"Don't wait for me. Go sleep. I promise I'll be back before tomorrow morning.--Yoongi" 

Jimin flips the note over and over again, "There's gotta be something else...like a secret code or something!"

"No way," Jungkook mutters, yawning. "That's all there is to it. If Yoongi doesn't come back by tomorrow morning, we'll go look for him. I really need to get some sleep."

"Fine," Hoseok pouts, sitting down on his bed, and Jimin knows he can't help but worry.

"He'll be fine," Jimin sits down on the bed next to Hoseok. "Yoongi's stronger than we think. He can handle himself pretty well." 

Hoseok nods, before smiling a little, "Sorry that I bothered you. I guess I'll just wait for him to come back."

"Alright then," Jimin returns the smile before standing up and walking towards a sleepy Jungkook leaning against the doorjamb. "I'll be in my room if you need anything..."

"Actually, don't come. I need to sleep," Jungkook waves a goodbye as Jimin swipes at his shoulder and Hoseok laughs. However, when the door closes, Hoseok lies back against his bed, closing his eyes. He's actually, genuinely, concerned for Yoongi's safety, but why? Maybe he knows the guy way better than he thinks. It's just that he can't remember.

Yoongi said he'd be back in the morning. Hoseok has no choice but to trust the blonde.

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

"There," Trema says, standing back to stare at his masterpiece. "That must've been painful."

"Not really," Yoongi looks at his own new arm, void of bandages, and he can control it fully. He swipes at air, nodding as it moves fluidly. Black majesty, he'd call it.

"Right, whatever," Trema says. "You're sweating buckets and trembling."

"Any catch?" Yoongi looks back at Trema.

"This is the second time in my entire years of undead...ness, that I've done this successfully," Trema says. "The first guy got consumed by the darkness of the fiend. The stronger the fiend, the more darkness, and all the more you have to be careful." 

"How do I...stop this darkness, then?" Yoongi asks.

"Don't get overwhelmed by your emotion...eh, bad ones, at least," says Trema. "The fiend your arm comes from represents anger and hatred, so if you feel it too strongly, you might get taken over by the fiend."

"Taken over? As in how?"

"The fiend will take over your body, and possess you, and you won't be in your right mind," Trema says lazily. "Oh, and you might want to be careful...there's someone you want to protect, right? With that arm? Make sure you don't hurt them instead."

Yoongi nods, a very serious expression on his face.

"Well, run along now," Trema says, turning back to his now-cold coffee. "Bet your friends are waiting."

Yoongi nods again, before turning around and disappearing silently through the crack in the mountain walls. Trema turns back to his tent, and notices the intrusion.

"Oh, it's you," Trema sighs.

"What's with the sigh?" Irvirian steps out from the shadows. "Lesca asked me to come find you."

"For what?"

"Train the brats," Irvirian says. "You've got a whole army of the monsters, right? Should be sufficient for their training. Plus, you can make your own."

"True, that," Trema says, a smile gracing his lips. "Lesca likes to make use of her resources...and you're just her errand boy."

"Shut up, old croon," Irvirian mutters.

"Well," Trema nods. "I'll see what I can do."

"Lesca sends her thanks," Irvirian says, before disappearing.

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

Yoongi sneaks into the room upon listening at the door and hearing quiet breathing from the inside of the room. He shuts the door as lightly as he can, and tiptoes over to his bed, carefully climbing into the blanket and groaning when he can't even lie on his left side now (because the arm is bulky as h*ck).

Yoongi lies awake for the longest time, staring up at the ceiling and the rotating blades of the fan, before he can feel sleep overtaking him. He closes his eyes, and falls into a dreamless slumber till morn.

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

"Where were you? And what da h*ll is with that arm?!" Taehyung yells when Yoongi greets him with a yawn first thing in the morning. Yoongi snaps awake and glares at the other Al Bhed.

"Quiet! Hobi's still sleeping," Yoongi growls.

"Oooooohh! So cuuuuute! Calling him Hobi!" Taehyung teases, and Yoongi mutters something akin to "I'll murder you in your sleep one day". "Anyway, you've got to explain what's with the arm. It's cool!"

Well, Yoongi didn't expect this development.

"Oh, and Jimin and the rest are up and about already," Taehyung shrugs. "Hobi's probably the last to wake up."

"Sure, sure," Yoongi yawns again. "You go wake him up. I'm going to get breakfast from the dining hall."

