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This will hurt

It’s all right- pain isn’t unknown to me

I didn’t mean physical pain

I know what you meant

Unsurprisingly, Sk’jin has nightmares.

Not the type you see when you sleep, because sleep is quite literally a dream for the Khol’isa.

But nightmares, the type you see with your waking eyes- or maybe a bit like how most normal Beings would daydream.

It’s unsurprising but still annoying. Just because you weren’t surprised by a nightmare doesn’t mean it still doesn’t completely dislodge and unhinge you.

Blinking hard to get rid of the reddish hue overtaking his vision, Sk’jin looks down, where Jungkook’s head was pillowing his lap as he slept.

Being clean on a regular basis and being medically treated for a week really effected the young Vicitra. His skin looked less grey, the natural reddish tint of his skin no longer appeared like bruises but appeared deeper and richer in colour. His hair, which Sk’jin and Jimin trimmed and thoroughly cleaned was bouncy and shiny.

Jungkook had obviously been taken care of. He had been raised, and he had been taught.

He could read some Standard, he had table-manners (though slightly messy and very very defensive), really loved showers, and had nearly perfect speech. He was also intelligent, and a lot more perceptive than anyone would have guessed.

His behavior towards the Beings on board clearly showed this.

‘I need her alive.’

Amad’la sprints off first, firing from her TeorSer. The Verktaë responds to her fire with her own from the strange spear like weapon they carried. Her clothes ripple as though light were refracting off of her but Sk’jin sees no light from her or any of the Verktaë. He starts to walk ahead, hands curling and uncurling, stretching his lengthening fingers.

His temples burn, missing something but that didn’t matter now. The device in her hands screams in Jungkook’s voice again and Sk’jin shoots forward.

The Khol’isa rarely fought. They didn’t feel the need to either. But Sk’jin was no ordinary Khol’isa. He was not like the others, indolent in their pompous nature of superiority gained from the belief that their suffering made them better than others. He was not like the others who would rather twist and play with the minds of others. He was not like the others who would break their promises. 

Amad’la responds instantaneously, firing shot after shot around the Verktaë in wide speeding circles, giving the Verktaë no time to respond to Sk’jin as he jumps up, turning high with the spear and brings it swinging down against her. She barely manages to hold parry it but Sk’jin literally has the heightened space around them. He lands heavily onto her, uncaring that the spears dig deep down to her torso. She tries to throw him off but Sk’jin twists them so that he’s on the floor instead, surprising her by turning her above himself.

‘You piece of I’m going to have fun punching your face,’ Sk’jin seethes, grinning wide.

She’s about to retaliate when Amad’la appears, using the blunt end of her TeorSer to knock her off sideways. She sways alarmingly and Sk’jin kicks her off.

There’s an odd resilience to her- one that Sk’jin isn’t sure if it’s native to her species, or if it was something else entirely. Blindly, head still tilting, and as though her body moving out of strange violent instinct, she rushes forward again with the spear but Sk’jin easily blocks it, turning on his heel to bring the blunt end of the spear against her very obviously bruised ribs. But she still manages to pull Sk’jin with her, grasp on him still desperate before she shoves him off.

Sk’jin rolls over twice before crouching to a standstill, watching as the Verktaë tries to gain her bearings but he doesn’t give her the chance.

‘Restraint!’ he yells.

Amad’la is there in an instance, well aimed punches on the Verktaë’s knee, sending a resounding crack in the air followed by a gargling scream, and another as Amad’la rises to grab her arm, twisting her backwards in momentum with her own weight. There’s another horrendous scream but Sk’jin meets it head on.  

His hands, thin and fragile appearing to most, wraps around the Verktaë’s still screaming head. But she pushes harsh- mad screams suddenly dying out when Sk’jin locks eyes with her.

She’s still struggling, but Sk’jin doesn’t relent. Amad’la is being pushed back, her feet digging into the dirt but she’s unrelenting too. Sk’jin stares deep into the Verktaë’s strange eclipsed eyes. She’s cursing at Sk’jin in her language- you didn’t need to understand a language in order to understand you were being cursed at. But Sk’jin doesn’t pay heed to that.

There was something so wrong- something so incredibly disturbing about their eyes. Jn’young’s memories did nothing to truly highlight just how wrong they felt.  

‘Show me,’ Sk’jin grits out, fingers tightening around her head, the glow of the Bloodmoon seeping into the light of the tainted eclipse, ‘Show me what you’re hiding, ya little piece of !’

The fabric of reality around them stretches and tears.

She’s screaming and Sk’jin screams right back- but time, matter, space screams louder as it falls apart, Sk’jin forcing himself through in a haze of red and pain.

His head hurts- almost as though it were splitting open.

But then again, he’s expecting that so it’s not that disorienting.

He’s face-down on cracked tile floors. They’re not the cleanest but Sk’jin has been face-down on much filthier surfaces before so he’s not complaining.

‘-t’s not right.’

‘You know you can’t say things like that.’

Sk’jin looks up from where he was on the floor. He’s in the bathroom slash laundry room. The Verktaë whose memories he was looking at was there before him. On the other side a very tall Being, almost frail looking, but with a determined look in their eyes.

It’s a little tiring, having to understand the understanding of a language within a memory. It had nothing to do with knowing the actual language, but rather, having to become used to the familiarity and awareness that the language presented in the strength of the memory.

‘Creya, you know I’m not just saying this for the fun of it,’ they frown, ‘I really mean it. We’re just stuck here. The whole universe exists before us, why shouldn’t we take the opportunity to explore it, to live it?’

‘Because it’s literally not safe?’ Creya, the Verktaë replies. Her eyes aren’t eclipses here- rather they’re a deep blue, quite large, with 3 pupils in the center.

‘Yet Megibīya seems fine?’

Creya rolls her eyes, ‘Of course, have you seen Megibīyans? That’s why they were selected- and not Akramana.’

‘Excuse me, our species is tougher than that,’ the Akramanan frowns.

‘Besides, it’s not like they Megibīyan contribute much to the System- it makes sense moving them out entirely- the amount of charges required to send a direct path towards them is the most troublesome,’ she sighs as she wrings out some clothes. ‘They have more than enough land-mass to create solar-cells, they just want to use Fate for their benefit. And he plays in easily.’

‘Didn’t think you were that vindictive towards the Fate.’

‘I’m not,’ Creya replies at once, ‘It’s not him I dislike. It’s what his position means.’

‘So why are you arguing with me, we can leave.’

‘I’m arguing because what you’re saying is literally suicide. Leave the barriers? Unless you’re part of the Wenedi I highly doubt you’re going to be getting any way beyond Akramana.’

The Akramana gives Creya a smile.

‘What. What’s with the face?’ she frowns.

‘Things are changing,’ the Akraman smiles gently, ‘And they will change, fate is not written for us, we act on it ourselves.’

‘…why are you being so cryptic.’

The Akraman helps with the remaining clothes, delicately shaking out the smaller entwined clothing.

‘I have been told there has been a great change of heart.’

‘…okay?’

‘Then let me ask you. If you could leave, would you?’

Creya looks out of the small window above the washer. Sk’jin stands and looks out of the window as well.

‘I just want to live somewhere where my whole life doesn’t revolve around supplying another planet with some ing water.’ She grumbles, ‘Tired of this place. I don’t care what they say about paying heed to a greater social responsibility. What about my life? What I want to do? It’s like I don’t have a choice in anything.’

‘You didn’t up until now, and here you are, pushing away a chance at being able to choose. So why aren’t you?’

Creya is clearly irritated by this comment and Sk’jin is too used to seeing someone being manipulated to really care for it anymore.

‘Show me proof,’ she bristles at the Akraman, ‘Then I’ll choose.’

The Akramanan laughs, rubbing the side of their face close to their eyes.

‘I have proof.’

Creya looks up at the Akramanan in confusion.

‘Well okay then-.’

Sk’jin experiences it the way Creya does- of course, her emotions overwhelm the memory as the Akramanan pulls away some sort of mask over their eyes to reveal twin eclipses.

Creya falls over next to Sk’jin.

‘-what-?’ she whispers out, eyes wide, body shaking.

The Akramanan stands before her, extending out a hand.

‘I have made my own fate. Don’t you want to do the same?’

The memory sharpens away from the fog of confusion and shock and fear to one of-…what exactly, Sk’jin can’t point out but he finds himself standing alongside Creya as she takes the Akramanan’s hand.   

‘What do I do?’

‘Change of heart, change of mind, change of fate,’ the Akramanan tells her.

‘How- how many? For how long?’ Creya asks tremulously, eyes wide, posture reverent.

‘There’s so many of us.’

‘What-…what will you do?’

‘What we will do,’ the Akramanan corrects her.

‘What will we do?’ Creya smiles, tears welling up in her eyes.

‘We will break Fate.’

With Namjoon, Jungkook was respectful, watching with wide eyes, listening with care, and always somehow more alert in the presence of the Kutsoglerin.

With Hoseok, Jungkook was much more comfortable, and liked to sit next to him as Hoseok explained impossibly difficult tactics and instructions on piloting, nodding as though he understood. When Jungkook had an issue with the Comm-Device, he went straight to Hoseok, fidgeting a little as he asked the Ngfy’widan to help him.

With Taeh’yung Jungkook was wary but he made no move to defend himself or react back to the Zhak’gri. He was, bluntly put, afraid yes, but there was an undoubted awe with the way he looked at him.

With Jimin he was protective, moving to shadow his movements and placing himself in a way where he could bodily protect the shorter Being. Which was pointless considering how Jimin was perfectly safe inside the ship. But hilarious because Jungkook did this every time Yoongi was in the vicinity.

It was almost as though Jungkook just knew without being told, that Jimin was Yoongi’s highest priority, and Yoongi was Jimin’s highest priority.

But out of all of this, what disturbed and strangely hurt Sk’jin the most was how Jungkook was around him.

Sk’jin falls harshly on his back.

He stands back up as quickly as he can.

He had tripped, it turns out. Clearly, so did Creya.

‘It’s okay,’ someone tells her. It’s not the Akramanan. It’s someone else. ‘Change is not easy.’

Creya looks uncomfortable as she stands up, balancing herself carefully.

‘Won’t…-won’t this cause problems for the other planets?’

Sk’jin stares out of the window into a dark space. It looks strangely empty. No stars, no asteroid belt, no pulsing star.

That’s when Sk’jin realizes, with a horrifying jolt, they were not quite in space. They were underwater.

‘It will- but how else do we show them what they should be looking at?’

Creya nods slowly.

‘It’s okay to feel doubt,’ the Being tells her, ‘It means there is more to be done. When you question something, it means it is still lacking.’

‘We are lacking?’

‘We always will- which is why we must work harder to do what we must. Breaking free from this system that has controlled us for so long- it will feel wrong, it will feel like a sin. And to many it will. To others it will- but what about your old life?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Was it not a sin for you to break your body over continuous labour over an effort and reaction that not only took place elsewhere, but did not benefit you, your mind? Your heart?’ he inquires, ‘Was that not a sin?’

‘Well-…yes.’

‘Did you think it was justified?’

‘No,’ she frowns at once.

‘Even when those who desperately needed your planetary resource, a resource they would die without, would be able to afford living from a resource your planet had an excess of?’

Creya stammers.

‘Did you know, that there is power in receiving?’

‘What?’

‘Yes. There is power in receiving.’ A strange light filters out from beyond the window, beyond the depths of the water around them. Sk’jin edges closer to the window, unsure what to expect as he stares out, the Bloodmoon gleaming back at him on his reflection. ‘Do you think they did not feel the same as you are now? They did. But that comes from power- what you are feeling now. That is power.’

‘Power from receiving?’

‘Spaces, why am I witnessing the most stupid egotistic propaganda lecture,’ Sk’jin scowls behind him, ‘It’s not even good.’

‘Because you have always been giving- it is time for you to finally take, and that can sometimes feel wrong.’

Sk’jin rolls his eyes.

‘I- I’ll be honest, I’ve been feeling like that too,’ Creya tells the Being, ‘My whole life I just- I just gave, I just did what I did, what I was supposed to, what I was fated to. And now…’

‘And now.’

‘Now it’s like-…I can take what I want, and it’s okay.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Damn,’ Sk’jin sighs. ‘This is just sad.’

The ship, which was what they were clearly on, shakes quite strongly.

‘We are approaching the end.’ the Being announces. ‘Are you ready?’

‘I am,’ Creya nods firmly. ‘Thank you for coming and finding me. I will rejoin the others.’

‘But you should see this,’ the Being nods towards the window. ‘I think you will like it.’

Curious, Creya steps up the window next to Sk’jin.

‘You may not see the beauty in it first but-.’

They break the surface of the water with an abruptness Sk’jin cannot understand.

