Jungkook has remained by Jimin's side the entire night, attempting to stay awake, but of course, failing, and settles for snuggling tightly against Jimin's body, burying his face in his arms. 

Meanwhile, Seokjin and Namjoon have come to visit the boys, though Namjoon feels a little uncomfortable that Seokjin is expressing such concern for Taehyung, despite hating the Al Bhed boy at first sight back in Besaid. He sighs as Seokjin finally leaves after throwing a million questions about the machines used to keep Taehyung alive to the nurses, and he shoots them a glare that says, "You'd better make sure he's okay by tomorrow."

Jimin, meanwhile, isn't getting better as fast as Taehyung did. His recovery is slow, but the Al Bhed nurses assured Namjoon that it's because the Summoner's own body is mentally and physically drained, more so than Taehyung's. Namjoon nods, but doesn't understand the significance of it all. 

Meanwhile, Hoseok is fussing over the both of them, and Yoongi is rubbing his eyes furiously, trying to stay awake, even in the dead of the night, before Hoseok shoos him to go sleep, saying that it's because he himself can't sleep because of them anyways. Yoongi goes to bed, but lays there wide awake.

It's not until five in the morning that Jimin wakes up, and he opens his eyes to a whitewashed ceiling. Jimin shakes his head, wondering when the h*ll did he get there, before he remembers that Valefor brought him to the Farenheit, and he escaped from the green creature.

Jimin hates himself, partly because he caused Taehyung to get hurt and almost die, despite Taehyung reaffirming throughout the journey up till now that he'd risk everything, even his own life, to save Jimin's. Jimin doesn't like that though. He doesn't like the fact that Guardians have to protect the Summoners with their lives, without a single thought for their own, so he makes Taehyung swear that he'd never ever give his life thoughtlessly for Jimin. 

Jimin feels someone nudging against his side, and he looks down to see Jungkook, head resting against his arm on the bed, and his fingers are all curled up in the sheets. Jimin would've pet his head--Jungkook is just too cute--but since his everything still hurts, he opts to lie there motionless instead, hoping to get as much sleep as he possibly can before the day starts.

Meanwhile, Taehyung is already wide awake, enough to move, and he notices as Jimin awakes, looking instead at the opposite direction, in Jungkook's direction, and not sparing a glance in his. Maybe Jimin just doesn't notice that Taehyung is there, but Taehyung realizes something interesting. Grinning quietly to himself, he looks up at the ceiling, wondering when they'd release him from this prison he calls "medic machines".

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

It's 7am not long after, and Jungkook wakes up to see Jimin's peaceful sleeping face, still torn when he sees the oxygen masks and the IV drips. Someone taps his shoulder, and he realizes it's Hoseok, who's gone back to his bed the previous night, and an Al Bhed nurse.

"Alright, just a moment," the nurse says, moving in to check on Jimin's pulse and the oxygen levels, not to mention looking at that huge *ss machine showing them Jimin's heartbeat's status.

"He's quite okay now," the nurse says, after a thorough checkup. "We can pull out the IV drips and remove the mask now. Just a little more and he'd wake up." 

And if he doesn't? Jungkook very much wants to ask, but decides against it. 

"Is Yoongi awake?" Jungkook asks the Guado.

"Nah, heavy sleeper," says Hoseok. "Told me last night in his sleep that he wants to be a rock in his next life." 

Jungkook chuckles a little, and he watches as Jimin sleeps--he's surer than ever that Jimin is probably awake, listening in to their conversation. His suspicion is confirmed when he and Hoseok remains silent, and Jimin opens his eyes, to look at them.

"You're a sneaky one," Jungkook grins.

"And you're a loud one. What're you doing, disturbing people's sleep?" 

"My sole job in life," Jungkook says. 

"Well, this is my cue to leave," Hoseok grins, before turning to Taehyung, "Yah, don't pretend to sleep! I'm getting food!" 

At this, Taehyung jumps up, the IV drip and oxygen masks removed a long time ago, "Y-Yah! Don't leave without me!" With that, he surprises the nurses standing at the entrance and he exits with Hoseok, leaving the nurses to do their thing and Jungkook and Jimin the only one in the room (besides the nurses, of course). 

Jungkook and Jimin are just staring at each other, eyes fixed on each other's, before Jimin's mouth breaks out in a lazy smile, "Did you sleep here the whole night?" His face shows a smile, but Jungkook can see the concern behind his eyes. 

Jungkook rubs his sore neck. "I'm not okay, but I'll survive. Are you okay? You shouldn't be worrying about me when you're the one almost dead." 

"Yeah well, mistake on my part," Jimin says, trying to move his arms, but they still hurt, and Jungkook places his hand on them, a little tingle of electricity passing through his arm when he touches Jimin. Jungkook looks up, and he knows Jimin felt it too, but the elder keeps his eyes averted, as if desperately trying to hide something.

Jungkook has always been told that the eyes are the window to the soul.

"FOOD'S FINALLY HERE, GUYS!" the door bursts open and Hoseok and Taehyung step through, each with a tray of food.

"Ooh, food!" Jungkook takes the tray from Taehyung, before Hoseok lays one in front of Jimin. Jimin had to struggle to eat, but with Jungkook's help, he manages to finish the entire tray of food. Jimin smiles as Jungkook helps him wipe the crumbs of the bread from around his lips, and Jungkook can't help but think how kissable those lips are.

Yah! Jeon Jungkook what are you thinking?! 

"Thanks, Kookie," Jimin gives Jungkook his signature eye-smile, and Jungkook has to turn away to hide the growing blush on his cheeks. Unfortunately, his efforts are all in vain.

"Awww, Kookie's blushing!" Taehyung pokes at Jungkook's cheeks, and the Ronso is surprised that Taehyung can even see the tint of red on his blue skin.

"S-Shut up!" Jungkook cries, swatting Taehyung's hand away, and he doesn't dare look back at Jimin.

But Jimin's smiling, thinking about how adorable his Kookie is.

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

"Right, new day, new adventure!" Hoseok pumps his hands in the air, and is only greeted by the faint grumblings of Yoongi, as they get dressed and Hoseok throws both their sleeping clothes (provided by the Al Bhed) into the laundry basket, before heading out of his room to find Namjoon and the rest. 

"Today it'll just be me, you, Namjoonie and Seokjinnie," says Hoseok in a singsong voice, as he knocks on the room that Seokjin and Namjoon had slept in the previous night. "Yah, Seokjin-ah! Namjoon-ah!" Hoseok calls, and the door opens after a few knocks. Seokjin is the one to open the room, and Hoseok can hear the thundering snores from inside the room.

"What?" Seokjin asks, eyes sleepy and annoyed.

"It's already eight!" Hoseok grins. "Shouldn't we be going out to find more of those Celestial Weapon thingies? Plus we haven't thanked Braska yet! We gotta go back and find him and thank him!" 

"Oh...ohhhhh," Seokjin rubs his bleary eyes. "Okay, lemme go wake up Namjoon and get dressed." 

Hoseok gives Seokjin a smile as Seokjin closes the door, and Hoseok and Yoongi are left standing outside.

"We should probably go ask Cid where the Celestial Weapons are," says Yoongi, yawning. "I'll go on first. Meet me at the engine room." 

Hoseok isn't sure if it's because of his intuition, but does Yoongi seem like...he's avoiding him?

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

"There are...two, in fact," says Cid, consulting Buddy's map of the Calm Lands, the pink dots on the map denoting the location of the Celestial Weapons.

"Hmm, okay," Yoongi answers, but his mind is somewhere else.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Cid waves a hand in front of Yoongi's face, and Yoongi snaps out of his daze.

"Sure, sure, whatever," Yoongi says. "Caladbolg and Nirvana, a longsword and a staff. I got it."

"Hey, Yoongi-yah!"

Yoongi turns at the voice, and finds Hoseok with Namjoon and Seokjin. Hoseok grins, "We're ready to go!"

"Right," Yoongi nods, clutching his blitzball with his arm. He is going to have to decide on something...soon. 

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

"Here's Calm Lands...again," Namjoon says, looking over the vast lands. Since Jimin, Jungkook and Taehyung are in the ship, Hoseok thinks the ship won't be leaving anytime soon. 

"The Caladbolg and Nirvana," Yoongi looks down at a device, a radar device with blinking pink dots, showing the location of the Celestial Weapons. 

"Ooh," Hoseok peers over Yoongi's shoulder, and Yoongi realizes the weather is a little too hot. Definitely too hot, when Yoongi feels his neck heating up when he can feel Hoseok's breath on his shoulder, and when he can feel Hoseok's presence a little too near him. "What does that do?" 

"S-Shows us where the Celestial Weapons are," Yoongi manages to answer without stuttering (okay, he did at the first word), and he walks towards the nearest pink dot before...

"YAAAAAAH WATCH OUT YOU LITTLE WHIPPERSNAPPERS!" 

"Eeeeeeeeeeeekkk!" Hoseok shrieks as Yoongi pushes the former out of the way, as a giant monster comes barrelling through where they are standing just a few seconds ago. It's a giant slug-worm thing, and Namjoon looks concerned at the old man trying to get control over the slug-worm. 

"W-Whippersnappers?" Seokjin glares in the direction of the old man, before they realize that the slug-worm is coming back in their direction. 

"GET OFF THE LANDS WHIPPERSNAPPERS UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE STEAMROLLED YEEEEEHAAAW!" The eccentric old man screeches at the four of them. The old man slaps the head of the slug-worm again, and this time, surprisingly, the slug-worm stops, screeching to a halt directly in front of the four.

"Eh, what are you guys doing here? Never seen you around these parts," the old man slaps the slug-worm again, and the slug-worm whimpers before letting the old man down. He jumps off the slug-worm's head, and Yoongi guesses this guy must be at least seventy years old.

Hoseok sniffs the air. There's something about this guy...Hoseok knows exactly what he is, but telling the others probably won't help.

"We're looking for an object around these parts, so please, we'd be going," Seokjin says, but the old man narrows his eyes.

"Looking for an object, huh? You mean the Celestial Weapons?" the old man smirks a little, the wrinkles on his face even more prominent than before.

"H-How did you--?" Namjoon looks shocked and surprised.

"I know everything around these parts," says the old man. "And I can direct you to the Celestial Weapons themselves if you want." 

"Really?" Yoongi steps up to the old man. "I don't want to end up believing you and regretting it later on." 

"Never," the old man says. "For the Caladbolg, the Chocobo Trainer who lives around these parts know where it is. You have to find her." 

"Chocobo Trainer...?" Namjoon thinks for a while. It sounds familiar...did Braska mention...? 

"Well, now that I've given you a clue, I'll be off," the old man says. "Oh, and by the way, I'm Trema and I live just down o'er there. Come after you get the Caladbolg." 

"Why would we do that?" Yoongi questions, a little harshly, but he doesn't care.

"Because I have the other Celestial Weapon, Nirvana, that you're looking for, but in exchange, you've got to do a job for me. But...this won't be an easy job. I want to know if you're up to snuff," the old man says, wagging a finger at Yoongi. "Go get the Caladbolg, and I'll let you do my job. If you succeed, I'll reward you. Handsomely." He climbs atop his slug-worm thing again. "I've got to be off! See ya!" 

With that, the slug-worm heads in the direction of Mount Gagazet, and Yoongi swears the old man's screaming is going to deafen him.

"What an interesting character," Namjoon observes.

"He said he has the Nirvana, right? And he has a job for us," Yoongi grits his teeth.

"Therefore, according to logic, we should go get the Caladbolg and get him to employ us!" 

"You're kidding, right?" Yoongi mutters. "How the h*ll are we going to find the..." 

"EEEEEEEEYAAAAA! WATCH OUT!" 

A yellow Chocobo is tunnelling through their way, and Yoongi feels a sense of deja vu, except Hoseok's the one pushing him out of the Chocobo's path now. 

"Braska looks like he's having a really hard time," Namjoon clicks his tongue, as he watches the boy on the Chocobo trying to control it. 

"I'm really sorry," a voice speaks up from behind them, making Hoseok jump out of fright. The four of them turn around to find a woman standing with her Chocobo. "Braska is a gifted child, but there are just some things..." 

"It's okay," Hoseok smiles, waving it off. "Hey, are you his Chocobo Trainer?" 

"Yup," the woman replies. "Controlling a Chocobo is difficult, even for me. You really have to bond with the Chocobo. That's what Braska's been trying to do, but apparently, the Chocobo doesn't like him so much." 

Wait a minute...Seokjin thinks back to what the old man...Trema, was it?...said. That some Chocobo Trainer knows the location of the Caladbolg...?

"Hey, do you know where the Caladbolg is?" Seokjin suddenly asks, and the woman gives him a surprised look. 

"Excuse me?" 

"The Caladbolg," Seokjin repeats. "The Celestial Weapon." 

"Hmm," the Chocobo Trainer nods her head, before saying, "In that case...I need you to prove your worth. I can't just give the Celestial Weapon to just anybody." 

"What do we have to do?" Namjoon asks.

"You need to do only one thing--beat me in a Chocobo race, and then I'll tell you where it is," the trainer says.

"We've never ridden a Chocobo in our lives," Seokjin protests. "How are we going to--?" 

"I'll train you," the trainer says, smiling. "And li'l Braska there will help me. After the training, I'll challenge you to a Chocobo Race, in which you have to beat me." 

"You're ing kidding," Yoongi mutters. 

"No I'm not," the trainer says. She turns to Seokjin, "You deal in longswords, right? Then the Caladbolg is for you." 

"The Caladbolg is a longsword?"

"Yeah," the trainer says. She whistles in the direction of the road to Mount Gagazet, and sure enough, a Chocobo is bouncing its way over here, before giving a "Kweh!" when it reaches the trainer's side.

