This is the light of autumn; it has turned on us.
Surely it is a privilege to approach the end
still believing in something.

— Louise Gluc

≡ ≡ ≡

yoongi's rice has gone cold.

he stares at it now, a half-finished bowl, and pokes it with his chopsticks. next to him, he can hear the clinking of chopsticks against emptying bowls, cups being lifted and set down again—but no conversation. the bunker has never been so quiet, not like this. it's not that no one has anything to say, it's that they're all afraid to say it. or no one feels comfortable saying it; no one wants to open whatever can of worms their words would.

"hyung." it's jeongguk, who sits beside him and speaks barely above a whisper. "you should eat."

"m'not hungry," says yoongi automatically. when jeongguk makes to speak again, yoongi repeats himself, a little more firmly. he's trying not to let any of this affect his marriage, because he knows everything else will crumble the moment that does, but everything else already is crumbling. it's hard. yoongi didn't anticipate any of this being so hard.

"taehyung was nice enough to make all of us a meal," jeongguk adds lowly. "the least you could do is eat it." yoongi's eyes shift upward to where taehyung is sitting across the table. his bowl is only half empty, too, having set down his chopsticks long ago. yoongi neglects to point this out, because there's no use; instead, he scoops up a lump of rice and makes a show of eating it so that jeongguk will be placated. he doesn't look any happier, but it does keep him from asking again.

after he swallows, yoongi says, "just seems pointless to care about this shit right now."

"are you serious?" asks jeongguk.

"guys, please don't do this right now," sighs seokjin, piping up from where he's been sitting silently at the head of the table for the entire meal—but it's too late. jeongguk and yoongi have been very short fuses for days now.

"i don't want to sit here and worry about fucking rice when hoseok is out there being made to do god knows what—"

"we're all angry, hyung, but you can't keep taking it out on all of us."

"i'm not! i'm just saying i don't need you getting on my case about finishing my goddamn meal."

"what good are you going to be if you don't eat, then, huh? you think you can be the hero and save him if you're starving?"

"who said i wanted to be a hero to begin with?"

"guys," seokjin snaps, effectively making both yoongi and jeongguk stop talking. "i know we're all stressed out and upset about the situation, but turning on each other isn't going to help anything. we need to be strong together right now, not pissing in each other's cereal bowl over finishing a meal."

yoongi feels shame fill him, hot and thick, and he shrinks in on himself before he mutters, "sorry, hyung."

"i'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

it's odd—jeongguk and yoongi have never really had problems in their relationship, despite all of the outside forces trying to ruin them. once they found their footing, it was remarkably easy to be strong together through everything that was being thrown at them. they lasted through yoongi changing his mind about the government and soulmates, through having to move into the underground part of society as bonded soulmates, through months of rebel activities and almost being killed on a daily basis.

maybe it's about time their tensions came to a head. but yoongi doesn't really know how to deal with this, with being at odds with jeongguk about something they're on the same fucking side of. that's the worst part; it's not each other they're angry at. but the ones they are angry at aren't here.

under the table, yoongi puts his hand on jeongguk's thigh, palm up. "i'm sorry," he whispers. jeongguk is staring at his empty bowl, but he still threads his fingers through yoongi's. "i know you're just trying to take care of me. i'm just..."

"i know," says jeongguk. "it's been hard for all of us."

yoongi sighs. "i just wish we had something to do. i hate being stuck here not knowing what's going on or what the plan is. i just want to—i want to go out there and fix this."

"you know we can't do that," says taehyung. "that's probably what they want. and then they'll just snatch us up the moment we stop using our heads out there."

"it's bullshit," says yoongi. "all of this is bullshit. it's bullshit that they think this is even right to do to people, that they think they can just walk all over us and hurt us and kill us for even fucking existing—" he cuts himself off roughly, exhaling as he tries to keep himself calm. under the table, jeongguk squeezes his hand. there's no real use in saying any of it, because all of them know. this anger is the reason all of them are here and have been for this long. yoongi just fears what will become of him if he doesn't get it out somehow.

silence falls upon the table once more. yoongi stares at his cold rice. then, quietly, taehyung says, "i miss jimin. he was really good at defusing the situation."

it's been a week. a week since the disaster of their last mission, a week since the government took hoseok from them for their own gain. it's felt like a year since that day, what with everything that's happened between; after the soulmates and police left with hoseok, jimin, jeongguk, and yoongi were finally rescued by namjoon, taehyung, and seokjin, who had been held up by a group of other soulmates. they raced to rebel headquarters to report the situation, and although all of them had been determined to go back out and fight to get hoseok back that very day, what they did do was... go home.

we'll handle it, their leaders said. we'll figure out what to do. for now, rest and hide yourselves. don't do anything until we give you instructions.

they've been waiting for a week now. on the third day, they took jimin, since he's hoseok's soulmate and yoongi assumes they want his help on planning how to get hoseok back. the rest of them have been sitting in this bunker waiting anxiously for any word from headquarters about what they're going to do to save hoseok—and the rest of the bonded soulmates now in the care of the government, for that matter.

but day after day passes and they hear nothing. they've all been getting antsy, but perhaps none more than yoongi. he's had to be physically restrained more than once to keep from going out there and storming the government buildings on his own, even if he doesn't even know where they're holding hoseok. jeongguk has been sick for the entire week trying to predict the future of the situation, but all he's getting are migraines making him throw up and no useless information. tensions are running high, each interaction between the group more awkward than the last when they're all on edge like this.

but that's what the government wants, isn't it? for the rebels to break down from the inside out because of these plans, so that they don't stand a chance of fighting against the government. yoongi knows, realistically, that every time he snaps at one of his squad members, or worse, his own soulmate and husband, he's just letting the government win. but he can't help it. he needs to do something with all of this pent-up energy and anger. but they're not even allowed to go outside lest the government kidnaps him.

when all of this started, the idea of being killed by the government was terrifying, but now yoongi realizes that would be a mercy at this point. being kidnapped and forced to fight against and kill his own people to do the work of the government? that's yoongi's worst fucking nightmare. he's beginning to realize there are some fates worse than death.

before any of them can rehash the same things they've been complaining about for a week, they hear namjoon calling from further within the dorm. within seconds, he appears from around the corner, laptop in hand as he says, "sorry for missing dinner, but i finally have updates."

yoongi straightens up immediately, eyes bright as namjoon takes a seat at the table. he's been locked in the dorm's 'office' (moved to jimin and hoseok's room now that they're both gone and it's hard to do that much work in the room he actually shares with taehyung and seokjin) since they got home a week ago, communicating constantly with headquarters and other squad leaders. but he's never had anything substantial to share—until now.

"it's not a mission just yet, so don't get too excited," namjoon begins, "but i can tell you some of what headquarters is planning. we can't redirect all of our man power from what we were doing before—because it's still important to be protecting the community. the government isn't going to just stop everything they were doing before now that they have a few soulmates on their side. but headquarters is planning to change tactics and focus on rescuing the bonded soulmates."

namjoon looks up and makes eye contact with yoongi, likely having heard his outburst earlier. "this isn't just about hoseok," he adds. "obviously hoseok is the one we care about most, but over the past week and even before they took hoseok, the government has been targeting other rebel squads and trying to kidnap soulmates. coupled with the soulmates they already had from years of raiding bonded soulmate settlements, capturing rebels, and whatnot, we believe they've amassed a good group of prisoners. our main objective now is to get them out. that includes hoseok."

"but if they've been brainwashed to think we're the enemy, how is that going to work?" asks seokjin.

"that's what they're still figuring out," says namjoon. "we're learning more and more about the brainwashing device they use, and headquarters believes that it takes anywhere from a week to a month for the brainwashing to be a success with a soulmate. that means the soulmates they've taken recently won't have loyalty to them yet, so it's imperative we get them out. the ones who have been brainwashed long ago will be harder—we'll probably have to fight them. but if we can figure out how to reverse the brainwashing, we can save them."

it's a huge operation. they don't know exact numbers of soulmates in possession of the government, probably, but it'll be extremely dangerous no matter what they do. no doubt the soulmates will be kept in a very secure location with an insane amount of security, so they can't simply break in. not to mention they have to fight other soulmates every step of the way—and like namjoon mentioned, they can't just drop all of their other missions to focus on this or people will die.

"okay," says jeongguk carefully. "what does that mean for us, then?"

"i'm not sure yet," admits namjoon. "like i said, we don't have any missions as of yet, but they're working hard to figure out what to do next. we're also at a loss without hoseok, though, and since the combat pair in our squad is gone, i'd hazard a guess that we won't be directly involved in missions to get—"

"no," says yoongi immediately. namjoon stops, staring at him. "no," repeats yoongi.

"hyung—"

"you can't expect us to just sit here and do nothing when one of our best friends is out there, being forced to do the government's bidding. how are we going to go out there and do little missions that have nothing to do with this and just hope that someone else gets hoseok back?"

"we can't go against what headquarters wants for us."

"i won't sit back and let this happen without my help," says yoongi firmly. he's been itching to get hoseok back for a week now and to hear that he might not be able to help at all is a damning blow. and namjoon is just staring at him knowing that his own arm is twisted.

yet yoongi is relieved to find he's not alone when jeongguk says, "yoongi-hyung is right. we might not have the combat part of our squad, but i can't let do nothing about the situation. besides—we do know combat. we might not have a demon and a demon-whisperer with us anymore, but yoongi-hyung and i are good in combat with our abilities."

"and taehyung and seokjin-hyung don't even need abilities to do missions," adds yoongi. both of them look at least on the fence about this, but yoongi needs to convince namjoon of this. "i've been on the sidelines for so long. and i don't mind helping from the background, because that was mine and jeongguk's roles, but things have changed. the rules are out, namjoon. i just want to get hoseok back."

namjoon sighs. "i'm not the one who makes the rules to begin with, hyung."

"so tell headquarters that we want to be on the front lines," says yoongi. "tell them we want to do this and we're willing to put our lives at risk to save them. not by supporting from the back, not by running normal operations while everyone else rushes in. we want to be there, the ones storming the building. i want to be there when we give the government the biggest fuck you the rebels ever have." he pauses and then glances over at the other three members of the squad. "i mean—i won't speak for them. but that's what i want."

the truth is, they can all do well on their own. but yoongi is always going to be stronger with jeongguk. and now he turns his gaze to his husband, not wanting to speak for the both of them. but the hard look on jeongguk's face is enough to tell him that he doesn't have to worry.

"i want to be on the front lines too," says jeongguk. "we have to get hoseok-hyung back. and we have to help the rest of the soulmates, too. i'll never be able to live with myself if i let someone else do it when i can." he squeezes yoongi's hand again. they are stronger together—and the only way they're going to win this fight is just like this, hand in hand, determined to make the world a better place with everything they can offer together.

shortly, taehyung says, "me too. we have to do this for hoseok-hyung."

seokjin nods in agreement. "for hoseok."

namjoon seems vaguely exasperated with it—with his friends continually putting themselves in danger like this, but yoongi can tell that he's secretly pleased with their decision. surely he's been wanting to do more, too, even if he's never actually fought in the field with the others. but yoongi remembers that day the government killed the rest of the guardians and the look on namjoon's face and the way he said it was his fault. all he's ever wanted to do was protect soulmates.

now is the time to do it. the government has continually made this personal. months ago, they took the guardians from namjoon, jeongguk, and yoongi. and now they've taken hoseok—but this time, they're going to get back what they lost. this time, they're not letting the government win.

"alright," says namjoon. "i'll let them know. and we'll get him back. we'll back them all back."

yoongi's grin is positively feral.

≡ ≡ ≡

within days, they're back in the field, but this time, there's no sneaking around and hanging in the background. yoongi and jeongguk, along with taehyung and seokjin, propel themselves straight to the front lines. and they're not the only ones who have taken up the call to rescue their kin. yoongi knows there's a bigger plan in mind, something that headquarters is working on as a big mission to end this once and for all, but for now, they have to do something. the government is fighting back harder than ever.

now is the time to be fearless.

every few days, they're sent out on a new mission, and while their old missions were plenty dangerous, this is something yoongi has never seen before. they're constantly in combat with the police and other soulmates working for the government, either battling groups where the rebel leaders have been given coordinates for where soulmates are being held or running in as back-up for squads already dealing with the government. now their goal is to rescue the brainwashed or stolen soulmates—which is easier said than done. they have yet to find out where the kidnapped soulmates are being held, which means they can only try to save the soulmates that have already been brainwashed and are actively trying to fight against the rebels. those soulmates don't mind killing, while the rebels are trying to separate them from the police or government agents in order to detain them and bring them back to rebel headquarters, where they're still trying to figure out how to reverse the effects of the brainwashing.

in short, it's a disaster. it's a bloodbath. the first time yoongi sees a brainwashed soulmate die, something in him goes very cold. and it was an accident, of course—they don't want to kill those soulmates when they're trying to rescue them. but they're still at war, using real weapons and real weaponized superpowers. casualties are bound to happen.

this is real now. this is more than he ever thought it would be when he and jeongguk decided to become rebels after the guardians were killed. but there's no going back now—when going forward means eventually saving hoseok. when going forward means saving other soulmates like hoseok, other innocent people who have been turned into the government's puppets.

and when going forward means changing the world for the common people. sometimes yoongi forgets that that's at the root of all of this; the rebels are fighting for the common people, to make the world a better place, to allow love to prosper without boundaries. but when he's running down the street and desperately trying to use his ability to make the police cars chasing him crash into each other, it's hard to remember that. when he's aiming his gun at a brainwashed soulmate's leg to take her out of the fight but still be able to rescue her, it's really fucking hard to remember that.

yoongi isn't sure he ever really enjoyed rebel work, at least in the midst of it when everything is terrifying and uncertain. but he's certainly not enjoying it now.

the danger is heightened like this, and while he and jeongguk got into shit in the past, this is different. they come out of every battle with more physical injuries, not to mention the mental and emotional ones. they're putting themselves into the line of fire every day now, not even bothering to hide their identities when they go out. and that might be okay if it didn't affect every other moment of their lives, even when they're not in the field.

conversations are stilted, the air in the bunker filled with the same anger they all feel. yoongi doesn't think he's heard jeongguk laugh since they came home from the mission where hoseok was taken from them. and he doesn't know how to fix that—not when he himself doesn't feel like laughing either. they still sleep in the same bed, but yoongi is too busy thinking about their next mission and what he wants to do to those government bastards to make it mean anything.

but it'll be over eventually, he tells himself. one day, they'll have rescued the last soulmate from the government and then everything will go back to normal, or at least as normal as things were before the government rolled out this new tactic. and he knows this fight will never end, probably not in his lifetime. but maybe one day, he'll stop feeling like he and jeongguk are just two soldiers who have to share a bed.

after two weeks of combat, the squad has a fight with a police unit that doesn't end well. it was mostly a failure, the rebels having to run for their lives after almost dying at the hands of the police. yoongi gets out of it with several injuries, bruises and scrapes that will heal with time, but it's when he's sitting in his room with jeongguk patching up his wounds that jeongguk says, "i don't know if i want this anymore."

yoongi doesn't respond. after a bout of silence, jeongguk adds, dabbing a cloth against yoongi's bloody eyebrow, "i'm conflicted. i want to save as many soulmates as possible, but this has gotten too dangerous. we've almost died so many times and it terrifies me and i don't know what to do."

hissing when jeongguk dabs a little too hard on his wound, yoongi takes a second before he replies, "you want to stop being a rebel? right when they need us most? when hoseok needs us most?"

"that's why i'm conflicted," mutters jeongguk. "i know they need us and i want to get hoseok back, but i'm terrified, hyung. i don't think this is what we should be doing right now."

when yoongi realizes that jeongguk is serious, he reaches up and takes the damp cloth from him, forcing them to look at each other in the low lighting of the room. jeongguk got pretty banged up in the fight, too. they've been getting banged up in every fight, have been facing more and more dangerous situations. yoongi can see why jeongguk would be having second thoughts.

but now isn't the time.