Massive lines of light- bright and brilliant, like a net- no, like a web spreads out into a vast stretch of space where the stars seem to sway in their position as though Sk’jin were looking at their reflection on water rather than with his very eyes. And maybe that’s exactly what it was, because what he thought was many interconnecting web-lines were singular, but just reflected over and over all over Menigišiti.  

And in between brighter connected webs were bright spots- surrounded by gleaming spikes, like each planet had their own constellation of stars surrounding it.

And there- at the center, so chaotic and so wild- Sk’jin swears he should be able to hear Yino, hear this quasar just exist here, against everything they’ve ever known to be true or real.

‘Okay but what-.’

The Being steps in between Sk’jin and Creya, and points out towards one of the distant planets. The stars around them start to ignite- bright arches of light that form rings, eclipsing each other in seemingly slow arcs.

‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ the Being whispers. ‘We’re setting ourselves free.’ They trace the motion of the rings arching out, light overwhelming what once was before abruptly giving out, leaving a darkness that was hollow and irreparable. ‘We’re breaking our chains.’

‘Yeah you guys are really mental,’ Sk’jin mumbles under his breath. He remembers listening to the translations of Yisheng Lim and Jimin’s conversation. All of this was taking place right after Jimin’s “death” and the breaking of Megibīya from Menigišiti. The stars around the planets were Sanctuaries, and they were destroyed to severe the connections made with Yino and the rest of the planets. Stranding and disrupting the balance of the System’s resonance, disrupting “Fate”, as they called it.

‘I know all of this already,’ Sk’jin frowns, reaching forward to hold onto Creya’s shoulder. He turns her around, staring her straight in the eye, watching the Bloodmoon overwhelm the eclipses in her eyes almost completely. ‘I don’t need to live through your memories trying to justify the guilt you clearly still feel. Show me something I don’t know.’

With a jerk, Sk’jin finds himself in what was clearly Axudar. More specifically, he was in Kaitūtei- the planet Jn’young had said he escaped. He recognizes the architecture of the buildings around him from the last time he lived a memory of someone who experienced the place.

There’s a loud sneeze. And Sk’jin turns around to look.

Creya is there, her eyes changed, deep scars forming on the side of her eyes, still healing, obviously. Her skin looks pale, her posture tired. She’s clearly in some sort of clothing that was supposed to be a uniform. It’s similar to the robes they were wearing, but not quite. She’s wiping at her nose with the back of her sleeve before she squints up again. Sk’jin follows her line of sight. There’s a large billboard making some sort of announcement. She looks down, away from the billboard and across the wide street.

Beings, native Kaitūtei-li, were gathered in neat queues. Sk’jin grimaces at the strong resemblance they had with Ndica.

‘Administer, are you on duty today?’

Sk’jin turns in time to see a strict and physically overwhelming Megibīyan standing before them.

‘No,’ Creya replies quickly, scratching at the side of her eyes, not looking the Megibīyan who was clearly some sort of patrol officer. ‘I was headed to the Sarisi. My hours start soon.’

‘Be on your way,’ the Megibīyan frowns, nodding along for her to move. She nods hurriedly before making her way across the street and away from the ominous lines of the Kaitūtei-li.

Sk’jin follows her down the strangely empty streets. This was nothing like what Sk’jin saw in Jn’young’s memories. There was definitely a sort of barrenness, a decay. Even the colours of the buildings, of the sky- they just seemed to be seeping away. The occasional other Verktaë they pass by all look the same – worn out, tired.

Sk’jin picks up his pace a little before clasping a hand over Creya’s shoulder, dragging her back around to look at him. She gasps, screaming as the memory warps violently. Her eyes are completely taken over by the Bloodmoon.

‘It’s okay,’ he tells her. ‘Don’t stare at it for too long- you won’t be able to get rid of it.’

Creya is panting, her body stiff, eyes glazing over before she nods vacantly.

‘Where and when is this memory from.’

‘After the death of Ndica,’ she replies dully.

‘What happened here after Ndica’s death?’ Sk’jin asks curiously as they begin to walk albeit very slowly. The memories around them try to reform and reshape to their changed and altered pace within this set memory. Sk’jin strengthens his grip on Creya’s shoulder.

‘His partners wanted to eradicate all traces of their involvement with each other and severed the support Ndica had placed for Axudar.’ Creya tells him.

For a moment, nothing really strikes Sk’jin as odd about this statement. Then, as though the realization strikes him feet first, he stops walking, his whole body suddenly stilling.

‘What- what did you say?’

‘Ndica’s partners wanted to remove themselves from what happened, their involvement in what happened to Earth, the Creveni, the Irtqa- and Axudar was the center of Ndica’s commitment to breaking us free from Fate.’

‘Who were Ndica’s partners?’ Sk’jin asks quietly.

‘I don’t know their names,’ Creya replies honestly, ‘But I know there were 3- all from the GLA.’

‘Did you see what they looked like?’

‘Only for a brief moment.’

‘Then show me.’

Creya blinks blankly before nodding, continuing her walk. They exit the street to a large avenue- at the end was a massive but low mound, with one entrance that lead downwards in a gentle incline. The avenue is completely empty though it appeared to be some sort of park that the public would no doubt gather around in. But nature had clearly taken over and was in a state of wild growth and decay. Light-posts were damaged or ruined- some which were still standing barely let out any light in this slowly darkening dusk. The lights to this underground place however, were bright and annoyingly orange. At the end there’s a surprisingly small door that is framed by too much wall and a singular guard stands by it.

‘Identification?’

‘Creya loi Fyeol,’ Creya states, ‘Administer, biotics department. ID number 44-81-298.’

The guard doesn’t do anything more and the doors automatically open to a depressingly narrow and long tunnel. The walls are some sort of tarp, Sk’jin notices, and he pauses a moment to push against the thin surface. He finds an opening and pushing it gently finds himself staring down clearly into what was the massive turbine shafts of a very very large ship.

Jn’young had mentioned it. So did Prat’tna.

So it was true. This was a ship- a massive ship buried under the top of the planet, used as a place to grow and experiment on New Borns and other horrible atrocities. This was underneath the surface of the planet.

This was also where Jimin said his sister was being kept and used.

Sk’jin pulls away from the opening and allows Creya to continue down her memory trajectory. This was where Jn’young escaped from. Or was he allowed to escape? That was definitely something Sk’jin had thought about. They needed to be able to control or at least bring down some of the largest and most powerful organizations across the Known Universe. And Ilya was most certainly holding up Sk’jin’s legacy as the most powerful, the largest, and the most discreet power of the Underverse.

Surely not all of it was preplanned to this extent. Could it?

‘Creya!’

Sk’jin realizes they’re in some sort of lab. There’s several bodies of the Kaitūtei-li on tables. Creya, an Administer, was clearly doing some analysis. Creya was in the middle of picking a fragile looking tube with some elegantly curved forceps.

‘What happened here?’

‘Disease,’ she replies, repeating the motion as the memory loops so that Sk’jin can get his answers. ‘We have created medication for them, but it only numbs the pain. There is no cure. Ndica made sure of it.’

‘Ndica?’

‘Yes.’

Sk’jin can’t say he’s surprised Ndica would do something like this.

‘It’s hitting us too,’ Creya tells him as she picks up the tube. ‘At first we thought it was something to do with the livestock. Then they started getting sick. Then we did. Of course the Irtqa were unharmed even though we exposed them. We tried transfusions,’ she gestures to the OrTanks stacked to the side. ‘-but it only provided temporary relief. In the end, they were just useless.’

‘What sort of disease?’

‘Internal regression,’ Creya replies, repeating her action for the 9^th time. ‘It’s slower in us- but we’re dying now too. Along with everything else.’

Sk’jin frowns.   

‘Creya!’

The memory unfolds as Creya drops her tube.

‘,’ she curses at the broken glass before turning around, eyes widening as she stands up a little straighter. ‘Hello sir.’

‘When will the report on the new strain be complete?’

‘It is sir,’ she says quickly, ‘I delivered it myself to the office upstairs last night.’

‘It’s not there.’

‘I can bring it up again. Another copy sir.’

‘Immediately,’ he frowns before leaving.

Creya lets out a sigh of relief and annoyance when he leaves.

‘I ing left it at your ing desk you -wipe,’ she mutters under her breath, removing the outer gown she was wearing before pushing her hands through the disinfector. Her body language is filled with a rigid annoyance that permeates the rest of the memory in a way that clearly states Creya has been experiencing this specific repetition of memories many times over. Sk’jin almost feels sorry for her.

He follows her through more tarp-covered hallways and towards what was clearly the Living Quarters of this very large ship. The place had been transformed into office rooms and meeting rooms and in place of a common area there were large meeting tables. However, the whole place is excruciatingly empty. Creya’s shoes make clipping sounds as she makes her way to one of the cabins and presses on the notification alarm to the side.

Sk’jin stands with her in her growing impatient annoyance for the doors to open.

‘Ndica is gone, that means our protection here is gone.’

Sk’jin steps in at once, listening closely. There were 8 Beings seated inside the room. One of them was clearly very unwell, a covering over their head to prevent infection, obviously- or to protect themselves. They looked horribly unwell, skin losing all semblance of health, hair falling in patches. There were projections in the middle of the table- 3 familiar faces-

‘It’s not just Ndica,’ another one grumbles, ‘It’s Tlun’hla too.’

‘It’s all been exposed. It’s only a matter of sols-‘

Lmiura. Chief Shn’ow. And of course, Sk’jin could laugh-

‘-Lmiura will always back us-‘

‘Thank you, Administer,’ the Being who had come down to summon her says tersely as the others continue to talk.

Sk’jin is forcibly moved out of the room, following the traces of her memory and its limitations.

‘,’ Sk’jin rubs at his side, pulling at the edges of the memories he could no move past. He reaches forward to stop Creya from moving away. He needed to hear what was being said in the meeting.

They step back through the memory and-

‘It’s not just Ndica,’ another one grumbles, ‘It’s Tlun’hla too.’

‘It’s all been exposed. It’s only a matter of sols-‘

‘-Lmiura will always back us-‘

‘Thank you, Administer,’ the Being who had come down to summon her says tersely as the others continue to talk.

Sk’jin whispers an obligatory apology to Creya before he reaches out to the unknown Being and forcibly connects the memories together.

Taeh’yung’s voice rings clearly through his mind- warning him. But he ignores it. He needed to hear more.

‘-Lmiura is not thinking clearly. Besides, you don’t think K’mara is going to do more? She brought Amme back.’

He can’t focus on the faces- that wasn’t important, not quite, not yet.

‘Amme is back?! I thought she died.’

‘She’s not dead. And they’re working together. They’ve rounded up Lmiura, they know.’

‘They can’t know. Lmiura holds an important position in the GLA of course she needs to be a part of the Special Jury .’

‘I will say this again, but do not underestimate K’mara. Why do you think she’s been a member, that too the leading member, of the GIU Trifecta for this long? Let her chase Lmiura around in circles- we need to move forward.’

‘That’s easier said than done. Chief Shn’ow has already turned- has been providing Lal Haenoon with information for quite some time now-.’

‘Traitors everywhere-!’

‘And what about Van Seulgaan?’

‘He turned the moment Ndica died,’ another tells them. ‘The plan is to lure him somewhere and get rid of him. Our best hope is that he is playing out of his league- he has a lot of information, but he won’t deal with anyone unless they’re powerful enough to trade with him.’

‘What does she say?’

‘I haven’t seen her in weeks.’

‘Neither have I.’

‘What about you? You spoke most to her-.’

‘-I think something happened. During the Gaia incident.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The Creveni. I think they have something. It’s…’

Sk’jin pushes the connection harder, everything blurring and rushing around him but he hears it clearly.

‘I think she’s scared.’

Who were they talking about?!

‘Scared? But why- of who? The Creveni are all dead- one problem solved.’

‘Their disciples are still running around- they’ve taken down 3 ferries just yesterday.’

Creveni was the word Jn’young used to call the Red Evil. Their disciples? Meaning the Omhlophe?

Sk’jin pushes more, his head pounding, the memory distorting as the Bloodmoon seeps in here too.

‘She can’t just stay down there- we need to do something! We can’t stay here anymore.’

‘We weren’t supposed to be here for this long- she’ll tell us what to do when-‘

There’s a horrible scream as the blurred mess sharpens to point and Sk’jin is suddenly alone in the room.

Heart pounding in his chest he stares around him. Creya was not there. None of those Beings, who Sk’jin guesses are the Great Council, are there either. He pushes his way out of the room into an empty Living Quarters.

‘-!’ he hisses. He lost his anchor in here.

Great. Maybe he can retrace his steps and-

‘Do you want to see more?’

Sk’jin skids to a stop.

Where did that voice come from? What was going on? That wasn’t Creya- it definitely wasn’t.

Someone else was here. 

‘I think this is what you were looking for.’ The voice hums right behind his ear.