"Eh, I got your breakfast already," Taehyung says, jabbing his elbow at the machina next to him, which is carrying two trays of food. "Cid said he wanted to go power up our weapons today, and apparently, he said that there's a big monster thing refusing to move and the old man is demanding we come out."

Yoongi hums, nodding as he goes to wake up Hoseok, with a little trepidation. How would Hoseok respond? Taehyung is...an open-minded exception.

"Wake up, Hoseok!" Yoongi shakes the Guado gently, before he discovers that Hoseok has tears all over his face. "Yah! Hoseok! Wake up!"

Hoseok blinks suddenly, once, then twice, then sits up, almost knocking Yoongi off his feet.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't see you there," he wipes his face hurriedly, turning away from Yoongi.

"Don't sweat it. I'm really fine," Yoongi huffs as he picks himself off the ground, using his other arm like a normal, human one. "We're heading over to Cid's soon...you'd better wash up."

"O-Oh, okay," Hoseok nods, before getting up, sniffling a little, and heading over to the bathroom, leaving Yoongi puzzled.

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

"Today, your agenda's supposed to be...finding the Mercury Crest, then going to Macalania to power up your weapons," Cid says, scratching his head. "But something's blocking our way."

"Right, there's something in the way, isn't there?" Seokjin says.

"Yeah," Cid affirms. "Seriously bad. We can't even take off if the old geezer doesn't move." 

"You mean Trema?" Jimin asks.

"I don't know what's his name, but you'd better go out there and tell him to get his *ss away from the airship, or else this thing's not flying and you won't get your weapons powered up at all," says Cid, one hand on his hip.

"Oh," Jimin nods. He turns to Namjoon and Seokjin. "Have you seen Yoongi and Hoseok?"

"Probably still sleeping," Namjoon shrugs. "But Tae woke us up. He's probably gone waking everyone else up."

Just at that moment, the door bursts open, and Hoseok walks in, along with Taehyung. "S-Sorry I'm late!"

"Took you long enough," Cid grunts. "Where's the blonde?"

"He...He'll join us later," Hoseok says, a little flustered.

Jungkook nods, frowning a little, before he moves nearer Jimin to make space for Hoseok, arm brushing against Jimin's and he instantly feels some sort of electric shock travelling up his arm.

"Anyway, one of you go talk to the man outside. He's seriously blocking the airship...and the sun," Cid says, nodding at the windscreen of the Farenheit, and Jungook nearly slaps his forehead when he realizes that Trema is just sitting there, cross-legged on that big slug thing of his hand refusing to move, looking like a very old and wrinkly stubborn child.

"I'll go," Jimin nods, before disappearing out the door.

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

Yoongi watches from a blind spot as Jimin walks by him, seemingly not noticing him. Yoongi walks out from the shadows and he walks on over to the control room.

"Oh, you're--what in Yevon's name is that?" Cid cries, pointing at his arm.

"Yeah, Yoongi...that's cool as h*ll," Namjoon grins. "What did you do, huh?"

"That's...I don't know whether to call it disgusting or...simply demonic," Seokjin's face becomes one of disgust.

"Well, I want to know, one, what that is, and two, why you did it," Hoseok folds his arms, worry in his eyes.

"This is a fiend's arm, the one that I brought out of the Cavern of the Fayth the other day," Yoongi says ("It was just yesterday!"). "That's one. And two, I can't tell you the reason."

"Seriously?" Taehyung walks over to Yoongi, patting the arm. "Can you feel it? It's so cool!"

"Yes, I can feel it, dumb*ss," Yoongi mutters.

"Anyways, no biggie," Namjoon nods. "Okay, let's wait till Jimin comes back and we'll set off for Macalania." 

Well, Yoongi's jaw almost drops when he realizes they've just brushed it off like nobody's business.

All except one person.

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

"Why're you out there, Trema?!" Jimin calls up at the old man sitting atop the slug.

"I need to talk to you, whippersnapper!" Trema shouts back, sliding down the smooth skin of the slug and he lands nicely on the ground.

"Talk? About what?" Jimin looks intrigued.

"Talk about your training," Trema says. "You need to get stronger."

"Well, that's what Cid said too!" Jimin nods. "But, well, we agreed to train under him..."

"Oh," Trema looks disgusted. "Well, tell him to get lost. I'll be the one training you now."

"B-But then he won't help us find the Celestial Weapons!"

Trema seems to consider this. "Tell him to come out and we'll talk."

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

"They're taking an awfully long time..." Jimin mumbles, before turning back to Yoongi. "How'd you get the old man to sew that arm onto you?" 

"Hmm...just ask. No big deal," Yoongi mutters. "But it's painful though."

"Then you shouldn't have done that," Jimin says. "Your health's more important."

Yoongi harrumphs, before turning to face the windscreen and watching Cid talk to the old man. He turns again when the scene gets boring, and finds himself staring into grey, swirling irises of a certain Guado...standing directly in front of him.

"Y-Yah!" Yoongi screeches, his head hitting the glass, and apparently, grabbed the attention of Jimin and company.

"Oops, I wanted to ask if you were alright, but I guess I was a little too close," Hoseok smiles a little, before moving away slightly, and Yoongi has to calm his palpitating heart...but he fails.

Yoongi swears he sees Jimin and Jungkook smirking and Taehyung trying to hold in laughter.

"S-Stop laughing!" Yoongi cries indignantly. 

"Sorry," Jimin grins widely. "It's just--"

"Hey!" Cid calls from the door. "No PDA in here! Get a room!" He strides quickly into the room as red tinges both Yoongi and Hoseok's cheeks. Almost as if nothing's happened, he walks to his seat and crashes his into the swivel chair. "You all will be heading there to train after you get your Celestial Weapons. Enough said. We're gonna crash Macalania Forest first. Hold on tight!"

Yoongi hasn't heard a single thing Cid said, thinking only about how close their lips were. 

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

The trip to Macalania Forest isn't long, and Jimin swears they could have just walked there. When they land, Buddy points to a tree high up from the ground, with a pulsing crystal in the middle, radiating immense power.

"Use the mirror," Cid says, and shoves it over to Jimin's hands. Jimin takes it, and walks up to the crystal with the mirror, wondering what he's supposed to do, but he doesn't have to do anything. A light beam shoots from the crystal onto the mirror, and is reflected onto his Nirvana, two embedded crystals (on the Nirvana) lights up, sparkling.

"Whoa, look at that," Jimin holds up the now-golden Nirvana (it was dusty as h*ll just a while ago) and he swings it around, a light dust of green glitter following its every move.

"According to the Al Bhed Archives, and the History of Spira, volume three hundred and two, the Nirvana allows the holder to cast the ultimate White Magic spell Holy," says Buddy, walking up to them. He eyes the Caladbolg as Seokjin walks towards the giant crystal to power it up. "And the Caladbolg allows the holder to learn and use the ultimate attack for a Soldier--Energy Rain."

"Whoa," Jimin grins, staring at his weapon. 

"Let's drop the two of you off at your training ground...and we need to be getting the rest of the Celestial Weapons." Cid pauses, pondering something for awhile, before he lifts his head up again.

"Actually, it'll be faster if we all split up and looked for a weapon," says Cid. "Two people in one team, or else it'll be too dangerous."

"I wanna go with Kookie!" Jimin grins, grabbing onto Jungkook's arm, and the younger gulps at the contact.

"Right, you two go together," says Cid, pointing to Namjoon and Seokjin, and the both of them nod, Namjoon looking a little pleased. He then nods at Yoongi and Hoseok. "And you two." He turns to Taehyung, "You go with Buddy and I'll go with Brother."

"Sure, sounds cool," Taehyung nods. 

"Let's head back to the airship first. The map of our findings are back there."

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

"You and Buddy go get the Mercury Crest," says Cid, before turning to Namjoon and Seokjin. "Both of you head to the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth." Now to Yoongi and Hoseok: "Both of you to Luca." Jimin and Jungkook: "Go to Besaid Island, and we'll head on over to Baaj Temple."

"Alright." 

Seokjin and Namjoon are the first to leave, claiming that the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth isn't far anyway, and they didn't need to enter the cave--only skirt the outside.

Yoongi and Hoseok leave next, the green-haired Guado waving enthusiastically to the airship even as it drops them off near Mi'ihen Highroad (so as not to get caught by Crusaders and Yevonite guards).

Jimin and Jungkook are dropped off next, Jimin breathing in the salty scent of the sea breeze that he's missed so much.

Taehyung and Buddy are dropped off on Bikanel Island, near an oasis.

Cid and Brother land the airship on a pile of rubble near Baaj Temple.

And so the hunt begins.