tw: violence,,, please skip forward if you need!

Jimin and Jungkook whispered in their earpieces to the Director, telling him that they'd found the room. After doing so, they raised their hands to show they weren't a threat to them.

They didn't know how else to earn the trust of all the terrified people in the room, but they tried their best to soothe them, telling them they were there only to save them.

Jimin rushed to the door, watching out for any danger, before allowing Jungkook to start leading them out of the room and to their van. Jimin's role was to be the end of the trail while Jungkook was to be the head.

They were doing so well, but before they got to the entrance, a couple of men slipped out past some boxes, causing everyone to freeze.

They treaded forward with their guns raised, one aiming at Jungkook while the other aimed at Jimin.

Another mistake was the small misstep in forgetting to give Jimin a weapon.

His heart was now in his throat, thumping so hard he was this close to vomiting it out. Heaving deep, short breaths, he kept looking from them, and to Jungkook, and then to the helpless people he was trying to save.

Both the men worked in an identical fashion, their steps, their grip on the guns, even the small flinching of their shoulders.

However, soon, one of the men started to lower his gun - the one pointed at Jungkook. He seemed to recognise a fellow comrade and decided against him being a threat.

Yet, the other kept walking forward, still aiming his gun at Jimin.

And everything then happened in slow motion - the slow pull of the trigger, the loud shriek Jungkook had let out, the way Jimin pushed a few girls aside so that they were nowhere near him.

And the impact caused him to jolt one shoulder back, before another BANG was followed by his other shoulder rocking backward, too.

"NO!" Jungkook screeched, lunging toward him. "JIMIN NO!"

He kneeled beside the man, not even phased by the immense tears rolling down his cheeks.

Only to see the beauty of the night sky fading right before his eyes.

"Jimin, stay with me!" he yelled again, "Jimin, please!"

He sent the younger one a small smile, which only made him more frustrated.

His heart was right there, sending him the warmest of smiles, copper storms still swirling in his eyes, the addition of the brightness of the sun rippling through them. All fading in his grasp.

"Man," his voice rasped out, and Jungkook hiccuped.

"Jimin, please, you can't go like this, please," the tears wouldn't stop, and Jungkook cursed himself for it. He wanted to see this man clearly; he wanted to see the love of his life without the blurred addition of tears ruining it.

"I really wanted to spend Christmas with you, Jungkook, I'm sorry I c-couldn't get to."

"The fuck?" Jungkook scolded him, "Are you really talking about that right now?"

His hands fumbled as he ripped Jimin's shirt off, crumbling it into a ball and pressing onto one bullet wound with it, pulling his own shirt to push against the other.

But before he could get to it, a trembling hand reached up and clasped itself around his wrist weakly.

Jungkook's lips trembled as he looked to his lover's - yes, his damned lover's - eyes.

"I-I think I love you, Jungkook. Thank you for everything."

And with that, the little strength that he'd used to hold onto Jungkook's wrist disappeared and his hand fell to the floor.

"JIMIN!" Jungkook wailed, "JIMIN NO!"

He bent over, head resting against Jimin's chest, "Jimin, please, no, come back. I can't lose you too. Jimin, please - I love you as well, I love you, Jimin, please!"

He continued to repeat it, over and over again.

"Jimin, please, I love you, come back-"

He hiccuped, lifting his head to trace his chin with his shaking fingers, finding blood leave its trace. Dropping his gaze again, his eyes caught the image painted against Jimin's peck.

The image that he drew with his own hands.

"So here?" Jimin's voice broke his trance, and he finally looked down.

Was it only his eyes that reflected the gold of Saturn? Because now he was sure it was his whole being.

The little imperfections in his skin seemed like the Milky Way, small comets and asteroids plucked from the sky and splayed across it.

He didn't need tattoos; his body was already embedded with the universe.

As his heart belonged to every star.

"Yep," Jungkook could only croak, and he beat himself internally for it, "You're sure about this?"

Jimin grinned again, and Jungkook had to put down the tattoo gun for fear he was going to throw it at the wall.

