This is so much Yoonseok I cannot lots of it up ahead (I suppose) have fun with them :)))) 

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

"You all know about the Zanarkand-Bevelle War one thousand years ago, right?" Braska starts his tale. 

"Yeah," they chorus, probably except Yoongi, but that doesn't mean the blonde hasn't heart of it before.

"So, we have to start from there. Zanarkand and Bevelle were warring with each other, because Bevelle had attacked them first. Bevelle thought they had the better machina, and they wanted to take over Zanarkand. Much like an invasion. But then, Zanarkand had the power of the Summoners on their side. The Summoners had fought valiantly, but..." 

"Zanarkand still lost," Namjoon supplies.

"Yeah," Braska says. "They lost because they weren't prepared to defend themselves. The people weren't used to wars, you see. The Summoners' powers were limited, and one Summoner could only summon one Aeon at any one time. They couldn't hold their own against the Bevelle's machina, and Zanarkand's machina...they weren't used for fighting. They were used for entertainment. The Summoners had to escape across Spira, leaving Zanarkand to their doom, hoping one day that a Summoner will gather all the Aeons and stop Bevelle's power." 

"And they didn't," Yoongi adds, tone harsh.

"No they did! Maester Mika brought Bevelle under control and now we're happy again!" Braska flails his arms. 

Ah, the bliss of ignorance, Seokjin thinks to himself. What has this boy been taught?

"Then, then..." he looks like an excited little kid, which he is. "The Summoners have scattered themselves across Spira, and there are 10 in all!" 

"10?" Hoseok looks surprised. "How are there 10? Aren't there only seven?" 

"Huh?" Braska shakes his head vigorously. "There're three more, and Lord Jimin's going to their temple." 

"Which are they?" Yoongi asks, and Braska's eyes light up. "They're the Magus Sisters." 

"Magus Sisters?" Seokjin questions. This is the first he's heard of it.

"Yeah," Braska nods. "Sandy, Mindy and Cindy. They're really pretty, and they're really powerful, and I heard not even Lady Belgemine could control them." 

"Belgemine? You know her?" Now it's Namjoon's turn to look appalled.

"It's not really well-known, but she was the second High Summoner after Lady Yunalesca. Rumours said she went on the entire pilgrimage without any Guardians protecting her! She's that cool!" Braska grins. "But that's pretty lonely too. And heroic. She didn't want to cause other people any pain." 

"Heroic, huh..." Namjoon turns to look at the sky.

It's heroic to save Spira from doom. It's heroic to stop people's suffering at the cost of your own life. 

But is it worth it?

Most people would say it's worth it. Namjoon hasn't thought about it. What if Jimin had sacrificed his life...for them? The people of Spira. What would happen to them then? 

Would Jimin do it to them? To their hearts?

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

Jungkook can only pace around, eyes trained on the stone ground in front of him as he waits for Jimin to come back. He can't even see the racetrack, and he can only hope for the best.

Meanwhile, Jimin's trying his hardest to race Choco down the spiral track, the bird's feet hitting the ground every second or so, each leap down the ledges letting him gain more ground against the other ghost Chocobo. He almost curses as he sees the ghost Chocobo nearing the finishing line, the chest that contains the Celestial Mirror in sight.

"Choco! Jump!" 

Choco obeys, leaping off the ledge and landing on the ledge below theirs. They're going to make it! He's sure of it. Just one more...

"Kweeeeeh!" 

The ghost Chocobo looks like he's smirking as he reaches the endpoint, with Jimin and Choco still having one more ledge to jump. How? The last Jimin had seen it, they were in front of it!

"Wait! Let's race again!" Jimin sounds like a sore loser now. The ghost Chocobo struts back up the racetrack, and Jimin is sure they were ahead. Is there something they're missing?

When Jungkook sees Jimin and Choco trudging up with their head bowed, he looks at them understandingly. "You didn't win?" 

"Nah," Jimin shakes his head. "I didn't win." He looks over at the ghost Chocobo, and the Chocobo still looks like it's smirking.

"Lemme try," Jungkook says, and Jimin nods, jumping off Choco and letting Jungkook ride the thing. 

"Ready..." Jungkook grips the reins until he swears his knuckles are turning white.

"Go!" 

The doors open, and the two Chocobos are off. Jungkook concentrates, watching the road for any signs of obstacles, until he realizes there are ledges that can be jumped off, and he does. Choco flaps its wings, jumping off ledge after ledge, until they're directly in front of the ghost Chocobo.

Then the magic happens.

The ghost Chocobo materializes directly in front of him, and Jungkook swears the Chocobo is smirking evilly at him. Jungkook rubs his eyes. How is this possible?