Sk’jin spins around, crouching in a defensive stance but he’s knocked to the ground as someone walks past him. There’s a massive crowd of Beings all around, gathering around in a huge space- the park-like area Sk’jin had seen that covered the buried ship.

‘Thank you for coming!’ a voice booms.

Sk’jin stands his ground as more Beings walk past, pushing him here and there. At the top of the low and large mound was a podium set up with seats in the back. The mound was slowly being covered with approaching Beings and Sk’jin finds himself being shuffled closer and closer to the top.

‘Who’s there-?!’ he yells out, turning around for any sign of any unusual activity or sighting. But then again, this whole situation wasn’t exactly normal and Sk’jin’s head is pounding even more, his body weakening even in here, the shadows turning red as the Bloodmoon creeps up higher above him.

‘Our Heart tells us that we cannot stay here anymore. It is no longer safe- no longer a home fit for us.’

He’s suddenly no longer being shoved, Sk’jin looks around at a loss of what to say or think. He looks back up at the speaker, at the Great Council standing there. He was purposefully being shown this memory- he was being lead to this point for some reason. He easily steps away from the crowd and Sk’jin climbs up the stairs to the podium and looks down at the crowd.

Their expression, all mirroring the same tainted eclipse, all mirroring the same lies they chose to believe and chose to stand by and chose to follow. They’re haggard, dull- hopeless and broken from any semblance of life in them.

There’s no reaction from them. No anger, no excitement- they were just…- Sk’jin takes a deep breath, feeling suffocated by the extreme stillness and stagnancy of the whole situation even from a Memory. To have lived this. Sk’jin cannot even begin to try and understand.

‘And so, we will now work to leave this place. Where are we going you ask? Well, we will go back.’

The ripple of shock, of confusion- there’s loud gasps, some even fainting, some bursting into tears. Hysteria in waves sweep over the large crowd. Out of nowhere, Sk’jin spots Creya. She’s standing at the very front, some blood escaping the sides of she looks incredibly unwell. But that’s not the worst part of this.

Creya’s eyes are wide, staring in confusion in anguish in hope-

You’ll have to be careful

I will

This is the only chance you’ll have unless you’re very lucky

Trust me, I’m anything but. I’ll be careful.

Jungkook just followed Sk’jin everywhere he went. And without question, or permission, decided to take residence in Sk’jin’s room.

It happened from the very first night out of the Medical Bay. Jungkook had dozed off on the couch, and Sk’jin was wondering if Cabin 07 would be a good place to situate the young Vicitra when he woke up in a shocked daze, nearly hyperventilating before catching sight of Sk’jin and curling up around him. Then he fell back asleep.

‘Jungkook,’ Sk’jin had called gently. ‘Let’s get you into a bed okay?’

He managed to get the Vicitra to the Cabin.

It was like putting Ilya to sleep and Sk’jin tries not to think about it.

It wasn’t even an hour later when Jungkook burst out of his Cabin, clearly semi-awake and moving only on instinct. Hoseok had been there, warily watching his movement. But Jungkook seemed to be following something- he seemed to be sniffling and then as though he knew exactly where he was headed, went straight into his Cabin, and crept inside.

Hoseok had given him a wide-eyed look from the Kitchen.

Then they both quietly walked up to the door, looking into Sk’jin’s room.

Jungkook was curled up on Sk’jin’s bed, head on Sk’jin’s piled up blankets. And ever since then, he refused to sleep elsewhere.

‘We will go back.’

Sk’jin finds himself stuck. He tries to move, the Bloodmoon gleaming down on him from behind him, the glare of the sun casting a harsh reddened shadow of himself, stretching long and uncanny over the stadium down to the Beings gathered. In the shadows they are corpses- corpses with empty eye sockets, life drained of them, what once was now simply ash and dust.

‘We will go back. We thought we could simply leave, and Fate would leave us too. But Fate follows us. Fate still lives and Fate must be destroyed. Fate must be broken.’ The speaker continues. ‘Because right now, no matter where we go, we will always break down. Yino’s cursed children- the cradle refuses to let us go and we are tethered to her oppressive bosom. Do we allow this to continue because we’re scared to make changes? No!’

The crowd suddenly bursts out into a strange hysterical roar.

‘No, we break free from this time! And we go wherever we want to go,’ the speaker screams. The crowd wildly changes, bodies writhing and falling over, the very air shaking and more and more corpses fall through the filter of the Bloodmoon- through the Continuum Sk’jin brought with him here into this horrid memory and time.

‘Menigišiti will be the start- we will start there, as we should have, rather than follow Ndica and his traitorous friends who would abandon us to die. We will leave, and we will forgive them. All can join in this freedom- in this break from Fate!’

Sk’jin’s pulse is loud in his ears. What was he talking about?

‘We will set the Sanctuaries alight- Megibīya is no dormant dead planet- we-‘

Sk’jin falls.

‘-rivers of stored energy, ready and waiting-‘

The map of the charges underneath Megibīya light up in complicated webs.

‘-we are joined to each other- with ropes and chains- we will sever it. Cut it once and for all-‘

He sinks through huge mountain-like structures, slowly taking off from Axudar’s planets, taking with them all the resources of the starving diseased planets-

‘-we will Break our fate!’

-the huge ships sink into Megibīya’s land, its oceans, deep into broken and haunted craters, hidden, hiding, waiting-

‘-and when the time is right- we will destroy the anchor. The chain that holds, Fate that connects us, can do nothing compared to what we do now- what we have now! Our Heart is free from it, and we will be too- let us break the anchor- the curse-‘

-the ships build a network like a ring around what seems to be dead space but it’s not because in a strange ripple of light a great powerful quasar glares brightly at him, her light shivering and quaking in fear as tiny stars erupt and connect and-

‘-what we failed to do before we will succeed in now-!’      

Yino collapses into herself and where there was once light, a preserved genesis of life and birth and creation, now existed an ever hungry maw of darkness and in it nothing-

‘-and we will break free from this-!’

He falls again, back where he was rooted on the stadium. The crowd is frozen mid-frenzied roar, everything around him strangely still- on hold as though checking and-

Sk’jin is scared. He’s frightened. There was something very wrong going on here. Something-

He hears a quiet breath.

Someone else was here with him.

‘Show me,’ his hisses, looking around the odd memory. ‘There’s something wrong here show yourself!’

The memory freezes completely before it fragments completely.

Sk’jin is suddenly aware of a very strange sound- something he can’t explain, something he’s never heard before. But it was approaching him, tearing through the fabric of the memory, tearing through the buildings and the dimensions of this mind easily as though it meant nothing and-

As though let go, Sk’jin falls heavily off of the stadium and down onto the high piles of corpses collapsing into ash and dust. The more he struggled, the more he sank through the compression of time and life and death so Sk’jin stays still, falling harshly on the stadium once more. Except this time it’s empty. He stands hurriedly- he was untethered in a memory. He could make it back, but it would be painful and his host would suffer horribly from it. If she wasn’t already brain-dead from the double intrusion into her mind.

He needed to get out.

The sound tears through the air behind him, the hair on the back of his neck standing on edge. Sk’jin tries to take a step, to try and hide, maybe to run but he’s rooted.

In the shadows cast by the Bloodmoon, a horrifyingly normal shadow appears before giving way to a form, a body- out of place, out of this time, or of this time and-

She’s not tall. She was probably Jimin and Yoongi’s height- on the more petite side.

‘Oh,’ she smiles, turning her head a little to the side as though to study him. ‘So you’re the one causing an issue. I didn’t think you would be an issue, that’s why I didn’t bother having you removed. I guess I underestimated you.’

Her features are uncannily familiar.

‘I know your species,’ she says with a smile.

It’s too strikingly similar the resemblance is uncanny it’s-

‘K’mara never liked me,’ and Sk’jin knows this is Tsirin. ‘But it’s okay.’

When she smiled, the way her eyes lifted, the slight downward slant of her eyes, the full cheeks but petite face- the family resemblance was distinct and yet the contrast couldn’t be anymore severe.

But- but this couldn’t be her. Where was the ring of light on her forehead? Why and how was she here? She was- wasn’t she being used?

She steps towards him, the whole space around him, within this memory, held by the mind of the Verktaë who no doubt was not faring well at this double and very clearly hostile intrusion into their mind.

But how was she here? How did she know he was here.

‘-no-!’

That sounded like Jimin. But how-?!

‘Because I never liked her either.’

She reaches forward to touch his head but Jimin, or at least some form of Jimin appears out of nowhere, engulfing Tsirin in a warped light.

Sk’jin gasps at the searing heat, at Jimin’s singing command- but the warped light shatters, a hand stretching past the blockade and a singular finger taps on his forehead.

And just like Sk’jin- Jungkook is plagued with nightmares when he sleeps. So more often than not in the past few days, Sk’jin finds himself where he is now, with Jungkook’s head on his lap, waking him and gently brushing through his hair every time he woke frightened from his nightmares.

At least his bed was being put to use. Sk’jin rarely spent time on his bed save to sit and peruse his screen. He normally preferred sitting at the desk near the window, or just sitting out at the Kitchen area.

Jungkook also liked to receive permission from Sk’jin.

Whatever childhood he had, and if his mother had truly been a Khol’isa, then Jungkook seemed to naturally assign that role or guardianship over to Sk’jin just by face-value.

All Khol’isa were very distinctly similar- the same elegant features, the same sharp but large eyes, the same pale rosy skin, the same horns; and even though Sk’jin had lost his, Jungkook knew instantly and knew that something was wrong. It raises so many questions in Sk’jin’s mind. He guesses he understands how Namjoon must have felt, upon realizing that there were eggs out there, carrying the Kutsoglerin species in them, growing and birthing them. They were perfected, idealized, and grown to be perfect representation and replacements for those that already existed.

And Sk’jin hates him own species- hates them with every fiber of his being but the idea of an pure Khol’isa, of a Khol’isa untinted by the Bloodmoon, the idea of a Khol’isa whose very breath was not a continuous curse at their existence; it scared him.

‘-are you even listening to me.’

‘Hm?’

‘What happened, did you pass out?’

Sk’jin is casually reclining on his chair. His chair. Above the cockpit, in front of the Navigation Table, right below the shields control.

‘He’s old of course he did-‘

Sk’jin smacks Ti on the back of her head and is immediately clipped back 5 times as hard.

‘Can the children please behave we have to land soon,’ Nambike sighs tiredly from the shields control. ‘Spaces, you’d think there would be a little more dignity in the Bridge.’

‘Dignity is a social concept,’ Sk’jin quips as his Communication Manager to the side hacks out a cough clearly meant to disguise his laughter, throwing a nervous glance at Nambike who narrows her eyes at him.

‘Dignity maybe, but what about tardiness?’

Ahadi grins at him as he leans against his chair, hair that’s been finally allowed to grow out, sweeping back in his motion.

Sk’jin feels his breath escaping him.

‘What is it?’ he asks with a laugh that’s a little confused.

Sk’jin realizes he’s staring, drinking in the sight of-

Wait- no.

This was wrong.

This was wrong this was not supposed to happen.

‘Can you stop ogling your boyfriend and can we please get leaving, I hate this Dock,’ Ti remarks monotonously.

‘Not my boyfriend!’ Sk’jin splutters as Ahadi grins wider, leaning down to press a kiss on his forehead.

‘Uh huh, are we at green?’ Ti asks the Head Pilot before screaming as Ahadi kisses her forehead as well. Sk’jin watches as Ti leaps after Ahadi who lets out an uncharacteristically high pitched scream as he runs away.

‘Yes we’re at green, shall we?’

Sk’jin realizes he’s being addressed and gives a nod.

‘Let’s go, anyone who isn’t safely strapped on can enjoy the floor at a personal level.’

‘That’s blatant abuse of your position!’ Ti yells from where she has Ahadi in a headlock.

Sk’jin serenely smiles at the two as they struggle to get to a seat while still struggling in their hold of each other.

They enter warp, the white light filtering to a neutral shade.

‘Is something wrong?’

Ahadi is a little flushed, no doubt from wrestling away from Ti’s headlock.

‘Nothing at all,’ Sk’jin stretches a little. ‘Do you have my reports?’

Ahadi snorts, ‘Who do you think I am?’

‘His boyfriend,’ Nambike mumbles under her breath.

‘Here,’ Ahadi pulls out an oblong screen from inside his pocket before extending it out the wrong way around.

‘They really need to redesign these screens,’ he mumbles, ‘Or at least put indicators as to which way is the correct side up.’

‘You’d think after several millenniums they would perfect the art of screen designs but here we are,’ Sk’jin shrugs simply, ‘Suffering, and for what?’

Ahadi gives him an unimpressed look before he corrects his screen and hands it to Sk’jin.

‘There are 9 mining outposts located on the planets surface- 9 that have been confirmed by the GLA,’ Ahadi clarifies, ‘However, I have been informed that there are an additional 5 not listed due to, ahem, temporary closure.’

‘Oh yes?’ Sk’jin peruses the documents on the screen. ‘It says its because of radiation.’

‘Yes, apparently they struck polonium veins under the crust which is why they’ve temporarily shut it down.’

‘Ouch, well, understandable,’ Sk’jin scrolls down the screen. ‘What does that have to do with us?’

‘I checked the Yisheng Directory-‘

‘-which shouldn’t always be trusted-‘

‘-and cross-referenced it with the GIU archive.’

‘…okay.’

‘-and there is no polonium there. Not even in trace amounts. Brua’ddar does not have polonium registered in its elemental chart.’

‘How puzzling.’

‘Indeed, so, you were right.’

Sk’jin grins.

‘Can you not tell him that, look at the size of his horns,’ Ti complains from behind them. ‘Just say his theory was confirmed.’

‘Your theory was confirmed,’ Ahadi manages to say in a stable voice, ‘While Brua’ddar is being mined for thulium it’s also being used by the Venture Unit to store the collision-intermediary shields.’

‘Why would they keep it there?!’ his weapons specialists asks incredulously.

‘Because it’s conveniently in a location potentially too dangerous to try and look into.’ Sk’jin replies. ‘How many civilians?’

‘834,000.’

‘Natives?’

‘Yes.’

‘And the Venture Unit?’

Ahadi grimaces.

‘Oh this has to be good,’ Nambike turns around and leans over to listen.

‘Brua’ddar is similar to other Class K planets- small population, developing an agriculture-based community- they only just started developing their own form of writing,’ Ahadi explains. ‘And while official accounts state that a pirating network brutalized and uprooted the natives, the reality is worse.’

‘What does my Khol’isa counterpart have written in her records,’ Sk’jin groans.

‘It was an experiment conducted by the Department of Evolutionary Social Relationships.’

‘That sounds fake,’ Ti scoffs.

‘They wanted to see how natives of a specific area in a planet would react to being placed elsewhere.’

‘They jump started mass migration?’ someone asks incredulously.

‘I wouldn’t call it that,’ Ahadi sighs, ‘Basically they staged a pirate invasion. They took the natives from the southern continent to the larger colder northern continent through a whirlwind mode of transportation. They even put up projections in the sky to mimic a whole new night sky so that they wouldn’t be able to trace back star-based navigation.’

‘That’s twisted and disgusting. What was the purpose of this experiment?!’ Nambike demands.

‘It was to note the rate of technological advancement in a Class K population.’

‘And?’ Ti asks.

‘Well, there was first an endemic-.’

Groans rise up all around the Bridge.

‘The population number fell and some other details you don’t need to know but is worse than what you’re thinking,’ Ahadi quickly glosses over the decades of premeditated genocide.

‘This has been happening way too often,’ someone grumbles.

‘I second that,’ Ti scowls where she’s sitting, ‘It always links back to the Venture Unit.’

‘It links back to the trio,’ Nambike adds to Ti’s comment. ‘You can’t get clearance for this level of experimentation without the Yisheng’s say- what was the excuse for conducting such an experiment on this planet?’

‘According to the Yisheng Directory archives, Brua’ddar was facing extinction as a result of famine- something about a natural mutation of crop eating pests,’ Ahadi replies.

‘Wonder how those pests started mutating,’ Ti asks under her breath.

‘Eventually the whole thing got too expensive to continue looking into and the whole thing was dropped. Then they installed mining rigs and the natives were then made to work in it.’

‘I hate all of this, thanks.’ Someone behind the Navigation Table grumbles.

‘We need to focus on the shields,’ Sk’jin steers them back, ‘What are the defenses around this place?’

‘Satellites,’ Ahadi reports at once. ‘Surveillance, mostly. But there have been maybe one too many damaged Transporters and freighters barely escaping the vicinity for that to be true.’

‘Okay then,’ Sk’jin sits up straight and continues, ‘Nambike and Ahadi will lead an initial charge- we draw out and redirect the defenses, see what they’re up to. Then we bait them with an injured Nambike-‘

‘-not this again-‘

‘-it has a high success rate-‘

‘-my !’

‘It’s a good ,’ 3 Beings mumble.

‘Stop staring at my !’ Nambike yells.

‘And once you’re in, well, the usual.’

‘I hate your plans,’ Nambike sighs out though she looks all too pleased, ‘I’m taking your shuttle.’

‘Of course,’ Sk’jin rolls his eyes as he stands up. ‘It’ll take 4 more days to get there?’

He looks over at the Navigation Table. All of his Navigators nod.

‘Great, we can further discuss details tomorrow, but only after we can find an escape route for the natives, Ti can lead the evacuation from the mines closest to where the shields are being kept.’

‘How am I getting there?’ Ti raises an eyebrow.

‘Our current scanners only detect infiltration of masses bigger than 3 strems- an escape pod is 2 strems.’ Sk’jin winks at Ti.

Ti blinks at him before turning to Nambike and saying, ‘Again, we should just overthrow him and take over.’

‘I have no interest in attempting to navigate all of his connections across the Universe, we just have to tolerate him.’ Nambike replies, not looking up from her screen.   

‘Thank you for your honest attempt at mutiny,’ Sk’jin beams at Ti while the nearby Beings chuckle under their breaths.

‘So that’s that and-.’

Sk’jin is momentarily distracted. Something shifts in the hallway- some strange light that didn’t make sense- a sound that was shockingly loud yet no one else hears it. A familiar sound that was reaching for him. A shape emerges; bright and young and strong and-

‘Jinnie?’

It’s been nearly 7 hours now that Jungkook fell asleep, but Sk’jin hasn’t moved an inch, just staring out of the window at the never-ending, unchanging white expanse of warp-space. Jungkook didn’t move much in his sleep, just remaining curled up, occasionally twitching, and when he saw nightmares, tensing up almost painfully. But for the first time in the past near week, Jungkook is sleeping without any nightmares. Sk’jin wonders if it had anything to do with the light kiss Jimin had placed on the sleepy Vicitra’s forehead. If Jimin was able to make Beings speak only the truth, and Spaces knew what else, then making nightmares go away shouldn’t be too difficult, Sk’jin guesses.

‘Jinnie, is Kookie awake?’ Taeh’yung’s voice asks quietly at his ear.

‘Not yet- I’m going to wake him now.’

‘Can I come?’

‘Yeah sure-‘

Taeh’yung appears from the wall in a bright display of green that vanishes just as quickly as it appeared.

‘Tae, please- we talked about this,’ Sk’jin whispers at the Zhak’gri who coos quietly at the sight of Jungkook asleep, as if he hadn’t spent hours just staring at his sleeping form until Namjoon told him to stop because it was freaking the Kutsoglerin out.

Taeh’yung kneels by the bed, reaching out to gently Jungkook’s hair.

‘There was another, wasn’t there?’ Taeh’yung asks suddenly.

‘-what?’

‘Like Kookie- another egg-hatched. They were there with you,’ Taeh’yung says quietly, looking up at Sk’jin.

The air slowly dims, reddening under the Bloodmoon that threatens to break horizon.

Sk’jin listens again to the sound. To that-…to that voice? It had come from down the hallway leading to the Living Quarters.

His family was there. They were-…they were just living and existing. The way they should have.

He forgets about the sound- he should. He probably should. Why should he try and understand when he had other things to think about? He blinks, looking around; where was he? What was he doing?

He looks down at himself. He was wearing different robes- different shoes, the screen in his hand is sleek and simple.

‘Captain!’

Ilya and Ahadi burst upon him.

‘Why am I being attacked out of nowhere-.’

‘Captain I have an important issue to highlight to you.’ Ilya declares.

‘Very well,’ Sk’jin crosses his arms and gestures to the now taller Ožkan youngling. Ahadi gives him a tiny wink.

‘I believe that, as representative of all the younglings on board,’ Ilya pronounces the word carefully. ‘I must bring forward this issue.’

‘I am listening.’

‘While we greatly enjoy the ship and its many great rooms and areas to play in, we are truly sorely missing pets.’

‘Pets?’

‘Yes- so you see, my research has shown that younglings grow exceeding well when they have a pet with them.’

A strange Living shape appears to the side- rendering everything around him momentarily dull and blurry, details lost as this true Living form presses in, trying to reach for him-

‘-and how is that my problem?’ he finds himself asking.

‘Captain!’ Ilya grumbles, ‘Stop being difficult!’

Sk’jin breaks out into wheezes as Ahadi who was carrying the Ožkan youngling snorts.

‘Yes Captain, stop being difficult.’ He adds.

‘Okay how about you present me with your best arguments, support your argument with evidence and reference, and come back to me and I will consider it.’ Sk’jin pauses by the large doorway.

The Ožkan crosses his arms, exhaling as though tired of Sk’jin’s antics and says, ‘Fine, I’ll do it. You better prepare for the bestest presentation!’

‘I am most excited for it,’ Sk’jin nods, not a hint of exaggeration or falsehood in his voice.

The youngling climbs down Ahadi like a tree before scurrying off, his hoof-like feet making clattering sounds over the floors.

‘You do know that Ilya will set you up with a 5 hour long presentation right?’ Ahadi laughs, warm brown eyes sparkling as he leans up on the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

‘I have no doubt.’ Sk’jin continues to stand elegantly and poised, looking over the Living Quarters, pausing to smile back at someone. ‘And I think that will be a very good way to spend 5 hours.’

Ahadi chuckles before standing straight and stretching his arms and shoulders a little.

‘Okay I need to go check on something at the Hangars-‘

‘-there’s no need to report to me what you’re about to do,’ Sk’jin rolls his eyes though he’s smiling. ‘I’ll see you later for dinner.’

Ahadi just grins, leaning over to lightly caress Sk’jin’s ear before tugging on it playfully.

‘See you!’

Sk’jin shakes his head, smiling at the retreating figure, ears flushed red.

‘Jin?’

Sk’jin falls over- it’s the Living form, a familiar face: beloved, precious, living.

‘Sk’jin?’ Ahadi turns back around at the sound of Sk’jin falling over.

‘Hey, you okay?’ he crouches down. The others around the vicinity immediately rush to help.

‘I’m okay- I-,’ Sk’jin pauses, staring at where he saw that face. For a moment, he stares down at the floor and-

A hand presses on his forehead.

‘You’re not burning up.’ Ahadi comments, still not letting go of him as Sk’jin stands. ‘I don’t think we need the Bay.’ He adds to someone Sk’jin can’t see- he’s just staring at the floor, trying to remember something from here- something that bled out at the door where his heart once beat.

‘-I’ll bring a scanner just in case-,’ someone is saying but Sk’jin looks up from the floor, blinking furiously as he reaches up to his head.

He’s surprised to find his horns there.

‘It’s okay Miye, I think I should just- I should lie down for a moment.’

‘I’ll watch him,’ Ahadi tells the Beings close by. ‘Just in case though, can you tell Ti to keep the tabs on alert?’

‘I can hear you,’ Sk’jin snips with no real irritation.

‘Maybe tell Nambike too while you’re at it.’

Sk’jin pushes off of the Mwenzini and enter his room.

He’s only just a little surprised to find it looking normal- his bed in place, no build up of months and years and decades and centuries of membrane, dust, ash, emptiness.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Ahadi asks as the doors slide shut.

This was a dream.

The moment he realizes it, everything changes and Sk’jin is staring down at his malformed misshaped arm, dangling and dragging on the ground.

‘Sk’jin?’

He jumps a little. Spinning, suddenly breathless.

‘Jungkook?’ he whispers desperately.

Ahadi smiles a little, mostly concerned but also a little confused.

‘Who is that? Is something wrong?’

‘No-…I…-I need to…I need to find him.’

‘Who?’ Ahadi leads him to sit on the bed.

Sk’jin looks around the room properly. Really looking.

This was a dream. He was dreaming. Tsirin trapped him here, forcing him to stay here, in a place he both cherished and dreaded. A place that held all of his love, and all of his pain.

Gently, he feels a hand on the side of his face, angling him to look back around.

Ahadi is there. Alive- still alive in this memory. Still alive in this state of being.

He could stay here if he wanted.

‘But you won’t.’

Ahadi smiles at him, giving him a half shrug.

‘What?’

‘You won’t stay.’

‘I want to.’

‘But you know you can’t.’

Suddenly, Sk’jin laughs. But it’s not of joy or mirth.

‘This is cruel, Tsirin is a ing .’

Ahadi doesn’t comment, simply holding his hand.

‘You should lie down.’

‘I should leave.’

‘Let’s start with laying down first.’

Sk’jin allows himself to be pulled away from the doorway further into his room.

This was not his memory. But it very well could be.

‘Is this a dream?’

Ahadi smiles at him.

‘Yeah.’

‘It’s cruel.’

Ahadi nods.

‘Is this how all dreams go?’

Ahadi laughs at that.

‘No,’ he grins up at Sk’jin as he sits on the bed. ‘I once had a dream where I was a seller at a Flotsam and Jetsam and if I didn’t sell enough gara-gara I would be executed.’

Sk’jin laughs, coming to stop right before the Mwenzini.

‘I was filled with so much conviction-‘

‘-retail conviction.’

‘-and selling the gara-gara was so important,’ Ahadi grins, pulling Sk’jin closer to come stand between his legs. ‘I remember claiming that it would save lives.’

‘I mean technically-.’

Ahadi cackles, hugging him close, pressing the side of his face against Sk’jin’s abdomen. Sk’jin cradles his head in his arms, holding him close, the way he wouldn’t allow himself to imagine or even dream of. Ahadi looks up, smiling in a way where his dimples were prominent. Sk’jin shifts his hands, coming around to cup his face gently, thumbs pressing down on the dimples.

‘Come on,’ Ahadi nods to the side.

‘Trying to bed me at once I see.’ Sk’jin jokes but it’s mostly so that he doesn’t break down.

He needed to wake from this Dream. And maybe that was it. Tsirin probably thought he wasn’t strong enough to leave this Dream- and maybe she was right.

‘Excuse me, but didn’t you try to bed me the first time we met?’ Ahadi jokes back as he leans down with a huff of relief as though tired and finally resting. He holds his arms out the way he used to, waiting and knowing Sk’jin would cave and come sleep next to him even though he didn’t need to. Sk’jin never needed to, but he liked pretending as though he could.

It happened so often.

Ahadi would be half-asleep, mumbling about something, holding Sk’jin’s hand in his, drifting off after a while. And Sk’jin just lay there next to the Mwenzini, sometimes working on his screen, sometimes actually getting some cumbersome task done; but most of the time Sk’jin just liked to listen to Ahadi sleep.

Sk’jin disliked spending too much time alone. He enjoyed it yes, but he did not enjoy it for extended periods of time. The Bloodmoon overpowered him, and it took too long to remove the red stain of its light.

But with Ahadi.

Time slowed down to the quiet rhythm of Ahadi’s breaths and Sk’jin would tremble in fear at the fragility of it.

Sk’jin settles into his arms, eyes blurring, throat tightening.

‘I was testing you.’ He whispers in a broken voice.

Ahadi tries to raise Sk’jin’s head to look up at him but Sk’jin shakes his head, pressing closer, his tears spilling onto Ahadi’s worn tunic.

‘I can’t do this,’ Sk’jin sobs, unable to look into his eyes, ‘I buried you. I buried you, and this is not real.’

‘Not all of it was real- I don’t remember having this conversation,’ Ahadi whispers against his temple.

‘I have to go back.’

The moment he says it, the lights around him dim.

‘You do.’ He can feel Ahadi’s smile against his skin. ‘I remember doing this though.’

He tilts Sk’jin’s head up gently, kissing down his face lightly. And yes, that’s exactly what he does. And Sk’jin knows it so well, remembers it so well. He remembers leaning up a bit to kiss him back, to pull a little at his hair teasingly, before saying-

‘-you need to get a trim.’

‘Don’t remind me,’ he groans, their noses touching. ‘Nambike will insist on doing it.’

‘She’s not that bad,’ Sk’jin laughs.

Ahadi gives him a look of disbelief.

‘She shaved off the center of my scalp.’

‘I hear it’s a good look in certain parts of the Universe.’

‘But I’m not from those parts of the Universe.’

The light dims a bit more and Sk’jin looks around at the membrane cocooning them.

‘You tricked me.’

‘You knew what I was up to. You always did.’

Sk’jin looks at the membrane wrapping around them, slowly thickening, layers building up over each other until it was an indiscernible shell of what once existed.

It made sense he would need to go through this again to wake up.

Is this what Yoongi meant? Is this what the GI went through?

‘I always wished I could- I could sleep with you,’ Sk’jin whispers tremulously. There’s a tear, long and deep, cutting down to his skin, to their entwined position.

Ahadi’s expression is momentarily confused before it saddens.

‘I wished I could sleep with you, wake up with you,’ he swallows thickly, furiously blinking out his tears that blur his vision. He had to keep looking. He couldn’t stop- he won’t stop, for as long as he could, he would continue to look and look and look-

‘-I wished I could dream with you.’

Ahadi’s warm eyes are shimmering with tears. Sk’jin has only seen him cry twice for as long as he knew him.

‘I wish I had died with you.’

‘Don’t say that,’ Ahadi whispers, taking his hands and pressing his lips to his cold damp fingers.

‘When I found you- when-…’ Sk’jin chokes up. ‘I couldn’t-.’

Ahadi makes a soothing sound, fingers combing through his hair, combing away dried flakes of membrane and webbing from his hair and head.

‘Do you remember what I promised you?’ he asks quietly as he gently massages the base of his temples, right where his horns started.

Sk’jin exhales shakily, his lungs clearing, his throat opening. Ahadi’s hand is warm and gentle on his cheek.

Carefully, he nods.

Ahadi pulls him closer and Sk’jin sinks into the feeling, savoring every single detail of this living memory, of this true and beautiful Dream.

‘I think you’re ready now.’

Sk’jin nods again, unable to speak. A huge weight lifts off of him, and layers and layers of membrane and dried fluid break off as he sits up, the cocoon around him crumbling as he reemerges, reborn, renewed, hollowed- now simply waiting to be filled again.

But it’s different now. Because this was a Dream, and Sk’jin knows this is the end.

‘I’ll walk with you.’

Sk’jin nods.

Ahadi helps him out of the tub, layers and layers of membrane shedding from him. It hurts. It always did. Nambike once helped him in this state and threw up 5 times. Sk’jin thought she was being dramatic. Ti certainly thought so.

The ship is decayed and old and yet here he stood, with Ahadi, dressed in what Sk’jin last saw him in.

The door leaving his room opens, outside of it a dried pool of blood.

‘This is where I found you.’ Sk’jin tells Ahadi, looking down at the floor. ‘It was decades before I could do anything to move you.’

Ahadi looks at the floor, and then back at the room.

‘This is where I died.’

Ahadi looks back up at him. Sk’jin just gives him a half-shrug and a smile.

‘I think I was trying to protect you.’

‘You activated the meteor-shields in my room,’ Sk’jin snorts, ‘It took nearly a century for the power to dry up. All I could do was just wait, right beyond the door.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Sk’jin shakes his head.

‘I didn’t want to leave you in here. I moved you and the others one by one- I had plenty of time. Too much, maybe. And the Nightmare couldn’t touch me,’ Sk’jin steps away from the blood and in silence, they walk down the halls they both knew achingly well- the halls of their home, the halls of their family.

Outside the sun is shining gently.

‘It’s not that bad.’

‘Spaces, the way you would complain if you had to live here,’ Sk’jin rolls his eyes. ‘The humidity would drive you insane.’

‘I hardly think that’s a fair-,’ Ahadi begins to protest when Sk’jin levels him with an unimpressed look.

‘You literally wouldn’t stop complaining when we went to Nuqtai. Nuqtai- it’s not even hot there.’

‘Okay so maybe I’d hate this place,’ Ahadi grumbles, defeated, dragging his feet as Sk’jin tags him through the clearing. Ahadi catches up to him easy enough, leaning in to press his smiling lips against his temple. Sk’jin looks back around at the Mwenzini, breath catching in his throat with how-…how beautiful he was. Even in this Dream, even in this memory, Ahadi was the most complete and the most grounded thing to exist before him.

‘The sky is beautiful though.’

Sk’jin glances up.

It’s clear and clean. No Bloodmoon in sight. He glances back around, a familiar and Living shape following after them.

‘It is.’

They walk into the forest, through the huge and strange trees.

‘These are cool.’

‘I knew you’d like them though,’ Sk’jin smiles as they pause in front of a huge tree. ‘Some of them are hollow, natural stairs inside them.’

Ahadi’s eyes widen with an almost child-like delight to them as a trickle of blood escapes his mouth. His eyes are sunken, his skin an unhealthy hue.

‘Come on.’

They walk in silence. Sk’jin spots the beginnings of the trail of web-like roots- a vast network that grew quickly and settled beautifully over whatever lay in their way.

‘This is beautiful.’ Ahadi tells him faintly, breath rattling as he struggled to breathe.

‘It’s the only thing I could do.’ Sk’jin tells him. ‘I had some help later, to readjust and well…’

Ahadi squeezes his hand, blood spilling down the side of his head.

They reach the bottom of the valley made by the roots, already surrounded by mounds of the Beings Sk’jin loved and cherished and lost. Mounds of Beings Sk’jin carried with him in his heart, his mind, his soul- in every step he took.

When they reach the bottom, Sk’jin helps Ahadi settle down. His clothes are stiffened with decades of drying blood and fluids. But his eyes-

‘You remember my promise, don’t you?’

Sk’jin nods, reaching down to gently touch his face. The Living shape settles at the foot of Ahadi’s mound, the roots crawling over him already.

Ahadi smiles at him before he closes his eyes.

‘I think I’ve definitely managed to keep it.’

The roots cover him entirely and Sk’jin is left kneeling with the Living shape at the opposite end of the mound. Sk’jin smiles at it.

‘This is where I died,’ he repeats himself.

Breathing in and out, Sk’jin leans back a little from where he was kneeling and looks up to the sky.

He listens close, following the sound of the Living shape once more. This time he knows what it means.

‘-you won’t be complete.’ Taeh’yung is telling him. Sk’jin remembers this too. And of course this is how he would have to come out of all of this, through the same paths, the same routes.

‘I don’t expect to be.’ He replies easily, the words familiar and known.

‘What will you do?’

‘It’s already here,’ Sk’jin replies quietly.

A red light pulses above his head, slowly forming and taking shape. Sk’jin welcomes it now.

‘You know you can’t escape it,’ Taeh’yung tells him quietly.

‘I know. I never could.’

‘Are you ready?’

Sk’jin sighs, nodding.

‘We will help you come back,’ Taeh’yung says, not looking at him, instead looking at the Living shape next to them. Of course he knew. Of course he saw. Sk’jin is not surprised.

‘Your hand.’

A hundred, thousand, million voices all whisper to him, with a sigh of welcome waiting for him to come home:

‘I’ll see you soon.’

‘How do you know this?’

‘I sensed them- just one right? It was faint, and all over, mixed with the rain.’

Sk’jin feels nauseous.

‘They did something to that planet,’ Taeh’yung says quietly, giving Sk’jin an understanding look. It’s odd- but Sk’jin feels as though Taeh’yung knew exactly what happened in Ynqaba.

‘Do- could you feel it?’

Taeh’yung nods.

‘It wasn’t them- if it was, Ynqaba wouldn’t exist,’ Taeh’yung says quietly, brushing through Jungkook’s hair.

‘It was the Yishengs,’ Sk’jin nods.

Taeh’yung hums as though he’s not surprised, just disappointed.

‘They did things they weren’t supposed to,’ Taeh’yung says, sounding unlike himself. When he looks up at Sk’jin, he suddenly looks different. ‘They were made to guide, but now all they do is destroy.’

Taeh’yung looks away, looking like himself.

It unsettles Sk’jin.

The first thing Sk’jin experiences is pain.

He’s vaguely aware of being awake, of a heavy burden on his temples- he feels Jungkook there; living, alive, complete. He also senses Amad’la, who to his relief, was still alive. Everything is a horrible blur around him, sounds stretching, lights flaring, the sky is shaking and the ground-

He’s overwhelmed by the voices.

He needs to-…what does he need to do? It was already too late. They were too late to try and do anything at this point. All they could hope to do was to escape. And Sk’jin would try that. He would, for-

‘Jungkook-!’

There’s a hand covering his mouth and his mind is spinning. He feels himself being moved, feels everything being moved but the constant weight and pressure on his head is getting stronger and worse with each stretched out second that passes by. With shaking hands he tries to push down on his pain- to press down on his scalp and-

Oh.

Oh.

Sk’jin blindly reaches for Jungkook. He was living and well- he was whole and he was here, meaning Sk’jin was too- meaning this was real, meaning this-

Meaning Jungkook was the one who pulled him out. Jungkook was the one who entered the Bloodmoon, who saw him, who guided him out, who-

‘Sk’jin-.’ Jungkook sounds desperate, his voice laced with urgency.

‘-Kookie-! Why- why did you follow me there? You- you could have-!’

That meant he saw it all- he lived it all too, at least in some capacity, he saw all of who he was and lost.

‘I had to get you out,’ Jungkook whispers, ‘I had to get you out and-.’

Sk’jin finally manages to open his eyes.

Jungkook’s eyes are wide and so so alive. No taint of the Bloodmoon lingered- no darkness marred him.

‘I didn’t want you to see it.’

‘See what?’

