Jimin has been sitting here for what feels like hours. Namjoon still hasn't woken up. Jimin frowns a little, thinking that it's probably the emotional strain on his body that he fainted. Since then, Jimin's been nestling a growing hunger in his stomach but he can't very well leave his friend and Guardian alone. Besides, whatever food's left in here probably rotted away a long time ago or has been eaten by maggots.

Then, suddenly, something moved. Jimin inhales sharply, tightening his hand around his staff. He's got to get ready to summon an Aeon should some fiend bound out at him from somewhere.

Click.

Jimin snaps his head in the direction of the sound. Obviously, they're not alone. 

Click. Click.

Who? What?

Jimin looks around, desperate to find the fiend. 

Clickclickclickclickclickclick

More importantly...where?! Left? Right? Front? 

Behind?! Jimin turns behind, preparing to block something, but sees nothing. He tries to calm his thumping heart. Maybe it's really just not--

Clickclickcli--

No wait! Jimin looks up, and barely has time to defend himself. He dodges the attack, grabbing his staff and swinging it; a glyph appears beneath his feet--a black one. He only manages to jump off it in time before the earth rises, giving rise to his new Aeon, Anima, and friend whom he names Suga (because he likes sugar and the old lady fayth was kind of sweet, so why not? Oh, and Shiva's nickname happens to be Monnie and he named Bahamut Hoshiki). 

"O Empress of the Dark, Shadow of the Unseen, Anima!" 

Anima screeches, the mere sound alone sending the lizard running away with its tail between its legs. Clickclickclickclick.

What's with that...? Jimin hadn't seen a single wound on the lizard, yet the lizard just simply ran away, and he doesn't think it's because it was scared of Anima. Jimin looks up at Anima. "You're one big powerful thing. I dismiss you, Anima." 

Anima roars again and sinks below the ground, before disappearing completely and a glyph glows before all signs of Anima are gone. 

"W-What happened?" 

Jimin looks behind him and finds Namjoon sitting up. "I think I have a migraine coming on." He looks around him. "Nothing happened while I was out, right?" 

"Nope," Jimin grins. "Absolutely nothing. Just a big mummy fish appearing out of nowhere and beating the crap out of a lizard." 

"Mummy fish? You mean that big skeleton thing?" Namjoon immediately jumps up. "And you didn't shake me to wake me up?" 

"Chill, no such thing!" Jimin laughs. Namjoon's face is priceless! "It was Anima. My new Aeon. I named her Suga."

"Suga? Sounds like sugar," Namjoon says, shaking his head. "Anyhow, there doesn't seem to be anything here. Do you...wanna head back?" 

"Sure," Jimin nods, their little bout of laughter ceasing almost as quickly as it started. Does that mean they're never getting out of this place and they have to live on the piranhas around this place...? A little depressing, isn't i--

The wall is crashed through, and something lands on the ground. A giant airship. Namjoon grabs Jimin and pulls him backwards, out of the way of the airship. The airship skids to a stop, and two people jump out.

"You're late," Namjoon recognizes one of the two.

Seokjin continues walking towards them, "You look like ." 

"Well, thanks," Namjoon says. "I can't see through my right eye anymore."

"It's your left," Seokjin corrects.

"Same difference," Namjoon waves his hand. Jimin looks over at the person beside Seokjin. Some...Al Bhed, from what he can tell--the green eyes and blond hair, just like Tae's, but Tae dyed his hair orange. (It was an accident, really! He just didn't know Ragora juice can permanently colour your hair.) "What's that, by the way?" 

"Airship," says the man. "This...is...airship!" It's almost as if he's struggling to speak Spiran. Must be a full-fledged Al Bhed." 

"You've changed a lot, Jinnie." 

Seokjin rolls his eyes. "I had no choice. There's no way out of this place besides...this." 

"Airship!" the Al Bhed almost screams in Seokjin's ear.

"He's really a character," Namjoon gestures towards the Al Bhed, who's crossed his arms and seems to be awaiting a response from them. 

"Anyway, let's go!" Jimin grins, grabbing Seokjin and Namjoon's wrists and approaching the Al Bhed. "Is it there?" 

"Go...to....umm...airship!" the man says, trying to gesture to the airship. In the end, he just heads on over to a small platform that appears and leads the group up it.

