The necklace on Reine's chest glistens in the light of the sun as she steps outside for a moment of fresh air. After being in the dark, damp cave with the wendigo and being surrounded by the sight and smell of blood, she decided to take a step away from the situation while the three brothers reunite after their time apart. She can't imagine how they must have been feeling to have been separated so soon after getting each other back.

She winces at the sudden brightness of the light reflecting off of the snow; it's a stark contrast from the darkness of the cave she was inside.

Her fingers move to clasp the red jewel of the necklace, the now familiar feeling of it on her skin soothing her as she tries to imagine her mother is there within its presence.

A sigh escapes Reine's lips as she walks in a circle in front of the cave, her continuous steps creating a trail in the snow beneath her feet.

The fourth box - the last box - is out of her reach, its bronze confines locked inside the wall of the cave, the solidity of the rock surrounding it almost in a protective cocoon.

This further proves to Reine that whoever is inside the last of the boxes is the most powerful - and the most dangerous of them all. The angels went further to protect this specific box from being easily accessed and opened.

She and the other three Horsemen barely survived the creature protecting the box, and now they must figure out a way to get the box out of the wall.

"You're lost in your head again," a comforting voice sounds, causing Reine's ears to perk.

She sighs. "How can I not be? This is an important moment."

Jim in moves to place his hands on Reine's shoulders, effectively ceasing her relentless pacing. "We talked about it, and we all agreed that we will take today to rest and heal from our injuries. Tomorrow, we will get the box out and open."

Reine frowns. "This entire journey has led to this moment, and you three are proposing we turn away from the opportunity to lounge around?"

Jimin grins. "Exactly."

Reine must look apprehensive because Jimin rolls his eyes dramatically and pulls her into a hug, which she reciprocates without a second of hesitation.

"One more day isn't going to cause the world to end," he says, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Yoongi needs time to heal. We all could use a day of rest. These past few days have been rough, and once our last brother is free, we will have no time to relax and recuperate. He's a real workaholic, that one."

"I suppose you are right," Reine says through a sigh, pulling away to send Jimin a small smile.

"For once," a deep voice murmurs as Taehyung approaches the two, "he is right."

Jimin scowls at his brother, which goes ignored by the latter.

"I need to talk to her alone," he continues, and Jimin raises his eyebrow.

After a silent staring contest between the two brothers, which includes plenty of glares and furrowed eyebrows, Jimin finally lets out a sigh and shrugs before patting Reine on the shoulder and trudging back into the cave to check on Yoongi's healing wounds.

"Yes?" Reine asks, placing her hands behind her back as she watches Taehyung's stiff movements as he shifts his weight between his feet.

He opens his mouth to speak, but after a moment, closes it again.

Reine purses her lips.

"I need to warn you," he finally says, "about my last brother."

Reine nods. "I know he is a bit different from the three of you."

Taehyung shakes his head. "It's more than that. You know Jimin and Yoongi well enough to know how big their hearts are, even if they waste their potential on stupidity. But they feel. They feel things that are supposed to be limited to humans: excitement, lust and heartbreak, to name a few. My last brother... his emotions are limited."

"What about you?" Reine asks, frowning slightly as she tilts her head back to look at his face more clearly; his eyes are hidden beneath his dark, shaggy hair as he stares at her, his face passive and hiding any possible emotion he could be feeling at the moment.

"What about me?" he asks, his armor clinking slightly as he moves his arm.

"What do you feel?"

Taehyung purses his lips as he lets out a deep breath through his nose.

"I apologize if I'm overstepping," Reine says, bowing her head in respect. "I don't mean to pry."

Taehyung's hair moves with the shaking of his head, allowing Reine the smallest peek of his dark eyes as she glances back in his direction.

"I know how to feel. I choose not to," he says with a small shrug. "I think using your emotions to make decisions is foolish and will lead others to certain destruction. I analyze the situation and I make an intellectual decision that I am confident will give me the upper hand. We were all affected differently when we gave into temptation and lost our wings. Jimin and Yoongi welcomed the human feelings with open arms. I analyze them so I can better understand them."

"And your last brother?" Reine asks, tilting her head slightly. "How is it possible for him not to feel?"

"He cares little for human emotions; dare I say he doesn't care at all," he says. "He has feelings, of course. He is committed to his integrity and his dedication. He even gets angry, whether it be for the nonsense of our brothers or when someone is indecisive or lazy. He has a code he follows, believe it or not, and when someone takes a misstep in his direction, they pay for it."

"What is his code?"

"He will never lie," Taehyung says, shaking his head again. "He abhors the idea of lying. He holds himself to a high standard of being transparent with whomever he is speaking with. He won't play mind games and even if it hurts him in the end, he will not hide any ulterior motives he may have."

"That is a commendable quality to have in a person," Reine says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Even if the truth shatters the person he is speaking to," Taehyung says in a dark tone, "he will not hold back. He comes off as cold, sometimes even like he has no soul at all. He takes it upon himself to be in charge and enforce order around him, and he has no remorse for anyone he steps on in the process."

"Thank you for your concern, Taehyung," she says, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. His muscles tense beneath her touch, so she lets her hand fall away. "I can handle it, though. I know how you view humans, but I am much stronger than you are giving me credit for. I have been through hell and back to make it to this moment. I will not let one person tear me down after everything."

Taehyung takes a step closer to Reine, closing the small distance between the two until she can feel his breath on her face. When she looks into his eyes, she can see a barely-masked emotion swimming in the distance of his gaze.

"If he tries to hurt you," he says above a whisper, "you need to run because there will be no changing his mind if that is what he chooses. There is a chance this won't turn out as you wish."

Reine smiles at Taehyung, trying to hide the ache in her chest and the fear billowing in her mind. "It will turn out as it is meant to be. I am sure of that."

He swallows, his hands clenching into fists as he stares at Reine for a few more tense moments, his gaze refusing to leave her soft, reassuring eyes staring back at him.

As Reine opens her mouth to speak again, Taehyung lets out a soft breath and brushes past her, his shoulder lightly bumping into hers as he walks off between the trees.

"Taehyung," she calls after him, and though he doesn't look back at her, he stops at the tree line.

"Stop running off every time you feel something," she says, trudging through the snow until she's right behind him. "Human emotions are not a bad thing to feel. They are not something that makes you weak. It is okay to be scared of your brother. It is okay to feel protectiveness over me. It is even okay to care about the people closest to you. Do you realize that?"

The armor on Taehyung's arm is glittering in the light, and Reine has to squint to be able to see the man in front of her clearly through the rays of the sun. He slowly turns to look at her, and she sighs as she sees the usual passive look on his face as he masks whatever he may be feeling.

Reine throws her arms out in frustration. "Why do you hide behind this mask, Taehyung?"

In the blink of an eye, arms are wrapped around Reine's body and she is pulled into a tight hug as Taehyung rests his cheek on top of Reine's head.

Her eyes widen, but she doesn't hesitate to hug him back, her own arms wrapping around his torso as she rests her head against his chest.

"You're cold," he comments and Reine laughs.

"It's an eternal winter here," she says. "Of course I'm cold."

"I can give you my shirt," he says in a quiet voice. "I don't get cold like humans do."

"Taehyung," she says, squeezing him slightly. "You're deflecting."

He sighs into her hair as he presses himself closer to Reine. "I am a smart person. I can study something and master it in half the time of a normal person. I know what to do and when to do it. I know how things work and I can anticipate the movements of a person I've been watching for a while. But with you, I feel confused. I feel almost stupid. I feel... human."

"Why?" she asks.

"If it were someone else who walked in your shoes, that person would have crumbled a long time ago. Losing your parents but still being able to stand and take a stand for what you believe is right is something my mind can't comprehend. Instead of being weakened by your human emotions, you used them to stand stronger and push yourself towards your goal - your revenge. You aren't afraid to stand and put people in their place when they show you disrespect. For the entirety of my existence, I have found humans as lazy and selfish. You are the opposite of what centuries of studying humans taught me. You are proactive in every way possible; your mind is constantly running, whether it be for your plans of freeing us, avenging your parents or bettering your kingdom. You have put yourself in harm's way multiple times for people you barely even know, risking your life to save ours more than once. I don't understand you, Reine, and it makes me feel confused, stupid and human."

"I also stumble," Reine says, pulling away from his grip to stare into his eyes. "I fall and I make mistakes, as all humans do. I love with my entire being, as all humans do. I wish I could be selfish like most humans are. I wish I had the option to be a simple villager with a job as a seamstress, knowing I don't have the weight of the world on my shoulders as all eyes are locked on me. They all want perfection; they need it from me and sometimes, I wish I could look at them and scream at the top of my lungs that I am not what they are looking for and to look elsewhere. I don't have a choice, Taehyung. I never have. I can't be lazy. I can't be selfish. And I can't lose any of you, so I will put myself in harm's way as many times as needed to save any of you because I trust that one of you will be there to pull me back from the precipice. Not because of your power; not because I need the four of you to help me avenge my parents. I genuinely care about each of you after everything we've been through together. That is another thing humans do: we protect the ones we care about."

Reine's lips lift upwards as she finally sees something in Taehyung's eyes she can decipher: disbelief. He stares at her as if this is the first time he's laid his eyes on her. His lips are slightly parted as shallow breaths escape between them, his cheeks flushed as the wind blows the snow around the two standing silently.

In another whirlwind moment, Taehyung's lips crash against Reine's and her eyes widen even further as his fingers come to rest on her cheeks to pull her lips even closer against his.

Another thing about humans is that they are impulsive; some humans strive for the thrill of living in the moment, and Reine has realized that she is one of those people. She has never been a person who was allowed to be impulsive; every decision in her entire life, big or small, has been calculated and planned to the most minuscule detail because every decision made in her life had to lead to her becoming the Queen of Cendres; every decision in her life affected the entirety of her kingdom and the future of it and its people. She needed to be bred for perfection, and that left no room for mistakes and impulsivity.

Now, her skin ignites as impulsivity presents itself to her again and again. It awakens her senses and she feels everything as if it's the first time she's able to feel anything.

So she lets Taehyung lead her into the woods until her back is pressed against the trunk of a tree. She lets his hands slide to her waist as he pulls her in closer, his tongue caressing hers as her hands twist in the fabric of his shirt. His kisses are more gentle than Yoongi's; Taehyung is more hesitant and careful with his movements, whereas Yoongi dove headfirst into the kiss with no inhibitions about the moment.

Reine is surprised at the change in Taehyung; she has sensed nothing but overwhelming confidence in himself - except, that is, when it came to her. She recalls the few times when she has caused him to get flustered, and it adds more questions in her mind when his face comes into her thoughts.

Even now, as his lips slowly part from hers, she can sense his confusion about her and the moment between them. She can feel his emotions more strongly than she has ever felt them radiating from his skin that is igniting her own.

"What the hell is it about you?" he whispers against her lips, his hot breath fanning against her own lips as she tries to catch her breath.

Before she can answer, Taehyung pushes himself away from the tree and walks away further into the woods, the trees swallowing his silhouette until Reine can see nothing but the fog of her breath swirling around her with the glittering snowflakes.

Reine puts her hands over her face as she slides down the trunk of the tree, kneeling against it as she groans.

What is she doing?

She realizes now why impulsivity is such a dangerous thing to play with; while it feels worthwhile in the moment, the repercussions of these moments are real and demand to be dealt with, and with everything else swirling in her mind, she's not sure she can carry this with her as well.

She hasn't thought much about the future outside of her revenge; before her parents' death, all she thought of, day and night, was the day she would be crowned Queen.

Now, the crown she dreamed of is sitting in a castle she no longer considers home, but the place where her parents' lives were taken from her. Now, her kingdom is waiting with their collective breaths held as they wait for their vanished Queen to return and reassure the people of Cendres that everything will be okay.

When her kingdom needed her most, she vanished and left her people and her home behind to create an army to avenge the death of the former King and Queen.

She realizes that, while she has always viewed this decision as selfless - as a decision for her parents - she has been selfish. She has been so selfish by choosing to chase the killers.

Maybe Taehyung is wrong about her; maybe she is not so selfless after all.

Before the death of her parents, all she thought of were her people. Even now, their poverty weighs heavily on Reine's heart, especially after seeing its effects up close as she moved through the village and outer regions. But things have changed after the loss of her family.

Now, confusion, pain and anger hold their iron grips on her heart while she explores a side of herself she had never met before this journey, and neither side of her is sure that everything will ever be the same after this.

Neither side of her is sure everything will be okay after this.

Every moment she is out here in the outer regions, she discovers who she truly is. Every day, she uncovers a buried piece of herself that was so warped to become what was needed for her to be the best Queen she could be.

She was nothing more than a puppet in their hands, and she feels freedom out here for the first time while being with the Horsemen. She also feels conflicted; she feels selfish for being here when she should be leading her people into a better era.

She is torn between who she wants to be, who she needs to be and who she is.

While the last box is within her grasp, tomorrow being the day she can finally complete her army and move forward with her plan to get justice for the lives that were lost on her coronation day, her heart is conflicted.

She feels confused, stupid and human.