"Jump here!" Jungkook calls out to Choco, the yellow bird taken by surprise before making its way down, one ledge at a time, until he reaches the bottom and sees the ghost Chocobo already there. Well, Jungkook has almost never lost anything in his life. Losing a pitiful racing game now is really a damage to his ego.

"You lost too?" Jimin looks at Jungkook walking back up. 

"Eh, yeah," Jungkook nods. 

"Let's let Choco take a break. He looks all worn out," Jimin nods over at Choco, picking at the grass on the ground. 

"The ghost is faster," Jungkook says. "And he can materialize out of nowhere." 

"Materialize out of nowhere? No wonder he's faster," Jimin mumbles.

"But that means we can't win. Think about it," Jungkook says, watching as Choco settles herself nicely on the ground, eating at the grass. "If the guy keeps cheating..." 

"Then we'll have to out-cheat him! Kookie, you're a genius!" Jimin cries, hugging his friend, before sitting down on the ground, racking his brains about how to out-cheat the ghost Chocobo.

Jungkook is still staring down at Jimin, What? What did I just do? 

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

"And then, Remiem Temple was created and built over the three Summoners who became the Aeons," says Braska. "And not even Summoners can control them." 

"That's really strong," Hoseok comments. "You think Jimin can handle it?" 

"Yeah...probably," Yoongi mutters. He hasn't even spent much time with Jimin before this pilgrimage.

"Jimin's been up there for a pretty long time," Namjoon observes. "Is he alright?"

"He has Jungkook with him, and the kid isn't really weak either," Seokjin says. 

As if in response, there is a shrill cry overhead. Yoongi jumps up, prepared for action, and so do the rest. They look up, and see a giant shape in the sky, like a whale with wings, roars sounding like a Chimera's roar. 

"You're kidding..." Seokjin looks up at the whale, all color lost from his face. 

"Here? Now?" Hoseok looks at the abomination, black stuff dropping from its wings, raining onto the ground below. Hoseok just manages to dodge a few, before they realize they're surrounded.

"Oh my Yevon," Namjoon draws his sword. They're Sinscales. Thousands of them. It's impossible to fend them all off.

"So this is what this place is? Some place with green grass and no fiends for Sin to shed his scales?" Yoongi growls sarcastically as the Sinscales surround them, batting their wings and snarling, baring their tiny, razor-sharp fangs.

"B-B-But...Sin doesn't come here!" Braska sounds like he's on the verge of tears.

"He's not supposed to come here? How'd you explain that thing up there?!" Seokjin points up at the sky.

The group looks up to see a purple bird, with at least ten red eyes, beak snapping and wings flapping, feathes dropping to the ground, not even fluttering. Just...dropping. 

It doesn't take them long to realize the bird's made entirely of metal. 

"Sinspawn Gyroavial!" Namjoon remembers reading about this type of Sinspawn. Flying ones. Those that use their air superiority to gain an advantage over the people in the ground.

"We're not going to win it! We have to run!" Braska grabs Namjoon's arm, but Namjoon shakes his head.

"We're going to stand our ground, buddy. We're not going to run anymore."

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

"Alright," Jimin pats Choco's feathers, straightening them out, before the doors open again. This time, they're going to win, for sure! Of course, Choco is faster, after jumping down a few ledges, but this time, Jimin keeps his eye on the ghost Chocobo. First, to out-cheat that Chocobo, they have to know what it does, and counter it, and this time, Jimin's not missing anything.

He watches as the Chocobo runs its route, just like it's supposed to, before it flickers and disappears, appearing suddenly along the path.

What Jimin notices, however, is that it appears where there is a bright pole. Yellow, purple, green poles have lined the racetrack, and whenever the ghost Chocobo disappears, it reappears by another pole. He continues watching the Chocobo as it runs, it disappears at a green pole, appearing at a purple pole, then disappearing at a purple pole before appearing at a yellow one...

Is there a pattern here?

Also, the Chocobo can't appear at a purple pole if there is already another purple pole nearer it to appear at. 

Jimin grabs his reins and eggs Choco on.

It's disappearing again. At a yellow pole, meaning...

"Jump, Choco!" Jimin pulls the reins, forcing Choco to stop and jump, landing directly in front of a green pole. Just as he expected, the ghost Chocobo appears directly behind him, and he can hear the angry "Kweh!"s at the back. Only two more ledges to go! He watches as the Chocobo disappears behind him, at a purple pole, and his eyes hunt around for the next yellow pole along the route...

Which is directly in front of the finishing point.

"Oh for Yevon's sake!" Jimin only has a matter of seconds before the Chocobo will appear again, and he does the most ridiculous and crazy thing ever.

"JUMP!" 

Choco screeches as it jumps across two ledges, landing perfectly at the edge of the finishing point; both he and Choco are out of breath, panting as the ghost Chocobo materializes at the yellow pole, and the Chocobo is stunned, what with its open beak and all.

"Right, there it is," Jimin grins, walking over to the treasure chest and opening it. "Here it i--" He is cut off midsentence when Jimin notices that he can't even see his reflection in the Mirror. It's so...dusty and whatever that he doubts it can be used to power up anything.

"Let's go back to Jungkookie," Jimin tells Choco, as they leap back up the ledges, heading back up to the top of the racetrack.

The ghost Chocobo watches as Jimin and Choco head up, before fading away into pyreflies.

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

They've managed to cut down at least half the Sinscales, but Namjoon is already feeling tired. It's taking more and more energy out of him for every swing of his sword, but at least he cuts down three or four in one swing. Seokjin is holding his own well against the Sinscales.

What Namjoon is worried about isn't the Sinscales that are attacking them like annoying flies (fine, more like bees because they are d*mn annoying and have a mean bite), but rather, he's wondering what that Sinspawn Gyroavial is up to. It seems to just be watching and waiting, as if waiting for the Sinscales to kill them off.

"Guys! Get down!" 

Namjoon only hears the command when there's suddenly a crackle of lightning in the air, before lightning rains down on the entire Calm Lands rom the heavens above. 

"You're kidding!" Yoongi yells over to Hoseok. "You're gonna kill us too!"

The Thundaga spell that Hoseok just launched is going crazy, the lightning striking at any and everywhere in the ground. Even Namjoon has to run and grab Seokjin's arm to pull them both away from any striking lightning. 

"What the h*ll, are you trying to murder us?" Seokjin growls, pulling at Hoseok's arm when the lightning subsides.

"But I killed most of them," Hoseok complains, gesturing to the field of half-dead Sinscales. 

"Yeah well, you guys better stop bickering and focus on the big guy," Namjoon pulls them apart from their little argument. The Sinspawn Gyroavial is obviously unamused, and they're going to need to fly to beat this thing, considering it's going to use its aerial abilities to knock the sh*t out of them.

"Ah, this," Yoongi mutters, moving to stand in front of the group. His Blitzball suddenly catches fire, the ball whirling with flames as Yoongi holds it in his hand, preparing to throw it. 

"It's never going to reach it! It's going to get angry and attack us!" Seokjin tries to hold Yoongi back.

"Stop being such a pessimist! That's my job!" Yoongi hisses back, before launching the fiery ball. As it goes upwards into the sky, the fire becomes even hotter, and Namjoon can see the fire burning brighter, before hitting the bird's body with amazing accuracy before flying back to Yoongi. Yoongi grabs the ball, and it's obvious to see that he's mastered the use of his right arm.

Whoa, Namjoon thinks. He's real good at this. Meanwhile, Namjoon isn't going to be a very good asset in an aerial battle. Not only is he slow at attacking, his accuracy is never going to be any good unless it's a slow foe, and h*ll, he's even got a useless eye that's not going to help anybody.

"It's coming!" Namjoon is jolted out from his thoughts by Braska's shout.

"It's diving! Spread out!" Seokjin calls. 

Suddenly, there is a crash from behind them, and Namjoon can't believe his eyes, but Seokjin manages to pull him away fast enough to miss the bird's beak as it spirals, before soaring back up into the sky. Namjoon tumbles on the ground with Seokjin, before he hurriedly rises to his feet, preparing for the next attack. 

They're surrounded, but not my Sinscales this time.

To their left, is the bird.

And to their right is Sin.

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

"Is this the mirror?" Jungkook stares at Jimin in disbelief. "You're kidding." 

"No, I'm not," Jimin can't stop the grin spreading over his face. "This...this is gold!" He frowns a little. "A bit old and dirty, though."  

A sudden crash alerts the both of them to danger, and Jungkook has already leapt into his defensive stance, spear taken from his back, and out and ready to attack. Jimin, meanwhile, clutches the Mirror tighter to himself. Choco looks frightened, trembling on the spot and shrinking back against the temple wall.

"I think it's outside," Jungkook says. 

"That's where the others are!" Jimin realizes, before nearly dropping the mirror, and getting on Choco. "Come on, Kookie!" 

"W-Wait, Jimin-ah!" Jungkook tries to protest as Jimin hauls the younger upon Choco, and Jungkook is surprised at his Summoner's strength.

"Come on! Let's go, Choco!" Jimin cries, and although at first Choco took hesitant steps towards the wooden bridge, but relented in the end, and runs at its fastest speed out towards the vast plains of Calm Lands.

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

Hoseok coughs as he looks around for people he knows, meeting with nothing but the bird in front of him and Sin behind him. Sin...of all things. Sin.

But unfortunately, he has to deal with the bird first, who is right in front of him and Hoseok swears he's going to get stabbed in less than 0.4278268325 seconds.

That is, if Min Yoongi hadn't stepped in and blocked the attack with his blitzball, Hoseok is 99% sure he would have died there and then. Yoongi tries to swing his blitzball at its face, but the bird is faster, pulling back fast enough for Yoongi's attack to miss. Yoongi curses as he pushes Hoseok behind him.

"Hey, just so you know, Sin's behind me!" Hoseok yells over the noise of the screeching of the bird.

"Oh, right," Yoongi replies lamely, but he feels Hoseok's back to his.

"We're like superheroes. You're my sidekick." 

"H*ll no, you're my sidekick," Yoongi can feel a grin creeping up onto his face. Using all his mana focusing on the Fire attack which he executed just now, it's impossible for him to launch another elemental attack. 

"Duck, Hobi!" Yoongi pushes Hoseok until they both hit the ground, the bird swooping down from directly above them. 

"Alright, we can kill off that bird, at most, but I don't know about the boss," Hoseok says. "Look, you'll attack the guy, and I'll defend your back." 

Sounds like a good plan to Yoongi. He stands back up, and aims. All his senses are focused on his surroundings. He can hear every tiny thing, to the rustling of the grass to the tiny whoosh of the breeze, and even to Hoseok's heartbeat...

Hoseok's heartbeat?

Yoongi is knocked backwards by the force of the bird ramming its head against his head. That one moment of distraction has him tumbling along the ground, wrestling with the beak of the bird, and dropping his blitzball in the process. The bird pushes Yoongi to the ground, holding him down with one of its sharp claws.

Yoongi's finding it hard to breathe. His blitzball is just a few feet away, impossible to reach from here. The bird's probably planning to stab him to death with that beak. Yoongi braces himself for the attack, but he hears a shriek from the bird and the literal weight on his chest is lifted. 

"Are you alright, Yoonyoon?" 

"Yoonyoon? It's Yoongi!" Yoongi splutters at the nickname. It sounds absolutely disgusting...no matter how cute it sounds comnig out of Hoseok's mouth.

"Alright, Yoonyoon, try not to get careless the next time!" Hoseok gives him one of those grins again.

How can you even think of smiling in a situation like this? Yoongi thinks to himself, before his ears perk up and he can hear everything again. He quickly sprints towards his blitzball and picks it up.

"Hoseok! Get down!"

"W-What?!" Hoseok does as he's told, squatting down low enough for the bird to miss his head by a few inches, catching some of Hoseok's green hair in his beak, before Yoongi hears the crack of his bones. He's not screaming. Not yet. He bites the inside of his cheek, until he can feel the skin break and taste blood. 

"HOSEOK! NOW!" Yoongi yells, before the pain takes over him.

The bird is trying to pull his beak out of Yoongi's arm, but  caught within the sheer number of bandages on his arm and the fact that his beak has completely went through Yoongi's arm. 

Hoseok looks startled, but realizes what Yoongi's trying to do, and he gathers one big ball of Firaga in his hand. Or at least, what he thinks is Firaga. 

"Goodbye, er! This is for hurting Yoongi!" 

With as much conviction as Hoseok can muster, he hurls the fireball straight towards the bird, the blast of fire catching the bird by its wing. The bird screams and screeches, before it finally manages to pluck its beak out of Yoongi's arm, and Yoongi almost gags at how much blood there is.

But then again, he's on the verge of fainting anyway.

Yoongi watches as a burst of color explodes and he falls backwards, vision fading in and out, sounds around him draining out into a loud, dull ring. He can't see the bird anymore. That burst of color must be the pyreflies, hmm? Yoongi sees someone leaning over him as he focuses on his breathing. 

Breathe in, breathe out...breathe in...breathe...

"OH MY YEVON YOONGI HANG IN THERE!" Hoseok fumbles around with the stuff in his bag. Bottles of Potions and Phoenix Downs tumble out, along with a Turbo Ether. He watches with hooded eyes as Hoseok pours a bottle of some Potion over his wound, and Yoongi hisses as he grits his teeth, the pain on his arm astoundingly...painful.

"Relax! Oh my Yevon...Oh my Yevon..." Yoongi tries to smirk, Hoseok should be the one relaxing. 

Yoongi finally feels the pain starting to subside, and he watches Hoseok panicking as his vision returns...and Yoongi doesn't expect what he sees next.