"Jiminniiieeee!" Taehyung screams, tackling the boy. "Where were you? Jungkookie's--" 

"Yeah, I know," Jimin nods. 

"But my people said they'd find a cure for Jungkookie!" Taehyung grins. "Isn't that great? Like, they're gonna help us save Kookie!" 

Now, Jimin is a little doubtful. Al Bhed, suddenly turning up out of the blue just so they can help them? Pish-tosh! It's got to be some kind of trap! Or some kind of exchange they're being fooled into making.

"Hoseok's staying by Jungkook's side," Taehyung says. "And making sure Kookie isn't throwing up blood. But the Al Bhed here have way greater inventions than Yevonites will ever have! I mean look at all this stuff! We can get rid of all our candles and oil lamps!" He points to the fluorescent lights atop their heads. "And they have airships that fly! How great is that?"

Jimin laughs. "Awesome." His grin then turns to a solemn face. "Where's Yoongi?" 

"I dunno," Taehyung says, scratching his head. "Probably at the deck." 

"The deck?" Jimin cries. "Isn't that dangerous?" 

"Well, not in Yoongi's book," Taehyung shrugs. "He headed to the deck the moment we boarded this thing, saying he needed to be alone." 

"Alone, huh..." Jimin mumbles, before yawning. "I'm tired. Can I crash on your bed if you have one?" 

"We all have our own rooms, Jiminieee! I'm not gonna deal with all your hormones raging when you sleep with the same room in Jungkookie anymore!" Taehyung wiggles his eyebrows.

"Taeeeee!" It takes Jimin five whole seconds to understand what Taehyung's getting at. 

"Come on! I'd be blind not to see it!" Taehyung laughs. "I'm just glad I have my own room! I'm gonna go check in on Jungkookie--he's fine at the moment; they gave him something, they called it painkillers. Go find Yoongi." 

With that, Taehyung left Jimin dumbfounded and standing at the entrance.

He vaguely remembers seeing Seokjin and Namjoon walk some distance to some room and he vaguely remembers hearing the lock click. Well, whatever, he shrugs. Not gonna interrupt that. Sighing, he decides to head on over to the deck through this thing called...a moving box that goes up and down...Cool, Jimin thinks, I'll invent a name for it--elevator.

The elevator bings when it reaches the deck, and Jimin steps out of the box. Nope, he doesn't like elevators. Not one bit. 

"Yoongi!" Jimin runs out to the lone figure sitting on the deck--the airship has already risen into the sky, and surrounding them are clouds and fog. Yoongi's blonde hair is ruffled by the wind as he turns to look at Jimin, before scowling and turning back. 

"Go back down," Yoongi's voice is clipped, and stern. 

"Why're you up here? You'd catch a cold!" Jimin comes to squat down next to Yoongi. It is cold. ing freezing, in fact.

"None of your business," Yoongi says coldly.

"Come on~!" Jimin whines, poking Yoongi's cheek, because he's banking on the chance that Yoongi will respond with some less-than-cold comment.

"Stop it, Jimin," Yoongi snarls, pushing Jimin away, sending the other to the floor of the deck, an "oomph!" escaping the younger's mouth. Yoongi doesn't even turn to look at Jimin as he continues to look out into the distance. Jimin's eyes sting with tears, but not from the impact. Did Yoongi not trust him anymore? Even though they'd been through so much? 

"Stop it, Jimin...just...go away," he hears Yoongi's voice crack, and he just knows he can't leave his Guardian alone in his time of need. He approaches Yoongi again, and this time, takes the elder by surprise, hugging him from behind. 

"Hey, it's gonna be okay, alright? I don't know what happened, but..." Jimin buries his face into Yoongi's shoulder. "You don't have to face it alone." 

He feels Yoongi's shoulders shake, and his head tilting backwards, resting on Jimin's shoulders. He hears Yoongi's quiet sniffles and cries as they stay like that. Jimin has no idea what Yoongi's scared or worried about, but he knows that like Namjoon, Yoongi will need coaxing to get it out, and Park Jimin's on the job! Just how, that is a good question.

"Come on, I'll come up with some snacks. Gimme five minutes," Jimin says, releasing his hold on Yoongi's shoulders, and heads towards the elevator. When he looks back, he sees Yoongi's back to him, looking out at the clouds.

