Music to listen to

 

 

 

 

 

It’s an ocean of light.

A sky of light.

An eternity of nothingness that encompasses no shape or form or colour- only light.

There are voices here- of him. Of her. Of them.

Of everyone.

Voices of the past.

Voices of the present.

Voices of the future.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream

There is singing, there is crying, there is screaming, there is laughter.

If you asked him where this was, he would say It was, it is, and it will be because that was what this truly was.

Was he happy? He’s not sure- was that a concept that was remotely important here?

Was he sad? He’s not sure.

What he does know is that he needs to be somewhere. He needs to go home.

He needs to go back.

That is all he remembers. That is the core of who he is.

I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam

And he clings to that- and he lingers in what is. Sometimes he hears voices that are clearer than others, feels colours that are louder than others. Sometimes it’s just empty. But recently, if there is a concept of time here, after many an age, he finally hears something.

He can hear their memories.

And it’s louder than anything he’s heard before. Clearer, brighter, stronger.

And they are colourful – with so many emotions. It hurts his heart- because the colours he sees the most are pain, anger, sorrow, fear, regret, self-loathing, and worst of all, the colour that is starkest and brightest yet darkest of them all: homelessness.

And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem.

Sometimes he feels the colours close by, and sometimes they’re far away. Sometimes the colour of suspicion and doubt shine brightest. Then sometimes the colour of confusion and paranoia deepen in hue.

And sometimes its empty. It’s empty and he wonders if it’s going to be empty again but suddenly- amidst this endlessness of light, there is an eruption of pure and green energy.

But if I know you, I know what you'll do

And through this light he hears a voice. Or was it 5?

‘Who are you?’

‘I am the Yemenifesi Ch’inik’eti,’ he responds to the voice. ‘Who are you?’

‘We are the Fifth, born of the first Awakening. What are you doing here?’

‘I came here to seek shelter, to bring safety to my people. To take them home. What are you doing here?’

‘We could feel you. How long have you been here?’

‘I don’t know. Time is not a concept that exists here. I don’t know where I am.’

‘We have seen this place before. Do you wish to leave?’

‘I need to go back.’

You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

‘Where?’

‘Back home.’

‘Can you leave? I will try to help you, I don’t know if I can.’

He looks at the green energy- almost as ancient as this light around him- almost as powerful.

‘I have never tried- I don’t know how to.’

‘Follow it.’

‘Follow what?’ he asks. He really wants to leave now. Because he sees another colour bleeding in through the green. A colour he wants to eradicate. A colour he needs to remove.

‘Follow their voices, their dreams, follow their souls, follow their memories, follow their hearts- they will guide you.’

‘I will try.’

He’s searching now- for a way out.

‘What is your name?’

What was his name? He had a name.

He has a name.

He finds the exit. Through the bleeding colour that he has come to hate. It’s faint at first. But not for long.

A soft light fills the air before- soft and golden- like sunshine.

And he remembers his name.

‘My name is Jimin.’

‘I was never alone.’

Tsirin stands before him.

‘I was never alone, I always had you- but you left me. You left me the day we lost anu- the day we lost apa. I just never understood it- and neither did you. And now, all I have ever had, I have lost.’

Tsirin’s expression, familiar in the way she failed to mask her anger, frustration, madness is clear and outlined before him. Her expression that Jimin chose not to see for so long, because if he did it meant that he never truly had her. She was wrapped up in a grief she held onto, unable to see past it, move past it, recognize anything else that lay outside of it, and only perceived what happened around her through the lens of her grief.

It meant that no matter what he believed, tried to believe, all his life attempting to live in a constant state overshadowed by death, it would all be a lie.

Because if he did. It meant he would have to accept it.

‘This is the fate you have chosen,’ Jimin reaches up to take his sisters hand in his.

Light like the sun shines around them, the ashes of time flickering in its presence unsought and missed and forgotten and craved. Tsirin flinches from it.

‘And I have chosen mine.’ His grip tightens as he takes a step forward.

The darkness behind Tsirin flails and boils, flickering gaps tear through around them, a time present and a time yet to arrive, a time that was never meant to be, and a time that should have remained in the past.

His heart - borrowed, treasured, fragile, precious – beats strong in him, almost as though he was leaning in, ears pressed over his chest, arms cradling him close as he listens.

‘Sunshine?’

‘And you will not take it from me.’

Jimin forcefully pulls his sister close, his other hand coming up to, palm flat, connecting sharply against Tsirin’s face. Tsirin wrenches her away out of his hold, shoving him back with a painful blow to his chest. Tsirin glares at him, nose bleeding profusely. She takes several steps back and Jimin readies himself.

They knew each other too well- especially when it came to sparring, defense tactics. But it’s been a long time.

It’s been several life-times and neither of them are who they once were.

‘KH’LAROU!’ Tsirin yells, her word resonating with palpable power. ‘TS’HRANG!’

Something is horribly wrong.

The air around her rips, glowing circles that were once smooth and symmetrical and perfect were now crooked and jagged. As the Fate and as the Heart, they could not use Words of connection or command against each other. In the past the Fate and the Heart, reborn so many times, famously had their disagreements and fights. But never at this level. Never in a way where the Heart would tear them all from Time itself to break Fate.

And it’s never felt like this before either.

It’s never sounded like this before.

Was it due to where they were? In this strangely entangled space and time that was neither here nor there nor anywhere. Or was it because Tsirin had changed so much- did the music of his Words sound different to her too?

But Jimin cannot pause to think too much on it- not yet. Because Words of power worked against each other; Jimin only used to spar with Tsirin at this level, refusing to fight his guards with such an unfair advantage. Both Nineti and Dehin would occasionally manage to convince Jimin to use his Words with them, but it was rare.

However, Jimin knew Tsirin wouldn’t just try to use brute strength or power against him. The same way he wouldn’t use it against her. Because ultimately it meant nothing- they were practically on the same level, as far as he knew, and it would lead nowhere.

So he braces himself for what was considered by so many as a blessing- the Heart’s Mercy.

As the Yelibi Inati of her people, Tsirin could allow those who chose (technically this was all supposed to be consented) to either relive key memories, or live a dream imagined but never experienced. Most considered this Mercy a beautiful gift- to see into a perfect and blissful idealized imagining – to live as one wished, even if for a while.

But Tsirin, and Jimin too, was taught that this was not a Mercy. Not when you really thought about it.

For a moment, the air around Jimin ripples and everything around his tries to grasp at a form- a familiar environment, a comforting space, a place waiting for him, for them- home

Jimin raises his hand- light warm and cool blinking slowly from the area around his palm.

‘You cannot scare me,’ he whispers to Tsirin, watching him from outside the windows, unnaturally crooked and not quite how he remembers them to be, not he knows them to be. ‘I have lived every single moment of fear, I have already imagined and accepted them- you cannot scare me.’

Her form warps into a strange echo of Yoongi, a mockery, of the Human who have him the heart beating within his chest. But Jimin has already lost him before, knows that he will again.

‘You cannot scare me.’ He repeats.

Tsirin steps through the window, her form shifting back to her own, sneering slightly as she looks around.

‘Then you know what is to come.’

‘You cannot hurt me with this,’ Jimin shakes his head. Tsirin steps closer.

‘Maybe I can’t hurt you,’ Tsirin stops in front of him and the strange darkness is back. ‘But maybe you are right. You’ve had your heart broken so many times, I can barely see it in you anymore.’

Jimin takes a step back as Tsirin steps closer again.

‘I see someone else’s heart though-‘

With a swift palm pressed right at the center of Tsirin’s abdomen, Jimin doesn’t even think as he speaks Words of power. Maybe it didn’t quite have the effect he would want, but it felt good.

Tsirin laughs as she’s pushed back, heavy and still dust rising up in a strangely slow manner. A strange nearly invisible pattern ripples around her but it’s gone before Jimin can really pinpoint what it reminded him of.

‘You think distance will stop me?’ she grins, wiping away a fresh dribble of blood from her nose, smearing her lips and the side of her face a horrible bright red. ‘You think this is actually real?’

A horrible sinking feeling erupts within Jimin’s stomach, spreading all over his body.

‘You’re here, little brother.’ Day and night fall rapidly all around, the room warping into the manifestation of countless lifetimes, of shelters and safe places, tucked deep within memories and light not yet formed or forgotten. ‘You’re here, and I have your heart with me.’

Jimin finds himself falling for a paralyzing second before he falls in a heap on a strange street. He’s never been here before. He doesn’t know this place- yet somehow he thinks he might know- he thinks he might-

‘We are found.’

Panting, Jimin stands abruptly as a group of what were clearly Humans appear through the side alley. A Human woman is calling for attention of a group of Human younglings.

‘No-,’ Jimin gasps.

Now he knows where they are, he knows and he’s paralyzed- unable to stop himself from being forcefully immersed into Yoongi’s memory, hidden far too deep, further than Jimin would ever dare to even think about-

‘Stop it-!’ Jimin looks around the memory, starting to tear from the strain of Tsirin reaching and pulling out something that should have remained buried.

‘But this isn’t that bad is it?’ Tsirin’s voice echoes down from the sky, speaking down on Earth, ‘I didn’t have to go too far in, this was so easy to find, right there- just outside the door-‘

‘-okay, in a straight file all of you,’ the Woman announces, clapping her hands together to bring the students together in line. ‘Remember, you need to write a 3000 word essay on one of the installations all right? I know you’ve already seen details regarding each installation on the Web, but I want originality- no copying, I will know!’

There’s a murmur in response, the younglings already dispersing and Jimin can’t do anything but follow a slight and lanky young Human, hair covered by a soft-fabric beanie, looking bored out of his mind. Jimin has to follow, because he knows Tsirin would be close by to watch. Jimin pushes past the blurry faces and blurry outlines of other Humans, reaching Yoongi just as he pulls out a flat screen from inside his pocket. With a quiet sigh he taps on the Comm Device like attachment on his ear and all around them, music starts to flood in, muffling the sounds of footsteps, voices, and for a moment, even Jimin’s own thoughts.

He shakes himself, not allowing himself to settle into the easy and comforting shapes of Yoongi’s memories. He couldn’t be here. He shouldn’t. He needed to break free from here before it started to hurt Yoongi.

No.

That wasn’t it.

Before it started to hurt him more.

He follows after the younger version of Yoongi, desperate as he looks around for any sign of Tsirin possible.

‘Stop this!’ he yells, ‘You’re here for me, aren’t you? I’m here!’

Laughter echoes from above, a faint rumbling over the music filling Yoongi’s ears.

‘Stop it-!’

Yoongi turns around, eyebrows lifted, eyes a little round, staring straight at Jimin.

Like cold water rushing over him, Jimin freezes, his breath stuck. Yoongi looks away after a short second, walking ahead again. Jimin just stares after the Human, unable to process what happened- was that a manipulation from Tsirin? Had Yoongi actually heard him? Or did Yoongi hear something over his music, outside of the sound barrier they were in?

The area around him blurs as clarity follows Yoongi and Jimin hurries again. He stares into the blurred spaces around Yoongi’s memories, hoping to see cracks of Time seeping in where it didn’t belong. But there’s nothing. Frustrated, Jimin pauses some feet behind Yoongi as he pauses to read some information on his screen.

This wasn’t Mercy, not quite.

This reminds him more of when he, alongside Sk’jin and Jn’young, had traversed through the latter’s memories back in Ilya’s ship.

The music stops and Jimin jolts out of his thoughts, turning around to catch sight of Yoongi pocketing his screen and entering a familiar door. With a quiet gasp, Jimin follows after the Human as he enters a house.

Jimin remembers Yoongi telling him about how he had seen this house during an educational tour of Earth’s history. The house had been part of a large installation showcasing the variety of housing and accommodations that were once popularly found around different timelines on Earth. And Yoongi had said he liked this one for no clear reason.

Jimin stands behind Yoongi as the youngling stares around the achingly familiar hallway, the stairs, the wide windows, even the umbrella stand as Yoongi had explained.

Yoongi isn’t moving. He just stands there.

For a moment Jimin wonders if something is wrong with the memory- if Tsirin was doing something and Jimin goes to stand before the youngling out of instinct, wanting to protect him within his own memory. But it’s nothing of the sort. Instead, there are tears in Yoongi’s eyes as he looks around the place, carefully and shakily exhaling out.

