Jeongguk stares at the fire before his eyes. The vibrant and mellow glow within the heavy shadows of the dark. He watches as the fire flickers, following the movement of his eyes as it sways side to side, somehow finding some kind of relaxation with the way the flames move so elegantly. Almost something close to peaceful. It's ironic really how the most dangerous element can seem so quiet.

Gentle.

And still.

Yet in the wrong hands, it could destroy everything in its surroundings in a matter of seconds.

All it needs is a delicate blow.

Jeongguk motionlessly looks at the flames  with a chin rested on his knees that's to his chest. He didn't even look up when he heard the footsteps approaching his way, nor did he shift a movement when the person sat beside him before the fire.

Jeongguk knew it was Taehyung.

No one bothered to talk to Jeongguk for that matter here, especially as he sat by a small corner of the large dome with a small bone fire to himself. They'd glance in curiosity, but leave him to his peace alone.

As if Taehyung would ever leave him alone for that matter.

Taehyung didn't say anything to him, but he did stare at the fire too, watching as it sways tenderly like a smooth song. He watched as the flames went small, slowly extending longer and spreading to the sides in whirls of designs - looking like some flowers created of fire. A gentle stroke of a brush that created these beautiful lines from Jeongguk's creative mind, right before the fire bursts and now the design is burning along the fire.

Becoming nothing.

Taehyung frowns and he looks at Jeongguk, who's still looking at the fire, "Jewel..... You care about Jewel."

"Of course I do," Jeongguk whispers.

"No," Taehyung says back, and he softly takes one of Jeongguk's hands, "Same.... Like you care for me."

Jeongguk didn't respond to that. He sits up and heavily sighs, letting the burn glimmer his eyes, "I'm scared to lose him Taehyung."

Taehyung frowns deepens and he squeezes Jeongguk's hand, who finally let a tear trickle down his cheek, "I'm scared that.... He'll become the one thing he hated to become. I'm scared that he'll choose them over us."

The thought was like a weight of bricks on Jeongguk's chest, and his throat began to clutch, "And I..... I feel these things when I'm around him. I feel this energy. I feel the world. I feel..... Him, who he always goes on about. The Guardian or whatever it may be. There's so many things going on and I don't even understand myself anymore."

Jeongguk closes his eyes and he cranes his head back after finally confessing this, refusing to cry even more because he has done enough of that.

He doesn't want to cry.

There's no reason to.

Taehyung watched Jeongguk with a grimace, and he rubs his knuckles, "Jewel make choice. No give choice, Jewel build anger. Jewel strong, and very wise. Trust him."

Jeongguk looks at him, "Aren't you scared?"

"No."

"How come? How do you do it?"

Sighing lowly, Taehyung looks back to the fire, his gaze heavy, "I've seen nations fall. People die and great leaders go mad. I've seen the griefs of war. We are close to one, but Jewel clever. I choose to trust in Jewel."

"What if he makes the wrong choice?"

"Then.... We'll be there when he come back," Taehyung says back, and looks at Jeongguk, "Pack loyalty, no? But Jewel need this. Jewel need people, but trust him to come back to us."

Jeongguk sinks in Taehyung's words and looks back to the fire, and he frowns again, "What if it ends up with us against him, then what?"

Taehyung rests his head on Jeongguk's shoulder, inhaling deeply his scent and exhales, "Then we fight to get him back."

"Against the world?"

"Against the world," Taehyung states back, "Us against the world."

Jeongguk squeezes his eyes shut, lips trembling, "What if it comes between us?"

"I will kill for my mate," Taehyung said, "I mated with Jewel. I mated with You. You both my mate. Between us no war, I won't allow it. Always together, just like promise."

Jeongguk softly squeezes Taehyung's hand back and he rests his head on his, closing his eyes, "Then I'll stand with you too."

Jimin twirls his foot against the creak of the river, watching the fishes twirl around his feet before going down the current of the river.

With a never ending stream of tears gliding down his cheeks.

The sky is heavy and dark, probably just like how Jimin feels as the vines of the trees curl around his body - probably in a form of comfort. The roots of the trees are trying to give him a boost of energy, but his heart is too weak with sadness as he remembers Jeongguk and Taehyung's words engraved in his sensitive head.

He shudders even as he recalls Jeongguk's raging eyes, and Taehyung's fatal blow to their last conversation, feeling confusion and..... Angry.

So angry, even to himself.

"We are only restoring our sworn duty for our people. You know this better than anyone."

"How do they expect us to fight along side them!?!"

"This world was safe before anyone else showed up, and we will maintain it that way."

"We'll figure out on what to do, but we all must stick together. Do you understand me Jimin?"

"I will not hesitate to kill to protect my mate."

Jimin covers his ears with an animalistic whimper escaping his throat. Those words repeated over and over in his head like a broken record player, reminding Jimin that at the end of the day..... Taehyung will never choose him, and Jeongguk will never trust him either since he always sees him as a defenseless being who doesn't know anything.

Perhaps that is true. Jimin is know expert in the modern world, but he does know what it means to protect what he cares about.

And currently, that's something that's tearing him apart.

What is right? What is wrong? What makes sense?

These people hear his people, he must defend his people.

But Jeongguk and Taehyung are his pack.

They were always there when he woke up, and stayed right by his side.

But why are they so mad?

Why are they all so.... Negative...

Why is everyone and everything so complicated.

So much weight lies on Jimin's shoulders, the burden of the two things he cares about, and it's driving him crazy because he feels like he can't even breathe. Almost like when he was shielded from the world by being underwater. But this time it's a prison, and he has to choose which door to escape from.

Either option resulting with losing either side of the things he has.

Why.....

Why can't it be easy?

Why are the causes so different?

Most of all, what's the best choice for peace?

Jimin's ears suddenly perked upon hearing a branch snap, straying away from his train of thought.

He looked up, and deeply inside he hoped it'd be Jeongguk or Taehyung to rekindle their misunderstanding, but the light in his eyes dimmed when he sees Taemin approaching him.

As much as he loves to see his brother, with the evident problem going on, he'd hope he'll find some compassion from his pack.

Guess there's no closure tonight.

Yet Jimin relaxes when the other man sat beside him with his feet in the creak as well, looking at him, "You didn't come to eat."

Jimin looks back to the river, staring at the fishes still moving through his feet.

"Not hungry," Jimin says backs, drifting his gaze slowly to the sky, "Can I ask you something brother?"

"Of course."

"How are you still alive? Like me?" He asks, "You look the same as when I last saw you, aside from the hair."

Jimin runs his fingers through his short hair, and the faint shaved sides that's tinted in grey hair dye.

Taemin looks down to the water, specifically to the fishes, and then says backs, "I wasn't released from my capsule until recently. The people knew of my bloodline with you, and they were spectacle. Life wasn't so bad before, but now as times have changed, they needed a leader."

"But you're not the chief."

"By choice. There was already a chief in charge, and I was not going to take that away from him."

"But by obligation, it's always the chosen from the Guardian. Our family was chosen to lead the people. If I were to have perished, you would be king. It was decided."

Taemin frowns and looks at Jimin, "Times has changed Jewel. They know the modern world better than I do. I am there only for the assistance, not to lead. You are here now. You can lead us."

Jimin grimaces, looking down to his hands, "But what you guys are doing is not right. Taehyung is a species from a different planet, and Jeongguk is half human, and they aren't bad. I've trained with different species, I've seen humans. They aren't so bad to the point they must be executed."

"You are right, but the world is not okay now..... You can't even deny that either. You're talking about two decent beings compared to the world."

Jimin frowns, looking down, "I know but-"

Taemin now weighs a deep frown and he gets up, extending a hand out.

Jimin looks at Taemin and his hand, "What?"

"Come. I want to show you something."

Jimin looks between his hand and his face, right before taking his hand. The vines around Jimin's waist tightening and the fishes whirled rapidly through Jimin's feet. Instinctively Jimin's pupils widen and he looks down to the vines and fishes.

Hm.

Jimin looks around to the trees and flowers slowly, feeling the wind pick up speed and the night growing colder in a thick frost.

Protest.

Why protesting?

Jimin breath grows uneven and he relaxes.

Not yet.

Not right now.

He needs more.

Jimin's eyes flickered green and everything mellowed. The vine unwrapped around his waist loosens and he stands up to his feet.

"Can you fly?"

Jimin twitches an eye, but he nods.

"We'll need your flight."

Slowly the tattoos on his arms undid itself, and the wings outstretched his back. The feathers grew in seconds, and Jimin flaps them once to ready himself.

Taemin gets on his back, and Jimin plummets up into the night sky.

The night is warm tonight. The stars are glistening and the sky is warm. The wind is tender and the ambience quiet. As Jimin flies, he closes his eyes, his mind tracing back to a time.

A time where the world was just theirs.

"YOU'RE GOING TO DROP ME!"

"HOLD ON TIGHTER!"

A shriek erupts the air from the two young teenagers as the eldest flapped his wings, making Jewel slips from his back, falling down the bright sky.

And yet he was laughing.

A pure and hysterical laughter, just as hands caught his torso and hauls him on his back again.

Both boys laugh, especially Pandora as he banks around the skies with his sprouted wings, now with the sun setting in a horizon.

Jewel hugs his older brother tighter from around his neck, laying on his firm back as he flies, "Our world together."

The older brother smiles, patting a hand on Jimin's arm, "You're going to be king."

"No, we will be kings. Together," Jimin wraps his arms tighter around him, "I'll never leave you behind."

"In that case," Pandora yanks Jimin by the arm, not before swinging him in the air, "We'll be the best kings of the world!"

Jimin howls as he laughs right when Pandora catches him, soaring through the skies.

Slowly Jimin opens his eyes. The sun is not setting and the trees are dim. Taemin is on his back this time and the warm childness is gone from before.

Times has changed.

They're no longer kids in their own world.

They're grown up.

One more than others.

"Go to your right, stay within the clouds."

Jimin follows the instructions and once he got farther within the clouds, he suddenly coughed. A cough that lead to more and eventually Jimin began to feel suffocated by the thick air.

What is going on?

"Dive."

Jimin flew down the clouds, only to be exposed to such red vivid colors before finally he realized why he was suffocating with the air.

Fire.

So much fire.

Jimin's eyes broaden as he looked over to the forest entirely being burnt down. The smoke coated the sky, meanwhile the unforgiving fire never seemed to have found a way to ease its rage. Animals are running from within the woods in hysteria, some even burning with the flames. Various of old cars and houses are also burning, even some people as they try to put it out, despite their attire to prevent from getting burnt.

All of it being destroyed.

Jimin's eyes burned to the sight, his heart clutching in his chest, "What...... What is this?!"

"Some call it an accident, but the truth is that it's being burnt down to build a new city over it."

Jimin watches as he continues to fly over the large fires, and all he can hear are the screams.

Everything screaming.

The animals.

The trees desperately trying to save each other with nutrients from the roots.

Everyone is trying their hardest to survive and stay alive.

Everything.

And Jimin couldn't take it.

With a heartbreaking frown, Jimin's eyes shifted blue. Not too long before the skies began to be filled with clouds, and the heaviest rainfall began to cover over all of the trees.

Yet no matter how much rain fell, it seemed as though the fire kept fighting back.

It was too strong.

Late..... He came late.

Again.

Jimin sniffles with a heartbreaking shriek, "Burning homes...... Lives...... For cities?"

"That's not all," Taemin whispers, "Go left and keep going."

Jimin flew away from the fires. He flew for a while actually before suddenly he made it to the sounds of a loud explosion. Quickly he paused, looking to his surroundings but seeing nothing but the fog from the sky.

"Dive."

Jimin went down from the clouds, and immediately screeched as he almost flew back into the clouds.

Down below him are buildings and cities destroyed completely. There's an eerie silence that settled over everything that the moon touched. Jimin took a closer look and suddenly realized the amount of dead bodies laid lifelessly on the ground.

Endless river streams of bodies.

Many plummeted from the houses. Others burnt alive. Multiple bodies of all sizes, even the smallest.

Jimin lips wobbled, and Taemin rubs his head, "War. Conflict. This is what this world has come to Jewel. There's no peace."

Jimin rubs a hand down his face, shaking his head hysterically, "No.... This is not right. The Guardian didn't want this."

"I know," Taemin says, "The lab rats have caused this overtime for power over each other. Such a weak species still fighting to be superior We have been trying to maintain peace for years Jewel. We have tried to be nice. We can't be nice anymore."

Jimin lips wobbled and he grits his teeth, "What about the new comers?"

"Who do you think helps their military?"

A dark haze of red blurred over Jimin's eyes, and he growls under his breath, "My world wasn't like this. There was peace. We lived in peace."

"Yes we did," Taemin says back, "We are trying to restore the natural pattern on life. For that, we must remove the problem, that's why we do what we do. I hope you can understand us now."

"Are the phantoms still alive?"

"No. The flood killed them all."

Jimin nods, "Why haven't the animals fought back?"

"They have given up."

Given up......

They all have given up....

They all trusted in him to keep them safe, and he failed.

Now their world is polluted with violence and destruction.

Jimin was asleep for too long.

His guardian wants him to act.

Protect.

That's his duty.

That's why he's here now.

They all need him.

Sorry Jeongguk.

Sorry Taehyung.

Jimin's eyes darkened black and he looks back to Taemin.

"Show me where their military is."

________________________
A/N:
Uh oh.....

*Runs away*

I purple you! <3