Jungkook coughs once or twice. He opens his eyes, his eyelids hurting to even open. What greets him is a single lamp over his makeshift bed. He turns his head, feeling a sort of throbbing in his neck. He was in some kind of tent.

Oh well, at least that means it's not heaven and I haven't died. Jungkook thinks to himself. He moves his head back again and closes his eyes, feeling too tired to move. He hears something rustle and a blast of cold air. He watches as someone walks over to him, opening his eyes a peek so that the person might think he was asleep. Red hair.

Red hair equals Jimin. 

Jimin sits beside him, making the small tent rustle again and the light above it swing slightly from left to right. It was a small tent alright--it could barely fit the two of them. 

"I screwed up, Kookie," Jimin mutters, running a hand through his hair. "Tae won't talk to me anymore." 

Jungkook wants to sigh, and ask what he has done now. Usually, Jimin was the one breaking up Jungkook and Taehyung's little scuffles, not the one starting a fight. And how did Jimin manage to fight with Taehyung right after Sin showed up? That's wicked; at least, Jungkook thinks so. But incredibly stupid. 

"Yeah, I know you probably can't hear this, but I yelled at him, like, 'what if I told you Kookie died?'" Jimin mutters, looking more stressed out than usual. Jungkook says nothing, nor does he respond. 

"I was hoping, you know, that maybe if you'd just wake up, it'll help resolve the conflict?" Jimin chuckles bitterly. "I'm just rambling off right now. There weren't enough airships to get us all out of there, so yeah, we're stuck at Mi'ihen Highroad until morning." 

Morning? What time is it, anyway? 

"I'll see you later, I guess. Jeez, this tent is too small." 

As Jimin moves, Jungkook's hand shoots out to grab his ankle, making the older boy yelp in surprise. 

"What the h*ll did you do now, Jimin?" Jungkook hisses.

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

Taehyung stares out at the night sky, watching the millions and millions of stars twinkle overhead. He is doing his best not to concentrate on the mass destruction inflicted upon Luca. 

"Taehyung..." Taehyung whirls around, to find Namjoon walking over.

"I don't want to talk to anybody right now," Taehyung turns back, hugging his knees and burying his head between them. 

Namjoon sits down beside him, sword clanking as it hits the ground. "Thanks for...earlier." 

"You knew?" 

"There was no way we could survived that blast, but you saved us, right?" Namjoon chuckles. "It wasn't that hard to figure out, really." 

Taehyung shrugs. "It was just two Lunar Curtains." 

There was silence for a while, before Namjoon breaks it. "You should go talk to Lord Jimin, you know." 

"And? What's there to talk about?" Taehyung's voice got way deeper and there was bitterness behind it. 

"You'll find out," Namjoon nods. "Look, promise to talk to him later, alright? Right now, I need to go check up on Hoseok. Wanna follow?" 

Taehyung doesn't say anything as he stands up and walks behind Namjoon.

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

"Ah, you're here," Seokjin looks up as he sees two people entering the tent. He narrows his eyes at Taehyung. "I didn't expect you to come, Al Bhed." 

"Shut it already, jack*ss," Taehyung snaps back, and Seokjin looks appalled, if not even angrier. 

"Not in a very good mood, right now," Namjoon says. "So, how's...?" He doesn't even need to finish his sentence. There was a bandage wrapped tightly around Hoseok's eye, and there was dried blood on the bandage. There was a giant piece of gauze taped to his cheek, to stop infection of the gash and his arms and legs were wrapped tightly with bandages. 

"Lost his eye," Seokjin shakes his head. "At least, he didn't lose both." Seokjin stands up. "Despite all the medication he's been receiving, I doubt he's going to wake up in the next hour or so. You guys should probably get some rest." 

"Where's Yoongi?" Namjoon asks.

"Sleeping," Seokjin answers. "Woke up just a while ago, and went back to sleep. Hoseok lost an eye, and he lost an arm. Yoongi didn't feel too happy about that, though, despite him saying 'I'm fine.'" 

Namjoon nods at Taehyung, "Go sleep. I'll sit here." 

Taehyung nods, giving one last look at the Guado he'd grown so fond of. The Guado that was the Happy Virus of the team, making lame jokes and being so positive about everything. He exits the tent and finds Seokjin standing outside, a piece of paper in his hand. 

"What do you want, Yevonite?" Taehyung growls. "Don't you know when to give up?" 

"I'm not going to get that kind of sh*t from you right now," Seokjin shoves the paper in Taehyung's face, the paper still fragile but relatively dry. Taehyung looks at the paper. Wanted: Hoseok Guado.

"We're travelling with a stupid outlaw," Seokjin spits.

Taehyung stares at the piece of paper in disbelief. Sure enough, it was Hoseok's face on it, looking very grim. 

"We should leave him here. He's not going to recover, ever," Seokjin says. "We don't have to lug that--" 

Before Seokjin could continue, he felt something hard slap against his face. His head snaps to the side and sees Taehyung's dark expression, eyes shining. The pain took a while to come, and when it did, Seokjin could feel stinging on his cheek. He reaches up to touch it, more shocked that furious. He turned to glare down at the Al Bhed who'd dared mar his beautiful face.

"He's our ing friend, and you can leave if you want to," Taehyung grits his teeth, snarling at Seokjin before heading off towards a small tent. One that's big enough to only fit one person.

Seokjin stares after him. Half-impressed and half-furious.

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

Jimin wakes up to the sound of birds chirping as he stretches, yawning. Funny, how yesterday was a day of fights and squabbles and not to mention that pandemonium that ensued and today, he was woken up by the birds' merry chirping. 

Only, they weren't birds that could fly. Jimin peeks out of his tent to come face to face with the legs of a giant, yellow bird. 

A chocobo. 

A chocobo, as Jimin recalls from a book written by a scholar, was a yellow bird with a for a plant called Gysahl Greens. The chocobo is riderless, and Jimin stands up, grinning at the chocobo. "Hi, there!" 

The chocobo chirps happily, nuzzling its head into the crook of Jimin's neck. Jimin laughs as the feathers tickle him, and the chocobo pulls away. 

"I'll see you later," Jimin pats the chocobo's head. "I'll call you Choco, alright?" He looks at the chocobo's neck, and notices a scar along the line of its neck. Choco chirps again, and walks off in the opposite direction. Apparently, someone had called it over. 

Jimin realizes that he's not the only one of his tiny group awake. Yoongi was sitting near the cliff, his legs dangling off it, and Jimin's heart clenches as he looks at the empty sleeve flowing with the wind. There was no way to get him out of there alive if they hadn't done that. Seokjin said that Yoongi had understood, that Yoongi knew that he would've died had they not chopped his arm off. 

Well, chopped is a horrible way of putting it. Jimin thinks, trying to come up with a better word as he walks over to Yoongi, and plops himself down beside him. 

"Oh, hi, Jimin," Yoongi looks out into the distance. "Had a good night's sleep?" 

"Yeah," Jimin nods. "Are you...okay?" 

Yoongi pauses for a while, "If you mean the arm, I'm more than grateful. Sure, I may not be able to play blitzball again...but I'm alive." 

"Tae won't talk to me anymore..." Jimin mutters, looking down at his feet, also dangling off the cliff edge. 

"He will, in time," Yoongi says. "I heard about what happened from Jungkook." 

"Kookie? He's awake?" 

"He's a Ronso--he heals much quicker than the rest of us," Yoongi shrugs. "He went to help with the bringing of medication." He chuckles. "I wanted to go help too, but well, Jungkook pointed out my arm and forced me to stay here..." 

"Yeah, you should stay," Jimin nods. "Hey, I just wanted to ask you...do you...still want to be my Guardian? I mean, look at what that's brought you into. I mean, if you hadn't become my Guardian..." Tears gather in Jimin's eyes.

"Relax, kid," Yoongi ruffles Jimin's hair. "I've already adjusted to it anyway. If you can, go help Kookie." 

"Kookie's mad at me too," Jimin shrugs. "Well, not really mad, but a little...annoyed." 

"Go talk to him," Yoongi says. "Nothing good would ever come out of just sitting here." 

"U-Uh, okay," Jimin nods and gets up. "I'll go and find Kookie." 

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

Hoseok opens his eyes...or eye. He can't see anything from his left eye, if there is even an eye left for him to see anything out through. Hoseok's cheek hurts. His arms hurt. His legs hurt. It hurts even to move. 

"Ah, don't move yet," Namjoon mutters. He is reading a book and sitting beside Hoseok, sword at his side. 

"Where'd you even get that?" Hoseok's voice is hoarse, as he eyes the book that Namjoon has in his hand. 

"Art of Warfare," Namjoon says. "I was bored. I kept this book since I got it five years ago." 

"Wow," Hoseok scrunches up his nose, trying to make an itch near his nose go away. "I never thought you were the type of person to read." 

"You sure can talk a lot for someone who almost got killed," Namjoon grins. "If you're feeling better, you can come out and get a bit of sunshine." With that, he disappears out of the tent, leaving Hoseok alone. 

Hoseok barely has time to close his eye again and sleep when he hears another rustling of the tent, and another figure walks in, his head bowed. Hoseok recognizes him instantly. 

"You look distraught," Hoseok chuckles. 

"You look horrible," Taehyung shoots back. He was obviously not very happy right now. A moment of silence passed between them before Taehyung broke it. "When were you going to tell us?" 

"Tell what?" 

"This," Taehyung holds out the piece of paper that Seokjin had given to him yesterday. "You know, I thought that since we were different races from the rest and didn't get along as well, I thought we might be best friends, you know. Apparently, we aren't. Best friends tell each other everything, and you didn't tell me this." 

Hoseok doesn't say anything as he sees his own face staring up at him from the poster.

"You ing lied to us. Not outright, but it was subtle, and you got all of us fooled!" Taehyung is screaming now, his face a mask of anger and betrayal. "Well, when were you going to tell us, huh?"

"I wasn't...ever going to," Hoseok admits. "I was hoping we didn't have to pass by Guadosalam..." 

"Why then, didn't you tell us?" Anger flashes in Taehyung's eyes. 

Hoseok bites his lip, like he always does when he's contemplating an answer to a question. 

"I wasn't sure you'd accept me." 

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

"Kookie?" 

Jungkook turns around to find Jimin standing there, the elder a little nervous. 

"What?" Jungkook tries to sound annoyed, but of course, he couldn't. Not with his childhood friend.

"I'm sorry," Jimin mumbles. "You're probably mad at me right now--" 

"Nah," Jungkook shakes his head, realizing he'd never be that angry at Jimin. "I think Tae's just overreacting." Jungkook puts down the boxes he's carrying, and envelopes Jimin in a hug. "We'll talk to him later, alright?" 

Jimin nods, really needing to feel the warmth of a hug right now as tears brimmed in his eyes. 

"Ah, I guess I'd better get back to work," Jungkook nods. "You wanna help me? After these few boxes, if Hoseok and Yoongi are ready to leave, we can." 

"E-Err, sure," Jimin nods, helping Jungkook with one of the boxes. He brings them over to where Jungkook motioned him to go.

"Kookie." 

"Hmm?" 

"Do you think Tae'll forgive me?" 

Jungkook falls silent. He knows that Taehyung and Jimin had been friends even before Jungkook had entered the picture. Jimin had saved Taehyung's life, after all. These two had saved Jungkook's. 

"Maybe." 

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

"You sure you're good to go?" Seokjin asks. 

Hoseok doesn't smile. In fact, he looks pretty depressed at the moment. Maybe it's his narcolepsy again? Seokjin shrugs as he starts shoving things into his rucksack. 

"I know you know about me." 

Seokjin stops in his tracks. "For how long?" 

"Ever since Tae came and yelled at me about it," Hoseok manages a weak laugh, but it was a bitter and sour one. 

"I'm mad at you too," Seokjin mutters. Sure, he may have had a fit about it the first time he saw it, but now, his fury faded to annoyance. "Actually, more like pissed." 

"Yeah, you have every right," Hoseok pushes himself up, wincing at the pain. "All of you do." 

"Saying that isn't really helping matters, is it?" Seokjin says. "You should come clean. Tell the rest of the Guardians and...Lord Jimin. I can think of some who'd probably hate you, but I'm betting Lord Jimin wouldn't." 

"Why're you suddenly so nice?" 

"What are you talking about? I'm always nice," Seokjin smirks. "Look, take a bite of your breakfast or better yet, finish the whole thing, and apologize. To everyone." 

Hoseok looks out of the hole in the tent. There was a light breeze, and the sun was not yet as high in the sky. He notices a plate of mixed berries and fried Sallet sandwich placed in front of him. Sallet meat was rare--especially since it took ages to dig its meat out of its hard shell, so Sallet meat was an expensive delicacy in Luca. 