‘What the ?’ he whispers to himself, dabbing at his eyes. He turns back around to the door, finding a scanner. He quickly places his own screen over the scanner. He’s downloading information from the archive presented by the house as he glances about, confused by his own reaction. There’s a small sound indicating that the download is complete and Yoongi turns to look back around again, tapping at his Comm Device in his ear.

[Welcome to the Lune Townhouse, circa 2400 AE.]

Yoongi stands there, mouthing the words as though to remember them. He places his hand over the wall, carefully touching and feeling. It tingles on Jimin’s hands too.

[-made use of recycled plastic found all over the planet-]

He makes his way to the kitchen and for a moment Jimin is too distracted to think of anything else except trace Yoongi’s footsteps around this space he knew so well, this home he carried with him.

[-lliances that were most frequently used during this era, such as the toaster, the rice cooker, the water heater-]

Yoongi places his hand over the ledge of the kitchen counter, looking around with curious eyes. He pauses at the rice cooker, a slightly confused look on his face before he scans the device with his own screen and downloads information regarding it. He pauses to sit on the dining table, across the other chair that Jimin finds himself sitting down on.

For a moment, their eyes meet and it takes everything to not reach out and hold his hand.

Yoongi stares out of the window for a while- it’s fake, Jimin can tell, but the screen does a good job of mimicking some sort of urban cityscape.

They sit there, staring out into an Earth that once was before leaving the kitchen. Yoongi enters the second room. He immediately stops at the planet mobile hanging from the ceiling. He smiles, lightly touching the planets to make them spin. He looks around, carefully touching the wooden cabinets, the table with the curious succulent plant on it. There’s a small yellow flower budding at the top and Yoongi carefully touches it.

[-eatly adored by the young generation of the time for their sustainability and low-effort routine-]

He sits on the couch, feeling at the fabric that Jimin knows all too well. He knows how it’s not the best fit for two people to cuddle on but it’s not like either of them were particularly large Beings. Inexplicably, Yoongi lays down on the couch, pillowing the mass of yellow blanket on the arm of the couch.

For a moment, Yoongi closes his eyes. Jimin closes his eyes with him. when he opens his eyes, it’s darker in the room and Yoongi is not there. Panic flaring in him, Jimin berates himself for losing focus, rushing out into the warmly lit hallway. The bedroom is lit brightly and Jimin all but bursts in.

Yoongi jumps at the door suddenly pushing wide open. He was opening the closet of the bedroom, eyes wide in surprise.

He taps at his Comm Device on his ear, leaning a little in hopes of being able to see out of the doorway Jimin had opened.

‘Is someone there?’ he calls out, small frown appearing between his brows. ‘Hello?’

The windows flicker, blurring and the shapes moving and changing in psychedelic colours before snapping back to normal. He was in here too long- Tsirin was in here too long, digging harshly through memories she was not allowed in. Memories Jimin wasn’t allowed in.

She had to be here.

Jimin follows Yoongi to the attached bathroom. Yoongi looks around before stopping at the sink to look at his face. He sighs out a funny grunt before he tugs at his sleeve, turning it inside out, and using the inner lining to dab at his face. Jimin makes to stand behind him but as he does, he falls backwards into the bathtub, causing a horrible low thudding echo to sound around the bathroom.

Yoongi jumps, staring around at the bathtub before he decides he’s clearly been in here for too long. Jimin stands quickly as possible. He stares at his reflection- his skin crawling as he realizes he’s not himself- he wasn’t here- this was all Tsirin this was-

‘Don’t tell me you don’t know?’ Tsirin grins, wide and unnatural in the reflection. ‘You are the bridge. You’re connecting us all. You’re just helping me go to all these places you’ve brought here.’

‘We are found.’

‘Can you see it now?’

Jimin pushes forward through the mirror, falling heavily but there are arms holding him up as Tsirin looms over him. He tries to move but somehow he’s suspended in the air- tied up but he’s not sure how. He stares around himself- confused and unsure how he ended up in this position in this situation.

‘You were right to push him away from this place,’ Tsirin’s voice echoes around the alley that Jimin knows smells like cat piss (though he has no idea what that was) and air conditioning coolant. He nearly trips over his feet as he falls into the pavement of the back alley. ‘His mind was already falling apart- just barely holding together. How easily I could have broken him.’

Yoongi walks around the corner, older than his previous memory, he’s carrying bags of produce. He’s laughing.

Then, appearing behind him is-

‘-this is not a shortcut!’ Chaewon complains, also carrying a bag of produce. ‘This is just you trying to be aesthetic.’

Yoongi snorts.

‘We save 10 whole minutes taking this route.’ Yoongi tells his younger sister.

’10 minutes where I’m not trying to avoid suspicious puddles,’ Chaewon frowns, leaping over a puddle.

‘Eh, don’t be so picky.’

‘Excuse me Mr. I’ve-Been-To-Space-So-Nothing-Is-As-Bad-As-What-I’ve-Experienced, but some of us are not seasoned travelers and do not enjoy walking down sketchy alleys.’

Yoongi turns back around to grin at his sister.

‘Or are you trying to spend less time with me? Hm? Mr. Grown Up?’ Chaewon sticks her tongue out at her older brother, ‘You .’

‘If I why would I bring you here?’ Yoongi says dramatically, pausing in front of a barred up window.

Chaewon gives Yoongi a look of exasperation. Yoongi does a double take, blankly staring at the window before clearing his throat, taking a few steps back and with another bright grin and funny dance gestures to the window.

‘You’re so embarrassing,’ Chaewon mumbles, ears turning red though she still follows after her brother to the next window.

Her eyes widen at once.

This side of the alley was clearly just a jutting wall/face to cover the excess of piping coming out from the back of the buildings. This window gave them a clear view of the massive floating city, the Settlement Arc, from a high point.

Chaewon lets out a quiet gasp, standing on tiptoe to stare down at her home.

‘Worth it?’ Yoongi asks smugly.

Chaewon shoves her palm all over her brothers face, causing him to splutter and complain, hopping backwards in a comic manner. It was evident he only behaved like this around his younger sister.

‘Hey! You wiped your germy hands all over my face!’ he cries out in feigned disdain. Chaewon just grins brightly before turning to stare out of the window again. Then she suddenly turns to look at Jimin.

‘You’re not supposed to be here.’

Jimin falls backwards, landing on the wall with a thud.

‘People come here all the time,’ Yoongi waves a hand flippantly.

‘You mean you come here to smoke?’ Chaewon looks away to a spot close to Jimin’s head, ‘Aren’t you supposed to set a good example or something.’

Yoongi crosses his arms at his younger sister.

‘I think-‘

‘-we were like this once, weren’t we?’

Tsirin appears behind Yoongi, hand on his shoulder as he animatedly argues with Chaewon. It’s wrong. Tsirin shouldn’t be touching Yoongi like that- shouldn’t be anywhere near him-

‘-where did it all go wrong? I did so much for you.’

‘I’ve had enough of this,’ Jimin grits through his teeth.

‘Jimin how many times do I have to say to not mumble,’ Tsirin drags her fingers through Yoongi’s hair and Jimin snaps.

He brings his hands together in a loud clap- just breathing out a Word, whatever was wrapped around him snap and break apart, breaking from his skin in small sparks of soft golden light, a faint humming echoing around him, voices lost as whatever held him down breaks and fades away into the void. He meets Tsirin head on, palm wrapping over as they crash through several trees before hitting a large rock face. The mountain above them rumbles, sways alarmingly, letting down a rain of dust.

Tsirin barely flinches, eyes painful to look at but Jimin doesn’t look away.

‘Stop,’ he whispers, barely audible, the light around them glowing, the shimmer of it spreading through the corrupted eclipses in Tsirin’s eyes. ‘Stop.’

The veins around Tsirin’s temples darken, a strange depression forming in the center of her forehead. The air around them hardens, a horrible fluid yet contained pulse of movement contract around her. Unsure how, Jimin finds himself being knocked back, a hard force breaking upon his chest, causing him to cough violently.

‘How dare you!’ she screams at him, dust falling about. The veins around her eyes go back to normal but the strange depression around her forehead remains. It’s clearer now that Jimin steps back. The contraction around her. There’s a strange and sickening rhythm to it. Everything ripples around her, seeping into her, as though veins existed in the air, feeding a cruel and stretched out life into her heart.

‘How could you-?!’ she seethes at him, voice sonorous and piercing, the veins in the air pulsing and pumping.  

Jimin doesn’t know how to even respond to Tsirin’s hypocritical indignation.

‘I did not live through all of that for you to CONTROL ME!’ she screams, the area around her imploding before it expands out, pushing against Jimin’s skin like a thin blade just skimming dangerously over it. ‘Do you even know what I’ve done for you?!’   

The whole place ripples, and for a moment Jimin spies Megibīya, the rosy sunrise light almost too stark and saturated in this strange dim dullness. In her anger, the world falls apart even more, high above in the rippling sky Jimin spies strange glowing lights gathering in deceptively slow streaking motions, curves of a light he has never seen before.

‘I was going to show you,’ Tsirin hisses at him, wiping roughly at her face, eyes bulging, ‘I was going to show you how beautiful it would all be, how beautiful it is! Your creation!’

What? What was she talking about?

Then everything snaps back- darker, heavier, emptier. Jimin feels strangely drained- the air around Tsirin pulsing in a stronger manner, the strange veins around her contracting faster.

‘I will make you see it!’ she hisses, ‘I will make you see what you’ve done!’

But Jimin was not here to simply take whatever delusion Tsirin was throwing at him. He hopes Yoongi has found the others, has told them they need to leave; because Jimin knows he won’t be able to.

Floating up into the air, the power of his Commanding Word create a crater around them, hollowing the mountain behind Tsirin before it crumbles down upon her. But Tsirin doesn’t even flinch- screaming her own Word. There’s a horrible spike of light that ignites through her voice. A screaming dying light, pulling through all of Time and Mass to hold true to a promise broken and abused, but still attempting to answer its call. A strange light that the veins around her seem to be feeding Tsirin directly.

It doesn’t make sense because there was no light in here- there was only dust and darkness and emptiness. Jimin can taste the bitterness of it, can smell the smoke from the remains-

Something was incredibly horribly wrong and he needed to stop it.

‘You need to stop-!’ he roars at her as the mountain falls in a symphony of thunder. She screams another Word at him, and this time the light is worse- piercing at him, straining at him, pulling from within him-

‘Look!’ she screams, pointing up at the glitching sky. ‘See how we will all be reborn, from the horrid remains of this existence- this- this Continuum.’ She spits out the word, ‘I will break it-‘

And this time, Jimin hears the light.

It’s a familiar song- a familiar tune. Too familiar too close too real-

Tsirin moves, too fast, too graceful, hand sinking through his chest, closing in around his heart and-

Jimin doesn’t even pause to think, to try and defend himself because his hands clasp around Tsirin’s head, thumbs pressing down on the center of her forehead.

He would be gentle, he would be careful- but he also knows just how strong Yoongi’s heart was. How strong it beat within him, how true, and how beautiful.

Tsirin’s eyes widen in surprise.

‘You wanted to show me?’

‘No-!’ she hisses, moving back but Jimin’s hold on her is too strong. He ignores the horrible sensation building in him, spreading out and concentrating where Tsirin still touches him, ignores the straight pulsing motion around them that seems to thrive upon contact. He had to stop her.

‘Then show me.’

He touches their foreheads together and the eclipse in her eyes vanish.

‘Jimin-!’

And together they sink.

‘This is really complicated,’ Taeh’yung frowns down at the wires jumbled about them.

‘Then it’s a good thing I’m doing this and not you,’ Jimin teases.

Taeh’yung drops the wires and goes back to juggling the cell in his hands. He gives Jimin a short but sheepish look, one that Jimin understands instantly as guilt.

‘You don’t have to feel guilty,’ Jimin tells him at once. ‘I understand why you’re doing this- and I will do all I can as well.’

‘You’re scared,’ Taeh’yung observes, spinning the cell on his finger tip.

‘I am,’ Jimin nods as he kneels down next to a large core, popping open the covering lid. ‘What else has been stolen from my home that has destroyed so many others? What has been exploited and robbed, to serve the selfish and the wicked and feed their agenda? What did I miss? What did I see but did not understand?’

‘You do not have control over that,’ Taeh’yung shrugs. ‘It’s not something you can orchestrate- no one has that ability.’

‘No- but I carry that responsibility,’ Jimin replies, carefully studying the circuit board in front of him. ‘It is who I am.’