"This is Boco, your Chocobo," says the trainer. "You'd be training with him." 

Boco snorts at Seokjin, and Seokjin decides he doesn't like the bird all that much. He's being mocked. By a bird.

"You gotta stop glaring at the bird, Jinnie," Namjoon laughs, watching the eldest shoot daggers at Boco.

"It's being annoying," Seokjin huffs, and Hoseok burst into laughter.

"It's not even doing anything!" 

"It's mocking me!" 

Boco snorts again, before lowering its head so that it's eye to eye with Seokjin, and the two glare at each other for at least thirty seconds.

"You'd better get along, or you'd never beat me." 

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

"That's it! That's it! Almost there!" the trainer claps her hands, as Seokjin struggles with the reins around the Chocobo's beak, trying not to fall off Boco when he just decides to give up on the reins and grab on for dear life on Boco's neck. He swears this bird is just trying to throw him off.

"Watch out!" Seokjin hears Namjoon's voice as a blitzball slams into Boco's front, causing the bird to stumble, and Seokjin to be almost thrown off.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Yoongi says, without any remorse. The trainer had said that the cage of seagulls she's always used for training is missing for now, so she manages to get Yoongi to help out...with his blitzball. Seokjin isn't saying that Yoongi is doing a horrible job, especially since whenever he throws his blitzball, he manages to hit the bulls-eye (i.e. Seokjin and Boco). 

"Come on! Two seconds too slow!" the trainer yells out as Seokjin and Boco crosses the finishing line. 

Boco turns around to snap at Seokjin with its beak, a look of utter distaste on its face, but Seokjin is quick to retaliate, "It's totally your fault! What did I do?" 

"Oh my Yevon," Yoongi slaps his forehead.

"Right, no time to argue! It's almost evening!" the trainer calls. "I want to get this done and over with before nighttime!" 

"I hate you," Seokjin mutters to the bird, and Boco gives him a look that says, Same here.

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

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" the trainer grins, as Seokjin falls off the bird (and into Namjoon's arms, but of course Seokjin will never admit he likes it).

"You were great out there! Just a little more," Hoseok beams at Seokjin, and Yoongi is already fast asleep where he was standing throughout the entire day.

"Like I said, I want to get this done before night falls," the trainer says. "So let's do this, but there's only one catch. You and Boco only has one chance to race me today, so if you lose..." 

"Yeah, I understand," Seokjin nods.

"Yoongi-ah!" the trainer calls, and Yoongi is jolted from his nap. He rubs his eyes sleepily.

"Yeah?" 

"Get ready the blitzballs. The race is starting!" 

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

Seokjin flinches as Boco is hit by yet another of Yoongi's magic blitzballs, and grits his teeth as Boco takes some time to recoil from the damage done, while the trainer avoids all the blitzballs deliberately sent their way, picking up all the balloons along the way. There are three rules to this game: 

1) Get a timing of 0.00 seconds. Sounds impossible, but how to do this? 
2) Each time you get hit by a blitzball, you add 3.00 seconds to your total time.
3) Each time you get a balloon, you deduct 3.00 seconds to your total time.

Well, Seokjin finds that it's safe to admit that he has gotten hit by all the blitzballs while he hasn't gotten a single balloon ever. By the time he and Boco reach the finish line, Yoongi is already asleep and the trainer is looking very bored, and it doesn't help matters that her Chocobo is looking even more bored than she is.

"You really have to buck up," the trainer says. "Tell you what. Challenge me tomorrow. I can do this the whole day, so you don't have to worry about that." 

"Thanks," Seokjin nods, giving one last glare to the bird before he and the rest head back to the airship, completely tuckered out.

"Looks like you're going to have to carry him," Namjoon gestures towards Yoongi, who's still asleep, and Hoseok's cheeks flame. 

"Why do I have to do it?" He complains.

"Because," Namjoon says. "I'm too busy carrying Jinnie and I feel bad waking Yoongi up." 

Hoseok mutters a "Fine", before heading over to Yoongi and Namjoon helps Yoongi onto his back, the elder still sound asleep. Hoseok doesn't find the older heavy at all. In fact, he's lighter than Hoseok expected him to be, but Hoseok can feel Yoongi's breath fanning his shoulders, and he can feel the rhythmic thudding of Yoongi's heart against his back. He can feel Yoongi's eyelashes move against the nape of his neck whenever Yoongi stirs.

Most importantly, Hoseok hears one phrase that he never understood. The one phrase Yoongi has been saying under his breath the entire walk back to the airship in his sleep. 

"I'm sorry, Hoseok-ah." 

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