A/N: Hopefully this huge update will make up for my absence. IM SORRY AGAIN AHH

//

“So I guess we’re keeping her.”

Jin hears Yoongi walk into the room before the man has even said anything. There is something about the way that the heels of his combat boots seem to drag along the gravel, a telltale sign of Yoongi’s footsteps, that always puts Jin on edge.

They are in a different room, away from the girl. There are only two rooms in the whole underground bunker: the half banged-up kitchen and eating space, and then there is the room with the cots, as well as whatever junk the rest of the boys has managed to scrounge together. Separated by a huge door of metal, anything that is said is completely undetectable from anybody on the other side. And then there’s the ceiling entrance in the kitchen up to the real world—stairs in the upwards left corner leading to the vaulted door.

The whole place is lit by multiple lamps, hanging down from the ceiling: cracked light bulbs and glass jars. Yoongi finds a seat at the kitchen table and props his legs up on another chair. He laces his hands together, lolls his head.

Jin sighs. The Water Kind has always had some sort of intellectual seventh sense. He’s grateful for Yoongi’s wisdom and logical thought process, but sometimes, he wishes that Yoongi wouldn’t be so analytical.

“Yeah,” Jin says. Flat. “We are.”

There’s a pause and then Yoongi speaks. His voice has a raspy quality to it, the bottom of his throat sounding like he’s just woken up, or if he’s smoked for a long time. But Jin knows that it’s neither: it’s something else, something Yoongi never wishes to talk about.

“I mean, it makes sense. Hybrids are rare, and we’re missing a strong Air Kind to balance out with Hoseok.”

Jin’s got his back turned towards Yoongi, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Jin’s eyebrows furrow downwards. He knows that Yoongi is just stating facts. Both of them have failed to address the true situation in the room, the question that is just waiting to be asked. But Yoongi isn’t one to pry, and Jin isn’t about to bring it up all by himself. No, no need to reveal more than what is needed.

“That’s true. We need somebody strong, somebody like her.”

“But what if she can’t control it? You saw her,” Yoongi says. “She was going crazy all on her own, and we weren’t even doing anything.”

If you call threatening a person with a blade to their throat “not doing anything.”

Jin looks down at his right hand, the fingers of his other coming to the nail guard that is tucked over his pinky.

It’s a beautiful thing: metal, long and curved and sharp. Though nail guards were originally a thing for women of high status to wear, Jin has found that he loves wearing them. He loves feeling the history of his people whilst having so much dangerous power surrounding it. Femininity and strength. A perfect balance.

The metal is pointed at the ends, curved to the slightest degree. This one is carved out with flower designs, with little birds and branches dotted all along it. It’s one of Jin’s favorites: faded red and white. Even though it’s dusty, it’s still beautiful.

Yoongi, on the other hand, is a bit different.

The only son of the Royal Water Kind, he takes a different sort of pride. Whereas Jin loves to show his true nature through trinkets: nail guards, jade pieces—Yoongi seems to douse himself in his country from head to toe. He’s got this jet black hair that contrasts greatly with the thick gold hoops that he wears through his earlobes, blue crystals dangling daintily from said earrings. His clothes, though faded, are still of a faint blue hue, and he even goes so far as to wear his family heirloom upon his ring finger: a silver and white band topped with diamond crystal.

Yoongi arranges his thick jacket for more a comfortable wear and waits for Jin’s response.

“So?” Yoongi asks. “You sure you want to bring a psycho on board with us?”

“She’s not a psycho,” Jin snaps.

“And how can you be so sure?”

“I—”

Jin gulps. He drops his hands to his sides, takes a deep breath. Stares at the wall, rocky all over from the soil underground. He knows that he’s just rattled from what happened earlier. It makes him want to slap himself, or perhaps slice himself upon the neck altogether. How many people has he gone through, threatened? All without a single falter.

And yet, when this girl just randomly comes along, Jin finds that he can’t keep his emotions tucked in and guarded where he likes them to be.

Jin sighs, turns around to face Yoongi. He takes another seat across from the Water Kind and leans forwards so as to lean his elbows on his knees.

“I’m sorry,” Jin says, raking his hand through his hair. “I’m not thinking straight.”

“It’s okay.”

Jin’s eyes glance upwards at Yoongi. He’s not usually one to be so forgiving.

Yoongi stares back at Jin with that same unwavering gaze.

“The girl, she reminds you of…” Yoongi nods silently, not bothering to finish his sentence. They both know what he’s talking about.

Jin shakes his head. Looks away; doesn’t notice how his hands tighten and the veins upon his arms strain from tension. Thousands of thoughts run through his mind but Jin pushes them all away, forces them out of his mind. He can’t let them in. He just… He can’t.

He doesn’t know what he’ll end up like if he does.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jin responds, his voice a bit dryer than he would like it to be. Jin wants to be strong, he wants to be sure of whatever he chooses to do. He doesn’t like this feeling of not being able to control himself. He’s not quite sure why he’s so out of wack, either.

Or at least, Jin doesn’t really want to admit it. And he doesn’t want to think about it, and he doesn’t want to even let the slightest crack mess up the equilibrium that he has so precariously created.

Yoongi purses his lips. It does matter. But he also knows that he can’t push Jin. Not when they’re just at the beginning of their journey. Jin needs to be in his tip top shape and form, and he can’t let anything get to him. Not now.

“But we’re taking her.”

“Of course we are. You know how powerful Hybrids are.”

“I also know how illegal they are, too.”

Hearing that sentence makes Jin want to rip his brains out. He knows, he knows that he’s not supposed to be working with Hybrids, of all things. But he knows that they also have no choice.

When gender roles and identities started to become blurred, the government put other boundaries into place. There still needed to be some sort of order, after all. Though people weren’t happy about it, they also knew that this was bound to happen: swapping one corral for another. So while the lines of ual identities and gender norms became blurred, the lines between Elements hardened.

The people decided to trade heterouality with single-Element relationships, and it was a successful one.

And so it became the new norm, a new standard for the people to abide to. Though gay and lesbian relationships became legal and approved of, and there was funding for transgender hormone therapy and all sorts of everything in between, these relationships were all restricted by the same one rule: one must only marry their own Kind.

Fire Kinds with Fire Kinds. Earth Kinds with Earth Kinds. Water and Water, Air and Air.

For the most part, it was a win-win situation. The government had been finding a way to deal with the too powerful, too out of control Hybrids, as they called them. Having one Element was already a handful to deal with. But having two? Having two just called for trouble and a complete mess of instability.

So the government bargained, and they got what they wanted: an eradication of Hybrids. And the people got what they wanted as well: freedom for all relationships, for all people.

Except for the Hybrids.

Jin steels at the mini history lesson in his mind. He can’t imagine how much pain and suffering these Hybrids went through. Though they were not killed off or anything, they were required to surpress one of their Elements, and they were not allowed to reproduce either.

“Jin? Jin.”

Jin shuts his eyes. There’s something gnawing at him in the back of his mind. In the deepest pits of his heart.

“Jin.”

Yoongi’s voice snaps Jin out of his slight reverie.

“Stop thinking about it. We’re taking her. Besides, she’ll make up for Hoseok’s Low Air anyways. Okay?”

Jin blinks. He focuses on Yoongi’s face, and not on the dirtied plates in the sink behind him.

“Y-Yeah.”

Yoongi opens his mouth to continue when the door beside them opens.

Hoseok stands in the doorway, his face grim. He throws a thumb behind him, and Jin can see the rest of the boys sitting on the ground, away from the girl. They all look at Jin, they all wait for Jin’s orders, for Jin to say something.

Jin knows that he is responsible for all five of these men and he knows that he cannot let them down.

“She’s waking up,” Hoseok says.

The Low Air is much too thin to be healthy, and Jin knows this. Though Hoseok’s voice and face are usually bright, he must be dying on the inside. His clothes, a rag-tag gray jacket and pants, hang loosely off of his frame, and his blond hair looks more like straw than anything.