‘Hmm,’ Taeh’yung hums thoughtfully. ‘I doubt that.’

A little irked, Jimin looks away from the circuit board at the Zhak’gri.

‘But it is- I am the fate of my people, I was born to guide and lead them in peace and unity. To make them safe, to keep them safe.’ Jimin explains. ‘It is who I am.’

‘I knew someone,’ Taeh’yung stops spinning the cell. ‘Who felt the same way. That he was born simply to do one thing, to be one thing.’

‘Who was he? What did he do?’ Jimin asks.

Taeh’yung carefully places the cell on the floor.

‘Everyone believes that they are born for one specific reason- that they are born to do one thing, that there is a cosmic reasoning of their existence; that their importance and identity comes from simply one thing and they are lost without it.’ Taeh’yung says instead. ‘That thought shapes their lives, it recreates them continuously- they are slaves to that notion. The way you are to your title, the way he was to his duty.’

‘But it is purpose that gives meaning to our actions- otherwise we are simply nothing in the vastness of the Universe,’ Jimin argues.

‘Then would you say that all purpose is right?’ Taeh’yung shoots back. ‘It was the purpose of the Red Evil that destroyed Menigišiti, their identity and calling that made them do what they did. Would you say that their purpose is correct?’

‘…no.’

‘But it is who they are.’ Taeh’yung smiles. ‘You cannot control what can happen, you cannot carry that responsibility, because you are not them- you can only carry your own responsibility, control only what you do.’

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl.

She had a younger brother.

She had a mother.

She had a father.

When she was born. She was born different.

On her forehead, a singular ring of light, shining with the light of an ancient promise set in the powerful star that lead them through a beautiful cosmic dance of balance, precision, and harmony.

She came to love this light- she was born with it, and it was hers. Her parents told her of the greatness that came with this light, but also the responsibilities and burdens. But they told her she would never be alone.

She would have them.

And she was blessed and beloved and cherished.

And then her brother was born.

She was beyond happy. Not only did her family grow, but her brother opened his eyes and she knew would truly never be alone.

His eyes reflected the promise glowing on her forehead. When they looked at each other, a complete pair, born with the blessed promise of their star.

They were happy. They were so so happy.

Everything was beautiful. Even the boring classes, the old lectures, listening to the elders speak while trying her best to stay awake. All of it was beautiful.

Because she would go home to be welcomed by her father’s cheerful smile and mother’s warm hug.

And when her little brother was old enough, holding hands, they went together to places beyond their sky- beyond the rings that circled their planet. They were always together.

And then suddenly they weren’t.

The Heart was different from Fate, she was told. She tries to comfort her baby brother, eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. But they’re both crying. Whose hand would she hold now, who would look her in the eye now?

Because no one really looked at her. No one looked her in the eye.

Their focus is set on the ring of light- the promise she represented as her duty, her destiny, her fate set in the star they orbited.

But each time they came home, it was back to normal. Back to being beautiful.

Until one day nothing she did could make it beautiful anymore.

She never quite understood loss.

In all her life, she never really lost anything.

She gained.

She gained love. She gained a brother. She gained knowledge. She gained information.

She never lost anything.

How could she understood, what was happening, when she never lost anything in her life.

She doesn’t understand what to do. They were always supposed to be together.

‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,’ she sobs in the middle of a tour of the archives in Akramana.

Her advisors, now the closest things to parents she could have, are sympathetic towards the young orphan.

‘I just want them back,’ she cries, curled up on the floor.

‘You’re not alone,’ they tell her. ‘Your brother is with you. You have to be strong for him, he’s younger than you. You have to be strong for all of Menigišiti.’

‘He’s stronger than me,’ she cries. ‘He- I don’t think he’s even cried for them. He didn’t shed a single tear-!’

Arms embrace her.

‘He doesn’t want to talk about it. He doesn’t want to talk about them. Doesn’t want to listen to me-!’ she hiccups.

‘You are the Heart, it is different for you.’

‘He is the Fate- he understands death and life differently.’

‘You are different.’

And just like that, she is told that she is alone.

To be the Heart, was to be alone- beating for everyone, but ignored and replaced by Fate that seemed to understand more, to be so much better, even in grief, even in sorrow.

Because when she seeks others, to speak of her sorrows, the topic changes, she is ignored- there is hesitance in their manner of speaking. She doesn’t understand why this was happening.

She just wanted to speak to someone, anyone, about her thoughts, her feelings.

But now it was as though each day brought to her something that she would lose.

Her brother seemed to live life with no further issue, their parents gone and not a single tear was shed from him. He grew, he learnt, he laughed, he was loved.

But for her.

No warmth remained for her. She flinched upon the care she received, sneering pity. She too grew, but only in apprehension, she also learnt, her fluency in paranoia, she laughed, but only to hide her anger, she was loved, but only for the promise that was carved into her skin.

In an attempt to preoccupy her, her advisors and selected ambassadors of each planet band together in hopes of bringing her out of this “phase”, they bring in complicated matters much too large, too heavy, too strange for the young Heart to process.

But she’s told that she could do it- no one else could, certainly not the Fate who clearly only enjoyed the brightness of their responsibilities and power, shunning hard and difficult work.

Of course, it made sense, they had always babied him, always made sure he wouldn’t get difficult chores even at home. In the end, maybe it was their fault for the way he was. He was taught to prioritize himself above all, but she wasn’t taught that, she was taught that in order to be a good Heart, in order to be the best big sister, she needed to put everyone else before her.

That’s what she was taught, wasn’t it? Yes. That was what she was taught, even from a young age.

And it works.

She is taught strange secrets, she is told her loss was premeditated, she is told that her brother is being groomed to follow in outdated and oppressive rules that trap them in this toil- because she is told a a horrible horrible secret:

They were trapped here in Menigišiti.

She is told frightening tales of Yino, her fear, her cowardice, the cruel of her promise. She takes it all in. She listens to everyone, hears their stories, their beliefs- she gains a distrust of certain Beings, she establishes an environment that shuns them, puts them away-

And then, she is told of an old old meeting.

She is told of the strange S’wezete who came to them beyond the gateway, asking for their help.

Could she now, after so many years of losing, finally maybe instead give?

She asks for more information and she delves further into the maw that later consumes her whole. To her, anything beyond the gateway was an existence that did not dictate how she would live, how she should feel- it was an existence where she was more than just the Heart.

She was simply herself- no one more, no one less.

And so she smiled.

She smiled, and she saw everyone in a different light. She saw and understood their minds- or so she thought, and for all to see, it was as though she had finally made peace with all of the loss in her life. And maybe she did- at that moment, that’s probably what she did feel. Because beyond the gateways, beyond the barriers of water and light and dark, was somewhere she could simply be.

There was also, as in every child’s story, a great treasure to be had.

Because deep in her heart, in the end, she was a child lost and afraid, untethered from the soothing warmth that once held her being in place.

In the end she was still in her heart of hearts, a child misguided and misused and estranged.

She is told that the S’wezete explained that he could end death.

Wouldn’t that be lovely?

It would. It would be lovely. It would be warm, and she would no longer be alone again.

Death was a part of a cycle- a continuum according to the S’wezete. If there was life, death would follow. It is a cycle that repeats itself over and over again. But what if that cycle was broken?

What if their fate was broken?

Their fate that tied them to this cycle?

She asks more, and soon, her questions are answered from the dark deep hidden whispers that crawled through Menigišiti. Unspoken quiet murmurs that kept to themselves.

They would need to be hidden, they tell her. But she doesn’t understand why. Who would not want to break this cycle? To break from this endless fate- a curse.

Not all would see it this way, they tell her. They needed to be careful. But now, with the Heart opening her eyes to see the truth, maybe they could finally step forward out of this curse forever.

She wants it so much. She wants to break this cycle so much.   

She just kept losing and losing and losing- her heart is nothing but a hollow shell- engorged but empty, taking in flattery and poison eagerly because she no longer had anything to lose anymore.

She sets up for an accidental meeting- the protective walls around their System momentarily flickering, allowing her to extend an invitation if there was anyone who would partake.

She doesn’t have to wait long.

He arrives- and this was no S’wezete. This was a Being who understood life and death and understood that it was not something they should simply accept. They meet several times. She listens to his words, drinking it all in. And she feels warm again. She feels warmth as she finally expresses her fears, the loss of her parents, the ache within her. And he listens to her, quietly tells her that her he too feels the same. And that she should carry no shame or doubt about how she felt.

For the first time in so long, she feels comforted by an equal.

Together, joining hands, they create a way to break Menigišiti out of this cycle. And of course, she was no naïve child- she knew she would need to give, in order to receive.

What better way to break this cycle than to remove the symbol of the cruel fate that tied them down for so long?

She’s asked what they should do with those who will not follow.

She tells them that those who chose death would very well receive it- an honour and a privilege as her parents were not able to choose their own deaths- and those before them. She is applauded.

Of course she is. To bring change is to be harsh, unforgiving. You could not spoon feed every single Being to understand, to let them open their eyes. Some refused- and they would remain- that was their choice.

That was their gift.

She needed to send Fate away- to a place unknown and unseen and yet within the limitations of this Promise. There, the S’wezete would take him, put him to use, make him understand what needed to be done.

But again, she is mistaken. Excited, she waits for the good news as all the planets in her System are overturned within an hour- she cannot open clear channels with the S’wezete but it’s fine. She knew he would get things done- after all, he would have as much to lose as her if it didn’t. His System was suffering too- a short and cruel cycle that tore through them like frost over weeds.

But clearly something is wrong. Something no one is anticipating.

Fate is lost, and with the promise broken Menigišiti falls apart far more quickly than they could anticipate.

And a horrible pain erupts through her heart, as Fate is torn out. For a moment she thinks she is successful. She believes she has freed herself. But she is deluded.

She collapses, alone, isolated, undiscovered until much later as though forgotten in light of the missing Fate.

She cannot move.

She cannot speak.

She doesn’t know how long she stays there- paralyzed, barely awake, barely breathing, just pain scouring her from within.

When they find her they believe she is dead.

If she could she would scream.

She was not dead. Bring the S’wezete and he could cure her.

They do bring the S’wezete. He holds her hand.

And then he lets go.

‘She is not enough.’

She is sealed away, used and tested.

She knows he can sense her. He speaks to her, but it’s not one of comfort. He speaks to her as though she were some pet, dumb, un-answering, simply there to be looked at.

But he tells the others, the advisors and ambassadors, that he spoke her words. They know it’s a lie.

She was not enough.

But they choose to believe him. And they follow his actions masked as hers, they follow his instructions masked as hers. It’s all a blatant and obvious lie but no one cares.

Would it be enough to know that they did break their Fate?

No. It also didn’t help that they did not break their Fate.

In fact, it was almost as though nothing consequential happened.

She is lied to.

And there’s nothing she can do about it.

But just because she was asleep, didn’t mean she couldn’t walk in her dreams. And walk she did. Into the minds of many, turning them soft, weak- she walks into Ndica’s mind, planting thoughts and ideas, slowly turning his heart around, making him careless, making him- weak.

She still cannot wake- but she was more than aware of everything now.

She starts to facilitate plans- she even allows some of the eggs to escape- plant the seed, reap the rewards.

But one day.

Oh, Jimin, one day.

She feels something change. She finds herself awakening.

For a moment she’s unsure- was this some cruel dream. Was this some cruel trick played upon her by that fool Ndica?

No. No it wasn’t.

Because she’s spent so much time thinking and contemplating- she came to understand more than Ndica. She came to understand what he wanted to do, what the Yisheng had always wanted to do from the moment he created the First Children and cursed this cycle.

It could not happen.

It could never happen.

No matter how much he tried, what he did- it would not work. So instead she came up with her own plan.

When she awoke, she found her advisors- some old, some new- and she smiled upon them, finally free.

‘I will free us.’

She promises them.

She knew everything Ndica had done. Down to his attempts at hatching the eggs deep within planetary cores, to his futile and cruel attempts at merging his own people at a cellular level. And she knew all of their thoughts- they were connected to her- the Mother- the Heart- the Lie.

Oh I knew it all.

She would take them back to Menigišiti.

‘What we need to do,’ she would say, ‘Is simply return to our Mother.’

They are confused, but she has Mercy on them and they listen and obey. It’s okay, Jimin, their minds were already frail and weak, ridden with guilt and hatred. I didn’t have to do much.

And she knew that Fate was still there. And that simply killing Fate would not bring her plan to fruition. In fact, she needed him alive to complete the plan. Because you see Jimin, they’re all connected to you. And with Yino, more than anything, the balance is so important. Two halves, always, in balance- and I just need to upset the scale.

Everything was ready for me. Megibīya was ready- I knew you would come back, and I knew that you would discover the final Sanctuary for me. Because Yino rejected me- she discarded her heart. Can you believe that? But she waited for Fate, because at the end, she too is tied to Fate. How cruel. How ironic.

And all I did was bring back every single egg- I borrowed a little from Ndica; hatching them deep within. It’s like they can sense it, don’t you agree?

It’s amazing. 

Megibīya was seemingly simply set out for me to use as I wished- finally a purpose for this useless rock. How perfect, were those charges? I was genuinely surprised that you did not head for the facilitator at once. But then again, I do believe that because you assumed that planetary safety protocol would have caused self-destruction it no longer existed. But might I remind you Prat’tna and Yyna were firmly by my side till the very end. Till of their ends, actually.

And there, I just waited for you to come as I painted this planet in a way that would most upset you. Recreated it, changed it, presented it to you as a welcome home present. If there’s something Axudar could do- it was to really cement their virtual engineering- that, and combined with what Akramana had to offer.

Everything was finally just moving along for me.

For her, I mean. This villain.

And so the little girl, used and abused and drained finally rose up.

She broke her bonds, she broke the fatal promise- a curse, more than anything else, and she finally set herself free. She would write her own fate-,’ Tsirin smiles, ‘-she would write her own fate. She had the power to do so. She always did, but she just never really understood it. And they lived, happily ever after. The end.’

It’s sickeningly clear, the pulsing in the air, rhythmic and the veins around Tsirin as she bows gracefully shrink before it suddenly erupts, spreading all over and they’re back in Megibīya.

They’re back and all of the darkness, the void is gone, Jimin breathes in the sun-warmed air, the smell of dust, the sound of the planet moving, the sound of Yino’s promise echoing in abundance, not dead or stretched or pulled-

Beneath it all, in pulses, Jimin hears it.

‘And now you know,’ Tsirin pants, laughing without any humor, her eyes bloodshot now, the eclipses in her eyes jagged and breaking. ‘You know it all now.’

Jimin stares down at himself, stares down all around himself. His sister is still talking, but he doesn’t hear her. This time was falling apart- no, this wasn’t anywhere in Time. Tsirin brought him to a place beyond Time.

‘They’re all tied to me.’

Tsirin raises one eyebrow before she laughs.

‘Oh, so now you finally see it,’ Tsirin smiles, gently pulling away from Jimin and erupting from all around her, a void larger and more horrible pushes out and they’re back in a place where Time did not exist.

‘Do you see it now?’

‘Destroying Axudar, Destroying Menigišiti- it wouldn’t take much,’ Tsirin tells him conversationally, the depression on her forehead smoothing over. ‘I wouldn’t have to do much, actually. Axudar was already dying when Ndica first came to us. Menigišiti would have collapsed in itself eventually. By the way, good job in getting rid of the remains of the freaks still lingering here. I don’t like these Yishengs, but those? Even worse- lacking control and discipline.’

The veins are back and they’re clearer now that Jimin can hear it. He follows their pathway, every twist and turn flickering and pulsing, feeding into Tsirin in this Timeless Space. He can hear them.

‘You can feel them right? You should be able to.’

Tsirin’s smile is strangely normal. A hint of pity in her expression.

‘You were so angry at me,’ Tsirin sighs, ‘When I said Megibīya should be detached from Menigišiti. So here is my apology, little brother, along with so many others, I will return her back to Yino. Just for you.’

Jimin stares down at his feet, at the hundreds thousands of veins connected to him.

He was the light.

He was the promised Fate, returning all those who were lost straight back to Yino.

Jimin had been right. The New Borns were essentially useless to Ndica- they didn’t need to create them to supply the Alliance or any other similar sickening organization when there were so many ravaged and lost planets strewn out in the Universe for the taking. But he had stopped making them after he realized what he was trying to do would be pointless without Jimin- he could not create a new fate beyond this Continuum unless he had Jimin. But the Red Evil had already taken him.

And Tsirin- she couldn’t connect them all. Her promise was elsewhere.

Ndica died not knowing he was being controlled and manipulated towards the end, working to empower his prisoner so she could undo and recreate his making. All so that she could just-

‘They’re all connected to you. Fate is truly,’ she pauses before him, veins constricting even more, ‘so powerful.’

He hears their voices, sleeping Memories, not yet born, yet so alive and so full of the Universe.

He hears their song, connected to his own, tied to him in a cruel selfish move.

He sees them now, Asleep deep within the planet, their hearts feeding through to him, and now.

‘But it’s over now.’ Tsirin tells him simply. ‘I found you.’

‘Do you know what it means?’ he asks.

‘What does what mean?’ Jimin asks in turn.

‘The nickname he gave you. Do you know what it means?’ Taeh’yung looks away from the sky and back at Jimin.

Taeh’yung had an interesting face- continuously changing though not in the same way as Hoseok’s did. Taeh’yung’s features shifted subtly, giving way to 4 distinctly different faces. Jimin can sometimes hear their voices when Taeh’yung spoke. It was very soft, and only audible if Jimin concentrated hard enough. And it was comforting.

Jimin has never met anyone like Taeh’yung before, and he doubts he ever will. Even the Yishengs he had met so long ago were nothing like the way Taeh’yung just existed.

He seemed to encompass Time, Memory, and Life- yet not possess any of it within him simultaneously- as though the raw power of those forces held no control over him.

‘No? Does it mean something funny?’ Jimin laughs, remembering the way Yoongi used to call the members of his team in altering names frequently. Sometimes the responses were to throw whatever was close at hand at the Human, amused scowls following quickly.

Taeh’yung laughs, a throaty laugh that Jimin associates with the oldest face that sometimes appears on Taeh’yung’s features. There’s a fond look on Taeh’yung’s face as he glances at the Human and then back at Jimin.

‘No- it means sunshine.’

‘And now, I think it’s time I return the favour,’ Tsirin smiles. Jimin shakes from the pure hatred and anger Tsirin felt towards him, piercing through her crazed but clear eyes. ‘But you know what? I’m not interested in you. I don’t care what you supposedly suffered. It doesn’t mean anything to me, you ungrateful brat. No, it’s not you I’m interested in.’

Realization dawns on him but it’s too late.

‘Tsirin-!’ Jimin screams, struggling against her hold but it’s futile. She was draining him, draining all of him and everyone else attached to his Fate, out into this void leaking and pouring straight out into the Sanctuary he recovered and restored. The last missing piece to complete Tsirin’s plans.

‘I want to know a bit more of the Beings you have attached yourself to.’ Tsirin tilts her head and beams at him, ‘Your new family! Let’s see how they’re doing. What they’re up to, shall we?’

Jimin screams as the night around them shakes and warps, snapping horribly into the shape of a narrow and long tunnel, all lined up with countless OrTanks.

‘NO-!’ Jimin struggles but there’s nothing he can do. Tsirin is barely touching him, the weight of her presence over him, of this horrible pulsing connection between the two of them, wrapping around him, rendering him immobile.

‘This is your first time seeing this right?’ Tsirin asks him brightly. ‘You were just above them, so many times, and you didn’t hear them. I did a good job didn’t I?’

She giggles breathlessly.

‘It was so funny watching all of you just look and look,’ Tsirin cackles. ‘But I couldn’t do anything yet, had to wait for the others to appear. Menigišiti has done pretty well, don’t you think? That S’wezete. Hasn’t it been a really long time since we had one?’ Tsirin pauses to think, ‘Actually, who cares?’

Jimin’s feet drag over the OrTanks- they’re all asleep- deep in Sleep. Jimin wants to scream over and over until he could overwhelm and erase what Tsirin has done- what they’ve done.

‘Oh! He’s not alone! A familiar face,’ Tsirin points as something in the darkness moves a little. ‘Nineti!’

‘Leave him alone!’ Jimin hisses.

Tsirin laughs.

‘He can’t see us, feel us- we’re just watching.’ Tsirin says as though placating him. ‘Let’s see what he thinks of all of this.’

Nineti’s expression doesn’t change as he pauses before one of the OrTanks. He simply stares at them as they all turn in their Sleep to behold him in their Dreams, sharing their hearts together.

‘They’re a bit boring aren’t they? The Regurgitated? Is that what you called them?’ Tsirin inquires, ‘I mean like this they’re boring sure, but later- oh that’s when it’s interesting.’

She then turns to address Jimin curiously, ‘Tell me, when you tell your Human that you love him, are you only including the, you know, real him, or like, the fake him.’

Anger flares all over Jimin, actually managing to move out of the weight, taking a few steps towards Tsirin, hands raised. Tsirin just smiles.

‘Do you want to strangle me?’ she laughs as they follow after Nineti. ‘You want to see my eyes pop, my skin turn purple, hear and feel my throat collapse?’

Nineti kneels before Hoseok’s unconscious body. He starts to set about applying first aid on the unconscious Ngfy’widan. He seems to have injured his arm. Just as Nineti ties up a makeshift tourniquet around his arm, Hoseok stirs before startling awake.

‘Ah, he’s alive!’ Tsirin sounds disappointed. ‘He has a strong mind this one- I think you’d find it hard to have him listen to your Words if you tried. You haven’t tried? At all? I’m disappointed. Remember when you persuaded anu to let us stay up late?’

Jimin’s hands twist and turn against his will, hands clasping around his own throat. He chokes out, spit leaking out the side of his mouth.

‘If you don’t tell Sk’jin, I won’t,’ Hoseok says in a low urgent comic whisper.

Jimin giggles as they hurriedly clean up the mess in the kitchen.

‘I think he’ll know,’ Jimin says as Hoseok expertly cleans up the spilled sauce Sk’jin took 21 hours to cook.

‘Oh Jiminie, I think we can both be very good liars if we wanted to be,’ Hoseok winks. Jimin gives him a look of mock indignation before he stifles his laughter. When Sk’jin comes out of his Cabin, fresh out of a long bath, hair still wet, he’s humming under his breath as he opens the pantry door. Jimin shares a look with Hoseok in the Bridge as they watch, half holding their breaths. Yoongi had given them both very confused looks but the Human doesn’t question their odd behavior. Namjoon is too engrossed in his NaviLet to notice, head tilted at an unflattering angle that does nothing to help Jimin get his act together.

Sk’jin’s yell echoes from the Kitchen up in the Bridge even without the help of the audio feed from the surveillance.

Yoongi’s gaze turns curious as he glances over at Hoseok at the cockpit and then back to Jimin as he inputs more information regarding Megibīya into the Table. Namjoon doesn’t even blink at the sound.

Sk’jin storms up to the Bridge, closely followed by a wide-eyed and confused Jungkook.

‘Which one of you did this?’ he demands.

Namjoon only looks up then, eyes slightly glazed as he returns his attention to his immediate surrounding.

‘Do what?’ Hoseok inquires, his tone and expression so incredibly convincing, with the right amount of curiosity, confusion, and boredom.

Sk’jin seems to immediately cross Hoseok off of his list.

‘Someone has clearly had some fun in the Kitchen and my sauce is gone!’ Sk’jin seethes.

Namjoon immediately holds his hands up, shrugging as he clearly and silently refers to his lack of need for food. Sk’jin narrows his eyes at him for a moment before looking over to Yoongi who blinks a bit before asking, ‘You made sauce?’

Sk’jin all but throws his hands up in exasperation before turning to Jimin.

‘I’m so sorry to hear that,’ he says at once, ‘Is it the one you were making yesterday?’

Sk’jin is clearly about to explode, very confused by all of the seemingly truthful and genuine reactions he’s getting from everyone when Taeh’yung skids in, somehow covered in the sauce he and Hoseok spilled.

‘Jinnie I spilled-…ah.’ He says somewhat lamely.

Sk’jin screeches and launches himself at the Zhak’gri.

Later, after much scolding and Sk’jin is safely downstairs, followed by Jungkook, Taeh’yung turns around and whispers loudly, ‘You both owe me now.’

The look of terror in Hoseok’s eyes are genuine.

‘I want to see something in this one.’ Tsirin nods as the Užkulisai blinks out, replaced by another massive interior of a ship Jimin has only seen in Database. He tries to shake his head. They couldn’t be here. They can’t. They shouldn’t.

There’s a committee gathered at the center.

The weight of pain engulfs him in a horrible searing heat.

‘Oh so this is how he died. No wonder Lmiura has been unhinged. It must have taken her so much to not have him killed on the spot,’ Tsirin remarks, pointing towards a Being who was chatting to someone else.

They’re not expecting it. Clearly. When Hoseok walks in.

‘But grief- I guess you could say some aren’t suited for it.’

He looks so much younger here.

Jimin knows it hasn’t been more than 5 sols. But he looks so much younger here- his eyes brighter and flared, in his hands he has a pair of TeorSers and before anyone can react, Hoseok starts firing.

‘Ah, we’re too far ahead in the memory,’ Tsirin remarks, the memory rewinding as they follow Hoseok backwards.

‘He is an Infiltration agent after all,’ Tsirin almost sounds impressed, ‘Imagine shutting down a ship this large on your own! That too, right after killing your own father.’

‘-what are you saying?’ Hoseok pulls his hand away from his father’s clasp over the table. There are bottles of ionized water, half empty, with half eaten plates of food to the side. There’s a projection over the table from a screen, showcasing a familiar OrTank design.

Watching Hoseok with his father is inherently wrong. This was too private. Too personal. Too much pain.

‘-how could-…how could you believe in this?!’

They have the same face shape. The same nose.

‘I know it sounds strange. And it sounds ridiculous but if you think about it-‘

‘-I have,’ Hoseok gapes at his father.

‘You haven’t really thought about it-‘ his father argues.

‘That’s because I don’t have to,’ Hoseok takes a step back away from the table. ‘Does mum know?’

His father shakes his head.

‘Why would you tell me-!’ Hoseok pulls at his hair, his breaths escaping him harshly.

‘Hoba, you’re clearly in shock. You should take some time and think about it.’ His father says calmly, ‘Here, look through this and-.’

Hoseok pushes his father aside, quickly making his way out of the room.

But his father pulls him back, attempting to restrain him but Hoseok is fast. The look of betrayal in both of their eyes mirrors each other’s.

‘Where are you going?’ his father frowns.

‘I don’t know what type of Being you think you raised- but-…’ Hoseok grits his teeth, ‘You are wrong.’

‘If you think reporting me will work it won’t.’ his father says quietly.

Hoseok stares long and hard at his father. And without saying a word he turns around.

Jimin watches in curdling horror as his father holds up a TeorSer, the faint humming of activation making Hoseok pause in his steps.

‘You need to give me an answer now.’ His father tells him. ‘And from there, depending on what you say, we will move forward.’

Hoseok only turns his head back a little, looking back at his father.

‘You know my answer. Are you going to kill me?’ Hoseok whispers.

‘Do not make me do this.’

Hoseok turns completely, his expression a myriad of emotions.

‘Who are you?’ he asks quietly, voice stable though his eyes were starting to water. ‘Who are you?’

‘Wow,’ Tsirin whispers, ‘This is horrible!’

‘I follow something, so much more, than anything we could ever comprehend.’ His father tells him.

The conviction in his eyes breaks Jimin’s heart.

‘But I don’t want it.’ Tears spill over silently.

‘Then you’ve made your decision.’

‘Don’t-!’

Jimin can’t do anything but stare in horror as Hoseok’s father fires the TeorSer. Hoseok barely dodges it.

‘No no-!’ Jimin shuts his eyes. He can’t watch. He can’t, he can’t-

He’s yanked up and his eyes open against his will just as Hoseok and his father fall, the whole room a massive mess, evident signs of struggle and Hoseok is sporting bloody wounds too.

But Jimin can’t really observe much else other than a blade buried all the way down into his father’s chest.

‘Y-you can’t- can’t stop it,’ his father whispers, spitting out blood as it refills his throat.

‘No- no, dad-!’ Hoseok shakes and shakes, his hand covered in blood as he tries to staunch the bleeding from his father’s chest but he knows there’s no point.    

‘You can’t stop it,’ his father whispers, smiling faintly, ‘I wish we could have all seen it together.’

Jimin follows Tsirin as Hoseok stumbles out in a daze, seemingly keeling over unconscious outside his father’s quarters. Then he stands, his father’s blood dripping down from his hands. He returns to the room and takes his father’s screen.

‘I guess he intended for everything to just end then,’ Tsirin nods slowly, ‘He found all of the listed Beings his father had set up, and went to kill them. Well, I think we can all agree his father was an idiot!’

Jimin closes his eyes as Hoseok tears through the room full of Beings, a trained and seasoned deadly agent with nothing to lose- simply hoping to lose.

‘But despite his idiocy, he was correct,’ Tsirin steps in front of Jimin, the ship and Hoseok and bodies disappearing. ‘He couldn’t stop it. And neither can you.’

They’re in Megibīya, just on the outskirts of Jalvana.

‘Lets see, who’s next?’ Tsirin looks around, blinking as though trying to remember and then- 

‘Oh, your captain!’ Tsirin swings her arms around a little, delighted and almost childlike as she runs up to one of the empty houses in Jalvana. Tsirin drags him easily before he finds himself panting on the dusty floor of what appeared to be the attic in the house.

‘He’s handsome,’ Tsirin remarks, laid down on the ground next to him, chin resting on her crossed arm as she watches Namjoon climb up into the attic, being as quiet as he could.

Jimin sees them the moment Namjoon does.

The mummified remains of Megibīyan younglings.

‘Oh, I believe there’s a lot of them,’ Tsirin tells him.

Namjoon can’t tear his eyes away and neither can Jimin.

‘You know what happened to him, his planet, was what would have happened to us eventually?’ Tsirin nods towards Namjoon as he crawls through the narrow attic space, followed closely by Amic. ‘That would have been so much worse, don’t you think?’

‘Don’t,’ Jimin begs quietly, ‘Please don’t.’

‘Jimin,’ Tsirin says in an annoyed tone like he was being a nuisance. ‘I just want to see the moments their worlds came to end, so to speak. It’s interesting, don’t you think? How much of just one singular event just shapes everything about you?’

They’re in a huge flat clear land. It almost reminds Jimin of his own farmlands except this is much flatter and wider, the sky above wide and expansive. All around them are wide fields of crop- there’s fencing around it, but it’s not particularly refined.

‘Tsirin please- please- we were children and-‘

‘Do not give me your excuses now,’ Tsirin wags a finger at him, ‘It’s too late.’

Bursting out of the tall crop are a bunch of younglings. Even like this, Namjoon’s dimples are evident and clear. He’s with half a dozen or so other children as they rush through the crops and push out into a stone path.

They run, gasping and panting and screaming with laughter.

Tsirin skips along with them, her existence leaving no shadow as they keep in pace with the children up to a village of sorts. It’s quite large, and they’re evidently at the outskirts. In the distance, Jimin spies a glistening river snaking through the low flatlands and far in the distance like still waves, grey mountains. Smoke rises from the low and wide huts, there were wells and community bonfires. There are tall structures of sticks spinning with the breeze, at the ends are coloured rags.

‘They’ve evolved quite nicely,’ Tsirin remarks, looking around as though a tourist. ‘I have a feeling this would have been a nice planet. I mean of course this specific part of the land wouldn’t be the best, agriculture would give out eventually,’ she kicks at the soil, ‘Too dry- it’ll later turn acidic. They would have to migrate, maybe up the river? Or out to sea works too.’

It’s a beautiful normal routine day and it should be every other day in Kutsoglera and yet there is something in the sky that appears that shouldn’t be there. Something in the sky that destroys every single thing.

It’s silent for the first few minutes when the sun is eclipsed and everyone drops what they’re doing to watch, in awe. Hastily the elders call for a meeting on the plateau where a great crater spread out on which no living thing grew or wanted to live. This was a sacred site, and they would all convene there to watch this strangely permanent and continuous eclipse.

‘I think it’s quite ironic,’ Tsirin remarks, nodding towards the eclipse. ‘Isn’t it? It’s like a recurring theme for everyone here. Somehow.’

Jimin catches sight of Namjoon who isn’t very interested but rather he’s playing with the other children on the outskirts of the crater. He’s among the first to notice the wave of transporters flying over the massive plains. The children are confused at the sight- wondering if they were great migratory birds that did indeed pass over the region but it was too early for that. And these were too large to be birds. Jimin covers his face with his hands just as the transporters start releasing waves of fire over the massive fields.

Then the screaming starts.

When Jimin’s hands are forcibly removed from over his eyes he’s forced to witness this young planet burn to ash, her people rounded up like cattle and moved to the slaughter house.

‘Ah, how horrible,’ Tsirin doesn’t sound remotely horrified. ‘But a bit cliché isn’t it? I’d say they’ve actually gained a lot from this- aren’t Kutsoglerin among some of the most qualified and skilled bionic engineers in the GLA? Had this not happened they would have only just discovered forms of writing about now.’

Jimin screams as he lunges at his sister but rather than getting any closer to her he finds himself on the Užkulisai again, with Namjoon standing over the Navigation Table, Jimin sitting next to him.

Namjoon laughs, his features suddenly light and free, and the weight over Jimin, suppressing him, is greater than before.

Jimin is telling him about the irrigation system used in Dzmbaal, something that seems to genuinely interest the Kutsoglerin for some reason. It had been tricky for Jimin, he remembers, because his new found ability in speaking Standard was awkward on his tongue and he lacked the confidence to communicate in it despite his sudden fluency. Namjoon had encouraged him to make it a habit and as a result had Jimin explain some of the most mundane topics to him. Taeh’yung had actually fallen asleep when Jimin explained to Namjoon about Akraman architecture.

‘Why are you so interested in this?’ Jimin asks curiously.

Namjoon gives him a small smile, looking over his shoulder as though to make sure no one would eavesdrop on them or something.

‘When you described Dzmbaal it feels like it’s geographically similar to Kutsoglera,’ he tells him. ‘There’s issues with how to properly lay down an irrigation system over some areas in the central continent. I was wondering if there were some designs that could be implemented from your System.’

‘Oh,’ Jimin breathes out before smiling, ‘Can you show me? Kutsoglera.’

Namjoon hesitates a moment before nodding.

It does remind Jimin of Dzmbaal, except the vegetation is different in colour and the soil is more compact than the sandy clay native to Dzmbaal’s lands.

‘The natural water reservoirs, which are still clean, are very deep, far beneath a bunch of dormant volcanoes,’ Namjoon tells him, eyes brightening as he pulls up a projection, ‘We obviously do no want to trigger any volcanoes.’

Jimin nods in agreement.

He highlights the whole system network to Jimin, explaining with so much eager investment and delight that Jimin finds himself leaning in to listen attentively. They’re joined by Jungkook who doesn’t understand much of what was happening but he’s also very invested.

‘You need water?’ he asks quietly.

Namjoon nods.

‘There’s no water?’ Jungkook asks, eyes wide as he looks over the plains.

‘There is,’ Namjoon explains, ‘It’s underground.’

Jungkook nods slowly, ‘Wells?’

‘Yeah, we’re trying, but it’s difficult.’ Namjoon tells him.

‘I hate Beings like this,’ Tsirin snorts, ‘He’s just helping the same power that destroyed his planet to clean up their mess. I see why you like him, you’re both alike in that sense. But I am grateful you came running back despite being aware that it was all us from the start.’

Then Tsirin walks over to Jungkook, placing both her hands on the young Vicitra’s shoulders.

‘This one looks like a delight,’ Tsirin smiles as Jimin falls back into Megibīya.

He’s running- he’s running fast and he’s running hard- he’s being chased. ‘So young, so alive- you can see it-‘

Jimin finds himself once again in a different place.

The stench hits him first and unfortunately he’s familiar with the odour.

‘Name?’

He’s in a bare-thread tunic that’s just as filthy as this cave. It’s unnerving, once again, seeing himself like this. His scalp is shorn, his skin dirty and stained and bruised. Jungkook is curled up in on himself.

‘Dirty child,’ Tsirin hums, ‘Poor thing. Such an animal.’

‘He’s not,’ Jimin gasps out, ‘He’s not an animal!’

Tsirin laughs.

The floor shifts and he’s crouched over black sand; course and large and fragile.

There’s laughter.

Jimin doesn’t think it would have hurt this much, to see Jungkook’s family with his own eyes. Jungkook is clearly noticeable- pale skin tinted with red  around his eyes, his hands. He’s carrying something, standing in a long line. Ahead is a Ynqaban; she’s not very tall, her hair rough and short. Her skin is dark, but ashy at the high points of her face as though eaten away by the harsh conditions of the planet. She’s leading the whole troop- all of them New Borns, just like Jungkook.

‘It’s going to rain soon, so let’s hurry!’ she calls before adding, ‘Darling, do you want to hand that to me?’

Jimin looks behind him, where a tall and graceful Khol’isa stood. Her horns are pure crystal- illuminated from within with a light unlike anything Jimin has ever seen. She’s beautiful. Jungkook turns to smile up at her.

‘I’m all right,’ the Khol’isa replies with a roll of her red eyes. ‘I won’t be if the storm hits us.’

‘Are you sure?’ Jungkook’s Ynqaban mother walks up to the Khol’isa. ‘You just- you just froze up.’

‘I thought I heard something strange,’ she replies, ‘I’m probably just,’ she shrugs, gestures to her head. The Ynqaban gives her a worried look.

‘I’ll be okay- let’s just keep moving.’ The Khol’isa nods firmly, ‘Let’s go home.’

Jimin dimly realizes that they won’t.

‘You heard your mother!’

‘Yes ma!’ they chorus in bright voices.

Because Jimin hears it too now. And so does Jungkook, and a few of his siblings who all stop just as the Khol’isa stops too.

‘Darling-?’

Thunder cracks through the clear sky and breaking through the mountain face to their right, large robotic structures fall down upon them. The older siblings rush back to grab the youngest ones while Jungkook’s Khol’isa mother drops her bags down and unearths a TeorSer like weapon, firing at once before running off into a different direction.

Jungkook’s Ynqaban mother rushes to pick up the youngest in their group while Jungkook joins hands with one of his siblings around his height.

‘Follow me-!’

She doesn’t have a chance.

A horrible rod, sharpened and hooked, pierces through her, splattering blood all over her children.

And everything starts to fall apart as it starts to rain.

Jungkook is lost in the onslaught of flood lights, lightning, screaming, acid rain, sinking sandy wet ground, panicked pushing and pulling.

There’s a horrible sound- and Jimin is pulled from the fray, suddenly safely in the distance, watching as a whole pack of Ynqabans raid this mountain area. But the mountain was already fragile and crumbling and it comes down over the whole party.

‘Little pup,’ Tsirin sings, ‘Running and running, tail between his legs.’

Jimin stares as a few of the flood lights are still on and working, few robots pushing out and the sound of yelling and anger. Something explodes and by some miracle, or maybe a cruel twist of fate, the landslide slips away to unearth Jungkook from the wet black sand.

He’s wounded and scarred, his eyes pinpricks and glowing through the rain. He leaps down on all fours, running and foaming in the mouth before he bites down on the leg of one of the passing by Verktaë. He claws through their flesh with a swipe, screaming above the din. He throws the Ynqaban aside and on all fours rushes again, hands digging into the wet and heavy sand, Jimin can’t keep up. But of course, Tsirin makes sure he sees every heartbreaking moment as Jungkook pushes aside a crumbling rock and beneath it-

‘MA!’ Jungkook screams, eyes barely open in this acid rain. The Khol’isa is barely stirring, one of her horns cleanly broken and her eyes glazed her skin broken.

Jungkook screams, thunder drowning his voice. He kills two of the Ynqaban who try to approach them before he’s tranquilized. Jungkook watches, his mind slipping, as his mother’s horns are both taken before her corpse is left to the whims of the planet’s cruel weather.

Blood drips from Jungkook’s hands, and Jimin knows it’s not going to be clean of it for a long time to come.

‘Such an animal,’ Tsirin says again, almost like a curse.

‘He’s NOT!’ Jimin shrieks through the rain.

‘If you say so.’

Jungkook’s siblings bodies vanish one by one, his mothers too, and lastly Jungkook as Jimin finds himself on a familiar dry forest ground, the weeds slowly disintegrating to ash and dust, the trees crumbling from within. The acid rain that clings to him hisses as it pools around him.

There’s a horrific roar and Jimin looks up in time to see Jungkook tear through a Verktaë, blood showering him and the fading foliage around him. His hair is matted and in clumps, eyes bright and vivid, mouth open in a bloody snarl.

‘He’s uncontrollable,’ Tsirin leans up against a tree, ‘You should put a leash on him.’

Jimin tries to stand but the weight on him is too great and unrelenting.

Despite what he was witnessing, Jimin can’t help but be selfishly relieved that the young Vicitra was still there. Here- wherever. He was alone- separated, clearly, but he was here.

What happened to Taeh’yung? What did they do to him?

There’s a great scene of carnage and Jungkook stands at the center of it, wearing Verktaë clothes, stained horribly in gut and gore. For a moment Jimin doesn’t recognize him. Doesn’t know this youngling before him. His features which though had been thin due to lack of nutrition and a failing health system, were always soft and very clearly indicated his youth. But here, amidst the blood, Jungkook is different- representing everything about his species that made most living Beings across the Known Universe flinch at the mere mention of their name.

He stands tall, hauntingly powerful, poised like a true and undefeated predator.

Jimin watches, unable to look away, as Jungkook seems to lose himself, his pupils nearly entirely gone and in this fading sunrise, they glow orb-like. He moves with ease, barely exerting himself as he rips through the remaining Verktaë with nothing but his hands that extend out like cruel talons, digging so easily into flesh and bone.

‘Maybe not an animal,’ Tsirin looks around at the overwhelming site of dismembered and torn corpses. ‘But definitely a monster.’

Slipping a little, Jungkook blinks furiously. The anger and cruelty slips from his young face; his cheeks are soft and full again, his eyes large and round, his posture curling in on himself.

He’s panting hard, staring down at his hands and at the gore he created around himself.

‘I would be very careful, if I were you,’ Tsirin remarks.

Jungkook rushes to a fallen over HoverPort- that’s also when Jimin realizes that amidst the carnage lay bodies of the GI.

The weight above him pushes him down even more.

‘I think he’s trying to find his way back,’ Tsirin ruminates, ‘Let’s see, I think he’s trying to find the Khol’isa. Shall we go take a look at him?’

The forests bend and liquidize, forming paths of dust and nothingness that once were great and mighty trees. But before they can really settle, something odd shifts around them.

Tsirin gives pause, looking around her in this timeless space.

Jimin hears it. And he recognizes it.

‘Can you hear that?’ Tsirin turns to look down at him. ‘There’s something a little strange here. But we got rid of the Fifth Child.’

‘Tae- Taeh’yung-?’

What? No this wasn’t- this wasn’t Taeh’yung this was-

‘He was going to be a problem. One that would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to deal with.’ Tsirin tells him simply, ‘I couldn’t have him around. It was easier than I expected though, getting rid of him. Like every other living Being, literally breaking his heart was the easiest way of getting rid of him.’

Jimin’s stomach sinks.

‘But this isn’t the Child- this is that one, the incomplete one.’ Tsirin laughs after a moment, the landscape shifting and Jimin finds himself in a strange interior of a ship.

Tsirin is already walking away and Jimin forces himself to crawl, black sand pouring out of his sleeves, his skin peeling from the remains of the acid rain.

‘Oh, I see,’ Tsirin says loudly from ahead of him. They were inside a ship. But Tsirin walks through a door that leads to a strange podium over a huge grassy mound. Jimin manages to lift himself up on all fours, breath rattling in his chest as Tsirin glows even brighter.

‘He’s snooping around. I guess I underestimated him.’ Tsirin says conversationally before pointing down at Jimin, ‘You stay put for a moment while I go check.’

Even more overwhelming weight crushes down upon Jimin, nearly pushing him flat. The weight of sorrow, of broken promises.

Jimin just barely manages to get himself out onto the mound before the door closes into nothingness. He’s bathed in a strange and horrible red light- it flickers through, shining through Tsirin who walks through this unknown memory with ease and without care.

‘Show me! There’s something wrong here show yourself!’

‘I should act surprised,’ Tsirin trills a short mad laugh, stepping aside and Jimin sees Sk’jin.

The Bloodmoon that haunted the Khol’isa is bright and powerful directly above him, resting just a little above his head, between his temples.

‘Oh. 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.’ Tsirin shows herself to the Khol’isa.

A horrifying fear tears through Jimin.

‘No-!’ he forces himself up, pain ripping through his body, his skin, his mind-

‘I know your species.’ Tsirin continues to tease as Jimin sinks down into the ground. He rips his hand out, mouth open in a soundless scream, pushing through the veins filled with voices of precious memories he couldn’t protect. ‘K’mara never liked me. But it’s okay.’

The air around her suddenly pauses, clearing up before returning in a powerful pulse, ripping through Jimin and straight to Tsirin as she raises a hand, finger pointing out, an eclipsed light shining on her fingertip.

‘-no-!’

Jimin grabs her ankle.

‘Because I never liked her either.’

He manages to breathe out a singular Word but it’s too late.

The closest Jimin can come to describing what Sk’jin was feeling was when he had been a child, and he stayed out much longer than his sister or tutors had allowed him. The feeling of returning home, but knowing you were going to have to take responsibility for the wrong you did.

Because Sk’jin always felt oddly hollowed out- a great storm brewed in him- but it only existed to occupy the void within him. The storms were born from this chaotic void, in hopes of filling it up. But there was a great strain- one that stretched and pulled within the Khol’isa.

Overextending itself to somehow cover how incomplete Sk’jin really was.

Then it hits Jimin.

‘You lost someone there,’ Jimin states out loud as he stirs a bowl Sk’jin had given him to take care of as he cooked endlessly, ‘Who was he?’

‘I don’t think he’ll want to answer that,’ Taeh’yung tells him plaintively as he creates a coloured mosaic from dyed sugar cubes- Taeh’yung was useless in cooking, and so was assigned menial tasks around the Kitchen to keep him occupied. ‘It’s gonna be difficult for him.’

‘I know,’ Jimin replies, smiling at Sk’jin, hoping to relieve the obvious distrust he had in Jimin. Not that Sk’jin was hostile towards him. He was just wary and though he hid it very well, Sk’jin was fearful of him.

‘He lost all of his crew in this planet- he died in there too- and he watched his crew, his friends, countless strangers, all die there.’

Jimin feels as though there might be more to the story than they could guess.

‘Then why return? Or maybe he should have stayed back as we investigate the planet?’ Jimin suggests.

‘But I think he has a reason to go,’ Taeh’yung explains, popping a green sugar cube into his mouth and holding up a blue one for Jimin. Jimin takes the cube, feeling the texture of the cube between his fingers carefully. ‘He isn’t the type to do things unless he wants to do it. Or unless he feels…-‘

‘-like he needs to atone for something?’ Jimin suggests. ‘Because it feels as though he’s going back to seek justice- against himself.’

‘Being alive is so complex Chim,’ Taeh’yung says randomly. ‘But it’s the greatest thing- next to death.’

Taken aback, Jimin can’t help himself when he asks, ‘Why do you say that? How do you know?’

Taeh’yung gives him a secretive smile, holding his finger up to his lips and whispers, ‘We all live to die Chim.’

A shiver runs down Jimin’s spine, a scratchy voice itches at his ears, in his mind, in his very soul.

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

He’s too late.

Jimin knows it.

The overwhelming pressure lifts and Tsirin turns to him, crazed smile on her face. The Bloodmoon lingers for a moment before it bleeds out of thought and memory.

‘SK’JIN!’

He’s too late.

Tsirin slams him down- they fall through cities, through skies, through planets and systems before Jimin lands on an unexpectedly soft surface. Light highlights the cabin around him in a familiar way.

He falls out of his bed, struggling to get away, hopelessly and helplessly speaking Words of command but there’s no point. Tsirin overwhelms him, hugging him tight.

‘Well, he’s gone too now,’ Tsirin informs him brightly, ‘But it’s a mercy, you know? I think he’ll be quite happy there. It’s far better than what could have happened to him. And what will happen to you. To the others. I’m actually almost feeling bad for your Human, Yoongi, right?’

Tsirin lets go of him and props him up to sit down as though he were a toy.

‘Pity, I would have liked to see the moment his world fell apart. Someone like him, must have been awful, right?’ she claps her hands together before standing up. ‘And of course,’ Tsirin gives him a nearly gentle smile. ‘This one here. You should actually thank me, shouldn’t you? If it weren’t for me, you would have never met him.’

Tsirin turns his head to look over and around.

‘This is beautiful,’ she says softly, ‘What a beautiful memory- it’s quite recent isn’t it? Just some days ago hm?’

The sun streams in through his window.

