoongi's chest and gasping. Seokjin moves forward and carries Jungkook via piggyback, hissing a little at how hot Jungkook is. "We'd rather do it, Cid." It's scary how much venom Yoongi has injected into that single name.

"Yoongi..." Seokjin looks over Yoongi, eyebrows raised and eyes narrowed at the blonde younger, as if asking for an explanation, but Yoongi shakes his head, leaning on Hoseok, who's come to his aid, and together, they limp together with Buddy and Brother, towards the Farenheit, with Cid leading.

Seokjin watches Yoongi's back as he gets smaller and smaller, as Seokjin stands where he is. Maybe he's just gotten a little more sensitive to his fellow Guardians now, but as he watches Yoongi walking further and further away, with Hoseok supporting him, an array of emotions swirl through him, like a wave roiling about again and again in his stomach.

First the blitzball, and now this.

Just how much has Yoongi gone through? 

************************************************************

"Namjoon...where are we?" 

Namjoon doesn't reply. His head is lowered, as if looking at the ground only and not concentrating on Jimin's question at all. 

"Hey, Namjoon? You okay?" 

"H-Huh? Y-Yeah. I'm fine," Namjoon nods, before dipping his head down again.

"Is your eye still in pain?" 

"Nope," Namjoon replies simply. 

"Then what?" Jimin and Namjoon have entered a giant chamber, obviously in ruins and people haven't come in here for ages. Namjoon pushes away a piece of rubble and sends it crashing to the ground. Jimin follows closely behind, making sure that he doesn't step on any questionable substances. "Why're you acting so weird? Is it the Bevelle thing? Not that I have anything to forgive you about, because you did nothing wrong except that you were impulsive." 

"Can you just stop?" Namjoon whirls on Jimin, eyes blazing, before softening, and repeating in a quieter voice, before turning around again.

"Talk to me," Jimin says, running ahead and grabbing ahold of Namjoon's coat, turning him around. "What's wrong? Obviously, leaving you to talk to me about it isn't working. You're just going to keep it to yourself." 

"And is there anything wrong with that?" 

"No!" Jimin suddenly shouts. "There's nothing wrong with that! But there is something wrong with it when...you take it out on the people around you. It's better to talk it out than to ignore people when they clearly don't want to be ignored." 

Namjoon doesn't say anything, because he has nothing to say.

"Just let it out. Don't keep it in," Jimin looks at him worriedly. 

"Hey, it's fine. Just don't keep it in." 

Such a hypocrite he is. Namjoon blinks, and suddenly, in front of him, he sees Sairah, giving him an uncertain look, eyes filled with worry, her hand outstretched. She opens , her plush lips the only thing Namjoon can focus on. His vision blurs before him, and he watches as Sairah runs over to him, managing to catch him just before he falls.

Just before he closes his eyes, Sairah crumbles to Jimin. 

***********************************************************************

Taejin, Nammin, Junghope and Sugakookie. Hope you enjoyed, anyway! 

Btw, here's Geosgaeno: