Jimin watches fondly as Yoongi teaches Taeh’yung a game called “Monopoly” from Earth. After treating the cuts in his hand, Yoongi had taken one look at it and huffed out a laugh. They then cleared an area on the floor and settled down with a new screen to project a “board” onto the floor.

‘I hope we don’t fall apart over this,’ the Human had said.

Yoongi told Taeh’yung that the best way to learn would be to play it for himself. It’s funny watching them argue over fake holographic money because Taeh’yung insisted that Yoongi was cheating while Yoongi made wild straight-faced explanations over why and how he was not cheating.

Yoongi was definitely cheating.

Jimin opted out from playing, wanting to simply watch Yoongi.

This was nice.

Watching him as he once was, a normal simple Human just enjoying his life, no immediate threat over them, over him. Just a sense of normalcy and-

Yoongi looks up at Jimin, a sort of suppressed smirk on his lips as Taeh’yung struggled with decisions regarding the game. His gaze softens, and Jimin can nearly hear his exhale, as though it was out of Yoongi’s control. As though just looking at him made Yoongi lose his breath.

It makes Jimin blush, he can feel it growing and spreading on his face. He looks down at their holographic board instead and concentrates at a little rectangle named “Pall Mall” instead.

He chances a look up at Yoongi again after a while, and he’s already pointing at something Taeh’yung is asking him. But his face is a little flushed too.

Jimin glances over at the surveillance projections above the Navigation Table.

Sk’jin felt unwell and Jimin isn’t really sure about this device about UV rays, but he trusted that the others seemed to think that it might help. So he tries not to think too much about it. Besides, it was impossible to discuss anything with Sk’jin most times. He only seemed to open up to Jungkook. Or at least seemed to let his guard down with the young Being.

Speaking of Jungkook, he was sitting outside the Hangar, knees up to his chest and randomly drawing patterns on the floor with a finger. Hoseok with a completely new disguise is exiting the ship, his gait changed, shifting his weight forward almost in a sluggish manner. Hoseok didn’t just have the ability to change his appearance, but also to completely take on a whole set of mannerism and attitude.

Namjoon and Sk’jin were exchanging words, some form of “friendly” conversation though most friendly conversations didn’t come with hidden jabs and passive aggressiveness. It sort of makes Jimin want to laugh and pull at his hair all at once.

‘Yes! I got a hotel! Banker! Give me a hotel for Leicester Square!’ Taeh’yung throws his arms up in the air.

‘That will be 7750 pounds dear customer,’ Yoongi replies as he reads the holographic card.

‘But I don’t have 7750 pounds!’ Taeh’yung gasps, holding up his money as though to show Yoongi.

‘Well I guess you can’t buy a hotel,’ Yoongi sighs sympathetically.

‘You’re cheating me!’

‘It literally says 7750 pounds here,’ Yoongi grins with amusement as he turns the card over at Taeh’yung who wails dramatically.

‘Come on, you can throw the die again, you hit doubles.’ Yoongi tells him kindly, nudging him with an extended foot.

‘Oh right! I like this rule!’ Taeh’yung grins as he rolls the holographic die again.

Yoongi glances up at him again. He doesn’t have a full blown out smile on his face, but there’s a sort of lazy up-turn of lips- more on one side than the other. It’s achingly familiar but entirely foreign as well.

Jimin smiles back and walks over to go sit on the floor as well. His knee lightly nudges against Yoongi’s, the Human’s hand twitching as though to reach out for him.

Jimin nearly responds in kind, but remembers that, oddly enough, this Yoongi was still not familiar with him the way GI Yoongi was familiar with him.

Jimin wants to reach over and take his hand, but he’s not sure how to. Or if he could.

‘Okay! I think I would definitely like to buy May Park,’ Taeh’yung announces, holding up the exact amount of money needed to buy this May Park. ‘Here is the money banker.’

‘Understood,’ Yoongi nods, taking the holographic money slid over towards him. Taeh’yung watches with an exaggerated pout as he watches his money count go down, the sum turning orange as though to depict the level of financial danger he was in. Yoongi, Jimin notes, has a tidy light blue-tinted sum of money.

‘Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of May Park,’ Yoongi tells Taeh’yung as he hands Taeh’yung the appropriate card. Taeh’yung claps as he carefully coordinates his cards according to colour.

‘It used to be a major tourist area back on Ancient Earth,’ Yoongi says conversationally. ‘Most of Earth was transformed into one major conservation site. When we moved up to the Settlement Arcs we decided to never move down. It was also unsafe for a long time, we just had to let…let things run its natural course. Let things return to its natural order.’

Jimin and Taeh’yung listen carefully.

‘And we adapted, living in the Arcs was a new start. Made us feel better- felt separated from the mess we made.’ Yoongi snorts before saying, ‘Humans aren’t the best at accepting their mistakes. We tend to ruin ourselves in the process of ignoring what we did wrong.’

Jimin doesn’t realize how hard he’s clenching his fists.

‘But yeah- May Park was a really fancy place. Supposedly very good property. “Old property” type y’know?’ Yoongi snorts, ‘The past- like, the past Past, normally visualized that area with really snobby people.’

‘Am I snobby now?’ Taeh’yung’s jaw drops.

Yoongi laughs, ‘Nah- I think you’re fine kid.’

‘Kid?’ Taeh’yung seems to preen at that.

Jimin finds it funny. Because he knows Taeh’yung is older than all of them, with the exception of Sk’jin. But even so, age was a strange concept for someone like Taeh’yung- he existed in layers of Time within himself.

‘All right- seems like I got myself into jail,’ Yoongi sighs dramatically as he pushes his token, a small pointy eared creature with a long tail, over the board on a square that said ‘JAIL’ in thick letters.

‘I arrest you banker!’ Taeh’yung gleefully shouts. He’s about to reach for the die again when Taeh’yung’s eyes suddenly glaze over and Jimin feels it almost immediately.

A hollow ring resonates in the air, an echo, a mirage- a calling-

‘Jungkook-!’

‘-!’ Yoongi jumps up, eyes wide as he looks at the surveillance footage where suddenly there’s blood on the Hangar floor and Sk’jin is down, Jungkook covering him bodily.

‘Stay here both of you!’ Yoongi calls out as he sprints out. ‘Get the ship ready to fly out now!’

He exits the Bridge before Jimin can call him back, before he can regain his voice. He turns to face Taeh’yung who has a curious expression on his face, already eyeing him with some interest.

‘GET BACK INSIDE!’ Hoseok roars, their Comm Devices crackling at the sudden noise.

‘I don’t like this-‘ Jimin manages to finally say as he watches Yoongi swiftly run past Namjoon, Sk’jin, and Jungkook, ‘I don’t-‘

‘You’ll only find out if you look. I already told you,’ Taeh’yung tells him, his expression blank as he gazes at some point beyond the Bridge. Jimin rushes to start up the ship, issuing the request to un-dock as he’s seen Namjoon do many times.

‘Request- requesting green for take-off!’ Jimin calls out before he rushes off the Navigator’s Mast and calling out, ‘Lisai! Autopilot now!’

‘Understood.’

‘Sk’jin get the ship at green now!’ Namjoon is yelling, ‘Jungkook get inside now-‘

‘Oh,’ Taeh’yung’s eyes gleam bright green, an unsettling smile growing on his face, ‘This is interesting.’

He waves a hand, a wave of green expanding out of his palm, the lines of copper over his skin glowing briefly.

‘What-‘

‘Due to security breach detected in your area, we are shutting down all docks and ports.’ A voice tells him over the Navigation Table. ‘

‘You’ll be able to see now,’ Taeh’yung says just as Jimin starts to run out. He doesn’t give it much thought, his mind abuzz and his pulse in his ear.

‘The security measures are shutting down the gates,’ Jimin hurriedly reports as he runs down the stairs. ‘They’re sending patrol units.’

He nearly collides straight into Jungkook and Sk’jin.

Jungkook’s face is splattered in blood, his mouth bloody his teeth still bared, but his eyes wide in fear. Jimin quickly reaches to the young Pravasi M’hanun and pats his head, willing calm into him. He looks over Sk’jin as well- and despite being splattered in blood, he looked uninjured and fine.

‘I’ll get the ship moving-‘

‘I’ve order the autopilot-‘

‘-good-‘

They all hear it the same time.

An almost imperceptible shift in the air- a chill travels down Jimin’s spine as they all look down the stairs to the Lobby below.

‘Go,’ Jimin pushes them up. ‘I’ll see-‘

Jungkook looks like he’s ready to go down instead.

‘Jungkook- protect Sk’jin- ship needs to go,’ Jimin tells him urgently and Jungkook nods, following Sk’jin up.

‘Lisai full power on shields and start engines for warp,’ Sk’jin says shakily as he enters the Bridge.

‘We have a hostile inside the ship-!’ Hoseok calls out and Jimin readies himself, taking sure steps down- feeling hearing the empty hollow ringing almost as though it was calling out to him-

The figure nearly rushes into him but Jimin is expecting them and he’s ready, his palm raised, feet lifting just a little from the floor –

A face – too familiar – too close, too precious, too close-

Jimin stumbles back onto the floor, his heart stopping as the call abruptly ends, the hollow erased and Yoongi is on the floor, eyes rolling back as he crumples, overwhelmed by the order to stay down.

No no no no no no no no –

‘Jimin-?’

Jimin jumps at the voice- Yoongi is wide-eyed, worried, watching and approaching him-

‘I - I don’t-,’ Jimin’s throat constricts. Namjoon is there too, he’s watching the Being- Yoongi on the floor with apprehension.

‘Did you get him-‘ Hoseok bursts in.

‘Yoo-Yoongi I –‘ Jimin chokes out, unable to look away from the floor.

‘Jimin what-‘ Yoongi guides him away gently, but Yoongi has to know they all have to know-

Namjoon quickly darts forward, kneeling down and the Yoongi on the floor onto his back.

Namjoon instantly stumbles back and Hoseok pales, his breath sharp.

‘What-?’ Namjoon asks, barely able to understand.

Jimin can’t stop shaking, an intense sense of confusion, of fear, of guilt-

‘Yoongi knows something is wrong with him, doesn’t he?’ Taeh’yung had asks rather conversationally when they were cleaning up the Medical Bay.

Jimin had tried not to appear as though his words had effected him.

‘I think if you’re passing out all over the place randomly then yeah, I’d assume something was wrong with me too.’ Jimin didn’t mean to sound snappy.

‘You know what I mean. He can feel it can’t he? He can feel his soul-‘

‘-don’t-‘ Jimin pleads, his voice lowered to a whisper. ‘Please don’t.’

Taeh’yung doesn’t say anything for a while before he asks, ‘What will you tell him if he asks?’

‘He already did. And I – I told him I don’t know-‘ Jimin frowns at Taeh’yung facial expression. ‘That’s the truth- I don’t know what’s going on! I can’t understand-‘

‘It’s because you don’t want to see.’

‘Don’t say that-!’

‘We do not bring death. We bring life.’

One of it steps forward suddenly, bending down at a strange and impossible angle. It raises its hand until it wraps around Jimin’s head.

Jimin is locked, unable to move. He’s slowly lifted into the air and the light around him is being pressed down- it’s painful, as though a great weight was bearing down on him, compressing him, threatening to crush him to his very core.

‘Would you like to see life?’

Jimin raises his hands, stretching and reaching until the tips of his fingers touch the Red Evil on its face.

It’s cold, strangely wet, and ancient.

Jimin is flooded with pain- not his own, but not of the Red Evil. There is pain- from a Universe of Memories that has been forgotten and abandoned. A Universe of life that once was.

And a Universe of obsession.

‘Can you see it?’

Jimin is staring into its eyes, unable to blink away or speak.

‘You will see it. Like the rest of them.’

Jimin drops to the ground, reality rushing back around him in harsh lines and sounds.

‘You will see it.’

Yoongi block his view momentarily, and Jimin clutches on to him, grounding himself, taking deep breaths that sound more like gasps.

‘What the -‘

The ship rocks, and Jimin is sure that they’re all talking- that they’re all saying something-

‘How-,’ Yoongi’s voice reaches to him as though through a deep ocean, ‘How many Yoongi’s do you see?’

The ship shudders once more-

‘-they’re trying to lock us in-!’ Sk’jin yells. ‘They’re not allowing us to move-‘

There’s a horribly loud sound and bright light explodes outside of the kitchen window.

‘We’re being fired at-!’

‘Hoseok-!’ Namjoon calls out and the Ngfy’widan is already sprinting upwards, clearly headed for the Bridge to take over.

‘We need to first get the out of here- we’ll take him away and lock him in. One of the Cabins will do-‘ Namjoon begins to order, reaching down to grab the other Yoongi by the ankles when he starts awake, his foot meeting Namjoon’s jaw and kicking him away.

Namjoon spins as he falls to the ground heavily.

Yoongi is already on him, grappling him and forcing him down to the floor, making a sickening sound as something cracks. But neither of them appear to express any pain.

For a horrifying moment, Jimin cannot differentiate them.

Their movements are incredibly fast, and with the speed with which they fought, Jimin can see no open window to move in to take down the other Yoongi without touching his Yoongi. He could take them both down- but he’s afraid to do anything to unbalance his Yoongi- to further trigger-  

‘Do you see it now?’ Taeh’yung asks him.

A flare of anger bursts through Jimin; anger, frustration, sorrow, pain, guilt-

Moving fast and swift, Jimin circles the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat and following the coloured blur that was his Yoongi, mimics and shadows his movements just enough to slip his hand in, slamming up against the other Yoongi’s chest.

They all crumple to the ground just as the ship is hit with another bolt of something. Namjoon is half-crawling, half-getting up towards them, his expression disoriented. Yoongi holds down the other Yoongi down to his own body, using himself as a restraint as the other Yoongi twists in his hold with uncanny dexterity freeing one arm but Jimin is there, throwing himself over and placing both his palms over the other Yoongi’s temples.

There’s a terrible white pain bursting on his side but he ignores it as he forces this Yoongi to look at him.

‘SleEP-0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101darkness coils around him, harsh, powerful, limitless. An even darker blackness broils and coils somewhere, reaching out and pulling him out with no care and onto a tiled floor0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101and he’s standing up in a rather dull empty space, some form of bedding raised off of the floor and a black0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101helmet charged to a single port against the wall0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101the bedding glows faintly and on it is a black uniform he goes to touch it and the bed is somewhat warm but not enough0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101and he wears it a heavy shadow weighing him to the floor and submerging him completely as he dawns on the helmet before he 0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101steps out into the long narrow hallway with identical doors and a figure stands before him silhouetted against the rectangle of light at the end0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101and he opens his mouth, the words formed and ready as he says0110100100100000011101110110000101101100011010110110010101100100001000000111011101101001011101000110100000100000011110010110111101110101001000000110111101101110011000110110010100100000011101010111000001101111011011100010000001100001001000000110010001110010011001010110000101101101found-!!

Gasping for air, Jimin resurfaces back into a violence of light amidst a high pitch-scream he cannot place. Away from the confusion of sight built on numbers and codes, suddenly everything is blurred and too stark. Everything rushes around him in a whirlwind of sound, lights, voices, and pain.

‘JIMIN!’

The 0110010001110010011001010110000101101101world around him snaps back into place as he’s yanked away violently, someone is yelling his name, but he can’t hear; his body writhing against his will as 0110010001110010011001010110000101101101pain blossoms all along his side. He hits something hard- the floor, the wall – something. Then there’s a hand pulling him to on his side and helping him lay right side up as another explosive boom shakes the ship.

There’s a flash of light, of heat, and then dreadful cold, and Jimin is overwhelmed with nausea as he suddenly feels like he’s floating.

Something was not right-

‘Hey! Jimin!’

It’s Namjoon.

‘Hey I’m moving you away from here0110010001110010011001010110000101101101-‘

The sound of aggressive scuffling followed by another explosion-

‘Help-‘ Jimin struggles to say, nausea threatening to overwhelm him as his pain intensifies. ‘Help- Yoongi- stop him-‘

‘Shh hey look focus on my voice stay calm it’s-‘ another explosion and there’s blinding light.

There’s another massive explosive sound and this time, Jimin knows something is wrong, metal is shrieking and something thick and heavy shatters.

For a brief moment, Jimin wonders if he’s falling.

Wind whips around him violently, his body lifted and tugging towards0110010001110010011001010110000101101101 something and his ears are ringing louder than the noise around him. A hand grabs him again and he knows it’s Namjoon. He stops falling but he’s still spinning, images created in numbers and 0110010001110010011001010110000101101101codes rush and blend around him forms and shapes he recognizes but doesn’t understand collapsing as they exponentially maximize into strings of light.

‘Activating emergency door K12,’ Lisai’s voice announces pleasantly over the din.

‘YOONGI LET HIM GO-!’ Namjoon suddenly roars over the sound of the rushing sound and Jimin’s whole being freezes. Grounding himself, concentrating on the hand that’s anchoring him Jimin apologizes to Namjoon for the invasion and-

The Lobby is in chaos, things are flying around haphazardly in the air before being abruptly in through a massive tear broken through the kitchen window towards the end of the ship. The damage is unusual- difficult to explain because it’s almost as though there was an explosion from within the ship.

Grisial is glistening around them in soft white rhythmically pulsing in neon red for the emergency they were causing. And outlined against this is Yoongi and the Other Yoongi.

A weight tugs on his hand and Jimin glances down only to see himself, his side drenched in blood, legs dangling as they pull up higher away from Grisial’s gravitational pull and into space. Jimin, or Namjoon, is using his body as an anchor, flat against the wall that borders the gap between the Lobby chairs and the massive dining area.

‘The emergency walls over the window is compromised- it’s probably jammed I can’t shut it down-‘

Yoongi, the side of his face splattered in blood, is holding onto the one of the support beams outside the Cabin hallways. He has a deathly grip on the Other Yoongi, his face impassive and staring intently at Jimin.

‘YOONGI LET HIM GO!’ Jimin/Namjoon roars. ‘DROP HIM NOW-‘

‘HE WON’T- HE WON’T LET GO-‘ Yoongi roars back.

Jimin can see how Other Yoongi is not letting go.

‘He’s after me-‘ Jimin says but Namjoon splutters out ‘-what the -?!’

The Other Yoongi uses Yoongi’s arm as a sort of momentum builder and swings himself to the side before grappling to a lower beam.

Yoongi nearly loses grip at the sudden detachment but quickly rights himself.

‘Pull us up-‘ Jimin gasps as Namjoon gasps out, ‘-oh Spaces-!’ but doesn’t question it and begins reeling Jimin in.

‘WE’RE NEARLY OUT OF THE ATMOSHIELD YOU GUYS NEED TO MOVE FAST-!’ Sk’jin yells.

Namjoon grunts, able to use only one arm as he hoists Jimin up, his body twisting and leaving bloody skid marks over the normally shiny and smooth floors.

The Other Yoongi is scaling up the sides of the Cabin walls, using the indents of the doors to pull himself up. Yoongi catches up instantly, latching onto the Other Yoongi’s back and twisting him off the wall.