Jimin sees himself, he’s leaning against his bed- their bed, and Yoongi is on the floor, pillowing his thighs. He has his hands clasped between his own. There was a blanket under them, the pillows from the bed brought down but forgotten and ignored, instead seeking the soft comfort of each other in the soft morning light.

‘Stop-,’ Jimin breathes out painfully.

‘-and I think a small library.’

Yoongi chuckles.

‘No offence, I don’t think I’ve seen you read.’

‘Excuse me, do I look like I’ve had the time to read?’ Jimin gasps in mock offence at Yoongi’s teasing remark. ‘I’ll have you know I’m an avid reader.’

‘Like Sk’jin?’ Yoongi plays with his fingers.

‘You’re so painfully in love,’ Tsirin comments as though disgusted. ‘It’s so disturbing, seeing you like this.’

‘What’s wrong with how Sk’jin reads? He clearly enjoys himself,’ Jimin argues though he’s laughing.

‘Then I will contribute to your library by gifting you all of the books in the Six Hands of Our Love series.’

Jimin wheezes, pushing and rolling Yoongi off of his legs. Yoongi cackles gleefully at him, stopping to push himself up on his side. Then he simply holds his hand out and at the same time Jimin leans in. Yoongi curves his hand over Jimin’s cheek.

Weakly, he sobs out under his breath.

‘This is sad,’ Tsirin whispers, ‘Didn’t you use your Words against him? His last memory of you will be that moment, forever, always.’

Jimin kisses Yoongi’s palm before smiling at him. Yoongi draws Jimin closer, laying back so that Jimin hovered over him, the sun shining down on them through the window. Jimin remembers feeling so alive and content in that moment. He closes his eyes as they kiss.

‘I don’t think I can watch this,’ Tsirin laughs, ‘But this? Yes.’

Jimin falls and lands heavily-

‘-can’t leave him.’

The contrast is horrifying and Jimin is sick to his stomach.

‘I can’t-,’ Yoongi looks drained and injured and so so tired, ‘I can’t leave him- I can’t leave him again I-‘

‘Yoongi,’ Namjoon is there- so are other GI that Jimin hasn’t seen before. Had they come here? But no other were supposed to come- they can’t, they shouldn’t-

‘I got him,’ Hoseok is quickly stabilizing Yoongi, ‘Go get the others.’

‘It’s going to start soon, let’s see how it goes, shall we?’ Tsirin chirpily tells him.

Yoongi struggles to stay upright, the struggle within him is clear and real and Jimin has never seen anyone fight his Words so much- it was breaking him.

‘We meet back here-.’

‘Do not enter the darkness.’ Yoongi tells them, voice unwavering despite the fragility of his physical state. ‘Do not stray into the darkness.’

Both Namjoon and Hoseok look at each other and then at Yoongi for a moment before the Kutsoglerin asks.

‘Did…did Jimin send you away.’

‘No,’ Jimin sobs, the weight of Yoongi’s love breaking him down.

 ‘I will always love him.’

‘Well, I think I’ve seen enough,’ Tsirin laughs, ‘This would have been avoidable if only you had come to me.’

‘You know that’s not true!’ Jimin cries out, staring up at his sister. ‘You know it-!’

‘Silence!’ Tsirin snaps, the air shaking in her anger and madness, immune to reason and sense. ‘You’ve always been so spoilt! Everyone has done everything for you and yet you think you’re so important and so smart! I’ll make you see how your stupidity has caused all of this!’

‘We can reach Sk’jin and Jungkook in 8 minutes.’

Jimin struggles to stand, struggles to reach out and stop Tsirin as he’s dragged from this moment in Time back into the night. For a moment, and Jimin doesn’t know how or why, but the weight on him disappears and Jimin moves faster than he ever thought himself capable.

He manages to land a hard punch across his sister’s face, causing both of them to fall over from the effort and speed. Tsirin screams at him, scrambling madly and grabbing him, twisting around on the floor before sitting on top of his chest, hands around his throat. She lifts him up a little before slamming him back down repeatedly.

Then the weight rushes back all over him, slamming him down so hard he bounces off the ground a little, head spinning, racked in pain.

Suddenly, as if nothing had happened, the night blinks away and Jimin is on the dusty faded grounds, surrounded by broken trees. For a moment, they’re both children. Jimin on the ground, nursing a bruised knee and Tsirin doing her best to placate him.

The ring of light on her forehead gleams a little as she’s crying too.

But they’re not children anymore. No ring of light, no promise glows on her skin. And the tears in Tsirin’s eyes aren’t of a shared pain or worry.

‘I think it’s time now,’ Tsirin spits out blood, hands tightening around his throat. ‘I’m almost done with you. We just need a little bit more.’

The night around them screams into life, the ground shaking and breaking all around them. The light in the strange dull lifeless sky breaks into shards and splinters, falling down on them like some strange rain all falling straight through him, a thin and piercing thread straight through his heart.

A sudden pulse pulls through Jimin and pain he’s never experienced bleeds into him through Tsirin’s hands. He can’t scream- his body is on fire, pain so intense he nearly passes out but he can’t scream, can’t move-

The Heart bleeds poison into him and there’s nothing Jimin can do to stop it from spreading through him into everyone else.

He doesn’t even realize that Tsirin has moved away- was no longer even touching him, just observing him and how the night was collapsing into Jimin.

She crouches down next to him,

‘Do you know how cruel it was, for Yino to tie the Heart to Fate?’ Tsirin whispers, gently smoothing back his hair. ‘When you were cut off from Menigišiti I was barely alive. Yet you? You lived, you lived and you slept and you just kept taking and taking- greedy and selfish! Just taking everything, everyone, they were all yours- the Heart couldn’t live without Fate- but Fate-…you could just tie yourself to another existence and off you went.’

Tsirin’s hand comes to rest on top of Jimin’s chest.

‘You found yourself a new heart,’ she taps there rhythmically. She smiles, ‘It’s so fragile. Delicate. Beautiful. Do you even deserve it?’

Jimin can’t stop his tears from spilling over, pain erupting deep within him.

‘Don’t cry,’ Tsirin placates him, ‘You got to live beautifully for a while right? Not me. I didn’t. I couldn’t. You were asleep in such beautiful places, your Dreams were coloured and bright- mine weren’t.’ 

‘Y-you can’t-‘ he grits out painfully, his vision blurring.

‘You never found anything,’ Tsirin stands and Jimin finds himself being lifted up as well. ‘I never chose this fate, Jimin, none of us did. Because you just kept taking, and taking.’

They are the edge of the world. Jimin realizes he’s been at the brink of the birth of darkness, where light is swallowed, time is torn apart. He watches as the darkness consumes everything, tearing at the Universe and devouring it whole.

And it funnels straight through into him.

‘We are found.’

‘It’s high time you realized what you brought upon yourself,’ Tsirin leans away, watching with no more interest than you would watch traffic along a port.

‘Please-.’ He’s not even sure if he’s able to speak or if he’s screaming in his mind. He tries to sit up. ‘Tsirin- please-.’

‘It’s okay baby brother, why don’t you just rest for a while? After all, it’s just us. Why don’t you sle e p?’ T sirin ge         nt    ly push   es hi   m  do     wn and h        e f          a          lls. ‘W         hy       don                      ’t yo    u         jus        t                            sl  e                            e            p?What are you going to do?’

Jimin stops as he helps Taeh’yung into the standing bath.

‘I don’t think any of this is accidental,’ Taeh’yung gestures to himself. ‘I’m being singularly targeted.’

‘I know,’ Jimin whispers. ‘You’re the biggest threat here.’

‘It makes for an interesting out look, at least for me,’ Taeh’yung eases himself to the seat that pushes out from the wall of the bath. ‘Allows for an interesting detour I suppose.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Jimin frowns.

Taeh’yung just grins at him, ‘Well. Regardless of where we go, it’s all going to end up in one way- it’s just how long it will take and how many die before it reaches that point.’

Jimin frowns at that. But he knows it’s true.

‘Do you think-…what do you think? About Menigišiti?’

Taeh’yung chuckles, ‘The First Children are strong- but they’re ultimately, in the end, cowards. Hiding and sleeping and forgetful. So loud. All the time.’

Jimin doesn’t know what to say to that so he instead says, ‘I’m going to need you to be extra careful. I don’t think I can do this without you.’

‘I know,’ Taeh’yung nods firmly before wincing. ‘Why do you think I’m resting so much right now?’

Jimin isn’t sure how to address the fact that ever since Taeh’yung was shot with the anticore, the Zhak’gri was behaving in a manner that could only be considered excited. Like he was pleased with what was happening.

Taeh’yung was very much a loose cannon- in many ways, Jimin considers himself exceedingly lucky that the Zhak’gri somehow chose to continue to stay, even if the reasons behind it were slightly detached from any truly grounding personal connection. Taeh’yung was here only because of two reasons: he wanted to know what was happening (because he seemed to genuinely have some sort of fondness or care towards the New Borns, his babies), and being here was serving some purpose for him.

While one out of the two reasons sided with Jimin’s plans, with this mission they were all on, it does nothing to really placate Jimin completely.

‘I’ve got Kookie with me,’ Taeh’yung raises a thumb’s up.

‘Why?’

‘Hm?’

‘Why him?’

‘I already told you? He’s young,’ Taeh’yung leans back as the water flows down to his shoulders, ‘It’s soothing. It feels quiet.’

Jimin pauses a moment, looking at Taeh’yung closely. The four forms around him that blurred the air in his vicinity are only just barely noticeable. Their movement is jarring though- unlike their stationary looming angles from the past, hovering over the Zhak’gri’s shoulders like some great oppressive mantle. But now it’s barely there.

‘Is it quiet with others?’

Taeh’yung doesn’t open his eyes but instead smirks.

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘Is it with just the New Borns then.’

Taeh’yung opens his eyes, the light in them strangely fractured, as though something else was trying to push through.

‘I think you know the answer to that.’

When Taeh’yung was like this- this meaning truly himself in his entirety, his answers always seem to transcend beyond their current time and space.

‘Maybe,’ Jimin shrugs, leaning against the standing bath. Jimin thinks of an answer that he thinks is fitting with Taeh’yung in his entirety. ‘One day I will understand, in another life.’

Taeh’yung grins before splashing water on him.

‘I’d like to think it’s quiet.’

‘What is?’

Taeh’yung doesn’t reply, instead simply stretches his finger over and taps Jimin’s forehead.

‘Another-‘

 

 

And for a moment that seems to stretch out into a thousand lifetimes, Jimin is stranded on a beach in a dream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimin doesn’t know how long he sits there.

But with what feels like an age, he manages to turn his head down to look at his feet, toes digging into soft powdery sand. The ocean before him is mild and uncannily still.

 

 

 

When he looks down, a wave has just pulled by but his feet are not wet but there are no footsteps. How did he come here? Did he walk here?

Jimin has never experienced sleep walking before but he wonders if this is what it felt like. To be somewhere you do not remember being in the last time you closed your eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

When did he close his eyes?

 

 

 

 

 

 

He looks down and the sand is dry. Looking up the ocean is gone and empty and instead mountains lay beneath his feet, plunging canyons and a darkness the invisible sun above him cannot illuminate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He needs to return to the water. But his feet are stuck. He can’t let the ocean empty. It contained everything. It contained all of him, them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s still on the beach, but he can’t see the ocean nor the mountains beneath its lost waves. It’s only sand, and a dull low sky. He’s on a desert, left alone to wander, searching for the ocean. But he can’t walk. His feet-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He lifts his head and sand pours from his head. Shaking his head, Jimin tries to shake off the excess but it won’t stop. That’s when he looks down and realizes he was sinking into this desert- every single bit of him, lost, a singular grain of sand in a vast and endless desert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He tries to scream but he only coughs out more sand. He was fading. Nothing more than dust, in the end, to be carried away by the breeze and-

‘Jimin.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He snaps back to the edge of the shore. The ocean is far but he can see it.

He turns, his feet digging into the sand, coughing out sharp and coarse bits of dust and grit. He nearly falls to his knees but he manages to remain standing.

‘Who is there?’ he manages to croak, throat tearing from the effort. Blood fills his mouth and he spits it out and it forms the ocean before him, the water lapping so close to his feet.

 

 

 

 

 

A hand comes to rest on his shoulder.

He can’t turn his head, can only hear the ocean now rushing all around him.

‘You can close this,’ the voice is familiar. Like Jimin has heard it before.

Maybe in a dream.

Or maybe in someone else’s dream.

His voice is beautiful- alive, timeless, soft- like music that echoes across the Universe through the dark spaces between stars and suns.

‘You’re not lost.’

 

 

The hand squeezes around his shoulder, gentle and reaffirming.

Jimin finds that he can finally breathe as the water rushes over him.

‘Remember.’

 

The water rushes around him and finally, Jimin can move, untethered and afloat and free.

He turns quickly, the hand on his shoulder slipping away.

Large clear eyes blink at him, golden hair fanning around his narrow face.

Like this, it’s almost as though Jimin has known him all his life.

‘Remember,’ he smiles, ‘You are found.’

A sprig of green twists and grows out of the dust next to him which in turn turns damp and is covered in thick black compost goop then back to clay and back to healthy soil in a span of moments. The air is filled with the odour of decay and growth and a cycle that repeats itself over and over, life and death, in tandem, repeating in a loop.

Light slowly pierces through the night- through this dead dark, and life and death follow it.

All of space around him convulses around this sudden emergence of life. And it spreads all over through into Jimin and he recognizes this faint and fleeting warmth, this burst of power beyond anything he’s quite properly experienced.

With a gasp, Jimin finds himself sinking and falling through the soil, breaking from the veins feeding from and through him.

A warm light, like that of the sun, greets him as he sinks out of the ashy compact dust.

Amme is followed by light and life, strange plants and creatures birth and die at her steps, leaving a living wake of fertilization and decay behind her. She stretches her arms out to him, the void of space and night rippling all about her and rolling off, bringing in with her the sunrise light of Megibīya with her, her light severing the veins that feed into this place.

Jimin falls as gently as a leaf in her arms.

Instantly, pain breaks through Jimin’s cold and lost body- bright lights erupting in his mind, igniting his memories, his soul, his heart-

‘What-?’ Tsirin stares at the Yisheng who walks calmly towards her, her tall form almost too bright and searing in this dullness. Tsirin stumbles backwards, eyes wide and visibly shaken by the sight of the Yisheng.

Amme places Jimin down gently, a hand over his head.

His whole body feels like it’s on fire, his mind, his soul, his heart- all spent and wrung and strained and tired-

‘Leave,’ she tells him quietly. ‘You will find the others not too far away. They will help you find them.’

‘DON’T YOU DARE-!’ Tsirin screams as Amme places all her hands over Jimin’s head.

The gap behind her closes slowly but surely, the rosy light of Megibīya’s sunrise almost too saturated and bright in this dull nothingness.

‘I will try and give you some time.’

The weight of pain, of honour, of hope, of broken promises, of loss, of love- they’re lifted from him, a heavy crown that Amme takes from him.

‘Go,’ the Yisheng tells him again, holding her hands together in a tight clasp and all the veins snap around to her but convulse and break.

Tsirin screams- she’s running, but it’s slow- weighty as though time was delayed about her motions.

With a shaking gasp, Jimin finds himself surrounded by the fading life force of Megibīya, now startlingly aware of every single sound, of every memory, of every song- of every light that made its break upon this planet, upon his fate.

The ground shakes, tremors as though an earthquake were going off. But it’s not quite that.

Mountains fly up into the air, rings of great power orbiting their flight as the sky is alight with cursed stars and tainted bridges and gateways.

The void he had just been taken out of still pulses- the night within it unfathomable and strong. It stretches up and outwards, straight up in Megibīya’s Sanctuary, connected her back to Menigišiti, to Yino, ready to overwhelm and destroy. Returning what was once lost and now found, destroying the balance that was already tilting out of control.

Great streaks of light like lightning stitch across the entirety of the Crescent curved around Megibīya.

He’s still in shock, falling backwards only to painfully solid and real ground. His body forces him on all fours, heaving as he dry retches from the intense nausea and vertigo. He’s vaguely aware of the increasing presence around him and Jimin is incredibly vulnerable- he’s barely able to hold his head up.

He can’t even control his blinking, his mind filled with a static silence left behind as the voices of the Memories beneath his feet, Memories connected and tied to him were no longer forcefully being funneled through him.

But he can sense the Verktaë approaching him- scavengers surrounding fresh carrion. In the dusty brown and grey of the once tall forest now a flat crater, hordes and hordes run straight towards him. Jimin closes his hands over his head, willing himself, commanding himself to clear his mind, to regain his clarity and sensibility-

They drop around him in waves.

Jimin falls over, doing his best to turn over onto his back but he’s stuck sideways, unable to control his body as he shakes violently. He can’t stay here- he can’t feel like this right now, Amme had given him some time and Jimin doesn’t know how much of it he has he needed to-

Several pairs of hands hold him down and something prods the side of his neck just as familiar white hooded Beings fill his blurred and unfocused vision.

‘We will administer a second dose as your physical state is in extreme shock!’ one of them tells him cheerily. Their masked face is cut straight from Jimin’s fears and he doesn’t understand what’s happening.

‘Yisheng Amme has requested we take you back to your team! Do you have a Comm Device?’

Something else pierces his neck and Jimin could scream but instead, as though slamming into a wall, his senses come back to him and his mind stops spinning, his vision focusing and blood rushing through his body as he gains control over himself.

He stares at the Omhlophe that surround him in a protective circle.

‘They will help you find them.’ Amme had said to him.

With a hand that isn’t shaking, Jimin touches his ear and finds that his Comm Device is missing.

‘I need to get to the others,’ Jimin croaks out, his voice hoarse and feeble. He swallows thickly as he stands up; the shock of being in full control over his body only slightly jarring.

He needs to stop this before it goes beyond any hope of changing the outcome Tsirin has designed.

‘Take me- take me to-,’ Jimin pauses as he sits up, being braced by several pairs of hands. He stares at the powerful transporter the Omhlophe had clearly come here on, landing around the edge of the crater they were in. Behind him, the void pulses and Jimin feels a wash of anger flood him. Grass and weeds grow under his hands and dies and crumbles into ash immediately after.

The main facilitator was burrowed deep into the mountain on the other side of the Crescent. He stares up at the sky, blinking with horrible light, filled with Breakers and false Sanctuaries.

‘Do you have a channel open for communication?’ he asks instead as he stands up.

‘Yes we do Yemenifesi Ch’inik’eti!’

‘Are- do you have a connection with my team?’

‘Your team is currently divided into 3! We will connect you to them right away!’

They had him a different looking Comm Device, small and fitting inside his palm.

‘Divided in to 3?’ Jimin repeats before points, ‘I need to first fly to the main facilitator- I can direct the pilot.’

‘As you wish!’ they chirp before adding, ‘You Captain is with the Vicitra, headed towards GI Yoongi and Venture Unit Agent Hoseok who have unfortunately landed at a dreadful location! Sk’jin whose true worth is priceless is at the crash site of our mothership!’ the Omhlophe lean in to add in a conspiring tone, ‘It appears that he is headed for the mothership to search for the Užkulisai!’ 

There are many questions in Jimin’s head but the first one that comes out is, ‘Where are Yoongi and Hoseok right now?’

‘Behold!’

They pull out a screen, quite thick and heavy, but very obviously working in this strange environment.

Jimin doesn’t understand the map displayed on the screen for a moment before he realizes it’s an orthopedic map that projected the seismic patterns of the geography of the planet.

‘How do I contact Yoongi and Hoseok?’ he demands at once, heart in his throat as he unsteadily rushes towards the transporter ahead.

‘The yellow channel dial!’ he’s told.

There’s an odd ring of light with a variety of colours. For a moment he’s almost mad  before a finger reaches forward to spin the dial till the yellow touches the needle thin dial at the top.

‘What news from you?’ a voice asks, behind their voice Jimin can clearly hear a barrage of TeorSer fire and things exploding. It’s strange because the sound seems to travel in waves up his arm to his ear- something Jimin cannot understand but there was no time to even try.

‘I need to speak to Yoongi or Hoseok- both,’ Jimin says, tripping over corpses in his haste. ‘Actually- how can I speak to all of the channels?’

‘Please spin the dial to purple!’

Jimin does it at once.

‘Please connect me to my team,’ Jimin requests, voice already wavering.

He’s seen too much and he knows more than he should and more than he’s allowed. And somehow, every single incident traces straight back to Menigišiti, straight back to him.

‘Jimin?!’ Namjoon breathes out just as Jungkook gasps in shock.

‘What-?’ Hoseok cries out as Sk’jin laughs breathlessly.

‘Princeling you took your time,’ he chuckles, sounding horribly horribly weak.

‘Is-,’ Jimin pauses before the transporter as another pulse shudders far beneath all around him. ‘Is everyone okay?’

His voice breaks.

‘Sunshine?’

Jimin takes a deep breath and steps into the transporter.

‘I- I need you all to listen to me,’ he says in his best stable voice. ‘Sk’jin, please prepare the Užkulisai-‘

‘-you disappear for hours and somehow you just know-‘

‘-for take off. All GI personnel please head straight towards Sk’jin. Namjoon, Jungkook, turn back and aid Sk’jin ready the Užkulisai. I am headed to where Yoongi and Hoseok are- you need to evacuate that area immediately. Their extraction is currently top priority alongside the Užkulisai.’

‘What’s happening?’ Jungkook sounds like he’s half in tears, ‘What about Taeh’yung?’

Jimin grips the side of his seat.

‘I- I don’t know. Just, please,’ he turns his head to look out at the void, ‘We don’t have a lot of time-‘

‘-where’s Amme?’ Hoseok asks.

‘She- she’s with Tsirin. She’s buying us time- Hoseok, Yoongi- you’re both near the facilitator- it’s what controls all of the Sanctuaries you see in the sky as well as the Breakers- it’s the Yisheng ship that was lost in Axudar. At the core, I need to shut it down.’

‘-that’s it?’ Sk’jin snorts. ‘Just an off button.’

‘I need you all to take the Užkulisai and destroy the real Sanctuary.’ Jimin closes his eyes a moment as they take off. ‘And then I need you to move as far away as possible, as quickly as you can.’

‘Jimin-.’

‘-wait Jimin-.’

‘-we can’t do that-!’

‘Please.’ Jimin opens his eyes as they ascend higher, the trees far below and for a moment, the sky blinks and the rosy sunrise of Megibīya shines softly at him. This moment right now, reminds him of the last time he was here.

But this time.

This time he knew.

And he would change everything.

They’re higher than the mountains below, the forest crumbling, this whole planet fading and draining away into oblivion- the genesis of the end.

‘Please,’ he repeats himself.

The void violently shivers, shrinking horribly within itself. The Omhlophe pick up speed.

He had too much to lose. 

‘You can close this.’

‘We can close this.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Author’s Notes)

Basically, if anyone’s a bit lost, well Tsirin is straight up insane 
Her guilt and inability to accept her actions and consequences and inability to process her grief from a young age has lead up to this point where she believes everything that has gone wrong is because of Jimin, the Fate of Menigišiti. She was emotionally and psychologically manipulated for a very long time by her advisors and the Wenedi who knew that by having the Heart on their side, on Ndica’s side, would greatly help them out. 
But the thing is that the Fate is, well, for their specific cause/purpose, more powerful
When Ndica died, Tsirin was basically released by the Council because they had also assumed she was in complete cahoots with Ndica without realizing she was being used. She was also able to “awaken” because Jimin was found and released from within the Red Evil’s ship at this time. Tsirin, who was in like, a strange state of comatose but awareness, still poisoned by everything she was ever told and lead to believe, turns this situation around in a horribly destructive path, forced to her will by her abilities as the Heart and here they are
The thing about the eggs created by the Red Evil is that they’re tied to Yino’s promise- they’re tied to Jimin. And Mengisiti exists in a balance within itself, protected by the Heart and the Fate
Returning this new and unprecedented life-force back to Yino so forcefully and in this method designed by Tsirin will absolutely implode Yino which already a quasar AND ON TOP OF THAT a still somewhat alive First Children, will absolutely start the reverse big bang of the universe and RIP all of us
Also Yino, one of the First Children, stil has that weird sentient thing to her, she basically disowned Tsirin, which also adds more to her insanity so yeah that’s that. 
Also sorry for not updating when I was supposed to, I had a time last month it’s basically just family drama and I couldn’t bring myself to write at the time! But im back to what I hope is a better mental state so thank you for waiting!
and yeah this update IS kinda convoluted and weird intentionally 
Again! Please do not send assassins at me! See you in 2 weeks with the next update =)