And yet Hoseok still manages to crack a smile.

“You should go, Jin. I’m sure she’d want to see you.”

Jin hears snickering from some of the others—Tae and Jimin, no doubt—but decides that he’ll deal with the rascals a little later.

“Okay,” Jin says, standing up. “Y’all get your things packed and ready. We’ll leave at nightfall.”

The group gets to their feet. One by one, they grab their personal bags and rummage through all sorts of belongings that they have left, whether it be from their personal lives or from things that they just managed to collect while staying here. They pad out to the kitchen area and find any last provisions that they might need.

The mood is grim, a sense of finality. Nobody knows if they are even going to be back here, one day.

Probably not.

And Jin, Jin needs to keep his stance up. So he brushes himself up, gets a thumbs up from Yoongi, and strolls into the bedroom.

Uses a firm hand and shuts the door firmly behind him.

“L-Leave?”

Your voice is ragged and weak, but Jin can still hear the fear in your voice.

You’re laid down on the lowest bunk, on the left column. Hoseok’s cot. Trying to sit up, you press a hand to your forehead as you gather your bearings once again.

“W-Where are we going?”

Jin walks forward until he is about two feet away from you, and does not go further.

“How are you feeling?”

Your head aches something fierce, and for some goddamn reason, your vision won’t completely clear up. Trying your best to blink away the sleep and fogginess, you can make out the general figure of Jin standing in front of you.

You tense up.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Jin says, his voice low. Low. Not gentle, but low.

As if on cue, there’s a stinging pain to the cut on your neck. You hiss, tentatively touching the raw area. There’s tacky, half-dried blood on your finger when you pull it away. “Right.”

“I won’t hurt you. I have what I need.”

“You… ‘have what you need’?”

You wish your voice wasn’t so tiny.

Jin walks towards one of the bookshelves against the walls, hands rummaging around through the clutter as he speaks. He talks in even tones, keeping his voice calm despite knowing that both of you are anything but.

“You’re a Hybrid, and we’re keeping you.”

You wish you could say that you are relieved, but your fear has only been replaced with a new one instead.

Your blood runs cold, your bones steeled.

“Keep me?” you croak. You try to remember the last time you had anything to eat or drink. Your stomach feels like a gaping hole in your body, and even though you managed to get some sort of rest, your bodily functions are still not up to par.

Not only that, but you find that your memory is fuzzy as well. The last thing you remember is Jin slitting a cut into your throat, and then it’s all black.

Curse those damn toxins. You press your wrist to your temple, trying to dull your insistent headache.

“Of course,” Jin says with an ease that makes you shudder. He steps away from the shelf, setting several things onto the bed before sitting down next to you.

Instinctively, you scoot backwards.

With that fur over his dark red jacket, it makes what would be a handsome face seem scary, more than anything. He’s got on a loose black tee and dark jeans, black boots on his feet. Everything about him screams dangerous.

As well as those eyes.

The fluorescent amidst brown is so unsettling, you have to look away. You stare at your hands instead, watch your fingers nervously intertwine with one another.

There’s a lump in your throat that you can’t swallow.

Somehow, they found out that you are a hybrid. How—you don’t know. You don’t remember.

Jin pulls at something on his hand and places it down. It’s close enough to your thigh that you can see what it is: a nail guard.

That lump in your throat just gets bigger.  

You haven’t seen nail guards in so long. You remember the ones you would always wear in the past, whether they be tailored for you by your mother, or sometimes even gifts from—

You shut your eyes tight.

No. Don’t think about it.

Taking a deep breath, you force your hand to stay in your lap.

Jin rips something out of a package, and the sound makes you flinch. Just what exactly is he doing? You don’t notice anything particularly threatening until there’s a sharp stinging, right from the cut on your neck.

“Don’t move,” Jin commands. “I’m just cleaning you up.”