Hoseok is crying. Like, literally. Oh, how Yoongi wants to reach up to wipe those big, fat, ugly tears from Hoseok's beautiful and perfect face...He shouldn't cry. It doesn't look pretty on him.

"Oh my Yevon, Yoongi I thought you were dead!" Hoseok realizes Yoongi's vision is focusing, and that means Yoongi's most probably going to be alright, but he just can't help it. He sniffles and tries to wipe the tears away, but Yoongi is faster. He feels the back of the elder's hand against his cheek, rubbing away the droplets of sorrow.

"Please don't cry." 

Hoseok's heart clenches. Even now, that's all Yoongi cares about? How Hoseok feels? 

"You're ugly when you cry," Yoongi continues, and Hoseok finally cracks a grin despite the tears still leaking out from his eyes.

"You're really back!" 

"I wasn't gone in the...first place," Yoongi grunts as he tries to sit up, and succeeds, with Hoseok's help, and it's only then that their eyes meet.

It is just a fleeting moment, when Yoongi and Hoseok see all the worry and concern behind the other's eyes. It was magical, if not for the fact that they're on a battlefield with combat still taking place around them. Sin has just released it's next batch of Sinscales, the things planting themselves into the ground after flying out from Sin's wing and Sin bellows again.

"Are the two of you alright?!" 

Yoongi and Hoseok turn at the sound of fierce footsteps thundering against the ground, and they see Jimin and Jungkook arriving on Choco.

"It's alright," Yoongi nods. "It's a little...crowded, don't you think?" He turns around, noticing the Sinscales are surrounding them, but not attacking them. Yet.

"Right," Jimin nods. "What the h*ll happened? I was gone for what? Less than an hour and..." 

"Sin decided to barge in on our little party," Yoongi says, venom dripping from his tone. "We can't beat Sin. Not without the Final Aeon. I'm just praying he'll pluck his *ss from the ground and start ing flying away." 

Jungkook smells it before Sin even releases it. 

"Everyone! Run!" Jungkook yells, and Jimin nods, before he snaps the reins on Choco's beak, the Chocobo dashing away from Sin, as Yoongi and Hoseok run on foot. There's another loud roar from Sin as Jimin realizes what Jungkook was trying to warn them about. 

A mist of purple and brown has him almost gagging. So this is one of what Sin is famous for. Its toxin. 

But nothing can prepare them for what happens next.

Hoseok trips on a carcass of a Sinscale, and he lands heavily on the ground, crying out before face-planting into the grass. Yoongi stops, and looks back, realizing the Guado isn't going to pick himself up in time before the toxin reaches them. 

Hoseok scrambles to his feet and tries to run, but the toxin is faster, managing to catch up to him. One whiff of it, and his vision goes hazy, head throbbing and his nose seems so clogged up, his tongue feeling swollen. He hits his head hard on the ground, and his brain is too tired and affected by the toxin to think anything coherent. He can't even register the basic sounds right now, nor basic feelings against his skin.

The mist pass quickly, but Hoseok can only lie there, motionless, chest constricted and his mind is blank. Blank as a fresh piece of paper. He hears a shout and cry of...anguish? His ears begin to clear out, now being able to hear the sounds and noises around him, but his eyes are still watery from the toxin and he has to close it, trying to concentrate on his breathing so that he doesn't die from suffocation.

Two arms pick him up, and there's a worried voice beside the person helping him. 

"He's not going to be ing alright. That was Sin's toxin!" 

"Don't be such a pessimist. That's my job!" Hoseok can recognize Seokjin's voice, and he smiles a little, despite his facial muscles feeling a little numb.

But the other voice...who was he?

Hoseok feels himself being laid down on the ground, and he still can't bring himself to open his eyes yet because it ing stings. He hears Jimin's voice.

"I'm so sorry!" He can hear the worry in Jimin's voice. "I-I-I...I didn't..."

"Yah! It wasn't your fault, Jimin. No one could have done anything. Stop blaming yourself!" Namjoon's voice rings out. 

Hoseok hears Jimin's sniffles, and he doesn't want Jimin to cry, especially when he himslef has been crying less than a few minutes ago.

Crying? Why had he been crying? 

"Is he going to be okay?" That was Braska. It was obvious from the boyish voice. He must have been with Seokjin and Namjoon.

"Everyone shut up! He doesn't need noise pollution right now!" the stranger's voice is louder, above everyone else's, and Hoseok likes how clear he is.

But what he didn't expect is the stranger to lean down to the nape of his neck, when he can feel the breaths, and he can feel shivers tingling up and down his spine. 

"Don't die on me." 

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