Jimin/Namjoon scream as the two Yoongi’s hurtle off the wall, colliding with a horrifying crunch against one of the support beams and separating mid-fall and falling straight towards the kitchen, towards the gaping broken window. But Yoongi manages to grab hold of one of the kitchen chairs, bolted to the ground near the table. The Other Yoongi has also managed to grab onto the kitchen island, his foot grabbing hold of one of the cabinet handles.

‘Sk’jin activate the emergency gateway NOW-!’ Namjoon yells as he pulls Jimin’s body all the way over to the side of the wall.

‘Yoongi-‘ Jimin/Namjoon calls and there’s another flash of light.

‘! Hold on tight-!’    

Then rather oddly, the Other Yoongi stands up straight on the side of the kitchen island, watching them all rather blankly.

‘Hey-!’ Yoongi yells, arm reaching out.

From both the ceiling and the floor, thin but reinforced walls close in over the kitchen area in sections. One right above the island, separating the Other Yoongi from the open kitchen window and from Yoongi.

‘Stop!’ Jimin/Namjoon screams but the Other Yoongi steps off, falling straight through the broken kitchen window and into the rushing white of Grisial below them.

The emergency gateways close snap and the pulling force stops immediately.

Jimin and Namjoon let go of their hands and0110010001110010011001010110000101101101Jimin heaves breath into his lungs, the world around him still ringing but not as bad as it was.

‘Get to a secure place we need to warp out now-!’

Hoseok’s command is cut harshly when the whole ship violently jerks to the side. Jimin feels himself swerve on the floor. He can’t get rid of the numbers and codes flying past him, making up the sight he was seeing0110010001110010011001010110000101101101 he tries blinking it out but it’s overwhelming him.

‘HOSEOK JUST WARP US OUT NOW!’ he 0110010001110010011001010110000101101101hears Namjoon roar just as hands find him.

‘Jimin!’ Yoongi’s voice cuts through the numbers and suddenly Jimin can see clearly- can see Yoongi clearly. Pale, shaken, blood splattered his skin broken over his forehead and cheek, smudged blood still wet on his lips his nose-

Found.

There’s a terrible groaning sound and rumbling as the whole ship’s direction physically changes and Jimin feels himself falling again. This time Yoongi holds him close, wrapping his arms around his torso and using his legs to steady them against the corner of a wall. Namjoon slides right up against them-

Terror and a strange sense of realization dawns on him as he gasps for breath, he just needs to-

‘Yoongi-!’

Yoongi holds him closer, eyes wide as he tries to check on what injuries Jimin might have.

‘Yoongi they found-!’

They lurch violently, steadied only by Namjoon who grabs them and anchors them to the wall.

‘Something’s wrong we’re falling-‘ he gasps as he situates himself next to them. ‘We need to get ourselves into the Lobby seats- are you both okay-?’

‘TAEH’YUNG DON’T-!’ Sk’jin suddenly screams.

The hair on Jimin’s neck stands on end and the air screams as everything turns neon green.

*

Sk’jin is quick to move out of the cockpit when Hoseok comes hurtling in. He seats himself next to the Ngfy’widan though, ready to co-pilot with him if needed. He docks the NaviLet to his side, readying himself for every and anything.

He’s still shaking but he immediately checks on Jungkook who was secured on one of the footstools close to Sk’jin’s station at the Communications Board. Taeh’yung was rather excitedly reacting from where he sat in the front, where Yoongi normally stationed himself. Sk’jin had maneuvered and literally shot their way out of the attempted forced lockdown the Grisial Forces were trying to overwhelm them in. Sk’jin wasn’t the best at piloting fighting-grade ships but he hasn’t lived this long without having any experience. He’s shot down countless security drones before and this was no different, not with a ship this strong and stocked. It was only a little alarming that the default weapon Yoongi had assigned to the Užkulisai was the level 2 proton missiles. But then again, it wasn’t too surprising considering this was Yoongi after all.

‘Ship model Užkulisai-02 we are ordering you to stand down immediately or you will be forcefully-‘ Sk’jin cuts their Comm just as a random ship suddenly appears before them, having just pulled out of warp.

‘-!’ Hoseok curses as he redirects the ship harshly, jerking them against the safety restraints of their seats. Taeh’yung lets out a cheer in front of them. Sk’jin quickly ducks around the chair to check on Jungkook. His eyes are wide, face smeared in blood. He doesn’t look too bothered by the incident taking place immediately but rather stares down at his hands a little blankly. Sk’jin wants to reach out but now was neither the time or place.

The lower wing of the just warped in ship grazes over them but luckily due to their shields doesn’t cause any physical damage on them. The map of their location lightly beeps, a soft red spreading over the NaviLet screen.

‘Drones approaching we need to get out now-‘ Sk’jin reports immediately as he pulls up their defense set up again. ‘-before confusion and panic hits-‘

‘-this isn’t confusing and panicky enough?!’ Hoseok demands as he turns sharply and nearly collides into a ship that was clearly confused about wanting to fly off or land.

‘Beings panic and don’t think straight in situations like this- they’ll freak out and get themselves killed!’ Sk’jin snaps. ‘This is just the start of it we need to get the out now!’

‘What do you think I’m trying to do!’ Hoseok yells back as he manages to get them higher. ‘Namjoon is the intruder down?’

There’s no reply from the Kutsoglerin.

‘A ing intruder what the are they?’ Sk’jin demands as he sets targets on the restraint-drone sent by the Grisial Forces. He can’t believe that an intruder got in, not to mention Lisai didn’t even alert them about it.

‘I-‘ Hoseok is concentrating on flying them but his expression is strangely blank, worry settling on his brow that exceeded the immediate stress he had about their very current and fatal course of action. ‘Yoongi.’

‘What about him? He didn’t get hurt did he?’ Sk’jin demands as he sets off the small projectiles after the drones.

‘No he’s- it’s I think other GI.’

‘Other GI-?!’ Sk’jin is momentarily distracted but doesn’t have time to question him when a ship tries to warp out and instead just crashes through a few other hovering ships and straight into a massive Grisial crystal asteroid.

‘What did I say- panic,’ Sk’jin says through grit teeth, looking away from the bright and brief explosion as whatever ship and her crew obliterate themselves. They narrowly dodge another ship as a wave of new drones fly in. But that’s only a cover, because as Sk’jin aims and fires, out of the explosion a wave of large projectiles, definitely not under the Grisial Forces grade flies at them.

The shield around the Užkulisai ripples as the force of it shakes and causes a few lights to flicker.

‘It’s not enough to take out the shield,’ Hoseok grits out.

‘Jimin!’

Sk’jin twists around again, catching sight of Jungkook who was staring at the projections of the ships surveillance. For a brief moment, Sk’jin wonders if his eyes were failing. It would make sense to an extent, seeing as his entire body seemed to be failing him at the moment. But it’s not the case (just yet, Sk’jin thinks scathingly) because his eyes aren’t tricking him.

Yoongi is on the floor, holding down against himself another Yoongi who was being pushed down by Jimin who was basically sitting on this other Yoongi’s chest, hands on his head.

‘Namjoon where the are you?!’ Sk’jin screeches before adding, ‘Jungkook, stay- you need to stay here!’

The young Pravasi M’hanun was halfway getting up, the security straps straining against his chest and shoulders.

‘This isn’t the Grisial Forces,’ Hoseok gets out as they suddenly dip low, Sk’jin grabbing the edges of his seat out of instinct. ‘This is too strong-‘

The attacks are concentrated in one area specifically.

‘But it’s not going to cause any damage on us-‘

‘-not from the outside but from the inside-‘ Hoseok gasps before he’s practically yelling, ‘Yoongi he probably has a device on him-!’

This time the explosion that shakes their ship isn’t contained and doesn’t just cause some lights to flicker.

‘Large detonation detected from Level 2 Kitchens Area K09 to K21.’ Lisai reports. ‘Breach detected. Air levels fluctuating, gravity compromised.’

There’s an angry shriek of terror from behind them- it’s Jungkook. Sk’jin already knows that the youngest of this pathetic excuse of a crew was already undoing his security so he yells out, ‘Lisai emergency gateways for the Bridge entryway now! Close the gateways for area K09 and it’s surroundings as well!’

There are angry thudding sounds as Jungkook tries to break down the emergency gateways with his fists.

‘Kookie!’ Taeh’yung skips towards the Pravasi M’hanun and for a panicked moment Sk’jin thinks he’s going to let him go. But instead the Zhak’gri gathers up Jungkook in his arms, uncaring for the flailing and animalistic growls of anger coming from him.

‘You can’t get hurt,’ is all Taeh’yung says, ‘My small baby.’

He deposits him back on the same chair and straps him back. To Sk’jin’s intense alarm, Jungkook is unconscious.

‘What the did you do-!?’ Sk’jin yells as Taeh’yung arranges Jungkook comfortably.

‘Keeping him safe,’ Taeh’yung says as he stands up straight, flexing his arms a little before turning to beam as Sk’jin though his expression falls as he looks at Sk’jin with a small frown, ‘Hey- you okay-?’

‘What is that?’ Hoseok suddenly asks.

Sk’jin looks towards the direction Hoseok is gawking at as they manage to somehow pull above the main destruction zone. The drones can’t follow them this far out of Grisial’s natural gravitational pull, that too with so much destruction going on. Sk’jin tries not to think about it.

Just beyond the Atmoshield surround all of Grisial are relatively small but powerful looking ships- not trade ships or cargo ships or passenger ships.

No.

These were clearly designed to be used in battle or for offensive attacks.

‘We need to get out of here now- and for ’s sake, Lisai seal those breaches,’ Hoseok orders again.

‘Emergency gateway K12 is jammed.’ Lisai replies pleasantly.

‘-‘ Sk’jin curses, ‘The emergency walls over the window is compromised- it’s probably jammed I can’t shut it down-‘

‘We’ll need to section areas off-‘ Hoseok grunts out, fervently eying the incoming barge of assault ships.

With a sense of intense dread Sk’jin pulls up the surveillance projection on the kitchen area over his docked NaviLet.

The damage is insane. Whatever device the other Yoongi had must have caused some major damages, allowing the missiles from the outside to finally caused sufficient damage and causing the window area to loosen. And the rest was taken care of by Grisial’s natural gravitational pull and the speed in which they were flying.

‘Lisai what emergency gateways are functioning right now?’ Sk’jin demands. ‘Standby to activate on my command!’

‘Analyzing and ready at your command.’

Jimin appeared to be unconscious, saved from being pulled through the opening by Namjoon who had managed to lodge himself on the Lobby wall. Yoongi and the other Yoongi are in a strange stance where it’s like they’re hanging onto each other.

‘Yoongi please keep a distance from the other one I’ll close off the emergency gateways and seal up the breach-‘

‘HE WON’T- HE WON’T LET GO-‘ Yoongi yells over the Comm.

‘I need to take us back in they’re going to see us too easily and we can’t warp without the breach being sealed-‘ Hoseok is saying, taking the ship back to the chaos-

‘Are you ing crazy?’ Sk’jin demands, reaching forward to stop Hoseok mid-action. ‘Those are civilians- innocent traders and workers who are caught mid-attack because of us!’

‘But we can’t make it! We need to get out and we need to warp but we can’t-!’ Hoseok spits out, eyes widening in either disbelief or apprehension or stress or all three Sk’jin can’t rightly tell.

‘Keep going straight we’re not going back to just use innocent Beings for our ing shield again-!’ Sk’jin hisses, physically taking over the controls as he gets out of his seat and practically shoves Hoseok off. ‘Move your to the weapons and take those ers out what the do we have this ing ship for if we can’t ing use it?!’

He’s either said the right thing or Hoseok is just in shock, what with the double take he gives him before he does what he’s told.

An onslaught of very powerful detonations fall over them in a powerful rain of bright lights, with nerve wracking alarms alarms going off as their shield starts to take on too damage.

‘We can’t afford to fall back to the primary shield Sk’jin I ing hope you know what you’re doing-‘ Hoseok yells from the front.

‘Just ing shoot down!’ Sk’jin snaps back as he dodges a ship that carelessly tries to warp past them. ‘Idiots you ing idiots- WE’RE NEARLY OUT OF THE ATMOSHIELD YOU GUYS NEED TO MOVE FAST-‘

Instead of going straight up or back down to the chaos, Sk’jin pilots the ship to turn, away from the oncoming barrage of assault ships and above the chaos they caused.

‘Sk’jin activate emergency gateway NOW-!’ Namjoon orders out of nowhere.

‘Now you choose to appear you ing-‘ Sk’jin grumbles as he takes the NaviLet in one hand. ‘Lisai activate the emergency gateways over uh- area 15 to 19!’

‘Sk’jin incoming!’ Hoseok yells. ‘! Hold on tight-!’   

They had been so distracted by what they were leaving behind, and what was on their side, they completely missed the massive and all too familiar white ship approaching them from above.

‘How are they here?!’ Sk’jin hisses as the Omhlophe ship fills up their view above. ‘ -‘

‘Get to a secure place we need to warp out now-!’ Hoseok roars as the ship jerks with another massive attack on their side and to Sk’jin’s incredulity jumps out of the weapons mast and clambers over to the cockpit again.

‘Sk’jin give me the NaviLet now!’ Hoseok orders harshly.

‘Spaces what the -‘ Sk’jin splutters before handing Hoseok the NaviLet and taking over the controls again. ‘Hoseok for ’s sake this isn’t the time for research-‘

‘HOSEOK JUST WARP US OUT NOW!’ Namjoon yells over the Comm.

‘Lisai get us to warp now-!’ Sk’jin orders but suddenly everything turns quiet.

And Sk’jin immediately knows why.

‘We are at green. Warp in 10 seconds-‘

‘Well, this isn’t nice,’ Taeh’yung says as he walks past the cockpit, the air around him humming, tiny flecks of neon green lights sparking up. He’s walking casually, not flinching as more missiles are launched at them. Taeh’yung stretches his hands upwards, his head tilting just a little as though in thought.

Something massive slams into them, causing both Sk’jin and Hoseok to jerk forward heavily, barely able to gather themselves.

The Omhlophe were not firing at them- they were pushing them down with their ship, back into Grisial at startling speed.

‘This is not nice,’ Taeh’yung says, eyes gleaming, grinning widely.

‘TAEH’YUNG DON’T-!’ 

The Zhak’gri brings his hands together in a clap.

*

‘Kookie!’

Jungkook looks up from the lump of wet grit and sand combination he’d been lumping together into a block at his anu.

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s about to rain! Come inside okay?’

‘Okay!’ Jungkook yells back. His siblings had already gone in, but Jungkook was waiting.

Thunder erupts in booming roars overhead, he can feel its force in the wet lump before him. His sister Okanaat couldn’t play clay-bits with him, her skin too sensitive. She was older than him, but was much smaller, and Jungkook loved chasing after her with the clay-bits, shrieking on top of their lungs. He would never hurt her of course, but it was fun running around when the weather was nice.

‘Jungkook! Kookie! Anu’ll get mad! You better come in now!’ Okanaat calls from the inner entrance, swathed in extra protective clothing. Jungkook is happy he doesn’t need to wear the extra protective clothing.

‘I know Oka- I’m just waiting for ama!’ Jungkook explains.

‘It’s gonna storm!’ she argues over the sound of thunder, ‘You know ama won’t risk travelling with a storm like this. She’ll get back after it’s over.’

‘There’s still some time,’ Jungkook argues back. ‘Don’t worry, I know when I have to come in.’

She grimaces comically at him and Jungkook pretends to throw the lump of clay-bit at her. She giggles and shrieks, running back inside. Lightning forks through the sky, followed immediately by thunder that shakes the black gritty dirt around him. The larger pebbles on the ground seem to jump up at the sheer force of it.

‘Kookie!’

The thunderstorm is getting louder, and Jungkook guesses that ama would probably wait the storm out. It was smarter of course. Living here, Jungkook knew the rules and safety precautions very well. Stay away from the storms, stay hidden, and always watch for ama and anu.

‘Jungkook!’

Jungkook blinks, surprised to find the rain falling on him- it was supposed to hurt; it was supposed to burn his skin but it doesn’t. He sees her coming towards him, the soft hues of her hair damp, but glistening in a ‘spectrum of light’ like his mum used to say. The elegant glass-like horns twinkling at him, gentle red eyes gleam at him through the curtain of rain.

‘JUNGKOOK!’

He gasps awake.

The safety straps that had held him to the footstools drops him and Jungkook wheezes, his chest felt strangely tight, his head pounding. His instinct is to hit his head against the floor, to startle himself awake. But both Jimin and Sk’jin have told him many times not to do it again. Instead to stay down, breathe deep and slowly, and allow his mind to clear. Still crouched on the ground, Jungkook allows himself to take some time, despite growing panic, and breathe deeply.

Safe, you’re safe Jimin’s voice whispers to him from the depths of his mind, reassuring him. You’re safe here, you are home, okay?

The buzzing in his mind recedes, the ringing in his ears quiets, and the tightness in his chest loosens a little. Finding strength in himself, Jungkook finally looks up from the smooth floors of the Bridge.

It’s lit dimly- almost the same way it did right before dawn near the cave entrances. Jungkook pushes himself off of the floor and carefully stands up, his ears straining to hear something; anything.

He doesn’t even get to take a step forward when the whole ship shudders. It wasn’t something within the ship. This felt like how it did when an earthquake used to hit. Something bigger, something more powerful and bigger was shifting. That’s what ama used to tell him. Something beyond the control of their abilities and or actions. Sometimes even beyond their understanding.

Something was shaking the ship. Something was shaking his home. Again.

When his eyes adjust to the light, Jungkook just about makes out the shapes of Sk’jin and Hoseok still secured in the cockpit. He’s about to rush over, but he hears something.

A deliberate something trying to be quiet, something inside his home.

Jungkook drops down immediately, rounding about and around the Navigation Table, crawling on all fours close to the ground as he makes his way to the sealed Bridge doorway. It’s still sealed shut, and Jungkook can hear- can sense movement behind it. And it wasn’t anyone he knew. This was not someone from his home.

He swiftly glides back to the Navigation Table, tapping on the surface Namjoon had explained to him only a few days ago.

‘Lisai,’ Jungkook whispers, ‘Bridge, doorway, surveillance.’

‘Bridge doorway surveillance on screen 7.’ Lisai’s voice chimes in pleasantly.

Jungkook flinches when a bright projection of the surveillance camera outside the Bridge doorway lights up next to him. He looks around quickly, making sure again that it was just him (awake) in the Bridge before looking back at the bright projection.

Standing outside the sealed doorway is an eerie standing form, dressed fully in black, a hand on the doorway.

It’s upsetting, and Jungkook doesn’t know why.

There was something wrong about the figure. Something familiarly wrong. Jungkook can almost smell the putrid air of his cell from Ynqaba.

‘Lisai- find Jimin.’ Jungkook orders quietly, glancing again at Sk’jin and Hoseok.

‘Jimin is located in the Second Level Lobby.’ Lisai replies, another projection lighting up.

Jungkook feels himself flushed with hot anger, watching as another black-figure attempts to extract Jimin out of what appeared to be Yoongi’s tight, but unconscious, grip. There’s another figure that’s in the process of lifting Namjoon off of the floor.