Sk’jin gently reaches up to touch Jungkook’s face, to ground himself. Around them, from Jungkook, the air starts to settle, this reality created and made for someone whole and complete- for someone living now.

‘All the promises I’ve broken.’

Jungkook has an expression Sk’jin doesn’t quite understand and he would rather not. Someone approaches them- Amad’la. She’s saying something but it’s a little hazy still.

‘Where- where is Namjoon?’ Sk’jin finds that he cannot depend on his body to do anything.

‘I don’t know- I have no communication,’ Jungkook’s voice cracks. ‘I was- I was just-…I tried to find Taeh’yung but he- I don’t know what happened.’

Oh- oh Taeh’yung. He thinks back to what Tsirin said.

‘He was-…they needed to get rid of him first.’ Sk’jin tells Jungkook quietly as Amad’la comes into focus. She was clearly checking on his vitals. ‘Oh, Amad’la my dear, you’re just so sweet to me.’

‘You are experiencing psychological distress that is overwhelming your physical capabilities. Please overcome this as soon as possible.’ She tells him in a completely deadpan tone.

‘...wow really wish I could that easily none of us would be here,’ Sk’jin could laugh. ‘We need to find a way to get back to the others Kookie.’

Jungkook nods in reply as he says, ‘I’ll carry you if you can’t walk. We can make our way back- follow our trail back.’

‘Have you seen anyone else?’ Sk’jin asks, moving limply against Jungkook.

‘No,’ Jungkook shakes his head, ‘I just- Jinnie I just- below us. Beneath it’s-.’

So Jungkook saw. Those tunnels and interconnecting lines underneath the planet.

‘I know. I’ve seen it too. I’ve seen them too.’

‘There’s so many,’ Jungkook’s voice is heavy with sorrow.

Sk’jin then realizes that there’s something odd going around him.

‘Is that- - it’s happening too fast,’ Sk’jin curses as he squints, trying to focus as he sees the massive void pulsing like a heart- a cursed, cruel, and malicious heart.

‘Do you know what it is?’ Jungkook asks as he crouches in front of Sk’jin. Amad’la helps him climb on.

‘Unfortunately.’ Sk’jin replies as he gingerly anchors himself onto Jungkook’s stability. ‘We need to leave.’

‘But-…but the-.’

His silence is louder than than the planet around them.

Jungkook stands- or at least tries to when Amad’la stops him.

‘What is it-?’

Something was moving- beyond them, beyond anything they could have anticipated for.

‘This way,’ Amad’la guides them past the low bush they were hiding under.

They keep quiet, listening, waiting, observing.

‘They’ve been here the entire time- just waiting for us to get here, waiting for us to bring Jimin back here.’

Sk’jin replays what he saw, what he felt, every horrible second, every twisted and misguided grasp at power.

It’s worse looking at it like this- in this reality, before him, before them.

‘The Breaker.’

‘The what?’ Jungkook asks breathlessly.

‘That’s what they call it,’ Sk’jin tells him quietly- remembering broken fragments of memories of their construction- built upon the remains of Axudar, ‘The Breaker of Fate.’

‘Um- I saw one, by the shore.’ Jungkook tells Sk’jin.

There was nothing they could do. But there was definitely someone who could do something. But he might not know it. He might not want to know about it.

‘What about you? You spoke most to her-.’

‘-I think something happened. During the Gaia incident.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The Creveni. I think they have something. It’s…’

Sk’jin pushes the connection harder, everything blurring and rushing around him but he hears it clearly.

‘I think she’s scared.’

Who were they talking about?!

‘Scared? But why- of who? The Creveni are all dead- one problem solved.’

‘We need to help Jimin,’ Sk’jin tells Jungkook. ‘This might be more than what he can handle.’

‘Yoongi,’ Jungkook is so confident, ‘Yoongi must be with him.’

Sk’jin smiles.

‘There’s more.’

‘More?’

‘Hm. More Breakers.’

‘How? Why?’

‘Continuum,’ Sk’jin replies, head pressed up against Jungkook’s, ‘It is a cycle that exists beyond the realm of existence – beyond the realm of Matter and Time and Space. A cycle that Is. A cycle that is continuum. A cycle that unapologetically moves forward. Because where there is a beginning, there is always an end. Where there is an end, there is always a beginning.’

Suddenly, Sk’jin is extremely tired, the burning weight on his temples relenting just a little. He finds himself yawning.

‘Are you tired?’ Jungkook asks randomly.

Sk’jin chuckles, thinking about how he felt.

‘I think I’m sleepy.’

They’re moving, but Sk’jin has no idea where or how they knew any of the coordinates. He just stares at the void instead before he finds himself speaking.

‘I’m sorry you had to see me like that.’

‘What?’ Jungkook asks.

‘You saw me at my worst. The lowest.’ Sk’jin’s vision blurs a little, tears forming.

Jungkook grips onto Sk’jin’s legs a little tighter.

‘I think I saw you at your strongest.’ He tells him, genuine and so whole heartedly. Sk’jin wishes he could hold him tight, always keep him whole and living.

‘You’re not strong when you’re broken.’

‘I see you. You are whole.’

Amad’la stumbles suddenly and Sk’jin gasps out, suddenly aware of a horrible sound.

‘Something’s happening-‘ he cries out to Jungkook, he already knows it’s going to happen but it’s still horrible to witness as Amad’la falls over in evident pain.

‘Jungkook-!’ Sk’jin cannot warn the young Vicitra fast enough. More Breakers rise up all around them. ‘Breakers- more Breakers. We need to go-!’

Sk’jin distinctly hears two voices- they’re pushed up against each other, overpowering, ancient and young at the same time, and-

‘Jungkook we need to go now- we need to go-!’

Sk’jin has witnessed events deemed as apocalypses. But never quite like this one before.

‘They were never supposed to exist,’ Sk’jin tells Jungkook who can very obviously hear the screams of the memories lined up underneath the planet, fuel and fire and rage for the destruction of Yino.

Jungkook falls to his knees, Sk’jin on his back, thuds down too. Jungkook clearly doesn’t see the Verktaë approaching but Sk’jin does. With all of his strength, Sk’jin pushes Jungkook down and away from the spear attempting to pierce through him.

Jungkook protects him with his whole body before he leaps into the fray, roaring mightily. Amad’la is instantly there to cover the Vicitra as well as Sk’jin, aiming and firing nonstop. Sk’jin tries to get his together, annoyed at himself but also just so incredibly sleepy.

‘,’ he curses to himself, crouching for a moment, cradling his horns in his hands.

They were being overwhelmed- hunted down.

He hears Jungkook roaring somewhere in the vicinity- the sounds of TeorSers and other blasts and the sound of the whole planet breaking out.

Sk’jin grabs at his horns, straining, trying to tear them off because he can’t- he can’t wear them, he didn’t deserve to-

‘I’ll make you see it.’

‘See what?’

‘You.’ 

The pain stops and it’s quiet for a while. They stand before him. His family.

This wasn’t what he remembered- this wasn’t what he saw, back in those forests plagued with Nightmares, standing in the shadows watching his movement. No.

They were here before him, no gleam of the Bloodmoon tainting them, no living Nightmare ripping them apart from within. They stood over him, smiling, and-

‘I think you’re ready now,’ Ahadi extends his hand out.

‘For what?’ Sk’jin asks tremulously.

They were beautiful.

Ahadi just smiles.

‘Come on Cap, up you get,’ Ti snorts. Even Nambike is there, older than when Sk’jin last physically saw, appearing how she did on Ilya’s screen instead.

‘Didn’t you once say that kneeling wasn’t something you did?’

‘We do not need to know what you get up to in your private time,’ Ti snaps, wrenching Sk’jin up and quickly brushing down his clothes of dust. ‘Your horns are dusty, please get yourself together for ’s sake, don’t you have a reputation to up hold?’

Ahadi helps him stand up. His touch feels real, so real- and Sk’jin…-Sk’jin just-

‘I’ve- I’ve miss you all,’ Sk’jin sobs, ‘I’ve missed you all, with every every wretched second, every moment-‘

‘I missed you too,’ Ahadi whispers as Ti and Nambike also surround him, holding him upright, holding him together, keeping him whole, complete.

More and more of his family surround him, the weight of their touch grounding him, keeping him together and-

White noise bursts in his ear- for a moment, the communication lines are connected and for a moment, Sk’jin is a part of every moment, a part of every single breath.

Sk’jin exhales shakily, tilting his head up to look at the sky, at the Bloodmoon that finally wanes.

He opens his eyes, cleared of the Bloodmoon, the weight no longer dragging on his feet, but now holding him up, holding him up higher. In this new light he easily spots Jungkook.

The young Vicitra is in a blood-frenzy, his eyes crazed and his mouth reddened. He needed to calm him, to bring him back down.

‘Jungkook.’

They take a step and Sk’jin follows- their bodies guiding his. He’s not sure how he got to Jungkook but he’s there and Jungkook’s eyes are clearing.

He looks afraid- scared of Sk’jin, almost. Amad’la is right behind him, her hand among the many who held him up.

‘There was a moment,’ Sk’jin thinks it’s best to distract Jungkook right now- give him something to focus on. ‘The communication channels were open for a moment- I think we need to get higher up.’

He only just notices the light channeling down in thin beams.

‘There are more coming,’ Amad’la says. ‘I will not have enough power soon.’ 

‘There’s a hill towards there,’ Sk’jin winces a little, still unsure how to react to this newfound lightness, ‘Let’s try and make our way up there.’

‘Take Communications Manager Sk’jin-,’ Amad’la hands Jungkook a small blade as Ahadi appears behind her, ‘Jungkook, here is a small blade you may like-‘

‘Look around you,’ Ahadi tells him quietly before pressing a soft kiss to the side of face.

As though in slow motion, he watches as dozens of the Verktaë approach, all with the intent to kill.

‘NO!’

He’s falling- but he feels like a feather, drifting in the wind and for a moment panic overwhelms him but Nambike is there, Ti is there, they’re all there.

They slowly lift him up and for the first time since he woke here, in this reality, in this Time, Sk’jin feels light.

Amad’la falls.

He stretches out his hands at the incoming horde and his hands gleam, light from within, scattered lights illuminating blood channels, pushing through the light, neon red-

He takes a step down and Sk’jin knows that it’s finally come.

Sk’jin finds himself staring down at the writhing Verktaë, cursed by a living nightmare worse than anything Sk’jin was forced to bear, cursed with a light more corrupted than the slow death of his System.

And from deep within him, Sk’jin feels pity.

‘But who will bury your bones?’ he asks.

‘-Jin!’

Sk’jin sinks back into the arms of his family, into the gaze of the young Vicitra. 

He finds himself in a heap, legs trembling and shaking but his mind steady, his purpose set.

‘You’re ready,’ Ahadi whispers behind him before taking a step back.

He tries to get to Amad’la, was she okay?

Sk’jin faintly notes something headed towards them, a shape and form and colour that was wrong with what existed around them.

All of mass and time and space around him screams at the unwelcome intrusion of this force- heat ripples over Sk’jin. He falls back, thrown aside, drifting lightly as though he weighed nothing before settling down gently. Jungkook is struggling, eyes shut, clearly in pain. His family are gathered around him, shielding him, protecting him; wings to cover him, to lift him.

Jungkook places his hand on his shin and Sk’jin finds himself back here.

‘Kookie-?’

Nambike points towards the side, signaling to him to lay low.

‘Eyes- my eyes hurt,’ Jungkook chokes out.

‘Get down,’ Sk’jin realizes his voice is shaking, ‘Something’s coming this way.’

‘Where are we?’ Jungkook asks instead, ‘It doesn’t feel the same.’ His hands feel at the ground, feels something that wasn’t there but something he could feel.

‘It’s starting,’ Ahadi tells him. ‘You will need to hurry.’

‘What-?’

Ti quickly points to their left and-

‘-left!’

Jungkook reacts at once, his loss of sight barely inhibiting his deadly reactions.

Two.

‘There’s 2! Kookie- jump!’

Sk’jin tries his best to stand- there was a TeorSer fallen over some ways from him. If he could at least get it.

Someone runs fast, tackling Jungkook down. But before he can heed Ahadi’s warning, Sk’jin finds himself being pushed down.

‘NO!’

But it’s off of him in no less than a second and instead Jungkook lands up against him and Sk’jin holds him as close as he can as they fall over backwards.

Ahadi smiles at him, nodding to the side and tapping on his own dimple.

Sk’jin turns to look at the side he was pointing to and approaching them through the ashy air is-

‘Namjoon-?!’

His family aren’t there but it’s okay, Sk’jin knows they’re there with him, holding him together, holding him up.

‘Emergency medical procedures now!’ Namjoon yells as he rushes towards them.

‘Jungkook-,’ Sk’jin does his best to speak clearly and loudly, ‘His eyes- Namjoon, his eyes-.’