The scent of rubbing alcohol then hits your nose, and you realize what he’s doing now.

He’s disinfecting your cut.

Wiping the dried blood away, Jin swaps the small alcohol-soaked cotton pad and trades it for a soft ointment instead.

“We’re going to start on our travels soon,” he says. His touch is so different than the way he looks. His fingers are gentle, patting the medicine onto your cut. “We don’t need you to have a neck infection.”

You wish you could nod in response, but that would just move your neck around instead. But it seems like Jin doesn’t really need an answer.

“I need you to be honest with me,” he begins. “This isn’t just about you anymore. It’s for the wellbeing of my boys.”

He pulls his hand away and reaches for something else.

“W-What’s—”

“Let me explain.”

You try not to notice the vicinity of how close he is to you, so close that you can feel his breath upon your neck.

“Hybrids are strong. You obviously know why—because they have two Elements instead of one.”

He tears something open yet again.

“I need you to tell me the truth. Not just for me or my boys, but yourself as well.”

Tenderly, you feel the stickiness of a bandage pressed to your neck.

There’s a tense moment of quiet in between the two of you. His thumbs soothe over your now covered cut, fingers dancing lightly along the expanse of skin. You suddenly feel so hot, and then it clicks—

Because Jin is burning up.

You glance over at him worriedly. Fire Kinds don’t usually heat up unless—

Jin turns his head away. His hands fall.

With his elbows on his knees, hunched over, there is something peculiar in his stance. Only a minute ago, he had been so strong. Loud and demanding and ready to kill with one slice of the throat.

And yet sitting here next to you, he looks almost…

Timid.

Scared.

But then he turns to look over at you—no, not look.

Stare.

And you feel yourself inching backwards all over again. Timid? Afraid?

Nope, not this guy.

“W-What do you want to know?” you ask quietly.

His voice is firm when he speaks.

“I need to know just how much control you have. Over your Fire Element, over your Air. I can’t let a loose cannon in my group. I hope you understand that.”

In another time, you would’ve felt slightly insulted to be called a “loose cannon”.

But then you think of the past, and you can’t help but silently agree with Jin.

You clear your throat. Jesus, it’s so dry.

“I have almost complete control over my Fire Element. It’s the Air…” you shudder. Glance down at the ground. Glance up at Jin again.

He’s still staring at you.

“It’s the Air Element that you can’t?” he offers.

Softly, you nod.

Jin his lips.

“I think that I might be able to help with that.”

Your head snaps up so quickly that it makes your neck ache. Your voice is suddenly too loud, so desperate. Worry and concern cling to your words and you wish that you didn’t sound so much like a beggar.

“Really? You can? Please, I’ll do anything—”

“Show me your wrist.”

His curt response makes you wilt slightly, but nevertheless, you place both of your wrists together in front of him to see.

And Jin’s eyes land on the moonstone bracelet.

His hand gravitates towards it almost immediately, with not a single extra thought at all. It glistens all on its own even though there’s barely any light underground. Polished to perfection, the lone gem is looped around a circlet of silver, an easy clasp holding it there.

The pads of his fingers touch the bracelet, and you immediately pull it back.

A million thoughts run around screaming in your mind, but only one is coherent.

Your heart races, beats so fast you feel as if you might faint all over again.

You can’t do this. What is he trying to get at? Why is touching it? The bracelet, your mother gave it to you! Your mother, your mother, your mother—

Your mother, bleeding.

And those last words she spoke, right before the life drained out of her.

“Never use it. Swear to me.”

And yet, that's the promise Jin is trying to get you to break, isn't it?

//

A/N: I'm not super happy with the ending, but hopefully some things are beginning to make snese. It's a lot to take in, I know! If you have any comments that you would like to share, please do, as well as subscribe and upvote! Commenting and all that jazz really perks me up and motivates me to write, so if I seem to slack off in between chapters, just give me a little *pat pat* and the next chapter will come a lot faster, trust me, haha! Hope you all are having a good weekend. Love y'all! xoxo