Jungkook is helpless. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s sure there are security measures of some sort in the ship. But he doesn’t know what they’re called, or how to use them, or what to say to use them. Namjoon and Hoseok had both taught him how to call for and ask Lisai questions but he didn’t have time to try. He couldn’t risk Sk’jin or Hoseok inside the Bridge, which was clearly strongly protected. There must have been a break-in somewhere, that these black-figures were able to come inside.

Taeh’yung.

Jungkook remembers the Zhak’gri’s arms holding him back, his lips against his temple before he fell into darkness.

‘Lisai- where is Taeh’yung?’

‘Taeh’yung cannot be located.’

Jungkook can’t make out what it was he was looking at outside of the massive windows- just a strange hazy light that pressed in on from every direction.

The whole ship shudders again.

Jungkook watches the surveillance again, as Jimin is fully extracted from Yoongi’s grip and made to lay back on the ground.

‘Lisai, how many…how many intruders?’ Jungkook asks carefully, remembering the words Sk’jin and Hoseok had used before.

‘Three non-crew Beings detected inside the ship.’ Lisai replies coolly. ‘3 more detected outside.’

He couldn’t let them leave. Not with Jimin, or Namjoon- even Yoongi. He couldn’t let them leave.

The black-figure outside the Bridge is still there. And this time they’re holding up a device of sorts. Jungkook doesn’t know what it does, but he can guess that it might be used to do some damage to the gateway protecting the Bridge.

‘Three- and three,’ Jungkook whispers under his breath. ‘Six.’

‘Surprise is your best weapon,’ Yoongi had taught him. ‘No amount of training can teach you to expect a surprise.’

‘How do you do it?’ Jungkook had asked, panting on the ground from being easily flung about by the Human. Jimin had watched nervously at first, but Yoongi wasn’t hurting him- he was showing him how to best use himself as defense. How to become a weapon.

‘If you don’t exist,’ Yoongi had said quietly, ‘Then no one can see you.’

The ship shudders again, the tremors stronger than before. There were things he couldn’t control- things bigger than himself that he had no chance against. Things he definitely didn’t understand.

‘You can’t defend yourself against something that doesn’t exist.’

But this.

This he could definitely try.

*

‘This is where we started to understand.’

‘Understand what?’

‘That something was wrong.’

‘We?’

‘You did, before I did. Before you realized it. And I did, after I became you.’

‘This is the same place.’

He’s standing in a long dimly lit hallway. Doors lined the walls nearly endlessly on both ends. But the door he’s facing is open, the walls inside lined with shelved drawers reaching the ceiling from the floors. He knows where he is.

‘It is,’ he says as he steps inside. ‘It’s almost the same isn’t it?’

Yoongi nods.

‘You said there was a dream,’ Yoongi continues, ‘Should we try and remember?’

‘Yeah,’ he replies in agreement. ‘I don’t know how much I can remember. It’s too much already.’

‘I’ll help.’

‘Do you know what’s going on? With…well, with us?’

‘I think we both know what it is,’ Yoongi replies quietly. ‘But not just yet.’

Yoongi nods in agreement, ‘Not yet. Jimin has to go home.’

Yoongi smiles at that, ‘When Jimin goes home, what do we do?’

The door opens quietly, the handle turning without his hand.

‘We protect it, of course.’ Yoongi replies, waiting for the door to fully open, a faded line of white expanding over Yoongi, pushing the black ash that was once his uniform off of his skin, leaving him bare.

Yoongi takes a step out of the door, the wires on his back trailing behind him endlessly until they vanish into a massive circular pit. He looks around; he’s inside a massive globe, white and dully lit. The walls start moving, circling in their form until they pause at random before the walls start to faintly glow. Yoongi looks down at his feet and only then realizes he’s trailing something black and soot-like.

‘Is it our home too?’

Yoongi looks up, facing what felt like a multitude of his own reflection. But he knows it’s not a reflection.

How many Yoongis do you see?

‘We’ve been lost,’ Yoongi tells him. ‘Is this what it feels like?’

Yoongi looks around, finding an almost endless multitude of himself watching him, waiting for him.

They were waiting for him.

‘This?’

‘Is this what being found feels like?’

The white walls flicker, distant images through the blurred clouds illuminate the kitchen in his house, his mother’s back to him as she laughs about something. Chaewon is shelling peas next to him as he dices up a massive bowl of potatoes. Their laughter colours into the sunrise as Amic stretches, groaning in protest of ever thinking that hiking through the hill parks of Šerdesas was a good idea. The lights dim and the sunrise rapidly shifts to an endless ruddy glow, and the eclipse watches him with worry.

‘Yoongi?’ Jimin holds up a hand towards him.

‘I-…’ Yoongi holds his hand up, realizing that an endless multitude of hands rise up in unison behind him.

‘Is this what being found feels like?’

He’s on the ground, not inside the Užkulisai, but somewhere strangely contained. There is an echo in the air, exponentially increasing the soft pads of feet moving closer towards him. But it’s drowned out by the strange booming, making the ground he was on groan in an alarming way.

Yoongi opens his eyes only to come face-to-face with the blank gaze of what could only be a GI agent, TeorSer aimed straight at his head.

The blast of the TeorSer singes his hair and burns at his scalp as he rolls over, kicking his feet in a swinging motion to catch the agent on their shin. His heel makes contact and there’s a scuffling sound. Launching himself onto his knees, Yoongi flips forward, hooking the TeorSer between his arm and torso, the next shot passing through under his arm behind him. With his free arm he angles his elbow to jam straight into the opening of the helmet.

There’s a horrific wet cracking sound that comes when his elbow makes contact with the agent’s nose, their body jolting in pain and shock, momentarily losing momentum and strength. Yoongi ducks low and heaves the agent over his shoulder, falling backwards with their combined body weight crushing the agent’s neck.

But Yoongi is far from safe, when another agent appears, TeorSer aimed and-

There’s no where Yoongi can hide- no where he can duck- it was obvious that the agent had been watching for a while, waiting for this moment where Yoongi’s balance, his speed, and his momentum would be concluded from the initial fight.

But the shot never lands.

A blurred shape leaps from the ground, fans of glistening dust spreading out behind it like impossible gossamer wings. Amidst the white sheen of the blurred Being, a crimson mouth is open in an animalistic roar, bloodied claw-like hands extending forward like a predator who has planned and hunted their prey, waiting for the precise moment to attack.

Jungkook takes down the agent, a blurred frenzy of limbs, blood, fine dust, and ripping sounds shred the air, echoing the horror over and over. Yoongi is finally able to give a quick study to his immediate environment. The Užkulisai appeared very dead, surrounded by a large rubble of Grisial crystals, a very fine dust of said crystal still lingering in the air, making it difficult to see. Grisial was a mining facility for most part of the massive asteroid discs that surrounded the main planet. Had they crashed into one of the mining facilities? The massive tunnel they had apparently crashed into seemed pre-tunneled, with small light-sources embedded into some of the smoothened rock and crystal walls. Grisial crystals were such excellent conductors of light, that this small amount was all that was needed to cast decent illumination inside this massive tunnel.

By the time Yoongi manages to get to Jungkook, the agent is very dead, and Jungkook, at closer inspection, is very bloody.

Before Yoongi can even get a word out, Jungkook spits out a wad of something from his mouth and quickly says, ‘Jimin and Namjoon! There!’

He points down, away from the ship and upwards towards a tunnel of sorts, twisting away and upwards.

‘What about the others?’ Yoongi hastens to ask.

‘Sk’jin and Hoseok inside, not awake,’ Jungkook explains in quick short sentences. ‘Taeh’yung I don’t know.’

‘What-‘ Yoongi’s first instinct is to head after Jimin and Namjoon, but the question remained what even was going on and what happened. Time was not on their side, and at this moment only Yoongi and Jungkook were awake and functional. Yoongi would have to think rationally and calmly.

‘Communication down,’ Jungkook tells him worriedly, the lower half of his face down to his chest soaked in blood. ‘Or not answering.’

If no one was awake to answer of course there would be no communication. How did they even get here in the first place?

‘I think- I think they’re here,’ Jungkook tells him, spitting something out again.

‘They-?’ Yoongi pauses, watching Jungkook. Dread weighs heavily in the pit of his stomach.

‘The…-I don’t know- something bad. Something, something bigger.’ Jungkook struggles to explain, ‘Something bad.’

Yoongi makes up his mind.

He’s not sure who would issue the GI agents to move against them. But he knew for a fact that the Omhlophe were a bigger threat at this moment. And if they were behind this, if they were responsible for where they were, they needed to get not only the ship with Jimin’s tech out of there, but also take Jungkook away.

The GI had also been clearly ordered to kill only him. Namjoon had been taken along with Jimin, and Yoongi guesses the others would have been in the list too if it hadn’t been for whatever Jungkook did to the GI agents who were headed to collect Hoseok and Sk’jin.  

Even though it goes against what he wants to do, he grits his teeth and turns to head back inside the Užkulisai.

‘Yoongi-!’ Jungkook hastens to hurry after him. ‘Jimin-!’

‘We need to get out before they come,’ Yoongi grits out, rushing into the Hangar where another body, bloody and mangled lay under the Spardyti. ‘Lisai, close the Hangar gates! Run scans on damages, are we green for take-off?’

‘Yoongi!’

Jungkook grabs and shoves Yoongi against the wall, teeth bared, white stained red. His eyes are wide and nostrils flaring. Yoongi’s feet dangle feet above the ground, Jungkook’s stained hands too close to his neck. Hands that have clearly ripped through at least 2 throats in the past hour. Lisai is replying back, but Yoongi can’t exactly concentrate.

‘Jimin!’ Jungkook repeats, clearly frustrated and panicked, unable to really say anything.