When he wasn't smiling, he was begging to see it again. And when he was smiling, he wished it would never leave.

"My gosh-" Jimin was giddy. His eyes had the fire of the sun in them as he jumped off the seat to look at himself at the full-length mirror.

"It's beautiful!"

"Careful, careful!" Jungkook ran behind him, "You haven't put the- you need to put the-" he stopped when he was standing behind him, watching Jimin's reflection in the mirror.

Jimin as well lifted his gaze from the tattoo on his chest, meeting Jungkook's eyes.

"I didn't know I wasn't supposed to look at you when you worked, sorry."

"Oh- no, that's- don't apologise," their eyes never left each other's, although Jungkook really wished he could have looked away.

He hated that Jimin really just seeped everything out of him. Everything he'd rather keep under wraps.

"I just- you looked so... cool with the tattoo gun, I don't normally see you that way."

Jungkook blinked, finally being able to look away to save himself from embarrassment.

He didn't want Jimin to see he was blushing again.

Why was he blushing again?

"You mean cool? You don't normally see me that way?" he faked a gasp, "I'm offended."

"You know what I mean," Jimin laughed, "Thank you so much for giving this to me."

Jungkook's finger painted a red outline of the tattoo as he pushed back the memory, frustrated.

The sixth planet from the sun. Such an immense giant that could only be seen from the Earth on selected days of the year.

But Jungkook saw it every day through this man's eyes.

"Jimin," he whimpered, falling limp against his body, "Jimin."

He heard a thump, two thumps, three... before they started to get distant from each other.

And they finally ceased to beat.

Another star being released to the universe.

--

The men stared at Jiah as she slowly leaned forward.

They all took that as her decision; the gun was in her hand in no time.

"You know better than pull a fast one over us," he warned her, "You go in there, and get the job done, you hear me? He'll show you where your loverboy's waiting for you."

And she was forcibly directed out of the room, into another.

The member who was waiting inside with Taehyung headed for the door, and she turned to them, confused.

But they said nothing, silently closing the door, leaving the two lovers alone in the room.

"Sweetheart," he breathed out, and that was all it took for her to come crumbling down.

"Taehyung," she joined him in the centre of the room, threading her arms around his waist.

She didn't know what else to say.

He leaned into her embrace, placing soft kisses in her hair, "I'm here, beautiful, I'm here."

"I-I don't know what to do," she hiccuped, not caring that she was a crying mess, "I don't know what to do."

"We both know what we have to do now, Jiah," he tried to give her a smile, "C'mon."

"Don't you dare think I'm going to go through with this, Taehyung, there has to be another way."

"Sweetheart," he said softly, and she just wished he'd stop. Every time he called her that, her heart melted a little more. But she didn't need that right now. "I'm fine, see?"

She sobbed into his chest unceasingly, hands clutching at his jacket. And he only held her in silence, rocking her slowly as her tears soaked his chest.

A tiny lapse let her pull away, blinking lashes heavy with tears. One look into those eyes made her collapse again, howls of misery worsening.

The pain must have come in waves, sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling her back into the outstretched arms of his grief.

"Remember?" Taehyung let out softly, "Our souls are intertwined. No matter what life throws us, the universe will want us back together. This is only a break for us, I'll be back for our next lives, and we'll be together again, Jiah. This isn't goodbye; this is only see you later."

She didn't like that.

She didn't like that one bit.

This man was her everything.

She couldn't live if he wasn't there to see it.

He continued to smile at her, rubbing tears away with firm hands as he bent down to envelope her lips in a bittersweet kiss. She didn't reciprocate. Instead, she tasted the tears streaming down her cheeks. He was always good at getting her to comply, however, and soon her mouth moved with his, parting ever so slowly to allow his warmth to fill her insides. A sensation she adored.

This couldn't be goodbye, it just couldn't.

Her fingers were trembling, "Taehyung, I can't do this."

"And what? Get your brother killed?"

"I don't know!" she wailed, falling to the floor, "I don't want either of you gone, can't you see how hard this is for me?"

His eyebrows furrowed in pity, pity for the beautiful woman weeping in front of her. He remembered the first time he saw her, or rather, the first time he drank in her stunning, honey brown eyes. How hard he fell for her with every word she spoke, every movement she made, every time she would utter his name he felt his heart melt a little more. And here that woman was, not being able to catch her breath amid her tears.

"Jiah," he whispered, sitting beside her, biting his lip so as not to cry as well. He had to be strong for her. Taking her face in his hand, he pulled her close ever so gently, whispering in her ear, "Jiah I loved you," his voice trembling, no matter how hard he tried to stay strong, "I love you," tears slowly fell on his cheeks, "and I will always love you."

She realised that now, nothing made her happier, and nothing made her sadder than him.

She'd never wanted to hear someone say they love her less.

Suddenly a loud BANG pierced through the room, and they jerked back from each other to observe their surroundings.

It was followed by another BANG, and they could have sworn they heard a yell.

Did someone just scream Jimin's name?

Jiah's expression filled with worry as she turned to Taehyung.

This was all going so, so, so wrong.

She wished she didn't meet his gaze then, because what she saw caused a gasp to erupt from her.

His eyes stormed like two hurricanes about to make rainfall.

"I'm not doing it," she whispered to him, bringing them back to their issue, "I can't do it."

He sighed, nodding as his hand reached out to grab the weapon in his hand. Her intense weeping had made her weak, as she didn't feel the machine slip from her fingers when he took it into his own.

"Can you check that there's no one outside?" he nodded at the door, "We can make a run for it."

She agreed, pulling her limp body off the ground and headed for the door. Opening it, she looked around, checking for anyone-

BANG!

Her eyes widened, looking down at her empty hands.

Another, fucking mistake.

Running back into the room, she felt the tears start to pour down again at the sight in front of her.

"TAEHYUNG!"

There he was, an arm outstretched with the gun in his hand as he lay on the floor.

"TAEHYUNG, NO!"

Falling beside him, she instantly hooked an arm under his neck and pulled him closer.

It was just like the last time when he was stabbed.

That stupid smile would never leave his face.

He stared up at her, a single tear slipping from his eye. His eyes that reminded her of dove feathers, a chandelier of diamonds, of all the stars in the night sky combined.

Cheeks that held roses, hair that rippled like a sea of autumn leaves, skin through which the sun shone.

"Fuck, Jiah," something made her jump. She recognised the Director's voice through her earpiece, and she was just about to rip that thing out and throw it against the wall.

But Taehyung sensed this and lifted his hand to hold hers.

"Jiah, you gotta get out of there. I overheard some of the guards on my way out. Apparently the Boss plans to kill you now, he's fast-forwarding his plans to get your organs, you better fucking get out of there if you want to live."

She didn't care.

"Taehyung," she turned her attention back to him instead, "Please stay with me, we can go to the hospita-"

The weak shake of his head made her stop.

"No," he strained his voice to speak, and she hushed him.

"Please, don't, you're going to lose too much energy before we can get you-"

Him shaking his head stopped her speech again.

"Go," was all that he whispered. "Save yourself."

"Taehyung!"

"In another life," he nodded at her, making her remember their promise, "right?"

"Taehyung," she continued to weep, "Taehyung, please, no."

The vision of Seokjin hunched over, mourning the loss of his brother as a causality of his own actions flashed before her.

Because here she was, doing the exact same thing. 

"Taehyung no!"

He tried with his might to keep pushing his smile up for her. But soon enough, the muscles in his face failed on him, the smile slowly fading.

"Taehyung!"

This felt like the ending to the story that had been written for him all along.

OMG THAT WAS THE LAST CHAPTER AHH PLS DON'T KILL ME I'VE BEEN SO NERVOUS TO POST IT KJHGHJKL

DON'T HATE ME TOO MUCH this was always going to be the way this story ended :( 

Ugh it's so sad to say goodbye to this story, it's one where I've definitely learnt to grow - push myself through slumps and talk to people about my insecurities with it. It's so close to my heart I will never be able to thank you enough for reading it!

Read on for the Epilogue, Afterword and Reflection! (Reflection has a Q&A in it)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH