No. No. No.

That two-letter word repeats itself over and over in his head like an ominous mantra as he throws open each and every door. As he expected, they're all devoid of you, yet his heart still grows heavier and heavier as he moves from one room to the next and the little hope he has of finding you grows dimmer. Calling out your name is useless, he knows that, but he shouts for you anyway.

Breathless, he bursts into his living room to find Namjoon, Hoseok and Jin surrounding Ga-In's lifeless body. Yoongi is lounging on the three-seater sofa, looking like he's had the wind knocked out of him, yet still appearing like he's at home. Which is probably exactly how he feels. Again Jungkook realises with a pang that he doesn't know enough about your daily routine outside the time you spend with him as much as he should. That he should have taken more interest in the people he holds most dear. Well, now is his chance to make sure that it isn't too late. At least when it comes to you.

He didn't know Ga-In very well. Truthfully he only remembers seeing her in passing during her occasional visits to the house to see you. Still, the sight of someone he knows personally in this state makes him a little sick. It's all he can do not to imagine you like that, or worse, as he knows how the second victims of the pairs tend to turn out. To try and distract himself, he tries to focus on the bouquet of white lilies that have been tenderly placed in her left arm. The white petals seem serene and beautiful in an otherworldly way, and certainly out of place between Hoseok's hands, which are almost inappropriately b with life. While Namjoon is carefully examining the state of the body with his gloved hands, Jin is staring at her face with a mildly disgusted expression.

"I wish he'd stop stuffing their mouths," he grumbles, and Jungkook immediately understands the reason behind his disgruntled face. Without waiting for instructions, Jin pries open with care. Feeling even more ill at the sight, Jungkook looks away until Jin has fished the content inside and placed it in his gloved hand.

"What is it?" Jungkook knows that he has to focus on deciphering the clues if he wants any chance of seeing you again. Still, his eyes refuse to look at the girl lying on the floor, unconsciously working extra hard to look solely at the small insect in Jin's palm. Which is just as well, as it is a very small specimen — the larva can't have been any longer than one centimeter.

"Another larva?" After encountering them in some of the recent cases, Jungkook is quick to catch on. Jin nods his confirmation.

"Megaselia scalaris, or phorid fly." With a small shudder, he slides the larva into a small translucent bag. Jungkook remembers Namjoon's remark wondering why Jin chose his current field of expertise considering how squeamish he is, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, Jungkook motions for the zoologist to go on. "It's also known as 'coffin fly', since they're found in coffins," Jin pauses, tilting his head as if to remember something. "If I'm not mistaken, this fly is the species found the most in mausoleums. They prefer nectar, but they're omnivorous, which means they also feed on plants, and—" he stops again to look up at Jungkook as he drops the last bit of information, "corpses."

"That explains these, doesn't it?" Before Hoseok, who is crouching next to the body, can say anything, Jungkook nods at the white flowers in her stiff arm. "Aren't lilies flowers people usually bring to funerals?"

His rhetorical question is met with Hoseok's eager nods. "They symbolise purity. The soul's radiance. One of the top choices for funerals, and for a good reason. They suggest that the deceased's soul has become peaceful and innocent again."

Unlike the times before, Jungkook can already see a theme, and he doesn't like where it's going. Finally bracing himself to look at the long, sword-like leaf resting against Ga-In's hair, the dark green out of place among her short black locks, he asks Hoseok, "I'm guessing that came from a plant near cemeteries?" It doesn't escape his notice that the diamond earrings gracing her ears are the very same ones that he bought you when he proposed, but he can't bring himself to say anything about it. Although it feels like his stomach has disappeared with anxiousness and dread, he has a sneaking suspicion that addressing anything related to you now will cause him to heave everything from his empty stomach onto the carpeted floor.

"Old cemeteries, actually," Hoseok confirms his suspicions. Momentarily distracted by Namjoon, who is making a call to one of the teams still at the forest, he makes a sound between a sigh and a hum before continuing. "The eternity plant," his grin is more of a wince at the unfortunate name in regards to the deaths that have led them up to this point, "or yucca plant. They can live for hundreds of years. The flowers are usually pale in colour, so when they bloom in clusters, they can look like floating apparitions." A shiver runs from the bottom of Hoseok's spine up to his neck, making him shudder and shake his head at the imagery. "Anyhow, some people grow this plant near headstones, or actually use it to mark a grave when they can't afford one. It's pretty useful to find the location of an unmarked grave."

Just as the facts start to sink in, the men are startled by a loud clap as Yoongi slaps his thighs and stands up from the sofa. "Well, that about sums it up, doesn't it? I think it's pretty clear where we're supposed to go."

Jungkook nods his agreement at the older man, leading the way out of the house into his car. Yoongi, the person most anxious to find you after Jungkook, slips into the passenger seat next to him, while the other three men pile into the back seat of the sedan without complaint. "Do you know where we're going?" Namjoon asks breathlessly as Jungkook speeds off the driveway onto the road, making the subsequent turns without any hesitation. Next to him, Yoongi has his gaze fixed on the road before him, brows furrowed yet steely-eyed. A look that is mirrored on Jungkook's own face. This time, Jin is the one on the line with the police forces, hanging onto every word Jungkook and Namjoon are saying and taking notes on the direction they're heading towards so he can relay the information to the other teams. Hoseok's normally bubbling energy is now being directed towards his long fingers, drumming them anxiously over and over the door handle as his eyes rove over the passing landscape.

"I got a message from y/n late this morning, and she was with the victim then," he deliberately omits the presence of the third person there. His existence there is something that Jungkook can't even admit to himself yet, so how can he tell the others? "So the victim was still alive then." For all he knows, you may have fallen victim as well by now, but he can't bring himself to think of the possibility. He just can't.

"T