"JIMIN! JUNGKOOK! COME BACK!" Taehyung screams into the void of expanding darkness. He thrashes violently against the tight grip of rubber gloves. His deep voice echoes off the sterile white hospital walls.

A flare of fresh pain burns down across his back with each wild movement. He arches his spine before his body gives out and forces him to lie down on the starchy blankets.

"COME BACK! COME BACK!" he continues to scream until his throat feels as if it's bleeding. "DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN!"

Distorted images of ghost-white figures and padded rooms flash through his head like lightning strikes.

Everything from the scent of the disinfectant, the prickling sensation of needles against his sweaty skin, the way his voice echoes off the walls, brings him straight back into the laboratory and reminds him of every "doctor" visit he had to endure.

I can't trust these men! I have to escape before they try to change me again! I have to escape this place! I have to save the others! They're in danger too!

Yet the world around Taehyung begins to fade away into muffled darkness and incoherent whispers.

His voice dies in his throat and his body slackens against the body.

His heart continues to race inside of his chest making it difficult to breathe correctly.

We're going to die here. They're going to hurt us again.

With those parting thoughts, he is dragged under into the world of strange dreams and caged nightmares.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"Taehyungie? Please wake up... the men are watching us again... can you wake up?"

Taehyung opened his eyes and found Jimin staring down at him. He sat up immediately and looked beyond the cage walls.

Three men stood outside of the cage. Their faces reflected the eerie glow of the tablets in their hands. Their faces are identical.

No, Taehyung reminds himself, they weren't identical. They were different every time. I just never paid attention to them.

Jimin pressed himself against Taehyung's side and held on to his arm. He rested his head on top of Taehyung's shoulder, still watching the men through the corner of his eye. "They are talking about Jungkook again. They said they are going to move him in our cage."

That's right. Jungkook used to be in a different cage before they moved him.

"I want to go home," Jimin whispered.

"Me too," Taehyung agreed quietly.

"Do you think we can?" Jimin turned to face him, his gaze was sincere. "One day... Do you think we can leave this place?"

Taehyung gulped. "I hope so."

Jimin sighed and lowered his head. "I don't want to die here. I want to go home... I miss it so much..." His eyes slowly filled with tears. He fought them back for a moment before allowing the tears to slide down his grime-stained face. He pressed the back of his hand against his mouth and leaned forward. "I don't know if I can do this for much longer. How long can I do this..."

I remember this. He said this many times in many ways. I felt terrible that I could never reassure him about the future. I felt like there was nothing I could do to help him.

Taehyung rested his hand on Jimin's trembling shoulder. "We just have to keep going... We can't give up now. I think there's a way we can escape. We just have to keep fighting."

Jimin sniffled quietly. "Do you really think that?"

Something in the back of his mind said yes so he nodded.

Jimin sat up straight and glanced up at the ceiling. He wiped a few tears from his face and sniffed. "I wish I had an angel like you," he admitted.

Taehyung's eyes widened in brief surprise. "My angel?"

"The one you pray to. The one you talk about."

Taehyung's heart ached at the thought of his angel. He used to believe in the existence of angels when he was young. His grandma always told him that he had a guardian angel. His angel would always look after him. As of late, he has lost hope in his guardian angel.

They were still trapped in this dark place. His angel had not saved them from this fate.

Jimin continued to study the ceiling. "Maybe I have an angel too. Maybe my angel got lost while trying to find me." His voice trembled with emotion, "Maybe the angel is still looking for me, like my parents. They're still looking for..."

Taehyung couldn't hold himself back. He threw his arms around Jimin and gave him the biggest hug he could give. Taehyung burst into tears and told Jimin not to give up over and over again. He told him that everything would be alright, that his angel and family were still looking for him because Taehyung couldn't accept the cruel truth that they had stopped.

"They will come for us! They haven't given up on us yet!" Taehyung swore to Jimin. "They are going to come soon! They're just lost... they're just... lost..."

Jimin started to cry harder and held onto Taehyung's ragged clothes. "You promise?" he whispered through his tears.

Taehyung nodded fiercely, still clinging to Jimin's boney figure. "I promise!"

"Hey! Pipe down in there!"

Both boys cringed away from the shout but continued to hold each other, whispering empty promises to each other to cope with the truth.

Taehyung couldn't allow himself to fall apart for Jimin's sake.

And deep down he knew Jimin wouldn't fall apart for Taehyung's sake.

It was an equal exchange of fighting for the impossible on the other's behalf. Maybe this is what kept them going.

But after each breakdown of emotion, each moment of doubt, and worthless hopes, Taehyung was always left with one bitter question in his mind.

Where's my angel?

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"Taehyung? Are you awake yet?" Jimin's voice echoes in Taehyung's mind and pulls him out of the sea of distorted memories.

Taehyung awakes from his slumber to find tears in his eyes. He blinks rapidly as he stares up at the painfully bright light. He sniffles quietly and takes a few deep breaths, still dazed from the intense dream.

"Taehyung?" Jimin leans over his face with concern in his dark brown eyes. "Are you okay?"

He stares at Jimin for a moment before opening his fisted hand. He takes Jimin's hand and squeezes it to reassure Taehyung that he's back in the real world.

Jimin lets out a quick sigh of relief and sits on the edge of the bed. "They said you were screaming. I ran all the way here."

Taehyung blinks at him. "You... ran here?"

Jimin nods, "I was with Eden. She just woke up too. The moment you woke up, they found me and I ran here," he explains.

Taehyung feels an odd stab in his chest. "You were with Eden," he repeats.