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

"Jimin..."

Jungkook opens his eyes, eyelids fluttering, as he takes in his surroundings. So far, he sees Hoseok humming some song to himself--the Hymn of the Fayth, he recognizes--and he's currently conjuring some fire and water or something to entertain himself. Hoseok looks in his direction, "Ah, you're awake." 

"I feel like I'm still in a dream," Jungkook drags a hand across his face, trying to erase whatever trace of sleepiness on him. 

"Welcome back to reality, kid," Jungkook feels a hand ruffling his hair, and he scowls. Only one person will do that, and it's...

Taehyung.

"Huh, where the hell am I?" Jungkook looks around him, but he feels his head throbbing, and there's snot in his nose. He sniffs a little, trying to clear the snot but to no avail. Did he get too close to Sin to contract its toxin or what?

"Right, they said you have a fever," says Taehyung, shrugging. "No idea what that is though. It sounds to me that you got Sin's toxins in your blood." 

"But I didn't get close to Sin at all," Jungkook protests, coughing again, and blood splatters onto his sterile-white blankets. 

"Maybe Bevelle's encounter? But usually Sin's toxin doesn't take this long to work," Hoseok says, frowning. "You'd better rest a bit more. They said the medicine's back at their headquarters." 

"Headquarters? Al Bhed have a headquarters?" Taehyung stares at Hoseok, incredulous.

"They called it Home, but yeah, probably headquarters," Hoseok says, twirling another fireball into the air before dismissing it, sending sparks flying to the ground.

"And we're on our way there now?" 

"No, we're going to fly in the middle of Bikanel Desert," Hoseok scoffs. "Of course we're going there."

Jungkook catches Taehyung with a dreamy yet blank look across his face. Taehyung's finally going home. Jungkook doesn't know what to feel about that. This is the friend he's grown up with, the one who's followed him through his entire life since six. 

Jungkook just doesn't know what to feel.

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

"Sairah, huh..." Seokjin mumbles. "Heard that name before. She was a great Summoner, despite not becoming a High Summoner." At least he's grateful that Namjoon finally trusts him enough to let him into his life. He always knew there was something up. Those dimples were always hiding something.

"Yeah, she was amazing," Namjoon nods. Seokjin's leaning against the wall of the airship, arms folded, while he's facing Namjoon, who's sitting on the bed. They aren't exactly looking at each other, but neither are they purposely looking away. 

"So you met her when you were a Crusader, and she had Kinoc as a Guardian?" Seokjin confirms. 

"Yeah," Namjoon nods, eyes closed. 

"And because you wanted revenge on Kinoc that's why you stormed the Parliament House?" 

"Yeah." 

"You're an idiot, Namjoon," Seokjin shakes his head. "You could have gotten yourself killed. And you know Jimin. He would have come find you, and gotten himself killed. The Parliament House is no place to storm and cause trouble." Seokjin bites his lip. "Sairah wouldn't have forgiven you either." 

"How'd you know that? Sairah's dead." 

"Not just Sairah. Jimin had worried himself so much. All because of you, Namjoon," Seokjin says, jabbing a finger in his direction. "And it wasn't just him. The rest of us too." 

Namjoon lies back against the fluffy sheets of the bed. "But I'm not worth--" 

"Shut up!" Seokjin roars, and Namjoon jumps, looking up at his usually mild-tempered friend (unless there are Al Bhed present). Seokjin's eyes are blazing, nostrils flaring. "Don't you dare say that again, Kim Namjoon! Never say you aren't worth it! Think about all of us!" Namjoon can see Seokjin's lips moving, but the latter is saying something so softly that he can only catch a few words, but it vaguely sounds like: 

"Think about me..." 

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

"We're here!" Cid's voice resounds through the halls through the loudspeakers placed at every nook and cranny. Jungkook literally jumps as the door bursts open and Jimin walks in. 

"Jungkook..." Jimin looks over at his friend, sitting upright, while Hoseok's leaning against the wall across Jungkook's bed, and Taehyung is just sniggering slightly.

"I'm fine," Jungkook responds with one of those bunny smiles. "Lost a bit of blood, but the Al Bhed helped me, so I guess I'm okay." 