"How'd you get that?" Hoseok looks amazed. He was practically inhaling his breakfast. 

"Met a few on the way just now. Thought I'd get a bit it for breakfast," Seokjin says. "I'll be outside. Come out when you're ready." 

The weight of it sinks in as Hoseok watches Seokjin leave the tent. How was he ever going to let them know? Or had Taehyung gone to everyone and told them already? Hoseok shakes his head as he chases all thoughts from his mind.

First thing's first. Food.  

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

"Ah! Nothing like a good weather to start the day!" Jimin exclaims, as he has finished helping Jungkook bring all the boxes to the tents from a certain Rin's Travel Agency just down the road. The agency had offered chocobo rides as payment, but Jimin waves them off, grinning. "We'll walk, or if Hobi or Yoongi...?" 

"No need," Hoseok says, and Yoongi nods in agreement. 

The mood between the Guardians were tensed. Jungkook has somehow latched himself onto Jimin's arm, and Namjoon looked a little detached. Seokjin too. Hoseok is biting his lip, as if in deep concentration, and Taehyung just looks a hundred percent done with the world. Yoongi is travelling way behind, staring at the ground, feigning interest in the little pebbles littering the dirt floor. 

"Hey, what the h*ll's wrong with you guys?" Jimin asks, turning back. "Cheer up!" Realizing that no one's really listening to him, Jimin tries again. "D*mmit, guys! Come on! Alright, who wants to start first?"

"There's nothing to say," Taehyung mutters through gritted teeth. Ouch. Jimin remembered he wanted to talk to Taehyung, but he hasn't. And now, Taehyung seems to be directing his venom at anything that moves, including Jimin. Taehyung had been this way before he opened up to Jimin too. Angry and lashing out at anything with more that one leg. Of course, that included flans, despite them having zero legs. 

"Of course there is! If not, you wouldn't be so dejected like it's your last day on this planet!" Jimin flashes his eye-smile. "C'mon, who wants to start speaking?" 

The Guardians look at each other, as if communicating via telepathy, leaving Jimin in the dark. 

"I think Hoseok should go first," Seokjin says. 

Everyone stares at the Guado, whose ears have gone beet red.

"Uh...well..." 

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

"That's so cool!" Jimin cries, grabbing Hoseok's hands. 

"W-What?" Hoseok looks startled, and all the Guardians are now staring at the two. At Jimin, mostly. 

"So cool?" Yoongi roars. "He's a friggin' outlaw for Yevon's sake!" 

"No, I mean...it's really cool! I can't find words to describe it!" Jimin pumps his fists in the air. "I mean, you're kind of the only outlaw person besides us." He points to Jungkook and Taehyung and himself. Taehyung rolls his eyes and Jungkook smiles apologetically. "We're always known as thieves, you know, so it's really cool to find one of your kin, you know." 

"No, I don't know," Seokjin mutters. 

"It doesn't bother you?" Namjoon looks at Jimin incredulously. 

"Why should it bother me? At least, not until we reach Guadosalam or meet some Guados along the way," Jimin shrugs. "So far, we've been to Besaid, Kilika and Luca, and Luca isa giant city. I mean, if no one from Luca recognizes him, I say we let Hobi come along." He glances over at Hoseok. "If you'd want to continue with us." 

Hoseok nods. He knows the weight of what Jimin's offering him. 

"Of course." 

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

It isn't after a while that Jimin realizes that it is because of Hoseok that everyone seemed tired and detached. But now, everyone was lively again, talking to one another...except Taehyung. He looks like he's walking aimlessly, only following the person in front of him, and it happens to be Jungkook. The only person Taehyung would talk to was Jungkook, Jimin notes, and that he's even avoiding Hoseok. 

Jimin scratches his head. What happened between them? Well, it's probably some small thing. Hobi doesn't even know either so...Jimin turns to look at his group of Guardians once again, earning a "Hmm?" from Yoongi. 

He smiles and says "Nothing", before continuing his walk, Jungkook somehow still attached to him. 

Jimin spares one last glance towards Taehyung before he turns back. At the next temple past Mushroom Rock Road, he'd find Taehyung and tell the latter that he was sorry, and apologize. Taehyung was hard to deal with when he was pissed and furious, and Jungkook knows that. 

With that sort of resolve in his head, Jimin leads his Guardians on to Mushroom Rock Road.

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