‘Optical spray!’

Jungkook in grimacing but the relief is instant as his eyes are sprayed and cleansed. Sk’jin tries to grab at Namjoon, pointing at where Amad’la was laying still.

‘Amad’la- she’s there-.’

The GI are already there, surrounding them and quietly taking down the Verktaë. They must have been clearing the area, approaching them at the center.

‘Hey, hey, look at me,’ Namjoon is addressing Jungkook. ‘It’s okay- we’re leaving soon okay?’

‘Are you ready?’ Ahadi asks.

If Sk’jin could smile he would.

‘Can you stand?’ Namjoon asks the Vicitra.

‘Namjoon- below, there’s- they’re below us, they’re dying-!’ Jungkook says in a broken voice.

But Namjoon knows. He figured it out.

‘We can’t-…?’ Jungkook whispers.

Namjoon slowly shakes his head.

‘We will need a ship,’ Nambike tells him.

‘A strong one, if possible,’ Ti adds.

‘Captain we only need one more pulse to be taken down for basic communications,’ one of the GI is telling Namjoon just as Sk’jin finds himself able to reach for and grab Namjoon. Instead, the Kutsoglerin lifts him and that’s not what he wanted but okay, maybe his legs weren’t listening to him so this works too.

‘Namjoon- Namjoon, I need you to listen. There’s- Jimin’s sister- it’s not-‘

‘Jimin’s sister?!’

The shock in Namjoon’s eyes is genuine. He knew, but he didn’t know the full extent of the betrayal and madness they were facing- that they would need to stop. Namjoon needed to calm down a little first- he needed to listen-

‘Namjoon-,’

He touches Namjoon’s face gently. Ahadi stands behind Namjoon, head tilted a little as though interested in the interaction.

Yeah, they were definitely quite alike.

It makes Sk’jin chuckle a little.

‘Quickly, out with it or they think you’ve lost your mind,’ Ti snaps her fingers next to him.

‘They are going to break this continuum.’

Ever since he met the Zhak’gri- ever since their eyes met, Sk’jin cannot shake the unsettling feeling the Zhak’gri gave him.

Sk’jin wasn’t afraid of things or Beings- he was rarely scared.

But Taeh’yung sometimes terrified him.

‘Why didn’t you tell Namjoon?’ Sk’jin asks carefully.

‘Why haven’t you?’ Taeh’yung asks back.

‘Because…’ Sk’jin breathes out slowly, feeling at his temples where pressure was building. ‘Because if I did Namjoon and Hoseok, and then Yoongi and Jimin, would feel responsible.’

‘It was not their design.’

‘No, but their actions, our actions, my actions, made the design possible.’ Sk’jin sighs out quietly. ‘They already have their demons, their nightmares. They carry enough of the dead with them, they don’t need more. They’re young, unlike us.’

‘Life is continuum.’ Taeh’yung says, looking down.

Sk’jin doesn’t comment.

Namjoon is clearly confused but he’s also clearly on a schedule.

‘We’re getting out of here.’ Namjoon tells him, hoisting him up a little higher. ‘There’s a shield blocking out all communications, the GI are operating to take several down so we can at least have some on ground – then we leave. I’ve already contacted Ilya told him not to come-‘

One of the GI presses a compressor against his arm and Sk’jin jolts in Namjoon’s arms. A pleasant numbness takes over and the pain ebbs away. Before he can get a word in, another compressor is pressed onto his arm, lower down, and he jolts again.

‘-we need to leave,’ Namjoon repeats again, glancing up worriedly.

‘Where’s Hobi?’ Jungkook asks.

‘He’s with Yoongi back in Udāvana,’ Namjoon replies as Sk’jin coughs a little; he’s almost expecting blood.

‘What- what about Jimin?’ Jungkook asks, desperation wet and heavy in his voice.

‘He- Yoongi was with him until Jimin sent him away,’ Namjoon explains, ‘We uh, we think Jimin might have um, persuaded him-‘ Sk’jin giggles hysterically for a second, ‘-to leave. He wasn’t all right. We need to get the GI, like Yoongi, out of here- it’s-‘ he pauses, glancing to the side where Amad’la was being carried, ‘-it’s killing them.’

Relief floods Sk’jin’s limbs as the pain inhibitor and boosters start working into his system.

‘Jimin…he said to leave?’

Namjoon nods.

‘He said we need to get to the Sanctuary and warn Yisheng Lim-‘

‘-no!’ Sk’jin gasps out, lucid and feeling much better. ‘No- we cannot go to the Sanctuary!’

Namjoon looks down at him in confusion before they’re entering a sleek understated Transporter.

‘-Namjoon listen to me,’ Sk’jin says as the Kutsoglerin places him down. Jungkook jumps in on all fours, crowding up next to Sk’jin, the blood soaking his clothes drying and turning nearly black and ashy.

Namjoon nods, crouching before him.

‘Tsirin, Jimin’s sister, has been orchestrating all of this,’ he says clearly, ‘Ndica manipulated her, to use her, to use Menigišiti’s technology and advance engineering to jump start his own agenda. When he died, Axudar turned into a minefield- and Tsirin she-…she knew that Jimin was still alive- knew that the Special Jury would try to wrap all of this up.’

Namjoon nods, ‘Okay. Okay, yeah- so we will leave-.’

‘-leaving won’t solve any of this,’ Sk’jin tells him clearly, holding his gaze steadily, ‘Tsirin has these ships built- Breakers- they have all of Menigišiti surrounded- they’re using the stored energy within Megibīya, the memories of those alive and yet not born, to break the barriers around Menigišiti and break Yino.’

‘I know,’ Namjoon tells him quietly, ‘By disrupting Yino, not only will they destroy Menigišiti, but-‘

‘It’s her, Namjoon,’ Sk’jin tells him, ‘This won’t just be the creation of a blackhole, this will be the end of Continuum.’

Their eyes locked, Sk’jin grips Namjoon’s arms firmly.

‘If it starts, we will have no place to escape to.’

Namjoon finally looks away, looking at Jungkook, and then over at the GI around them. Outside the windows Sk’jin notes that they’re barely flying above the tree line.

‘There’s too many of them,’ Namjoon says quietly.

‘We need to sever the connection,’ Sk’jin tells Namjoon. ‘The Sanctuary we were in. It needs to be destroyed- it’s the only gateway left into Menigišiti.’

‘The gateway we found and opened.’

Sk’jin nods.

‘Can you find it again?’

Sk’jin nods again.

‘Okay.’ Namjoon says firmly, leaning back and taking Sk’jin’s hands into his own, ‘Then we do that,’ he looks around at one of the GI standing next to him, ‘Where are we with taking down the pulse?’

‘2 minutes.’

‘Once we take down enough magnetic pulses we can begin communications- we can also boost our Transporter systems. We will head towards our ship and make for Sanctuary and destroy it.’

‘It will probably be fully protected,’ Sk’jin tells him.

‘It won’t just be us,’ Namjoon nods at the GI, ‘We have 152 of them.’

Sk’jin grins.  

‘I hear something,’ Jungkook tells them suddenly before Sk’jin hears it too.

‘It’s the heart,’ one of the GI tells them.

Standing on slightly shaking but inhibitor strengthened legs Sk’jin makes his way to the side of the Transporter to look out of the windows to the right alongside Jungkook.

The strange black void was now genuinely pulsing- it causes ripples- strange bending ripples all over the mountain side, the forests, the rivers, the lake-

‘Something’s happening- we need to move faster-‘

‘The pulse is down, short channels are up.’

‘-amjoon?!’

Sk’jin jumps.

‘-! Sk’jin? Kookie?’

Jungkook bursts into tears next to him, uncontrolled cries, slumping against Sk’jin.

‘We’re here,’ Namjoon replies, reaching over to wrap an arm around Jungkook’s torso. ‘We’re headed back. Sk’jin and Jungkook are with me.’

‘You’ll need to hurry, I don’t know if you can see it from your angle but- but those ships, the rings have stopped moving.’ Hoseok tells them.

‘I think we need to head back to our ship first,’ Namjoon tells Hoseok, ‘Slight change in plans- for me and Sk’jin. Take the Regurgitated with you- and Kookie-,’ Jungkook whips his head around to stare at Namjoon, ‘-and leave. As fast as possible. Sk’jin and I need to go to Sanctuary and destroy it.’

‘What about Lim?’

‘The Sanctuary needs to be destroyed, otherwise nothing we do will matter.’ Namjoon gently pats Jungkook on the head, his expression sad yet determined.

‘He’s seen something,’ Ti offers him, sitting in front of Jungkook with a soft smile on her face. ‘His motivations, his motives, his actions- his purpose; they’ve all changed.’

Sk’jin nods.

Namjoon glances at him and nods back.

‘Spotting Udavana.’

‘Yeah, I see you.’

‘How’s Yoongi’s condition?’

‘Stabilized for now. Uh-,’ he pauses, ‘We might need to knock him out.’

Namjoon grimaces and Sk’jin could snort.

‘Can I come with you?’ Jungkook asks quietly.

Sk’jin shakes his head, leaning his head against the window, his horn clicking on the glassy surface.

‘No,’ he says quietly, ‘I need you to dream.’

Jungkook’s eyes are wide, confusion and some hurt but they’re filled mostly with an understanding that is only achieved through pain and blood.

Suddenly he winces, hands coming to his ears and the GI all do the same. Namjoon quickly dives for the cockpit, holding up the controls before he swerved downwards as the GI who was piloting them covers her ears in obvious pain. Sk’jin hears it too, but it’s faint- it’s a horrid scream, a strange sound- one laced a little with fear, panic, and mostly madness.

‘-Namjoon what’s going on? Something’s going on- can you hear it?’ Hoseok asks immediately as Sk’jin makes his way to the cockpit, pushing Namjoon aside and helping the GI out of her seat before he sits on it.

‘It’s Tsirin,’ Sk’jin says firmly, glancing to his side before facing forward. Udāvana is less than seconds away and Sk’jin prepares the turbines for landing.

Something powerful erupts in the sky- a silver light temporarily engulfs the entirety of the sky and for reasons Sk’jin cannot explain, a strange sort of relief fills him.

‘Okay what the was that-?’ Hoseok asks as Sk’jin steadies the ship, the buildings clearly visible and in the landing he can spot Hoseok and the other GI, several other Transporters.

A mighty horde of strangely camouflaged transporters erupt from the side and open fire upon them.

‘Change of plans-!’ Sk’jin gasps as he takes them out of landing mode and steers them away sharply. ‘Everyone strap in now-!’

‘-get going now-! We will follow-!’ Hoseok yells.

‘-!’ Namjoon hisses.

‘Namjoon- which way do I go? Where’s the Laikin?’

‘-‘ Namjoon seats himself in the co-pilot’s seat before looking back and yelling, ‘Safety straps on-!’

The interior of the ship quietly hums a warning tone, a small red light flashing- a tiny electronic Bloodmoon for this specific situation. He flies them up higher. He needed more space to dodge and fight back.

‘One second-!’ Namjoon grits out as Sk’jin twists them to the side, crashing through the trees before sweeping upwards.

‘Do you have any weapons control in this?!’ Sk’jin yells to the GI and before he can completely his sentence, they’re firing. ‘Thanks!’

Namjoon reaches over, attaching his NaviLet over to Sk’jin’s dashboard. Sk’jin glances down quickly. He makes a swift left, picking up speed.

‘Please take us higher,’ the GI requests quietly behind him.

There’s an ominous clicking sound followed by complete silence in his ears.

‘Um Namjoon-?’

‘,’ Namjoon hisses, staring up into the sky, ‘They must be reconnecting the pulse points or we’ve gone too far from Hoseok’s location. They’re probably moving too-‘ he suddenly stops, eyes wide as he stares up.

‘What is that?’ Jungkook demands instead, hand reaching past Sk’jin pointing upwards.

The moment Sk’jin can spare a glance upwards he’s not entirely sure what he was supposed to be looking at at first.

The sky was glitching between what was really happening with the countless Breakers in the sky and the pale rosy hued sky. While Sk’jin hadn’t immediately noticed it, more like registered it, it’s not that surprising that everything they had experienced or seen had been, in a sense, fake.

The glitches were in time with the heart- the strange void blossoming over the mountains and into the sky. Another glance up at the sky, squinting carefully and he spots it too. With each glitch that showed them what was really happening, a strange pale object appears behind the Breakers- something white and something familiar-

‘Oh they really have some timing!’ Namjoon hisses as the Omhlophe ship comes into view. Overwhelming the sun-lit disc-like ships that were clearly emitting the pulses blocking their communications.

‘What-?!’ Jungkook faintly whispers.

‘-I think something happened. During the Gaia incident.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The Creveni. I think they have something. It’s…’

Sk’jin pushes the connection harder, everything blurring and rushing around him but he hears it clearly.

‘I think she’s scared.’

Who were they talking about?!

‘Scared? But why- of who? The Creveni are all dead- one problem solved.’

‘Their disciples are still running around- they’ve taken down 3 ferries just yesterday.’

‘Wait-,’ Sk’jin thinks hard. He was missing something- there was something they were all missing.

‘Namjoon I think- I think we’re misunderstanding something about the Omhlophe,’ Sk’jin says slowly, occasionally glancing up and at the NaviLet and then back before him.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I saw something,’ Sk’jin tells him, glancing to the side where he notices another GI Transporter in the distance higher above them. ‘I heard something. I don’t think the Omhlophe are here to help Tsirin.’

‘What do you mean?’

His heart pounding in his chest Sk’jin thinks hard and back to all the times they encountered the Omhlophe.

‘I think in a strange and twisted way, they were trying to protect us- or at the very least, protect Jimin- from the Special Jury, from Tsirin- they knew, they knew what we were being tricked into- they tried to-…they tried to stop us, in their own twisted way.’

He thinks about their incident with Van Seulgaan, in the Arena, thinks about the incident before what happened in Ynqaba, and then in Grisial with Prat’tna.

‘I don’t think they’re here for us,’ Sk’jin emphasizes.

‘Sk’jin what in Spaces-‘

Something bright streaks past the window and they all shut up-

‘-what-?’

‘What was that-?’ Namjoon twists in his seat, looking back and then up.

Like in a strange glitch screen unfolding a strange event in short moments, the sky glitches to show them a truly horrible event unfolding.

The massive Omhlophe ship is crashing through the network of strange satellites, white debris and shrapnel surround it like a strange display of fireworks before it crashes through the disc-ships, purposeful in their trajectory, dragging out and taking down as many before-

-before it disappears and reappears again.

‘-amjoon!’ Hoseok’s voice cracks through the communication line once again.

‘Spaces you’re right-?’ Namjoon starts to say, still staring upwards in awe when something blocks out the sky above them out of nowhere before plummeting straight down before them into the planet.

It takes them all a long second before they can piece together the fact that the broken and destroyed ships and satellites were now falling down straight towards them, camouflaged by the strange projection of the sky until the last moment. Sk’jin moves as quickly as he can but the incoming piece of wing that plummets towards them is impossible to dodge.

Sk’jin is only saved because of the safety straps around him.

A horrible jerking motion that dislodges Sk’jin from the depths of being sends them awry in the sky, spinning and falling at a horrible speed.

If there’s something Sk’jin genuinely hates it’s getting into an accident and being entirely aware of it. He notes how Namjoon looses consciousness, his still very alive, very biological brain shutting him down to prevent mental and physical trauma. He’s sure Jungkook is out too. The GI were too. But Sk’jin?

He experiences every harrowing moment of their crash- every hopeless sliver of sky alight with flame and lightning, every glimpse of Megibīya below them a gaping maw waiting for their fall. Witnesses 3 of the unseated GI crash through the Bridge, landing in horrible angles repeatedly.

And with a nauseating but weirdly gentle jerk, Sk’jin finds himself righted (albeit he was hanging upside down).

He’s falling gently.

Ahadi appears, holding his head gently to lessen the pressure.

‘It’s okay,’ he says quietly, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. ‘Just breathe- just breathe.’

Sk’jin does as he says, breathing quietly. They’re being moved- Sk’jin is aware, they’re being moved. But the Transporter was not being piloted. They were just-…being moved. The view from the window changes and Sk’jin is confused only for a second before he understands what he’s seeing.

They hadn’t crashed back into Megibīya. Rather they had crashed, or well, guided, by another ship.

The Transporter rights itself and Sk’jin tries his best to sit up, blood rushing down from his head. That’s when Sk’jin notices the blood.

Namjoon is waking up, eyes wide, somehow miraculously uninjured. He’s faster at noticing the blood than Sk’jin was. Sk’jin barely feels it. He’s staring at the blood seeping into Sk’jin’s side- down to his trousers, into the seat. Namjoon is struggling to reach him as their window glass shatters with the most horrific sound possible. A wonderful breeze washes inside- they’re still airborne, clearly.

‘Jin-!’ he hears Jungkook call hoarsely, clearly loopy judging by his voice. He’s aware of movement- of Beings entering the Transporter. Namjoon is kneeling before him, eyes darting between the shrapnel embedded in Sk’jin’s side and towards the back of the Transporter.

‘Are you unwell?’

There’s funny and short squeak from Jungkook. The Omhlophe were inside the Transporter.

‘Here is some medication, you will enjoy it.’

Namjoon stands, slow, still cautious before he says, ‘Here- he’s injured. Here.’

‘We shall be with you in a moment!’ the Omhlophe reply in their strangely polite monotone.

‘-amjoon-!’

‘We’re here-!’ Namjoon goes back to kneeling before Sk’jin. It almost makes Sk’jin smile, the worry in his eyes, the concern, the pain-, ‘We’re- I don’t know- Hoseok the Omhlophe-.’

‘I know. I asked Amme to bring them here!’

They both stare at each other.

‘That’s-‘

‘What?!’

‘Oh that explains why he was so secretive about something,’ Sk’jin mumbles, thinking back to Hoseok’s strange actions and calls being placed outside of their ship that wasn’t with Ilya’s network.

‘Does that mean Amme is here?’

‘I think so-‘

There’s a horrendous sound.

‘-!’

Sk’jin glances out and spots the gigantic Omhlophe ship crash landing into the mountain side up ahead.

‘Well, they don’t have an escape plan it seems.’ Namjoon comments a little hysterically, still kneeling before Sk’jin. He looks helpless and Sk’jin wishes he could placate him.

‘I’m okay,’ he says. He’s given a withering look.

Ti snorts next to him.

‘We will take you to a safe spot to regroup and leave.’ One of the Omhlophe appears and it’s still very disturbing to look at them. Jungkook shoves himself next to Namjoon, bursting into tears as he looks at Sk’jin’s injuries.

‘Don’t worry about this Kookie,’ Sk’jin smiles as the Omhlophe bend over him at a frankly disturbing angle to look at his injuries. ‘I’ve been through worse.’

Neither Namjoon or Jungkook are remotely comforted by this. Sk’jin pokes at Namjoon’s cheek.

‘Keep staring at me Cap and I’ll think you’ve fallen for me,’ Sk’jin points up to his horns, ‘Count yourself lucky for seeing this.’

Namjoon barely glances at his horns. Instead he looks sideways at Jungkook who was accepting a tissue from the Omhlophe, dabbing at his face. He then turns to look at Sk’jin, a question in his eyes that Sk’jin knows Namjoon already knows the answer to.

‘Our Transporter has sustained damages- while that stunt was effective in bringing back communications- it’s only strengthening their efforts.’ Hoseok says.

‘How do you plan on getting us out?’ Sk’jin looks at the Omhlophe tending his wound, deftly cutting the shrapnel stuck through his chair from the back and into his side as another tears off his upper wear.

‘Together!’

Sk’jin laughs.

The shrapnel still in him but no longer locking him into his seat, Sk’jin is carried out gently by Namjoon, followed closely by Jungkook. The Omhlophe ship is tilted sideways, leaning up against the mountain side. They were far from the waterfall, far from the pulse. Above them, the sky was now permanently showing them the horror of what lay all around, preparing to end the Known Universe and everything in it.

Sk’jin is inexplicably reminded of Khol’isa.

Several other smaller Omhlophe transporters land down next to them. Sk’jin notes how they had literally been caught by some strange thick molding fabric. Honestly, Sk’jin would much rather not know exactly how this happened.

‘I’m gonna need some help,’ Hoseok says hurriedly, ‘We’ve had the misfortune of landing uncomfortably close to what is clearly some sort of hidden base behind the mountains.’

The Omhlophe gather around him, tending to his wound as Jungkook hovers, face streaked from his tears, creating clean tracks down his blood splattered face. Amad’la is carefully carried and taken into another ship. The GI awkwardly hover- Sk’jin could laugh at the contrast of the GI and the Omhlophe. In fact, he could laugh at their similarities too.

He takes a deep breath as he’s seated carefully on a Medical Bed that shifts to accommodate him, propping him up securely.

‘All units return to current coordinates,’ Namjoon orders as he makes his way towards Sk’jin again, ‘Units on site will head towards Head Pilot Hoseok’s location.’

‘Understood.’ Dozens and dozens of voices respond.

‘Coordinate with the Omhlophe to find the best escape route.’ Namjoon then looks at Sk’jin, teeth grit for a moment before he says, ‘If you guide me, I can make my way to the Sanctuary.’

‘All right.’

Namjoon looks at him, helplessness in every inch of his being.

‘Stay here, until you’re stabilized,’ he orders him.

Sk’jin smiles and nods again but then Namjoon kneels before him again, hand reaching out but not quite touching him for a moment before gingerly placing them on his shoulders.

‘Sk’jin please,’ Namjoon whispers, holding his shoulders carefully, eyes shut. ‘Please. Wait for me, and we can go together. All right?’

‘All right,’ Sk’jin reaches out to poke at his cheek. ‘Because you asked me so nicely.’

Namjoon exhales out shakily in relief.

‘We will go get Hoseok and Yoongi,’ he repeats himself again. ‘Please make and hold temporary base here.’

Sk’jin nods once more, ‘Understood Cap.’

Namjoon seems to hesitate before he looks over at Jungkook, ‘Stay here?’

Jungkook looks horribly torn, looking over to the void, and then back down at Sk’jin. He slowly nods. Namjoon gives him a small smile before he walks away determinedly. After a second, Jungkook crouches down next to him, eyes still b with tears.

The Omhlophe do an excellent job at patching him up for now. He still doesn’t feel any pain. Jungkook comes closer, eyeing his pale skin, blotched and uneven.

Sk’jin pats at his cheeks, smiling at the youngling.

‘You’re so so beautiful,’ he tells him.

Jungkook’s eyes widen, confused.

‘You want to follow Namjoon, don’t you?’

Jungkook nods, glancing at Namjoon before looking at the pulse of the heart in the distance.

‘Protect him,’ Sk’jin pushes back Jungkook’s hair behind his ear. ‘Protect them.’

Jungkook nods, pausing before he leans in to kiss his cheek. Sk’jin grins widely at him. The young Vicitra quickly stands and sprints across, leaping in after Namjoon into the ship.

Namjoon looks back around, frown on his face, eyes widening as he looks from Jungkook back to Sk’jin as the doors close. Sk’jin smiles, waving before giving the Kutsoglerin a thumb’s up.

‘I’m happy to have met you.’ He says quietly.

Ahadi waves at the ship as it takes off, the sky in chaos above them. Nambike comes to squat down next to him.

‘Is this still what you want to do?’

Sk’jin smiles at his life-long friend, his strength, his trust.

‘Oh, absolutely.’

She nods.

Sk’jin looks over at the Omhlophe, still in their being, confused and abandoned, used and discarded. He looks at the still smoking ship and then up at the sky.

‘Isn’t the Užkulisai in there?’ Ti asks, crouching next to him.

‘I’m sure they could easily create a distraction while you fly out from the desert area,’ Nambike offers, pointing towards the white-hot landscape to this left.

Sk’jin grins up at Ahadi as he walks back towards them.

‘This will be fun.’

Ahadi just throws his head back and laughs before holding out a hand for Sk’jin to take. He helps him stand, brushing the dust off of his clothes and carefully pulling out the patch that was transfusing medical ionic water into him. He’s dizzy, his wound pulsing painfully and each step tears the very open wound bigger and bigger. But he ignores it. It didn’t matter anyways. He looks down at his hands for a moment.

‘Stop gawking at yourself, you look fine,’ Ti rolls her eyes.

Sk’jin grins, gingerly brushing his hair back and tilting his head a little so that the light of Yino bounced off of his horns. The Omhlophe stare at him with wide eyes.

Pointing to their ship Sk’jin asks: ‘You guys wanna do something fun?’

‘Do you see your nightmares again?’ Taeh’yung asks.

Sk’jin nods mutely.

‘Should I remove them?’

‘No-‘ Sk’jin replies quickly. ‘No- it’s…it’s all I have.’

Taeh’yung looks up at him again, eyes wide and filled with sorrow and pain.

‘I didn’t want to scare you,’ Taeh’yung whispers, eyes glistening a little. ‘But I meant it. You can’t do that again. I can’t help you anymore.’

You won’t be complete, you know that right? Is that still okay?

Sk’jin nods, ignoring the way the Bloodmoon edges into his sight above his direct line of sight.

‘I know.’

It’s okay- it’s not like I was ever complete to start off with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author’s Notes

Hi please do not send assassins at me

I too cried writing this okay none of us are winners in this

Also like, I cannot promise it will get better

That being said please wish me happy birthday

It is my birthday

Hehehe