"You're...good enough to walk?" Jimin asks, moving over to sit on the stool by Jungkook's bed. "Do you need help?" 

"Nope," Jungkook shakes his head, moving to the side of the bed and using his strong arms to prop himself up. He looks over at Jimin, before attempting to walk unsteadily towards the door, almost collapsing onto Jimin in the process.

"D*mn," Jungkook mutters under his breath.

"Yeah, d*mn, you're heavy," Jimin grunts as he tries to help Jungkook to his feet.

There's a few smirks thrown their way from Taehyung and a wolf call from a grinning Hoseok.

"Heyheyhey!" a familiar person opens the door, some big, bulky machinery entering the door. "Just what do you guys think you're up to? You!" He points a finger at Jungkook. "You're not well enough to walk yet!" 

"Well sorry for trying," Jungkook hisses. Jimin can tell he doesn't like this guy that much.

"Well, sorry for trying to care about you," the man mutters. "Oh my Yevon, why do I deal with these sorts of people day in, day out?" He jerks his chin towards the machine, which looks like some kind of stretcher on wheels, except way more comfy. "It's called a wheelchair. Now get on it." 

"Thanks," Jungkook growls, before Jimin shoots him a look. Eventually giving up, Jungkook falls back against the wheelchair, and it wasn't bad. Not trusting the man at all, Jimin takes the handles from him and pushes Jungkook out.

"Wow, this is embarrassing," Jungkook says, looking left and right and seeing random Al Bhed along the corridors of the Farenheit, staring at him while they are unloading some sort of cargo from the ship. Jimin pushes Jungkook down the platform, finding themselves in what Jimin will describe as a "thoroughly mechanized area". Taehyung and Hoseok are following closely behind, gasping at the sight before them.

Thousands and thousands of machina are lined up, ready to be used, combat machina, transport machina, flying recorder machina things...It's like machina heaven.

"Well, you'd better get used to it, kid. This will be your new home," a voice sounds out behind Taehyung, and scares the living daylights out of the kid.

"New home?" Taehyung looks back at the person, Buddy.

"Yeah, you're Al Bhed, aren't you? It's obvious from your eyes alone." 

"Oh, really?" Taehyung scratches his head. "Okay, I guess." 

A new home. Huh...

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

"Yoongi!" Jimin waves from the ground of the hugely mechanized area, calling out to the lone boy sitting on the deck of the Farenheit. "Come down, will ya?"

Yoongi doesn't respond in words. Instead, he opts for jumping off the Farenheit and landing on the ground.

"Where to?" 

"Uh..." Jimin looks around, Jungkook looking up at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Over here," Cid, the Captain of the Farenheit, beckons them down a lonely but large corridor, and Jimin looks back to find Namjoon and Seokjin appearing out of the room, not even looking at each other, traces of a fight in the air around them. Seriously? Jimin leaves them alone for half an hour and this is what happens? 

"This way down's the medics' room," says Cid. Machina wave to them as they pass by, before continuing on their domestic duties, such as sweeping the floor, dusting the railings, etcetera. In fact, to Taehyung, this place looks like those kinds of factories he's always heard about that produced machina. And he so wanted to visit those factories. Just...not in this situation.

"You're awfully quiet, Yoongi." Taehyung's snapped out from his thoughts at Hoseok's remark. Yoongi doesn't answer.

"Here," Cid presses a few buttons on a number pad right next to a metal door, before pressing a red button and the door opens. Jimin pushes Jungkook into the room, and is greeted by a sweetly-smiling nurse who tends to him.

Cid says something to her in Al Bhed, then she nods, before Cid tells the group, "I'm leaving the five of you here. Have fun."

"Five of us?" Jimin looks around him, almost afraid he's lost Seokjin and Namjoon somewhere in the winding corridors. But all his Guardians are with him.

"Yeah, five of you," Cid says. "You, the blonde one, and you, the orange-haired one. Come with me." 

Yoongi, without saying a word and with a dead look in his eyes, trudges away from the group, before Taehyung follows suit.

Jimin shrugs, wondering what they can be possibly called out for, but he can't help but feel a little worried for them both.

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

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekk! What is that?! He's supposed to eat it?!" Seokjin looks like the one being fed the pills instead of Jungkook, who's looking at Seokjin with a bored expression and waiting for Seokjin to actually approve the medicine that the nurse is trying to feed him.

It takes one Namjoon, one Jimin and one Hoseok to grab Seokjin and keep him back before the nurse is able to approach Jungkook and give him the pills. Jungkook swallows them down like nobody's business ("WHAT IF IT'S POISON, JUNGKOOK?! WHAT IF THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL YOU?!") 

"Relax, Jinnie," Jungkook teases. "Or do you want Tae here to be with you instead? I bet if it's Tae who's being made to eat these things not even the three of them can stop you." 

Jimin laughs, holding his belly, and Namjoon smirks. Hoseok whistles a little, but he can't stop the huge grin forming on his face.

"Y-You!" Seokjin's face grows a dark shade of red--from anger or embarrassment he doesn't know. "I do not like Tae! Understand?!" 

"Sure, Jinnie. Whatever you say," Jungkook laughs. 

"S-Shut up!" 

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

"Why'd you call us here for?" Taehyung looks around him. The tension between him and Yoongi have significantly increased--probably due to the absence of the rest of their gang, so he hasn't talked to Yoongi yet, although Yoongi looks like he's walking straight to his death.

"Well, there are two different reasons," Cid says. "As the head of the Al Bhed, I settle everything." 

"Whoa, you're like, my age, and you're the leader of the Al Bhed? That's sick!" Taehyung grins, trying to lighten the mood, but Yoongi doesn't even do so much as grunt.

"Well, everything comes under me, including orientation and..." 

"Just get to the ing point," Yoongi hisses. "I'm older than you."

Cid presses his lips into a thin line, "But I'm the leader." 

"And the leader shouldn't abuse that power," Yoongi shoots back. He sighs, "Just continue." 

Taehyung has never seen Yoongi looking this distraught ever.

"Well, like I said, orientation is under me, and so is...execution and discipline," Cid says, expression turning serious.

"Orientation? Execution? Those are totally different reasons, Ciddie!" Taehyung says. "What are you talking about? Usually, if people want to talk about one thing--" 

"That's right," Cid says. "I called you here to orientate you and make sure you fit in, Tae. As for your friend..." 

"You're lying, right?" Taehyung takes a step backwards. "Tell me you're lying! What did Yoongi ever do to you guys?" 

"As for Yoongi, let's just say he's a traitor to the Al Bhed race," says Cid. "Isn't that right, Yoongi?" 

Yoongi bites his lip, hesitating and considering his options of speech. "Yeah. I'm not proud of it, but neither am I sorry, Cid. It was because I left that I met Jimin and company." 

"It was because you left that you landed yourself in this mess now, Yoongi," Cid barks out a laugh. "An Al Bhed as a Guardian? Really? You all are just a group of misfits. That Park Jimin kid...I've heard rumours from the Isle. Doesn't have what it takes to beat Sin." 

"Stop talking about Jimin like that!" Taehyung flails. "You don't even know him! They're all just rumours!" 

"Rumours often have a hint of truth to them," says Cid. "Buddy will come help orientate you. I'm going to have a little talk with your friend Yoongi here. It wasn't just about leaving. It was about the safety of the entire Al Bhed race." 

Taehyung bites his lip, as Yoongi rises from his seat, eyes still boring holes into Cid's forehead. Cid strides off into the next room, to their left, and Yoongi follows. Taehyung looks behind him and finds a man with silver hair standing there. 

"Relax. Your friend's execution isn't due for another two days. You have plenty of time to say goodbye." 

"I don't want to say goodbye!" Taehyung cries. "Yoongi's my friend! I can't sit there and watch him die!" 

"Traitors are executed. That's how we managed to keep hidden for so long," Buddy says, all expression devoid from his face. "If we let lawbreakers run around, we'd have been discovered long ago, and our Home will be destroyed. Home is all the young ones and most of everyone here have known till now. If you put them out there, they'll get persecuted, just because they're Al Bhed." 

"The world is a cruel place," Taehyung comments, looking at the door where Yoongi and Cid have disappeared behind.

"Yeah, kid, it is."

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

Well, another chappie out! I've been trying to make all the relationships so far platonic but it's a little...difficult. 

Actually Jikook's one is required. You'll find out why way later towards the end of the story. Meanwhile, hope you've enjoyed!