"It is beautiful here," a voice sounds behind Reine, and she looks over her shoulder to see Hoseok standing a fair distance from her, his hands clasped behind his back as he watches her with a small smile on his face.

"My mother loved flowers," Reine explains, her fingers caressing the soft petal of the daisy in her grasp. "My father had this garden made for her. When I fell in love with the beauty of these flowers as well, my mother and I would come out here together to help the gardeners take care of the place."

He nods, sensing Reine's shift in mood as he moves to stand beside her and stare at the daisies as well. "You like daisies the best, I assume."

Reine nods. "After my mother stopped coming here, I would sneak here a lot and the gardeners would let me help them. I would always find myself wandering toward the daisies more than anything else."

"Why do you think that is?" Hoseok asks, and Reine smiles to herself as she lets go of the flower's delicate petals.

"They remind me of myself - or who I used to be," Reine says, clasping her own hands together behind her back. "I remember seeing them and thinking how they look like they are made from pure light; the golden center and the white rays surrounding them and spreading their love towards the universe. I was always looking at myself to be like that; I strived to be everyone's light, and I felt like daisies understood that."

"And now?" he asks, leaning his head forward so the two make eye contact. "What do you think about being the light for the world?"

"I think that sometimes, light can shine too brightly and burn everything until nothing but ash is left in its wake," Reine says quietly, her eyes shifting away from him.

He sighs. "I believe you are the opposite of that," he says. "Your light was taken from you, leaving you lost in the shadows. The first thing you saw - the first opportunity to pull yourself from the darkness - was when Jimin's box presented itself to you, and you clung to that, not realizing that what you had grabbed onto was the darkest shadow amongst them all."

Reine hums, knowing she can't argue with him. He's right.

"Focusing solely on this plan of revenge has created more and more darkness to surround you, to the point that you can't even see in front of your face anymore," he continues. "This path is going to cost you everything you have left, Reine. Do you not want to fight for what you do have left?"

"Until my last breath," Reine says, glancing toward Hoseok for a moment before turning back to the flowers in front of her. "I know my mistakes, and I am willing to do what is necessary to mend what can be mended."

"The Horsemen, as we speak, are in the outer regions resting and gathering their strength to take us on," Hoseok explains. "Once they feel at their strongest, they will come here and they will be ready for war. They will be prepared to kill you and anyone who stands in their way."

Reine nods, staying silent as he moves to stand in front of her, forcing her eyes to lock on his solemn face.

"We will do what we can to protect you and the people of this kingdom, but ultimately, you are the one who has to defeat them in the end," he says. "The weapon is the only thing that can put them back in the boxes, and you are the only one who can wield it."

His hand rests against Reine's shoulder, and she takes in a slow, deep breath as his amber eyes bore into hers. "We are running out of time, Reine. We need the weapon to stand a chance against them. We can hold them off for as long as we can, but eventually, we will get tired and with the strength of the darkness on their side, I am afraid that eventually, they will overpower us if their stamina outweighs our own. We cannot die - not in the sense of ceasing to exist like humans - but that does not mean we cannot be brought to the brink of death."

"I have no idea what the weapon is," Reine says, her shoulders slumping. "The curse was never mentioned to me at all, so I am sure that whatever the weapon is has been hidden away, my family determined to pretend it does not exist at all, along with anything else having to do with the Horsemen."

Hoseok runs a hand through his hair, the wavy locks falling back against his forehead. "We have been searching everywhere, but we have found nothing."

Reine looks at the ground, her and Hoseok's feet toe-to-toe in their close proximity. She feels so useless. The one thing she can do to help, and she has no information that could bring them closer to what they seek.

She sighs heavily, running her hands over her face before freezing, her eyes widening as she stares at the ground beneath their feet.

"What is it?" Hoseok asks, his own face scrunching in concern.

"I may know where the weapon is, or at least knowledge of where it is being kept," Reine says, her eyes lighting in realization.

"Where?" he asks, his own eyes widening.

"There is a secret tunnel beneath the palace," Reine explains, gesturing to the general area of the ground below her. "It is supposed to be used as a bunker of sorts, in case we are attacked and need a safe place to hide the royal family. We also use it to store important documents from the Kings and Queens before us: birth certificates, aged contracts, diaries - things like that. I could not tell you if there are any ancient weapons there, but there may be some kind of documentation of its existence."

"That is better than nothing," he says, smiling at her.

Reine lets out a sigh of relief, feeling a weight lifting off of her chest at the possibility of being one step closer to finding the weapon. She turns on her heel, determined to get to the tunnel's entrance as soon as possible so they can search through the secret room, but Hoseok's hand lands on Reine's shoulder again, stopping her in her tracks as her back faces him.

"I know you may not believe this," he says in a quiet tone. "I know you have no reason to believe or trust a word I say, but..."

"What?" Reine asks, the tension in his voice making her not want to turn to face him. Instead, she stares in the distance, her eyes landing on a couple of birds flying in the blue, cloudless sky above them.

"If I had been in your shoes - if I had gone through what you went through," he says, "I think I would have opened the box too."

Reine tries not to let him feel her muscles tense, determined not to give any hint of her emotions away.

"I need you to know we are not scolding you for the choice you made," Hoseok continues. "I need you to know that I understand why you did it, and I do not blame you. None of us do."

"Thank you," Reine whispers, her gaze falling to the green grass below her feet. "I appreciate that."

"You are more than your crown, Reine," he says, his fingers gently squeezing her shoulder. "We know that. There is so much blame weighing heavily on your heart, and none of it is justifiably yours."

"It is hard not to carry the entirety of the burden on my shoulders," Reine admits, slowly turning to face him. "I remained selfless my entire life, until I made one wrong choice that led to my downfall into the dark. I turned into someone selfish - someone who couldn't see past their own wants and needs. I will never forgive myself for straying so far from who I am, but I also need to teach myself not to help the darkness tear me down."

"We all played our part in this," he says, smiling at her. "Now, we will all play our part to make things right."

Reine smiles back, nodding as she bows her head to him in respect.

He bows back, his head coming back after a moment to grin at her. "You can do this, Reine. Everyone believes in you, whether you wish to believe that or not."

"We do," Jungkook's voice sounds, and Reine turns behind her to see him and Namjoon walking into the garden area.

Namjoon nods, his eyes flitting to Reine's for a moment, and she knows he is apologizing for his harshness earlier.

She smiles at him, bowing her head slightly as he bows his head back.

"Namjoon and I realized something," Jungkook says, and Reine's attention turns to him.

"What's that?" Reine asks, and Jungkook grins, his amber eyes flashing gold for a second before dulling back.

"You and Hoseok are the same person," he says, and Reine frowns in confusion while Hoseok lets out a small laugh.

"How have you come to that conclusion?" Hoseok asks, tilting his head slightly as his hair blows in the slight breeze wrapping around them.

"You are both natural leaders," Jungkook says. "You are both passionate about what you believe in, neither afraid to stand and speak when you need to. Both of you have genuine concern for others, your selflessness shining through when it comes to protecting others who look to you."

"To name a few things," Namjoon says, shrugging as Jungkook laughs at the look on Hoseok and Reine's faces.

"Even your facial expressions are the same," Jungkook laughs, holding his stomach as he points between the two. "Twins, I am telling you. That is why we agreed to let you be the one to come out here and talk to her."

"Please calm down," Hoseok and Reine snap at the same time, which causes Jungkook to nearly fall to the ground laughing; even Namjoon's stoic persona cracks as his lips curve a bit.

Hoseok sighs, rubbing the back of his neck as Jungkook struggles to breathe. "I did say I would have made the same decision you did."

"I can see the similarities," Reine says, sending him a small smile as she shrugs.

"I don't know how I feel about there being two Hoseoks bossing me around," Jungkook says, wiping tears from his eyes as his reddened cheeks slowly go back to their tan color.

"Don't be incompetent and I will have no need to do so," Reine says, brushing past Jungkook as his jaw drops open.

"Maybe two Hoseoks is what we need," Namjoon says, nudging his shoulder against Jungkook's as he turns to follow Reine.

"Maybe I will finally get some respect around here," Hoseok says, giving Jungkook a sharp glance as he snorts in laughter again.

"In your dreams," he says, licking his lips as he turns as well, following the three back toward the entrance to the palace.

Reine leads the three across the lawn, people bowing to her as she passes by them. She bows back, smiling at all of them as the three Archangels jog to catch up to her.

"You seem happier," Jungkook says, smiling at her as she glances in his direction.

"Not necessarily happier," Reine says, pausing to bow to the guards at the door. "Less lost."

"I am glad you found yourself again," he says as Namjoon and Hoseok trail behind the two of them as they enter the palace.

"I realize I will not be the same person I was before all of this, but I also realize I cannot continue to be the person I was becoming," Reine says, her heels clicking on the floor as she makes the all-too-familiar trek to the room that holds the entrance to the tunnel.

"Can I ask you something?" Jungkook asks.

"You just did," Reine says, her gaze passive as Jungkook huffs in annoyance.

"Do you care for them? Truly?" he asks, and Reine's playful mood evaporates as the Horsemen's smiling faces enter her mind.

"I do," she admits.

She knows she can't deny how she feels for them. She spent so much time with Yoongi, Jimin and Taehyung. She opened herself to them, and they did the same to her - or so she believed.

"We watched it all unfold," Jungkook admits. "It was all we could do, but we kept an eye on things, ready to come to you the moment we could."

Reine feels her face heating, remembering all of the intimate moments she has shared with three of the four Horsemen.

"I am going to give my opinion, and I request that you do not harm me," he says, and Reine manages a small laugh.

"I feel like they truly care for you," he says, and Reine stops walking, the clicking of her heels falling into silence.

Jungkook holds up his hands in surrender, his eyes widening. "No harm. Please."

Reine sighs, feeling the Archangels' eyes on her as she purses her lips. "Why do you think that?"

"We know them well," Hoseok interjects. "They are our brothers, even if they have lost their wings."

"They may have been using you, but I truly believe they care for you, in their own ways," Jungkook finishes, his hands staying in front of him as he slowly nods.

Reine's gaze falls to the floor.

Part of her believes that; part of her felt like the three truly wanted to keep her alive and safe. Part of her doesn't blame them for choosing their brother over her.

Part of her wonders how much pain it caused them to have to make the choice.

The more time she spends away from the Horsemen, the more she realizes that the decision Yoongi, Taehyung and Jimin made wasn't meant to be hateful. They weren't declaring their distaste for her; they weren't declaring war against her because of who she is as a person.

They declared war against the crown; it happens that the crown is meant to sit on her head.

She has always known that the four Horsemen have a strong bond; they are family, after all. She has come to terms with the fact that if she were in their position - if she had to choose between them and her parents, she would choose her family.

She is still heartbroken; she is still hurt.

But she understands.

Reine manages a smile as she looks at the three angels. "I know."

"Being on Earth for so long," Hoseok explains, "and being around humans has caused their human emotions to come to the surface. After losing their wings, they came the closest to being humans as they could be, and while I am sure it is slightly warped and different from the actual feelings of a human, they do feel things."

"Not to defend them, though," Jungkook says, holding his finger up. "I am looking forward to stuffing them back into their boxes where they belong after everything they have done."

Reine knows she will have to learn how to live without them. She knows she has no other choice, but it doesn't make it hurt any less.

She realizes that underneath the anger that was flaring at her surface, she had been repressing how much she cares for Jimin, Yoongi and Taehyung.

She doesn't want to lose them.

"They loathe our existences," Hoseok says, sensing Reine's pain. "But they feel differently about you. I am sure they are having as difficult of a time as you are right now."

She knows they are trying to get her to feel a bit better about her conflicted feelings; she knows the Archangels hate the Horsemen as much as they are hated by them. She does appreciate them trying though. She can only imagine the inner strength and restraint they are showing to say remotely nice things about their enemies.

Her enemies.

As much as she wishes it weren't true, they are on the opposite side of the battlefield.

"I will do what I need to do," Reine says, nodding her head in affirmation. "No matter the personal cost."

"As I said," Jungkook says, smiling at her. "You are selfless, and you are a natural leader. The kingdom will thrive under your rule."

The three bow before Reine, and she smiles at them, knowing she can't let herself crumble again. There are things she needs to do, and she can't do them if she is lying in the fetal position on her parents' bed.

She is being tested again. She has to make a decision, and this time, she is ready to be the selfless, determined person she has always wished to be.

"This way," Reine says, gesturing down the hallway as she turns and walks again, her heels clicking against the stone as the three men follow behind her.

Reine ignores the sun's light shining through the windows, surprised in her indifference to its brightness. She doesn't know if the light will ever bring her warmth again, but she knows that it is no longer casting shadows in her life, and if that is all she can have, she will take it.

As the four get closer to their destination, Reine's chest aches at the thought of the familiarity she is about to walk into.

Has anything changed? Did the staff rearrange the furniture or replace the decrepit chairs that were nearly falling apart from how often they were sat in by her and her father?

The grand doors to the library come into view, and Reine wishes more than anything that her father would be standing on the other side of them, grinning brightly as he holds a stack of books in his arms to let Reine choose from.

As she pulls the doors open, however, she is met with a room filled with nothing but books, no sign of her father's smiling face.

Though Reine can physically feel the absence of her father, she smiles to herself at the smell of the books and the sight of the familiar chairs tucked away in a corner of the safe haven.

"Wow," Namjoon mutters, looking around at the vast amount of books stacked from floor to ceiling on every wall, a few smaller shelves built in the middle while a grand chandelier hangs above the entirety of the room, its warm glow basking the library in a golden hue.

"My father and I loved to read," Reine explains, her eyes twinkling with nostalgia.