Jimin's eyes flicker with confusion. "Yes. But I came here right after."

Taehyung turns his head in the other direction and stares hard at the curtained window. "Oh."

Jimin raises an eyebrow and breaks into a sideways grin. "What? You're jealous?" he asks teasingly.

Taehyung purses his lips and continues to stare at the blocked window. He rolls his eyes slightly and shrugs one shoulder, "No," he says in a detached tone.

Jimin scoffs in disbelief, still grinning. "Oh come on, you can't expect me to be in two places at once, Tae."

Taehyung sighs sharply through his nose. "I don't."

"You obviously do. Tell me what's bothering you. We don't play games like this."

Taehyung finally looks over and casts Jimin a wounded look. "You left us for her," he says bluntly. "It's like you've already forgotten about us... about Jungkook... you weren't even worried about us. All you cared about was saving Eden. It was as if we didn't even matter. I thought we were closer than that. Closer than some girl you met two days ago."

Jimin draws back in surprise, the grin falls off his face in an instant. Taehyung could have slapped him to earn the same reaction. "I did everything in my power to come back for you. I left her behind to save you two first."

"And then she got kidnapped, I know, but you act like you... like she is already part of this family." Taehyung watches Jimin in disbelief, "Why do you trust her so easily?"

Jimin shakes his head, "Why don't you trust her?"

"Because I don't know her."

"You know that she's brave," Jimin begins defensively, "that she's compassionate, that she sacrifices herself for others. Isn't that enough?"

Taehyung remembers the greenhouse scene vividly. He watched the light in her eyes fade when she told them to leave instead of trying to look for a cure. She didn't want to make that decision, but she did anyway. But something about it felt like she was trying to play the role of the hero instead of being the role.

It felt fake.

Though Taehyung can hardly judge her for it.

Nobody in their right mind could confidently make that decision without regret. They would have to be a literal angel in order to wholeheartedly sacrifice themselves for another.

Jimin sighs and sits back, "However, it's hardly fair of me to ask you to trust her. You met her only hours ago. I see where you are coming from, but I want you to give her a chance."

Taehyung raises his brow briefly before shaking his head. He grabs Jimin's wrist and holds it closer to him. "It just worries me that you trust her so much... it feels like you're going to leave again." Taehyung grimaces, "Maybe I've got some abandonment issues, but there's hardly anything I can do to stop that."

Jimin nods in agreement. "I understand that. It's terrifying to be alone... but you know you aren't alone, right?" He casts Taehyung a pleading look, "I'm here for you. I came back to save you and Jungkook the second I left the hospital. You know that, right? Don't you trust me?"

Taehyung nods immediately. "Of course I trust you, I was just—" he stumbles over his words, "I just was scared. When you left, everything felt darker. It felt like I lost my family all over again."

"I won't leave you again," Jimin swears, locking eyes with him. "You're going to come with me. You and Jungkook. We are going to live with Eden until we can find a place of our own, okay? I'm not leaving you again. And it wasn't like I had a choice in the matter. They sold me. They took me away by force."

Taehyung winces at the edge of Jimin's tone. "I know. I'm sorry."

Jimin's expression softens again. "I'm sorry too. I didn't realize this was affecting you."

"I'm strong," Taehyung attempts to argue but he and Jimin know the truth. I'm weak compared to Jimin. I couldn't handle myself when he was taken away. Taehyung wants to blame it all on the men for breaking him mentally, but Jimin appears to be fine now.

Taehyung ruined himself in that cage. He should have been stronger.

Jungkook adjusted well to Eden, he even defended her.

Taehyung had been so possessive over his family that he didn't realize it.

In his mind, Taehyung hasn't escaped the arboretum yet. It still feels like he's trapped inside the cage, surrounded by darkness. Falling into oblivion.

"You should take your time to adjust," Jimin suggests quietly as if he could read his mind. "It might take a while but soon everything will be okay again. Eden says everybody deals with trauma differently."

Taehyung isn't entirely comforted by the thought of working through his experiences, but he knows it will happen at some point.

"And don't pretend like you're fine either," he adds quietly. Jimin watches Taehyung through the corner of his eye, "It's scary what a smile can hide."

Taehyung couldn't agree more.

They continue to talk about current events and what happened after the ambulances took them away. Then the doctor hiding in the corner of the room finally approaches them and asks Taehyung questions about how he feels and if he feels any pain.

Taehyung couldn't feel a thing but he knows that isn't always a good sign.

Jimin tells Taehyung that he has to leave to check on Jungkook again. Jungkook is in stable condition and doesn't sustain any serious injuries like Taehyung or Eden, but Jimin wants to keep him company for a while. Earlier, Yoongi and Hoseok were with Jungkook until they moved on to talk with Eden for a little bit.

Taehyung didn't realize that their new friends stayed longer than they had to. He feels oddly impressed that they still care about them.

He begins to think back to his dark dream and remembers his guardian angel. He wonders if his angel was able to find him after all.

In a way, one might believe Eden was the angel in the end. She was the catalyst that broke the pattern of imprisonment. When Eden arrived, Jimin returned to save them all from the cages.

Taehyung knows Eden isn't an angel, and certainly not his angel, but he wonders if somehow his angel guided Jimin and Eden together to save them all.

Maybe his angel returned after all.

A/N: I'm not going to lie, I might have almost cried while writing this chapter. I was also listening to "Awake" and "Blue and Gray" which made the writing mood emotional as heck. Jimin's line, "It's scary what a smile can hide" is an actual quote of his! This might be the chapter I am most proud of (so far) so I hope you enjoyed it! <3