Yoongi quickly releases himself from Jungkook’s brute strength of a hold against the wall and restrains the young Pravasi M’hanun.   

‘We need to plan this carefully! The last time something like this happened I moved with no care or attention but with only Jimin in mind-‘ Yoongi says through his teeth, struggling against Jungkook, ‘-and as a result Sk’jin nearly died!’

Jungkook stills.

‘Jimin is strong-‘ Yoongi doesn’t know if he’s reassuring Jungkook or himself, ‘And Namjoon is there. They took him because they needed him. He won’t be harmed. But they- that bad thing you were talking about. They can hurt him. Can hurt us, can hurt you. And we need to get out now.’

Jungkook stops fighting, just panting hard.

‘Trust Jimin.’ Yoongi says quietly, ‘Trust Namjoon- they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves. We cannot leave Sk’jin and Hoseok here with the ship.’

After a long second or two, Jungkook nods. Yoongi lets go of him, still a little wary, but Jungkook doesn’t react.

‘We’re gonna get the ship out, and track Jimin and Namjoon,’ Yoongi tells him as he starts to make his way further into the ship, hating himself with every step he took away from where his entire soul was screaming at him to go.

‘How?’ Jungkook asks, following up behind him.

Namjoon was definitely not going to be amused.

‘Poison.’

*

Namjoon finds himself gaining consciousness at the most inopportune time.

He’s inside a ship that isn’t the Užkulisai. In fact, this felt more like a Transporter. Jimin is next to him, although he’s been made to lie down. There’s something strangely gentle about his placement.

There’s a pillow under his head, a blanket of sorts covering his lower half, and his soft beanie folded next to his right hand. While what could only be a GI agent is finishing up and sealing the TissuePlast layered over the stab wound Jimin had on his side. Namjoon absentmindedly thinks it was a good thing that the injury had miraculously avoided all of Jimin’s internal organs.

There’s a dull sort of acceptance with what was happening. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have questions or was completely pliant to the events unfolding before him.

Namjoon finds that he’s not exactly restrained. He has the safety straps over his torso, but those were more precautionary as well as required for taking a flight in a Transporter anyways. There aren’t many windows, only the ones over at the cockpit, as well as a small square one on the door to the side. It’s white out, and Namjoon can’t pinpoint if they’re in space, or in some strange underwater facility. The lights coming through the windows are oddly rippled and keet changing in strength. They couldn’t be in warp; Transporters like these could go around space at normal ranges and speed, but they were not built for warp.

The side of his head felt heavy, and his jaw definitely sore from where the second Yoongi had kicked him (once) almost into unconsciousness. There was definitely no underestimating the strength of the GI. Which is why Namjoon does nothing, makes no movement, and tries his best not to even seem awake.

There are 4 GI agents. None of them speaking, but all moving as one. The one that was checking on Jimin stands and makes their way towards the back, going through a medical kit of sorts. The other three are at the cockpit, backs turned to Namjoon and silhouetted against the white light.

His Comm Device is still attached to his ear; an oversight or intentional, Namjoon can’t tell. He obviously can’t just call the Užkulisai without alerting the GI agents around him. Or they simply switched it off. Speaking of GI agents.  

Yoongi isn’t here.

But Namjoon is 100% sure he was there with them up until the moment after Taeh’yung did something, and the whole ship was violently thrown. Namjoon doesn’t remember what happens after that, but the heaviness of his head suggested there should be some form of pain resulted from hitting his head hard.

He glances up again only to find the GI agent already looking at him. It’s the same one who was treating Jimin. They approach him with the kit and at this point there’s no point pretending to be unconscious. He sits back, hands balling into fists instinctively. He’s not sure what to expect, but it definitely isn’t a stretch of tissue plast and a packet of his medication.

The helmet and black uniform entirely covers the Being up, but exposes only a part of their face. Namjoon can just about make out strangely grey rough skin, stretched over wide features. Their eyes are blackish, with dirty yellow specks in the center for a pupil. They’re tall too. Helmeted head brushing the top of the Transporter. They reach past Namjoon’s head, still maintaining eye-contact, and extract a small tube of water. They then hand it over to Namjoon, along with the pills.

Namjoon wants to study the pills, but he’s reluctant to look away, apprehensive of what would happen if he looked away. But the Being is the first to break eye contact, simply placing the bottle and pills on the adjacent seat before opening the TissuePlast to use.

‘Who- who are you?’ Namjoon croaks out before clearing his throat.

Predictably there is no answer.

Instead the Being just goes about, placing TissuePlast over the visible cuts and scratches on his face. Then they hand him the pills and the tube of water again, and watch.

Without any words, Namjoon understands that this Being is not going to go away unless Namjoon takes the pills. The packet is still sealed, the pills don’t look tampered with: of course all of this means nothing because they could very well have been tampered with and simply repackaged in the exact same style. And while the agents all seemed to be rather passive, Namjoon knows what they’re capable of and doesn’t want to be physically handled to take the pills.

Either way, they were now here at this point, and Namjoon can see no foreseeable means of escape. So with his good arm, Namjoon takes the pills and tube of water.

He doesn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, which if the pills were really his actual medication, wouldn’t be alarming.

All of this suspicion and anxiety was not good for him.

The Being moves away, taking the tube and empty packet and disposing of it. It seemed odd to find GI agents doing such oddly normal tasks. It was like watching Yoongi during the first few weeks. Except more extreme. Because once the agent’s tasks were “completed”, they just sat on one of the seats. Absolutely still, almost robotic, as though awaiting orders.

‘Were- were you ordered to do this? Who issued your mission?’ Namjoon asks again, knowing that the whole prospect of getting information from them was useless. If they were worse than Yoongi, then they were not going to give them any information whatsoever.

Namjoon glances down at Jimin, still very unconscious, and hopes he would wake up. He thinks back to the others and entertains the possibility of them not being alive. But if that were the case, why was he alive? If they only wanted Jimin, why not kill him off too? Or was he needed for questioning? Or to be used against Jimin for questioning? Wouldn’t Yoongi be a better candidate for that? Not just because of the nature of his and Jimin’s relationship, but the fact that Yoongi is GI. Or maybe he would be too stubborn, too GI to give conclusive answers and explanations.

What had Yoongi said about the GI? They operated based solely on the missions handed to them, and for the completion of said mission. So was getting him and Jimin out purposeful?

And what happened with Taeh’yung? That bright light could have only been the Zhak’gri. What had he done? And where was he? Surely he couldn’t have been knocked out or injured. Namjoon’s seen what he can do.

The Transporter takes a sharp turn, causing Namjoon to sit back, steadying himself. The white light fades in intensity, and Namjoon can just about understand where they are.

Grisial had massive mining networks within mountain-like asteroids, mining deeper into the core of the crystals to extract the purest forms of the coveted crystal. Something must have happened and the Užkulisai must have crashed through one of the mines. This was going to be terrible for communications. Maybe that’s why they didn’t bother removing their Comm Devices.

Namjoon thinks back to what Jimin had said to him. About how Yoongi himself as a GI didn’t make sense. How it didn’t add up with the timeline of events, with the facts they had, and with the information they obtained from various sources. Were these GI agents here “like” Yoongi, or were they different too?

He also thinks about what Sk’jin had said about contacting the Long-Huon Zitao and his ship again.

They were clearly missing something here. And it was definitely something from the time after Yoongi and his team were sent to Megibīya, and before the GI urban myths started to really take off. But there was no way they could get this information because that was a timeframe of almost 8 centuries – if they were even right about the timing at all.   

Namjoon is jolted from his thoughts when the whole Transporter is sent careening off, the view outside blurring into streaks as they spin violently. He hits his head again, and Namjoon is acutely aware that he’s definitely sustained some form of head trauma. The Transporter rights itself, the GI agents methodically reposition themselves, and the Being who had given Namjoon the water and medication positions themselves at the door before unlocking a hatch to each side of the door.

This was no ordinary Transporter, Namjoon surmises as the agent pulls out two mechanical joints that attach in the center to create some form of launcher. The agent, despite being of quite a hulking built, moved with a very strange lightness the exact way Yoongi did. They release the door and without so much as aiming or preparing themselves, they start to fire.

It’s uncannily reminiscent to Yoongi’s seemingly blind actions- but somehow even stricter in its chaos.

The energy source being used to fire what appeared to be electronic charges burns bright orange, glaring through the misty white air outside the Transporter. Namjoon’s not sure what they were firing at, but it’s clearly taken care of. All of the noise is also clearly enough to disturb Jimin, slowly waking him from his unconscious state.

Namjoon’s not sure what Jimin had done before, somehow occupying his body, a strange awareness and control over his entire body that didn’t seem or feel invasive.

It’s terrifying, when Namjoon thinks of it in hindsight, what Jimin had done. Namjoon couldn’t even struggle against Jimin’s sudden takeover because he couldn’t even feel him, or sense him.

A voice that sounds annoyingly like Sk’jin’s smugly whispers something along the lines of ‘I told you so, little prince is hiding who he is and what he can do’ in the back of his mind.

But Namjoon has bigger things to worry about, as per usual, like the danger he was in, as per usual.

The GI agent closes the door and pushes back the latches, locking them back into the wall just as Jimin’s eyes open. He looks more than disoriented, his eyes unable to focus, head lolling about, a strained groan sounding deep from his throat. And in this moment, Namjoon notices how Jimin’s Comm Device was still activated.

Jimin had a higher ranking than everyone aboard the ship, his authority code stronger, and of the highest priority. Maybe- just maybe, he could do something.

The agent pauses and then kneels before Jimin, a strange display of worry. Either that or Namjoon was just projecting the other GI agent he personally knows into this one.

‘Y-Yoongi-‘ Jimin groans out, ‘-I’m-‘ he chokes out a string of disconnected words as the agent simply watches from where they’re kneeling.

‘He’s in shock,’ Namjoon spits out, thinking fast.

The agent turns to look at him.

‘He’s in shock- can I- can I go to him? I can help,’ Namjoon asks.

There’s no reply from the agent. Namjoon hesitates, the sounds of Jimin hyperventilating getting louder. It wasn’t a terrible case or too worrying, but Namjoon could use this to his advantage.

‘You need to get him somewhere right? He’s going to suffocate like this,’ Namjoon tries again. He’s not restrained, but he doesn’t want to push whatever leniency they had given him by approaching Jimin. ‘You will fail your mission if I don’t help him.’

This seems to do the trick and the agent stands up, making space for Namjoon.

He quickly releases himself from the chair with his one working hand and kneels next to Jimin. He bows close, using his good arm to balance himself by placing his hand right next to Jimin’s head. He angles himself, blocking the agent’s view as Namjoon deftly taps at the hoop-like device.

‘Hey- Jimin,’ Namjoon isn’t of course just here for the Comm Device. The hyperventilation, though not entirely life-threatening, had to stop.

‘Jimin, it’s Namjoon- I’m here, you’re okay,’ Namjoon realizes he’s probably not the best at this. ‘Listen to me- my voice, listen to my voice, just try to breath with me okay?’

He’s not sure if Jimin can hear him but he’s gonna try.

‘Inhale,’ he says as gently as he can, ‘Exhale.’

Jimin is struggling, his eyes opening and closing at random, as though unable to hold onto consciousness. He repeats this a few times, now even more worried as Jimin doesn’t seem to be planning on calming down any time soon.

‘Jimin- hey listen-‘ Namjoon tries, rearranging himself and with a slightly hesitant hand brushing through Jimin’s short hair. ‘Hey listen to me- you’ll be all right, you just gotta wake up okay? Just open your eyes- look at me.’

Jimin’s eyes struggle to open to look at Namjoon.

‘Good,’ Namjoon holds the eye contact, ‘See? It’s me- it’s just me, we’re fine.’ Namjoon switches how he kneels, balancing himself only on his knees as he places his hand over Jimin’s chest. ‘Breathe with me okay? Just breathe with me.’

It gets better, though Jimin can’t seem to both open his eyes and breathe properly at the same time. His eyes are closed, hands formed into tight fists. Sweat beads on his forehead, faint vein appearing around his temple, the tendons on his neck are strained. It was almost as though he was in some form of terrible pain.

‘What hurts?’ Namjoon asks as he removes his hand from Jimin’s chest. ‘Are you hurt somewhere?’

Namjoon sees the faint gleam of the Comm Device. Someone was listening. Their communication signals were being received back by the Užkulisai.

‘You’re safe, okay?’ Namjoon says, angling himself again to block the Comm Device from view. ‘You’re just in a Transporter, with some agents around, we’re safe. We have medical supply. See? They’ve bandaged you up already. You’re important aren’t you? Little prince right?’

That was as much as Namjoon dared to say without explicitly announcing where they were, who they were with, and if they were very injured. He just hopes it’s enough for others back on the ship to understand and create a plan to come get them.

‘Yoongi?’ Jimin asks faintly.

For a bewildered second, Namjoon wonders if Jimin was replying back to the Comm Device. He’s temporarily exasperated that the others would try to expose their channel by communicating back. But his worries are for nothing when he notices the light from the Comm Device completely give out, indicating a complete failure in the channels. Jimin’s eyes open slowly, still a little disoriented, looking around for the Human.

‘Yoongi’s fine,’ Namjoon lies. ‘He’s just not here right now. He’ll come and get us out. He’ll come back for you.’

This clearly seems to make the most sense to Jimin because he scrunches up his face a bit before opening his eyes properly. He’s still not 100% there, but he appeared more lucid than before. His breaths still came out harshly, but the pace was less brutal and more even.  

‘He did,’ Jimin whispers, voice scratched and croaky.

Namjoon’s first instinct is to get him water, but seeing as they were not-

A small tube of water and a hand holding it moves past his head. For a moment, Namjoon had forgotten that the GI agent was behind him.

‘Oh uh, thanks-‘ Namjoon is saying as he takes the tube from the GI agent who moves away to stand over behind him, dirty yellow eyes watching him with absolute no regard whatsoever.

He opens the tube and holds it up to Jimin to let the latter drink but Jimin isn’t looking at him.

Jimin’s eyes are wide, whatever colour he had on his face is completely gone, his mouth open mid-choked gasp.

‘Hey wait- uhh I think they’re okay-‘ Namjoon tries at once, hoping Jimin won’t go back to hyperventilating. But Jimin doesn’t even seem to notice him, and instead with a strange strength and desperation, Jimin actually sits up, eyes still not looking away from the agent who does nothing to acknowledge or react to Jimin.

‘Wh-what-‘ Jimin croaks out, shaking hands undoing the safety bands over his lower body before shakily standing up. Namjoon immediately stands as well, arm stretched out to catch Jimin if he fell. But Jimin staggers the few steps between himself and the GI agent and crashes into the (very tall) Being. Before Namjoon can even react or think of a way to get Jimin out of this clearly dangerous situation that could be regarded as some form of attack, Jimin reaches up with shaking hands and shoves off the helmet from the agent.

Namjoon does not recognize the species the Being belongs to. The greyish dull textured skin, almost stone-like, he had seen previously wasn’t just limited to their face, but all over a bald head too.

‘Yyna?’ Jimin whispers, hands shaking as he gently touches the Being’s face.

The agent does nothing to stop Jimin, simply watching him.

‘Jimin?’ Namjoon tries, arm still reaching out to catch him just in case he fell.

‘Is- is that you?’ Jimin’s voice is starting to break, the last of his words barely above a whisper. ‘Yyna, Megibīya Wenedi, min hre thei em? Min la hria em?’ Jimin asks, his tongue shifting to his melodious native language. ‘Ii ni taktak em? Ka Yyna i ni taktak a mi?’

‘Jimin?’

There’s a sudden high-pitched whistling sound and Namjoon moves instinctively, grabbing Jimin and forcing them both to crash down onto the floor.

Everything  roars- oppressive heat, immediately replaced by biting speeding winds, and the sound of metal screaming rends through the air. There’s a brief second when, to Namjoon’s horror, he feels himself being lifted into the air, as though the whole Transporter was falling, but something shoves both him and Jimin down again.

There’s another roar, heat at his face and Namjoon hears Jimin’s scream momentarily before they slide violently over the floor and crash into netting placed over the open-cargo space at the end of the Transporter.

They’ve clearly stopped moving. They must have been hit, and the pilot managed to get them somewhere. The weight trapping them on to the floor lifts and Namjoon pushes himself up, his damaged arm uselessly swinging and nearly making him slip. But Jimin helps him up.

The crash had clearly woken him up completely- no look of disorientation or confusion in his eyes. Now instead his eyes are wide, disbelief and sorrow- and a strange euphoria echo in his eyes.

The agent that had been pushing them down to the floor is standing and moving about already, unlocking the latches again before opening the doors to the Transporter again and firing.

The Transporter rocks as its hit with a barrage of fire. But it only last a scant few seconds before the agent clearly takes down whatever was firing at them. There’s movement from the front as the three agents at the cockpit move as though one, the units of the cockpit shifting and lifting, making way for a section of the nose of the Transporter to eject out into defense post.

Something had hit them before, and it had torn open a side of the Transporter hull near the cargo space to the back. Namjoon isn’t sure what to think of these GI agents, or of the Beings attacking them from outside. But clearly they were coming from one direction, away from the ripped metal behind them.

‘Jimin!’ Namjoon whispers tersely, nodding towards the opening.

Jimin looks at it, understanding immediate in his gaze. But he doesn’t move. He looks back instead at the GI agents.

‘Jimin!’ Namjoon says more urgently, ‘We can get out now-‘

‘They came back to me,’ Jimin says instead.

‘What-?’

‘They-…’ Namjoon can almost physically feel the absolute horror that washes across Jimin’s face as though it were his own.

‘They’ve come back. Because of me- it’s because of me.’ Jimin whispers. ‘I can see it now- I can see it-‘

Namjoon tries to pull Jimin back but the latter won’t budge. He turns to look at Namjoon, eyes glossed over with unshed tears.

‘It’s me.’

Something very powerful and very large detonates, physically moving the Transporter some meters. The agent at the doorway flies backwards, landing heavily on their back.

‘Yyna!’ Jimin gasps and to Namjoon’s absolute horror, darts forward to the fallen agent. One of the other agents at the front leaves their post at the front and begins to walk towards the doorway and abandoned firing post.

Jimin doesn’t even get to make to it to the fallen agent, stopping short as he catches a glimpse of the gangly and tall GI agent. This one wasn’t even in the standard GI uniform of full black with helmet. Rather he was wearing the same faux uniform the Second Yoongi had been wearing- the same Grisial uniform.

‘Amic?’ Jimin stumbles forward, walking past the open doorway towards the tall Being.

‘Jimin-!’ Namjoon rushes forward to grab Jimin away, but the other GI agent, Amic, as Jimin had called him, is faster, pulling him away from the open doorway just in time.

But Jimin doesn’t even register his close-call, hands grabbing onto this Amic, clearly somewhat losing his mind as he keeps repeating that name. There’s a ring of familiarity to the name that Namjoon, at this current moment, cannot rightly place.

And now there was an open doorway for certain death (or injury) between Namjoon and Jimin. But clearly none of the danger they were in meant anything to Jimin who seems to be possessed with a strange energy. He suddenly lets go of Amic and rushes to the cockpit, skidding to a halt as he looks at the GI agents in a strange state of hysteria.

Amic, or whatever his name is, is undoing some other latches next to the already open ones at the doorway. And Namjoon isn’t sure if these Beings were here to help them, or if they were here to take them away back to the Special Jury because that seemed to be the only viable and reasonable explanation. If anyone had control over the GI now, it would be the Special Jury. And they couldn’t go back. Not with what they knew now, and the evident harmful intention they seemed to harbor upon the outcome of this mission. The risk was too high. But so was whatever was attacking them from outside. Either way Namjoon makes his decision to just plan along the way. He reaches for the latches to the wall, fingers digging into the small jutting tabs to extract and pull out other weaponized devices. Amic doesn’t stop him, doesn’t even look at him.

Whatever this Transporter was, it was custom built and designed to maximize on strength, artillery, function, and durability.

A ship that’s the equivalent of a GI agent Sk’jin’s voice unhelpfully offers him in the back of his head.

It’s difficult doing things one-handed, especially when most of the weaponry required both arms.

Bold of them to assume every Being has two arms- Namjoon wonders if the amount of times he’s hit his head has lead him to hearing Sk’jin’s voice unwarranted.

In order to completely pull out the weaponized mechanical arm that connects to the already mounted launcher at the doorway, Namjoon needs to pull at the safety tag to release it. But being one arm short, finds himself in a predicament. But a slightly smoking black-uniform covered arm reaches past him and tugs at the tag. The arm releases, and Namjoon twists the arm and locks it down to its charged position before locking it into the main central frame.

The GI agent that Jimin had called Yyna steps past, still smoking a little from the effects of the explosion that threw them off, and heads straight for the doorway. Namjoon is not here for whatever suicidal attempt this is pulls the agent back.

There’s a tiny look of surprise on the Being’s face, but Namjoon doesn’t have time to explain.

‘Hey you! Amic or whatever, use that canon and aim for the ceiling! Create a veil!’ Namjoon orders.

Amic pauses for the slightest second before following Namjoon’s instructions.

‘And you- just stay put until we get sufficient cover and then you can go crazy on the launcher okay?’ Namjoon asks, putting up his functioning arm and hand to form a thumb’s up.

Yyna, the GI agent, looks down at his thumb’s up before mimicking it.

‘Oh Spaces you’re just like Yoongi,’ Namjoon breathes out as Amic fires a bright short burst of laser.

The air seems to erupt with light, but Namjoon can see without problem, momentarily worried with the way Amic looks away, eyes shut as Yyna’s helmet visor lowers. Jimin has ducked down, palms over his face to protect his eyes from the sudden explosion of light.

Yyna takes the position before the launcher and fires a fiery orange bolt of energy that makes the whole Transporter shudder. The sound that resonates the air is hollow and sonorous, followed by ominous creaking.

The light is still bright when Namjoon darts past Yyna towards Jimin, pulling him up to his feet.

‘Jimin we need to go come on-‘ Namjoon says urgently close to Jimin’s ear.

Suddenly, the lights in the air shuts down- away with a rapidity that makes Namjoon question whether or not the lights had even been there in the first place.

The initial faint light from outside the windows aren’t even there, and the Transporter is only lit with the faint blue emergency lights on the floor.

There’s one last detonation from something Amic has fired and the silence that follows is almost louder.

‘It’s them-‘ Jimin whispers softly, ‘Namjoon it’s them-‘

The Omhlophe? But how did they find them so quickly? How did they catch up-?

‘It’s me,’ Jimin whispers again. ‘They came back to me.’

‘What do you mean?’ Namjoon asks, turning around to properly address Jimin.

‘Remember- remember I said,’ Jimin swallows. ‘-I said that Yoongi was not supposed to be here.’

Namjoon nods, ears straining for any sounds from outside the Transporter.

‘It’s- it’s because I was not supposed to be here,’ Jimin tells him tenuously, ‘I am the Fate of Menigišiti, that’s how they did it, that’s why the Red Evil came to Megibīya- they wanted me. They’re all tied to me.’

Things were falling into place, but Namjoon is a little overwhelmed to piece them together. All he knew right now was that they needed to get out of here.

‘Hey- Amic, Yyna?’ Namjoon looks back behind him, ‘I don’t know what’s going on- but those guys outside cannot, under any circumstance, get to Jimin. So we need to get the out right now, otherwise your mission will fail, got that?’

Yyna and Amic simply look at him.

‘Namjoon-!’ Jimin tries to intervene.

‘Jimin, I don’t know what you’re trying to say- and honestly we don’t have the time to go over it either,’ Namjoon huffs out, reaching for the latches on the wall to check for more weapons they could use. ‘But we need to get out, we need to get you out.’

‘I’m-‘

‘Jimin- think of what we’re supposed to do,’ Namjoon says firmly, bending down a little to be eye-to-eye with Jimin. ‘We have to go to back to your System. We  need to fix this. We need to solve this. Right? For that guy, for JD’s sake, for your people’s sake- for Yoongi.’ Namjoon takes a step back, ‘For Jungkook.’

'Remember what you said? That you would be responsible for Jungkook?'

Jimin nods faintly.

Jimin looks down, the faint blue lights from the floor creating silver lights across the short scruff of his hair.

‘We will figure out what all of this means, once we get the hell out of here.’ Namjoon restates, ‘I don’t know if you can say something, or do something, to get these guys to at least help or something- but please, we need to get out. We need to rejoin the others.’

Jimin nods, still looking down.

Namjoon sighs out before gently patting Jimin’s head.

‘I know this is a lot. But we need to first get out.’

Jimin nods once more, a bit more determined than before.

‘Okay- can I get a report on the numbers outside?’

‘9 unidentified Beings outside,’ one of the agents tells him monotonously from the cockpit.

‘Uh- right, what’s the condition of the Transporter?’ Namjoon asks again, sort of surprised to get a response.

‘Inoperable for flight. Engines for land-gear are still functional.’ Another agent from the cockpit reports, her voice as equally monotonous.

‘What exits are available?’

‘Three. Two past the unidentified Beings, and one going back.’

‘Then we go back,’ Namjoon orders. ‘Does this Transporter have faceted-shields?’

‘Yes.’

‘Concentrate shields to the front, and to the back. We reverse backwards,’ Namjoon orders as he guides himself and Jimin towards the cockpit. ‘We make it back to the Užkulisai which will at least be more fortified than this Transporter.’

No one moves.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Namjoon looks to Jimin who appeared to be somewhat dazed, his actions just a little slow.

‘Jimin?’ Namjoon nods towards the two Beings at the front of the cockpit.

Outside the windows, the mist is clearing in the dim light, and Namjoon can clearly see the white outlines of the Omhlophe waiting for them.

It’s unnerving, they don’t seem to be making a move. Just waiting for them to do something. It’s unsettling, and Namjoon can’t dwell on thoughts about making mistakes. They had to do something, and this was the best thing they could do under these circumstances.

He just hopes the Užkulisai is functional with functioning crew members.     

Jimin looks up from his hands, and as though processing what Namjoon had just said nods and with a hesitant look speaks.

‘Nineti, could you take us back?’ Jimin looks at the agent at the central steering station.

The agent doesn’t move for a moment, before they start transferring the shield-facets to the front and then the back. Namjoon breathes out in relief.

‘I didn’t want to see,’ Jimin says quietly without preamble over the sound of the Transporter starting.

‘See what?’ Namjoon asks as he fiddles with his Comm Device

‘That this is my fault,’ Jimin replies, and he doesn’t wait for Namjoon before he continues on, ‘Nineti is one of my Guards. I lost him in Megibīya- he never returned from the rain. And that is Amad’la, Yoongi’s captain. The tall one is Amic, Yoongi’s best friend. And the other is the Megibīya Wenedi Yyna.’

Namjoon doesn’t know what to say.

Jimin gives him a hollow ghost of a smile as they start to move.

‘They’ve all come back to me.’

*

*

(Author’s Notes)

GUESS WHO IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

Me

Congratulate me

I have ended my BFA in CGI. It is done. I am Educated™ and highly (lol) employable

These future studios won’t know what hit them

I am very sorry for the hiatus and not being able to write in so long T_T not writing was honestly depressing I can’t even begin to explain

But I didn’t forget ADEGU at all, in fact I was slowly adding to it on my commutes back from university and planning and carefully righting the wrongs to make it right (ehe) and I think we can go back to, not exactly weekly, but like, 10-12 days updates again. I’ve had a million writing ideas as well and the taekook au I had written since 2017 HAHAHAHAHA KILL ME will hopefully be released this coming August.

It’s funny that now I’ve started writing, bts has gone into break.

WHICH IS GOOD.

GOD

I LOVE BREAKS

I LOVE HOLIDAYS

LET THEM REST

Let me rest too because idk have you guys felt that thing where you’re so used to the anxiety and stress of university that once you’re done you don’t know how to do anything.

This might be tmi but if I didn’t go to university I would be constipated im not kidding

I had insomnia, anxiety nightmares, night-terrors, strange cravings and then feeling like throwing up at the sight of food. But it’s been a bit like a month where I’ve started sort of getting used to it and I feel, mentally and emotionally, like a new person

Makes me realize how university is as an experience for anyone mentally

BUT AYO I’M BACK I MISSED WRITING THIS AND IM SORRY TO ANYONE WHO WAS WAITING I AM BACK

Also ive changed the tags a bit because I’ve been seeing a lot of people post about being more clear with tags and I don’t wanna cause anything negative to people reading my fic

BUT ANYWAYS PLEASE ENJOY

Also here's the link for the binary code 

http://www.webestools.com/text-to-binary-converter-txt2bin-bin2txt-online-encoder-ascii-secret-code-binary-encoder-text.html