"we need to save those soulmates, jeongguk," says yoongi. "we need to save hoseok."

"but can't we do that without being on the front lines?"

"you said you wanted to be on the front lines."

"so i changed my mind," jeongguk huffs. "it happens. i didn't know it was going to be like this and i want to help, but i feel much better in the background. why are you being so defensive about this?"

"because it's hoseok. our best friend."

"we can help him another way, hyung!"

"can't you just fucking predict what's going to happen so you don't feel worried?"

jeongguk's gaze is hard. and yoongi knows it's a low blow. he knows that the predictions only make jeongguk worry more. but he can't believe that jeongguk wants to turn his back on this, even with the very real dangers. and it's awful that they're fighting about this in the first place, but it's bigger than them. it's always been bigger than them.

and rather than give in and squabble, anyway, jeongguk just takes a very deep breath and says, "you can patch yourself up. i'm tired."

≡ ≡ ≡

after another two weeks (two weeks of awkward conversations with jeongguk, arguing about whether or not to pull back from the front lines, and getting absolutely nowhere other than feeling like their marriage is slowly falling apart), they receive word that headquarters has located a group of ten or twelve kidnapped soulmates being detained in a jail near the streets where the elite and the common people are separated. they've yet to be brainwashed, merely held in the jail after being taken from their homes and squads as they wait whatever comes next. there's no way to know exactly who is among them, but the moment namjoon mentions it, the entire 613 squad—minus jimin, who is still working with headquarters—perks up.

hoseok could be there.

"the jail isn't heavily guarded, but it is guarded," namjoon tells them in the back of yet another heavily armored truck carrying them to their destination. he's hunched over his laptop, rapidly briefing them since they didn't have time in the bunker. that's another thing that's different about these missions—they don't have any time to plan. jeongguk is currently sitting with his head between his knees, rapidly trying to predict the biggest moves made in the upcoming battle even while listening to namjoon's instructions and trying to remain calm on his own.

yoongi places his hand in the center of jeongguk's back, between his shoulder blades. he can feel the fluttering of jeongguk's heart from there, hoping just his presence will be of some comfort even though yoongi is nervous, too.

"from the stake-outs done by other rebels, there are usually two guards stationed outside of the front doors at all times," namjoon continues, turning the laptop around to show them the floor plan of the jail. "a rebel with x-ray vision said there are fifteen cells in total with one soulmate to a cell, but several of them were empty. there's a guard stationed outside of each block of cells, and there are three blocks. there are likely guards elsewhere or watching while not visible, so we can't assume that we're going to outnumber them."

"are they regular guards or soulmates?" asks seokjin.

"there's no way to know for sure," says namjoon, "but we have to go in preparing to fight against other soulmates. they'll likely place their strongest guards at the doors to stop us from even getting in. but we will get in." he stares at yoongi as he says it, like he'll be able to make that happen with his ability alone.

between his knees, jeongguk says, "we get in."

it's at least half-assuring.

"once we're in, the goal is to break these soulmates out," says namjoon. "they have yet to be brainwashed or anything like that, so they will be on our side. this means the sooner we break out even one soulmate, the better chance we have at getting all of them, because we'll only be adding to our own numbers. this means we need to focus on getting the soulmates out as quickly as possible, fighting off the guards, and getting out. no deaths, if possible." he pauses to impress that on each of them with a long look. they've always been prepped on not killing anyone in the past, for the most part, but they need the reminder now more than ever. yoongi knows from experience that it's hard to remember all of that when they're in the middle of battle.

once namjoon is satisfied, he continues. "yoongi-hyung and jeongguk will meet the outside guards first, while seokjin-hyung and taehyung work from the background. once inside, all four of you will do what you can. just get in and get out as quickly and safely as possible. jeongguk?"

jeongguk finally sits up, blinking into the light from the windows. "nothing really unexpected is supposed to happen," he says. "but... considering we now know that it's possible to get around my predictions in the first place, we have to be prepared for anything."

"how many do we get out?" asks yoongi.

jeongguk looks at him, and when he says, "all of them," yoongi knows he's lying. but now isn't the time to scare anyone or make them believe this might not be a success. yet there's something in jeongguk's eyes, in his tone—he knows more than he's letting on. he's holding something back, something that's making him afraid. yoongi doesn't know if it's about this mission or something else that he's seen in the future—or his insecurity about his ability now that he knows there are those who can just make themselves invisible in his predictions—but there's no time to worry about it now.

instead, yoongi squeezes the back of jeongguk's neck in silent reassurance. "let's get all of them out, then," he says, and turns back to the rest of the group with a nod. "let's take those fuckers down."

they don't bother with negotiations the way hoseok or jimin did in their earlier missions. there's no point; the government knows what they want and knows they won't stop at anything to get in. instead, when jeongguk and yoongi head for the front doors of the tiny jail, it's with guns blazing. jeongguk keeps one step behind yoongi, predicting the next moment even as he has to react to the current moment, and he calls out his predictions to yoongi so that yoongi can do something about it.

namjoon was right—the two guards stationed outside of the jail are brainwashed soulmates. one of them is able to control the weather, at least in a small area—in this case, he immediately calls up a storm around the jail that has jeongguk and yoongi, along with taehyung and seokjin, battling with fierce rain and winds just to get to the soulmates in order to deal with them. and the worst part, perhaps, is realizing that the guards outside of the doors aren't only soulmates. they're each other's soulmates.

"what the fuck is that?" yoongi hears himself asking when the rain that has been pelting the ground around him begins to shift, running up the street toward the jail.

"she's going to make it into a wave!" jeongguk yells the second before yoongi sees that just outside of the jail is now a wall of water being controlled by the second soulmate. complimentary—one creates the conditions, another manipulates them. yoongi curses under his breath as he grabs jeongguk and runs for the buildings lining the street down which the wave will soon crash.

"go that way!" he calls to seokjin and taehyung, pointing opposite them, and then he starts running up the street toward the jail. they can't let this beat them back, knowing they have to get into the jail. when the wall of water is released and goes crashing down the street, no doubt about to drown then, yoongi pushes all of his power into doing something frankly ridiculous—but what's the point of this ability if he doesn't push it?

a sinkhole opens in the middle of the street just as the wave reaches that part of it. immediately, the water plummets into the hole rather than continuing down the street and crashing into the four of them. already, yoongi feels his energy beginning to drain, but he keeps running, hopping over the edges of the sink hole to make sure he doesn't fall in, too.

the wind and rain continues around them, now harder than ever—so hard it hurts. but that means visibility is reduced, even for the brainwashed soulmates. jeongguk's hand closes around him, pulling him along no doubt one step ahead of all of them. "take out the woman," he says. "if she can't control what he's creating, it'll just be bad weather."

the wind whips around them so dangerously that the doors of the buildings on either side of them bang open and close, and yoongi sees his opportunity; he increases the probability of one of the doors ripping off of its very hinges, watching as it flies across the street back toward the soulmates. using that as a distraction, he and jeongguk dash across the street to meet seokjin and taehyung on the other side. they narrowly miss sharp spears of water hurtling down the street toward them, skidding partway into a back alley now only one building from the jail.

"we'll distract them," yoongi says hurriedly, wiping water from his face before he points to seokjin and taehyung. "detain her. then worry about him; then jeongguk and i will get into the jail and start there." with no time to waste, they turn back to the street only to find the water has turned to pure ice now slicking the street and still falling. when it reaches the ground, it immediately freezes, making it impossible for them to walk.

but there's only so long the woman can make that trick work. if the distraction works, they can get by.

without even pausing, jeongguk says, "that garbage can lid." yoongi immediately grabs the lid from garbage can next to them, realizing belatedly that he's meant to use it as a shield. which can only mean one thing. with a nod, he and jeongguk run back out into the street, immediately slipping on the ice.

"duck!" jeongguk yells, and yoongi does; barely a moment later, an ice spear goes flying over his head where he was just standing. he gets up again, trying to keep his footing as jeongguk stays behind him, now letting him know every move he has to make. it's still hard to see through the rain turning to ice, but when jeongguk shouts, he lifts the lid and blocks the chunks of ice and hail that the soulmates are using to fight with.

slowly, they make their way across the street, concentrating the soulmates' firepower on the two of them so that seokjin and taehyung have a chance to get near the pair.

"right," jeongguk breathes and yoongi slams the lid toward the right, clipping a chunk of ice. when they finally get to the other side, jeongguk tells him to throw the lid. so yoongi does, chucking it like a frisbee toward where the assaults have been coming from, and increases the probability that it'll hit something. there's loud thunk and then, when the ice dissipates from under their feet, they don't have time to celebrate a small victory before they take off running up the street.

the soulmate with the weather ability changes tactics, the rain stopping and heat immediately filling the street instead. yoongi stumbles under the sudden heatwave, but they can see now; the two soulmates are standing near the door—and seokjin and taehyung are almost upon them, coming from the side. within a second, they'll be spotted. jeongguk's gasp is another to confirm that, but yoongi doesn't have time to move before jeongguk reaches into yoongi's side and pulls out the gun there, loading and sending a bullet at the woman.

yoongi shouts, trying to change the trajectory of the bullet. it doesn't strike the woman, but instead strikes the door behind her, perfectly smashing the door handle so that they don't even have to worry about trying to unlock it.

before yoongi can demand to know why jeongguk is just trying to shoot people, seokjin and taehyung pounce, having used the momentary distraction from the gunshot to take their final steps. the heat wavers as seokjin fights with the man controlling it, and yoongi doesn't waste time as he runs the rest of the way to the four of them now. both brainwashed soulmates fight hard against them, the elements changing drastically around them, but seokjin and taehyung are clearly more skilled in combat; taehyung has the woman pinned to the ground in a minute as seokjin pulls a gun on the man, threatening to shoot if he brings the heatwave back.

there's no real way to keep them using their abilities to get out, but seokjin and taehyung don't want to bring them anywhere. they just need them out of the picture long enough to break in and out of the jail.

so jeongguk and yoongi run for the door, pausing only when yoongi sees the broken lock.

"sorry," says jeongguk. "i needed you to shoot out the lock but i couldn't explain it to you in time so i just grabbed your gun."

"i want to say smart thinking, but i really thought you were going to kill her," says yoongi. when jeongguk winks at him, there's still something off about it—but now isn't the time. leaving seokjin and taehyung to deal with the soulmate outside, they rush into the jail.

the guards inside aren't soulmates, rather regular police officers. it shouldn't take much for the two of them to get through, but the officers put up a hell of a fight; yoongi gets punched in the face hard enough to break his fucking nose, sputtering blood all over the ground as he tries to keep himself from pulling his gun. that's not the point—

but the officers aren't on the same page. when yoongi tries to get up, jeongguk yells his name—and it's not enough to tell him what's going to happen, only that something will. yoongi turns his head in time to see a gun pointed directly at him, rolling violently as the gun goes off and a bullet fires straight into the ground where his head was a moment ago. growling, yoongi tries to fend off the pain from his broken nose which is messing with his head enough to keep him from thinking about using his own ability.

it's jeongguk who tackles the officer trying to shoot yoongi, getting an elbow to the face in the process, and when the gun goes off again, yoongi makes sure it jams. jeongguk wrestles the gun out of the officer's hands, slamming the butt of it into the man's head and knocking him unconscious before yoongi helps him up.

he's bleeding all the way down his chin, but there's still no time. as jeongguk hurries toward the cells, yoongi finds his way to the control room and uses his ability, already weakening from use, to blindly push buttons and increase the probability that they'll be the right ones. sure enough, with a loud buzzer, he sees on the security cameras that the cell doors are all opening and the detained soulmates running out.

when yoongi joins jeongguk in the corridor again, herding the prisoners out, his eyes are wide and questioning.

"he's not here," jeongguk tells him. "i don't think any of these people are rebels."

yoongi comes to a realization then, a horrifying one—if these people aren't rebels, that means most if not all of them don't use their abilities to defend themselves in this kind of setting. they can't fight to get out, and suddenly, he understands why jeongguk had looked like that when he lied about getting all of the soulmates out.

he tries to help jeongguk lead the soulmates to a different exit than the one where the brainwashed soulmates are detained, but then there's a loud bang from outside and yoongi pauses, turning around before turning to jeongguk, who already has horror dawning on his face.

"go!" jeongguk yells, shoving yoongi toward the group of soulmates. "get them out! the truck is parked two blocks down and you have to get them there."

"jeongguk—"

but jeongguk has already turned and is running back down the hallway the way they came. choosing to trust, yoongi turns and hurries the group of soulmates down corridor after corridor, using the last strength of his ability to make sure they find where they're going. when they find the right door, he breathes a sigh of relief, shoving it open and herding the soulmates out before giving them instructions on where to go as he intends to go back and help jeongguk with whatever he predicted.

that's when a young woman stops and calls out a name. when there's no response, the calling gets more desperate, afraid, until she finally turns to yoongi with terrified tears in her eyes and shrieks, "she's still in there!"

yoongi's heart stops when he does a headcount and comes up one short from what he'd seen leave the cells. "go," he tells them. "get to the truck. now." and then he turns and runs back into the building, hoping with every bit of strength in him that jeongguk is saving her, that that's what he saw—that he knew this would happen and is trying to change it.

"jeongguk?" he calls into the empty jail, running back to the cells to find them empty. the young woman he's looking for isn't there. then, distantly—hyung!

it's not jeongguk's voice, but taehyung's. he finds himself looking out of the window at the courtyard next to the jail to see taehyung running by, yelling, "yoongi-hyung, get out of there!"

but if taehyung is there, then—where's the brainwashed soulmate he was detaining?

yoongi hears it first: a strange rushing noise, a deep trembling thing, bellowing somewhere deeper in the building. he stares down the corridor, not understanding what could be happening, and then—footsteps. running. he sees jeongguk turn down a corner, dragging a young woman with him, and when he sees jeongguk, his face turns to one of pure panic.

"hyung, run!" he yells, the young woman nearly tripping with every step as jeongguk drags her toward the exit. and yoongi doesn't understand what they're running from, not until he sees the water crash around the corner where jeongguk just came from. it bangs into the wall and then immediately begins to fill the corridor, rushing after jeongguk and toward yoongi, who is still standing there and staring.

jeongguk catches him, grabbing yoongi with his other hand and running back toward the exit. yoongi glances over his shoulder to see the wall of water catching up to them, filling the entire corridor nearly to the ceiling, and it's going to reach them, they're going to be overtaken, there's nothing yoongi's ability can do about this—

the water slams into them from behind, sweeping them off of their feet and forcing them into its torrent as the water fills the entire corridor. yoongi feels himself slam into the wall, jeongguk's grip slipping from his wrist as the waves within the water swirl them around. yoongi can't possibly get his bearings, trying not to panic or lose the air currently keeping him alive as they're slammed back and forth by the force of the water.

when yoongi finally rights himself, he opens his eyes to try and see, but everything is pitch black in the water. he can't even see where to go to get out of this, can't possibly find the door or even a window to break to save them and—suddenly, he understands.

they're going to drown. they're going to drown and maybe jeongguk knew that, maybe jeongguk predicted it but he didn't say anything because saving themselves by not even going ahead with the mission would mean losing the soulmates they saved, and as yoongi feels his lungs begin to constrict, begging for air air air, he knows he can't even blame jeongguk for making that decision.

it's the same one he would have made.

but it would be nice, here at the end, to have jeongguk with him, to have even his hand to hold as the crushing weight of the water begins to hurt more than anything, and he needs to breathe, he's going to pass out if he keeps holding his breath like this, and—he hears screaming until the water. he can't see, but he can hear it, can feel sudden vibrations. there's something pulsing around him, making him knock against the wall or maybe the window, and it hurts. yoongi almost wants to scream along, but then he feels something cracking beneath his back—and when he turns, he sees light.

it's the window. the window is cracking.

the screaming cuts off suddenly, but yoongi turns and immediately begins kicking at the crack in the glass. his movements are slow and waterlogged, but the panic in his head and the burning in his lungs is enough to keep him from stopping, beating and beating and beating until the crack begins to get a little bigger, a little bigger—

and finally, with one last punch, yoongi breaks the window. he's pulled out with a rush of water, immediately spilling onto the lawn outside. pain fills every part of yoongi as he hits the ground and begins to cough up water and drag in air but—it's air. he's alive. the water comes tumbling out of the jail after him, bringing with it two other bodies, and yoongi tries to catch his breath and strength enough to get up, to tend to them.

his right arm, where he punched through the window, is torn up from the edge of the glass and bleeding profusely, but he ignores it as he crawls across the grass toward jeongguk. he's already coughing up water and then vomit when yoongi gets to his side, reaching for him in both relief and pure fear.

they almost died.

"jeongguk," yoongi rasps, pulling a heaving jeongguk into his chest. "jeongguk."

but jeongguk—shoves him away, still coughing and heaving as he turns and looks down at the third person who got out through the window.

she's not moving. she's not breathing at all. and as yoongi stares down at her in horror, he begins to understand—she was the one screaming. it was her ability, something with supersonic sound waves, and it cracked the window. she probably could have shattered the glass, but then she passed out or inhaled water.

and then she drowned.

all of them. all of them. all of them.

"jeongguk," yoongi begins, but jeongguk gets to his feet, stumbling and waterlogged, and then turns to yoongi with tears of anger in his eyes.

"i don't want to fucking do this anymore!" he screams. "don't you see? don't you see how dangerous and reckless this is? how many times do we have to almost die for you to realize that we need to stop?"

"if we'd stopped, those soulmates would probably be dead!" yoongi shouts back, getting to his feet as well. "we are doing this for them! for a better life for them. have you forgotten that?"

"i'm scared, hyung," jeongguk says. "every day, i'm terrified that we're going to die and then we go out and do shit like this and we do almost die. she died—and you want to keep doing this? aren't our lives as important as theirs?"

"what happened to wanting to change the world for your people, jeongguk?"

"are you fucking kidding me?" jeongguk lets out a wet laugh, one that turns into crying halfway through. "this isn't what i wanted, hyung. this isn't what i want."

yoongi takes a deep breath. "we have to save hoseok."

"this isn't saving hoseok. where the fuck is hoseok?"

"we can't just stop—"

"you're going to die," says jeongguk suddenly, and yoongi cuts himself off. "hyung, if we don't stop, you're going to die."

yoongi swallows tightly, straightening his back. "are you just saying that to scare me?"

"i know it," whispers jeongguk. "i've predicted it again and again. i don't know how or when or where, but i know you're going to die if we don't stop, yoongi-hyung. i've never been so sure of anything i've predicted."

he considers it. considers what jeongguk is asking of him—and he's known for weeks now that jeongguk isn't happy with the situation. it's too dangerous, gotten too deep for what he's comfortable with. but yoongi made a promise. and they can't stop now, not when it's so personal.

"your predictions aren't set in stone," says yoongi evenly. "you said so yourself, over and over. they can change. we can change them."

"don't you fucking dare," whispers jeongguk.

"i can change it," says yoongi. "i'll change the probability. i won't die."

"you can't risk that. you can't risk your life like that when i've seen it—"

"i won't let them rot in the government's hands!" yoongi shouts. "i won't let hoseok be used as their puppet to hurt and kill innocent people. i want let any of them do what i did!"

jeongguk stops, flinching back at the words. and maybe that's—maybe that's part of it. yoongi wants to save them, needs to get the soulmates back. especially hoseok. but maybe part of him wants to do it because of his guilt. maybe it never really went away.

jeongguk's face is hard. "when we decided to bond as soulmates, we knew that the world was shit and we wanted to do something about it," he says, "but you forget, min yoongi. in the end, this is still about us. i want to save them, too. i want to save hoseok, too. but i'm trying to save us, hyung. i'm trying to save you first. why won't you let me?"

yoongi opens his mouth to respond, but then there's shouting from around the corner, and he sees seokjin and taehyung returning, along with the truck that brought them here in the first place. they must have finally detained the brainwashed soulmates once and for all. they're coming to be saved.

but nothing can save jeongguk and yoongi from whatever has grown between them—a desire to be safe and a desire to save all at once. and yoongi can understand why jeongguk is having second thoughts, why he wants to pull back when it's gotten too dangerous. but yoongi can't possibly stop now.

even if it means dying. and he won't die—because he can stop it. he knows he can stop it.

(jeongguk doesn't say another word to him for the rest of the day. very well.)

≡ ≡ ≡

it's dangerous to leave the bunker, even for a moment, in these times. for all they know, the government has pinpointed exactly where each squad lives and is merely waiting to either blow them sky high or storm in and kidnap them, turn them into puppets the way they have with other soulmates. but yoongi gets why he finds jeongguk out here, sitting in a lawn chair beside the concealed staircase that leads down to the bunker; to the untrained eye, it's just a lot of overgrown weeds and flowers. and jeon jeongguk, sitting in a lawn chair, smoking a cigarette.

when yoongi gets to the top step, leaning against the hand railing and watching jeongguk, he considers everything he could say. the sun is just setting, casting them in pinks and oranges, but it's not safe yet; he could chide jeongguk for putting himself in danger, but that would be rich coming from him, considering the source of their tension at the moment. he could chide jeongguk for smoking, which is once again essentially putting himself in danger. they're beyond that now. they've been beyond that for months.

so what yoongi says is, "where the fuck did you get cigarettes?" there are certain provisions deemed as necessities by rebel headquarters, the ones that are shipped out to them on a bi-weekly basis. cigarettes have never been on the list.

jeongguk doesn't look at him, just takes a long drag from the cigarette. he doesn't even cough. "you shouldn't be worried about where i got them, but why i got them." easy—jeongguk is stressed. he's so stressed that he's turned to a defense he never has before. once, jeongguk told him that his father used to smoke when things got too worrisome with the government and the restaurant, and jeongguk hated it. it made him sick. it means something that he's pushed past all of those barriers now.

and yoongi knows why jeongguk is stressed enough to start smoking. it's been a few days since they almost drowned in that jail and they've barely spoken beyond pleasantries and forced conversation since then. they've come to a standstill: jeongguk wants to stop and yoongi refuses to.

it only occurs to him right then that perhaps they don't have to do this together. they always have—since bonding as soulmates, they've barely spent a day apart. especially since becoming rebels, they've done everything together. their abilities are much weaker without the other, because that's the way soulmate abilities work. but they could do it. namjoon has been a rebel without his soulmate. taehyung and seokjin haven't even bonded with their soulmates and yet here they are.

but—yoongi pushes the thought down down down. there's something inherently wrong with thinking of doing this without jeongguk. he simply won't. and even if that means being stubborn—as stubborn as jeongguk is—then so be it.

"you should come inside," says yoongi.

"i'm not done," says jeongguk.

"gguk-ah—"

"hyung. you can't make me do everything you want."

"that's not what this is about."

"i want to help," says jeongguk quietly. the smoke from his cigarette curls around him, makes him look tired and worn. he is. "i want to help so badly. i have been in this fight for decades longer than you, yoongi-hyung. but i know my limits. i know when i get in over my head. we can do this without having to almost die every time we step outside."

it's always going to come back to this. but yoongi doesn't know how to fix it, short of them being able to agree on what to do next. he always knew they were both stubborn people, but they were always stubborn about the same thing. now that they're finally butting heads, he can't see an easy way out of this.

"come inside," yoongi says again, rather than get into this argument yet again.

"not if you don't listen to me."

"jeongguk, i—" yoongi swallows tightly, looking out at the sunset. somehow, this is the hardest thing he's ever said, because it means something is wrong—"i miss you." for so long, they've been one. soulmates, lovers, husbands. working as rebels brought them even closer as they continually put their lives in each other's hands, believing that only together could they make it out and make it out alive. it's dangerous, but yoongi has never felt closer to jeongguk than in those moments, and after, when they fall into bed high on adrenaline.

for days now, there's been nothing but an aching chasm between them. and it'll only get worse the longer this goes on. they're both stressed and afraid and unsure of the future, even with jeongguk's ability. this isn't a mission; this is their lives. this is their love, their marriage, their relationship. and no matter how hard they try, they can't superpower their way out of this problem.

he watches as jeongguk takes one last drag of his cigarette and then stubs it out against the side of his lawn chair. then he finally stands up, stretching his legs before he turns and steps onto the stairs. as he's passing yoongi on the way down, all he says is, "that's not my fault, is it?"

when he follows jeongguk into the bunker, intent on continuing this conversation—whether it's with a fight or with eventual apologies—he's interrupted by taehyung walking by and shoving a phone into his hands. they can't have normal phones lest the government be able to track them, but they do have phones to communicate with rebel headquarters. he's confused before taehyung says, "he's been asking for you." when yoongi looks down at the phone in his hands, he sees jimin's face on video call, waving at yoongi from where he's still stationed at headquarters.

yoongi looks up and after jeongguk, who has disappeared. so yoongi sighs, taking the phone to jimin and hoseok's bedroom, keeping the lights off as he shuts the door behind him and collapses on the bed, tossing the phone down beside him.

"hey hyung," says jimin, voice small and tinny through the phone speakers.

"what do you want?" yoongi croaks, throwing an arm over his eyes. he hates feeling this way, so lost and uncertain. like he's losing jeongguk with each passing second, forced to choose between his soulmate and the battle that they swore to fight so that other soulmates and the common people would never have to suffer the way they have for years.

"miss you, too," says jimin. "i'm glad to see things have been perfectly fine since i left."

"shut up," says yoongi, but he does pick up the phone so he can see jimin's face. "how're headquarters?"

"different," says jimin. his face falls. "i miss hoseok-hyung." of course—somehow, yoongi had almost forgotten the root of all of this: hoseok's kidnapping. jimin has already lost his soulmate and is fighting to get him back, knowing that each day hoseok moves one day closer to becoming a government puppet. how can yoongi sit here and let anything tear he and jeongguk apart when jimin doesn't even have his soulmate anymore?

"any closer to getting him back?" asks yoongi.

"i can't give you any details yet," says jimin, "but we're gaining new information every day about the whereabouts of most of the soulmates that have been kidnapped. the government has a small circle of brainwashed soulmates who were essentially the first ones that went through a trial to make sure their plan worked, and now they've culled a larger amount of soulmates to add to their numbers but we don't know exactly how long the brainwashing takes. so we're hoping to find where those soulmates—including hoseok-hyung—are being held and rescue them before they're even changed. the plans are in place for who is involved and what we need to do, but we just need to figure out where they are." it's undoubtedly the most important piece of the puzzle, and yoongi can tell that jimin is losing his patience. no doubt he's been going stir crazy knowing hoseok is being held by the government.

which is yet another reason not to give up now.

"i'm more interested in what you've been doing, though," adds jimin. "i heard there's trouble in paradise."

yoongi sighs, mentally cursing taehyung for telling jimin everything that happens in the dorm. "it's nothing," he says, even though it's not. "we just have differing views on stuff at the moment."

"he has a point, you know," says jimin. "this shit is dangerous and he has a right to be worried and upset. he has a right to want to stop rather than go so far that you both die."

"i don't know how he can want to stop now, though," says yoongi. "it's most crucial that we fight now, to save all of those soulmates. to save hoseok. how can you of all people agree with him?"

"i'm not saying i agree with him. but i'm not saying i agree with you either." when yoongi scowls, jimin laughs a little. "i don't blame him. i want to save hoseok, too, but you wouldn't have to be on the front lines for that. there are a lot of cogs in this wheel of the rebels. it doesn't make him a coward to change his mind, you know. you've done good work in the rebels, but battling face to face with the government isn't the only way to fight this fight."

he thinks about it for a moment, and then yoongi says, "he predicted my death."

"what?" jimin snaps. "what the fuck, hyung?"

"he said he doesn't know when or where or how, but if we don't stop, i'll die."

"and you're still going to keep doing this?"

"if you and hoseok had known that he would been kidnapped on that mission, would you still have gone? if you had known when you joined the rebels, would you still have joined?"

he sees the way jimin pauses, considering it. and then, almost sheepish, he replies, "yes."

"i've always known there was a chance i would die, or jeongguk would die," says yoongi. "that's the nature of this work. but if i stop now, people might die who would have been saved had i not stopped. if i stop now, we might not save hoseok or the others. i don't think that highly of myself, but it just takes one straw to break the camel's back, you know?"

and that's why he can't see eye to eye with jeongguk. he knows that jeongguk is worried and doesn't want either of them to die. he knows jeongguk believes they can do the same work in a different capacity. but yoongi is willing to take the risk if it means winning. if it means gaining even an inch in this fight against the government—after all of the feet and miles that he's gained for the government in his life, now it's time to finally right those wrongs.

jimin still doesn't agree with him, not fully. not with jeongguk, either. what he does say is, "if i had known that hoseok-hyung would be kidnapped during that mission, i would have held him a little closer the night before. all of the nights before. in the end, hyung, this is a battle for our lives and our future and our people, but... in the end, it's also about you and him. about your life together. if you spend all of your time fighting with the government, you'll never have time to love jeongguk. and then what's the point of fighting? if you're fighting for a future where you can be with him without oppression yet you never take advantage of the time you do have to be with him?"

yoongi doesn't like how that makes him feel.

"before you joined the rebels, you had him," says jimin. "before all of this, it was the two of you. and it's important to fight for what you believe in and for what's right, but it's also important to fight for him. for your happiness. and maybe right now, fighting for him doesn't mean what it did when you started this. hyung, i just don't want to see this turn out badly. just remember why you're here at all. remember why you want soulmates to be free."

of course—it's all for jeongguk. it's all because of jeongguk. but before yoongi can say anything, a muffled voice comes through the speaker and jimin turns his head, saying something before he returns his attention to yoongi. "sorry, hyung," he says. "i have to go. but just—keep that in mind? we're going to get hoseok-hyung back, i promise. but please don't lose jeongguk in the process."

when he hangs up, leaving yoongi in darkness, yoongi doesn't like the way his heart hurts. because jimin is right. and now it's up to both he and jeongguk to make this right.

≡ ≡ ≡

they don't get the chance—because only a week later, almost a full month after hoseok was kidnapped, they finally get their mission, the mission to take back the dozens if not hundreds of soulmates taken by the government that are currently in the process of being brainwashed and turned into puppets. the mission comes from headquarters and within hours, they're suited up and being driven across the city to a warehouse where the rebels have found the government is keeping detained soulmates and brainwashing them.

from the information gathered, it takes up to a month for the brainwashing to be complete and requires a person to be hooked up to a device the entire time, keeping them still and unconscious as the device works on their brain. a rebel who got a quick look inside the facility described it like a massive field hospital, with rows and rows of unconscious people hooked up to tiny boxes next to their cots or beds. nothing but breathing. nothing but fear for the future, knowing that once the process was complete on even one of those people, the government would have gained another inch over the rebels.

now is the time to act. handfuls of other rebel squads have been pulled together for this mission, knowing they need all the manpower they can get, and namjoon explains in the truck that they'll be broken up into sections according to what their abilities can afford. jeongguk and yoongi will be part of a group who will wait until others have dealt with the guards and outside security and then run in to rescue detained soulmates in the east wing of the warehouse. if they're lucky, they won't actually have to deal with the government lackeys at all, but they have to prepare for the worst. as usual, jeongguk and yoongi will be the ones protecting the rest of their squad, ensuring everything goes smoothly.

once he finishes, namjoon hands yoongi an earpiece. they've never used them before, so he throws a confused look to namjoon before he sees him hand a matching one to jeongguk. "you're the only one actually going in," says namjoon. "jeongguk talked to me and asked if there was a way we could do this without him actually going into the battle, so he's going to hang back with me and the other rebels who are working from the background and he'll communicate with you through these."

yoongi turns a confused expression to jeongguk, who is busy fiddling with the earpiece and decidedly not looking at him. "you didn't even ask me about it?" he asks.

"i already knew what you would say," mutters jeongguk. "and i've been trying to tell you i don't want to fight face to face for weeks, but you never listen. so i had to do what was right for me."

"we can't possibly make this work through ear pieces."

"why not?" asks namjoon, cutting him off and making sure it doesn't devolve into another argument. "this way jeongguk can predict without risking getting hurt, and you can still use your ability in the moment. i think it's actually pretty smart. we should have tried it out before." it's not about what's smartest, though; it's a pride thing. yoongi can't believe jeongguk could just do that without even talking to him about it—but it's too late. they're already on their way and they'll only have one chance to succeed at this mission.

yoongi puts the earpiece in. it's clear that jeongguk is trying to distance himself from this fight, but yoongi is in too deep to consider pulling out now. and this just feels like the final blow to their relationship—for the first time, they won't be going in together. they'll be connected, sure, but it's not the same. for years, they've done everything side by side, a united front. they were inseparable. and now, when they need to be united more than ever, yoongi is just going to run into a building full of their enemies alone.

the cold feeling of this realization sticks with him as they arrive to their destination, just a few blocks from the warehouse. they're meant to wait for the go-ahead that security has been taken care of and they have a way in, but they don't know how long it'll take; everything is silent in the truck other than the radio namjoon has sparking with bursts of noise from other leaders and those that immediately head into battle. they wait for the right words, the ones that let them know they can go in.

they're in the midst of battle now—perhaps the final battle, at least for now. the government will never stop, even if the rebels rescue every soulmate in that facility, but yoongi isn't even thinking of that now. the pops of gunshots and clashes of soulmate against soulmate echo through the radio and in real time outside of the truck, loud enough to be heard from blocks away. but yoongi keeps staring at jeongguk, who is sitting across from him and looking at his hands.

what have they become? how have they let something like this come between them?

and, with some horror, yoongi realizes this is exactly what the government wants. they want fighting for the rebels to drive them apart, making them weaker, ruining their fated relationship. at the beginning of this, jeongguk and yoongi were soulmates, meant to be together. they work together better than anyone. they know each other. and they're still on the same side now: the side of the common people. they're fighting for the same goddamn thing. but right now, it doesn't feel like that.

jimin is right: at the end of this, it's still the two of them. and yoongi can't let this war cloud his love for jeongguk, his husband, his soulmate. what is the point of all of this if they aren't doing it together? what's the point of fighting if they're not fighting together as one, the way it was meant to be?

slowly, yoongi slides his boot across the floor and taps foot against jeongguk's. when jeongguk looks up, almost startled, yoongi realizes he doesn't know what to say—not with namjoon, taehyung, and seokjin sitting here, too, waiting for their go-ahead to run into battle, where they could die. where yoongi and jeongguk will be apart for the first time since they joined the rebels.

in the end, there's nothing he can say that will fix what has been broken between them. that will take time and effort, neither of which they can afford right now. right now what yoongi needs to say is just that one reminder, a reminder of why they're here, what they're fighting for. a reminder that once this is over, no matter the outcome, they'll always be able to come home to each other.

so yoongi mouths, i love you.

jeongguk looks at him for a very long moment, a moment in which yoongi fears he might not say it back. and then jeongguk pushes his toe back against yoongi's and mouths the words back to him. and it's not perfect. but it's something. they're still in this together, even if they're physically separated. they're always in this together.

and then, crackling over the radio—"we're in!" there's but a moment of hesitation and then namjoon is shouting, "go, go, go!" at them. the doors to the truck are thrown open as they spill out into the street along with dozens of other soulmates from other trucks parked down the street, and when yoongi steps out, he turns to look over his shoulder at jeongguk, who is watching through the window.

there's static in his in-ear, and then jeongguk's voice saying, "hurry. you have to get there within a minute."

yoongi nods, turns, and runs down the street.

the rest of his temporary squad meets him at the end of the street, where they hurry for the warehouse. all down the street is smoke now, the ground ripped up and part of the building battered with whatever abilities the guards and rebels have been using against each other, there are still plenty of battles happening right before their eyes, security trying to beat the rebels back, but yoongi has to ignore them as they run for the entrance to the facility, which is now nothing more than a hole in the wall where the doors were blown off, giving them access.

"east wing!" one of the members of his new squad calls, the designated leader. they follow her into the building, other squads running for other wings so that they can be systematic about rescuing the prisoners. yoongi's fingers itch on his gun as he prepares for anyone jumping out but, as though he can sense it without even being there, jeongguk says, "you're fine. no one is going to take you out on the way there."

"don't fault me for being cautious," yoongi breathes, but down one long hallway and then another, they don't meet any resistance. and then they step through the doors to the east wing and yoongi comes to a halt, staring open-mouthed at the sight before him.

it's like their rebel informant described, only worse, somehow. imagining it is one thing, but to stand before it, in the midst of it, is something else entirely. the east wing of the facility is as big as half of a football field, the walls and floor white with fluorescent lights overhead dousing them all in bright lights. there are no windows and only two doors in and out. it's like a box of metal, and inside are... people. lining the floor in neat rows, unconscious people rest on small cots, each dressed in matching black robes. they aren't moving even an inch, only their chests rising and falling to prove that they're even still alive.

beside each cot is a small black box with wires protruding from them that attach to the corresponding person's temple. the boxes make quiet whirring noises, but there must be three or four dozen boxes and people in the wing, so together they make a buzzing noise that sets yoongi on edge as he takes everything in.

these people—these soulmates—are being detained by the government, forced under, and hooked up to devices that will brainwash them. when they wake up after the process is complete, they will have an entirely different worldview. they might not even remember who they are, only knowing that they have one objective: to kill the rebels. there's not much known about the full effects of the brainwashing, but it's thorough enough that perfectly good people, people who had been fighting for the rebels, have total allegiance to the government and will kill for them.

yoongi wants to destroy every box, wants to shake awake every person in this room. but they can't—they don't know what damage could be done if they simply disconnect the soulmates from the machines. so their objective is to get the soulmates out and transported to trucks waiting to send them to rebel hospitals without waking them up or disconnecting them from their brainwashing devices.

yoongi shudders in a breath. in his ear, jeongguk asks, "what?"

"it's so much worse than i thought it would be," he replies. "how long do we have?"

"you should have about ten before back-up arrives," says jeongguk. "hoseok-hyung isn't in that wing, i don't think. don't look for him. just help get them out."

yoongi breathes out long and slow. and then their squad gets to work.

they have to be quick, because back-up will be arriving soon and they can't risk any of the unconscious soulmates getting injured when they can't even protect themselves. the others in yoongi's squad have been chosen for this very reason; one of the rebels can make things weightless so he runs around and touches each of the unconscious soulmates so that they'll be easier to move. another can move at superspeed, and she starts hauling the cots out as quickly as possible while a few more help load them into trucks outside of the door at the other end of the room. a bonded pair with healing abilities checks each soulmate for injuries or anything that needs to be dealt with apart from the brainwashing devices and heals them on the spot, hoping to lighten the load for when they get to a hospital.

yoongi, for the most part, flits around and listens to jeongguk making predictions in his ear, making things smoother for everyone. they're all on edge as they hear gunshots and explosions from outside, well aware that government agents or brainwashed soulmates could burst in at any moment, so they have to move quickly. jeongguk predicts that someone is going to trip so yoongi clears a path for them. jeongguk predicts that the wires are going to be ripped off of someone in the process of moving so yoongi calls for the pair to be careful, making sure it doesn't happen.

it almost seems—too easy. in no time, they've gotten half of the soulmates out of the door and loaded for transportation. "how much longer?" yoongi asks.

"two minutes," says jeongguk. "they won't be soulmates, just regular police. but that means they're going to fight with guns and they won't care if they end up killing the prisoners, too. you have to meet them in the hallway, hyung. don't let them in the room."

"how many?"

"three at first, and then four more within a minute."

"do i do it alone?" he glances out at the work the others are doing; even working as quickly as possible, they won't be able to get everyone out if some of them stop to fight.

he can hear jeongguk breathe in sharply. "do it alone," says jeongguk. "if you don't, whoever helps you fucks up and lets them in. and then it's over." admittedly, working alone against potentially seven police gives him a better chance of fucking up and letting them in. but he has to trust jeongguk. he always has before. it would work better if jeongguk was here in the flesh, but yoongi knows he has to respect jeongguk's decision.

so he grabs his handguns, making sure they're both loaded before he makes his way to the door leading out into the hallway. yoongi cricks his neck this way and that; he has bulletproof clothing on, so that should help, but he has to do this with his own training, his ability, and his husband in his ear. yoongi is going to make sure those damn soulmates get out of this building.

"get ready," says jeongguk, as yoongi hears the noises from outside increase. there's more yelling, gunfire, explosions—"three... two... one."

yoongi runs back into the hallway, both guns held out before him. it's dark in the hallway, but he doesn't need light—not like this. he hears footsteps first, and then jeongguk directing him where the police will be. he takes a deep breath and begins firing, the flashes from the gun lighting up the hallway like snapshots as he sees the three heavily armoured police officers running down the hallway toward him. he grits his teeth as he fires at all three of them in quick succession, jamming their guns when they try to fire back.

"neck! on the right!" jeongguk says, and yoongi fires another bullet at the officer on the right, using his ability to make sure the bullet strikes the officer in the neck where there's a sliver of room between one piece of armour and the next. blood spurts from the wound, the officer immediately going down as yoongi turns to the other two.

"on your knees," says jeongguk as yoongi runs for them and then slides on his knees between them, using his arms to trip both of them. when they go down, he twists over and, when jeongguk shouts, ducks under a bullet that almost hits him in the head. he pounces on top of one of the officers, using jeongguk's direction to twist and kick the gun out of the other officer's hand. the gun goes flying down the hallway and yoongi kicks at the officer's hand again, using the moment of distraction to turn and rip the protective headgear off of the officer he's currently on top of.

wincing, he shoots the officer in the face.

"duck," says jeongguk and yoongi does, another bullet flying past him. the officer he kicked has since gotten up and grabbed the gun again and is now shooting at him. "use the body as a shield." yoongi grunts, rolling off of the dead officer and grabbing the body, hoisting it sideways so that the bullets being shot at him hit the body instead. "you only have two bullets left in that gun."

"christ," yoongi huffs, grabbing another clip from his pocket so that he can quickly change it out. he's still using the body as a shield, but he pops out to shoot once and then twice at the other officer. crouching down, he changes the clip and reloads his gun before breathing, "how long until the other four?"

"forty-five seconds," says jeongguk, and yoongi curses. he looks up at the ceiling, hoping for something he can use to his advantage, and when he spots a pipe running along the edge of the ceiling, jeongguk lets out a, "yes." yoongi doesn't waste a moment as he lifts his gun and shoots at the pipe, using his ability to manipulate the probability that it'll hit just right—and sure enough, the bullet hole in the pipe means a high-pressured stream of water shoots out of the pipe and hits the officer in the side of the head hard enough that he's knocked sideways.

tossing his body shield aside, yoongi gets up and runs for the downed officer. before he can get up, yoongi reaches him and shoves him under the water—which is also freezing cold—and foregoes the gun as he punches the officer in the face. the officer grapples with him, hands and body wet as he gets a hold of yoongi and socks him in the throat, using the momentum to flip them around. yoongi growls, hitting the wet floor with a splash as the officer punches him and then wraps his hands around yoongi's throat and squeezes.

yoongi gasps for breath, trying to use his ability to change something about it, but there's nothing he can get a grasp on—until he hears jeongguk in his ear saying, "gun! hyung, the gun!" yoongi slaps his hand sideways blindly, using his ability to ensure the gun will be right there—and it is. it's not his gun, instead the one knocked out of the officer's hand when he was hit with the water, but yoongi just swings it wildly until he bashes it against the side of the officer's head and the man goes down, knocked out cold by the force.

yoongi inhales, gasping sharply when the pressure on his throat is suddenly lifted, but he barely has time to be relived before jeongguk is saying, "more back-up is coming. they have soulmates this time."

"fuck," says yoongi, but he pulls himself to his feet away, out of breath and waterlogged. the water from the pipe is still pouring into the hallway, but he uses that to his advantage as he wills the water pressure to increase, enough that the hallway floods even more and the water rushes toward the entrance. perhaps one of them will slip.

in the meantime, yoongi finds his guns again, making sure they're loaded before he faces front again and waits. but there's only silence. "jeongguk?" he asks, tapping at his in-ear. "jeongguk, are they here?"

nothing. he can hear footsteps down the hallway again, splashing the water, but jeongguk isn't counting down—"jeongguk! hey, gguk-ah, i need—"

he hears jeongguk's sharp gasp over their connection and immediately knows something is wrong.

"yoongi-hyung," jeongguk practically shouts. "the building is going to colla—" the line goes dead. yoongi stops, tapping at the in-ear as he calls jeongguk's name, but there's nothing, not even static or breathing—there's no connection at all. he calls jeongguk's name again, but the footsteps are getting louder and he takes a few steps back, knowing he can't defeat other soulmates without jeongguk to help him.

he takes his chances and abandons his post, turning and hurrying back into the east wing where the rest of his squad is still busy moving the detained soulmates out. they only have two dozen or so left to move, but what jeongguk said finally dawns on yoongi when he feels the walls around them shake dangerously:

the building is going to collapse.

outside of the door leading to the hallway, there are several loud bangs and one of the squad members spots him, calling out to him with a, "what are you doing? aren't you supposed to be protecting us?"

"hurry!" he yells back. "i think something bad is about to happen!"

"something bad will happen if you don't get out there and stop—" the door to the room bursts open, but it's not a brainwashed soulmate that enters.

it's jeongguk.

he races for yoongi, fear and sweat marring his face as he practically collides with yoongi. "hyung," he says, panicked. "hyung, oh my god—"

"what did you do?" yoongi demands, staring back out of the door.

"i only stunned them for a minute. they're going to be up and attacking us again soon, but listen." he's breathing so hard he can barely get the words out, already dragging yoongi toward the nearest detained soulmate. "we have to get them out now! we have to get them all out!"

"we're going as fast as we can."

"no, you don't get it," says jeongguk, turning and grabbing hold of yoongi's arms. "they're going to blow up the building. the whole thing. everyone inside is going to be crushed and die—everyone."

it takes a second for yoongi to understand, and then—"even the ones fighting for the government? even the soulmates they took so long to capture and brainwash? they'd just kill their own soldiers?"

"what do you think?" snaps jeongguk, grabbing the end of the cot and hurriedly gesturing for yoongi to grab the other end. together, they lift the unconscious woman there, practically running for the door to get her out. "they don't give a fuck! if it means stopping some of the rebels, they'd sacrifice anything. do you think they actually care about their soldiers or the police? you think they care about these soulmates they've kidnapped? they're just cannon fodder, hyung. they were probably planning on killing all of them once they outgrew their usefulness, anyway."

yoongi's heart is pounding, hurrying this one soulmate to the exit as jeongguk calls to the others to hurry up. they're all practically running down, risking hurting the soulmates in a rushed attempt to get them all out of the building before it collapses—

but jeongguk is right, of course. the government doesn't care. they'd kill their own people if it meant not letting the rebels win this battle. they'd rather ruin their own plan and sacrifice their soulmate army so that the rebels aren't able to rescue them. and if it means killing some of their police in the process, so be it.

it's easy to forget who the real enemy is. when the brainwashed soulmates kidnapped hoseok, yoongi wanted to kill them, but it's now that he remembers it was the government who made them do that in the first place. those soulmates, and these soulmates are still the government's enemies. they're just using them to get what they want. and they'll willingly let them die if it means not letting the rebels win.

just as they're hurrying to grab a second detained soulmate, the door to the room slams open again—and this time, it's not someone on their side. yoongi and jeongguk lock eyes for just a second before turning and pulling their guns, but yoongi aims at their legs; he already knows what jeongguk has in mind. these soulmates aren't the real enemy; they're merely being used by the government. and if the rebels can reverse the brainwashing, they can be saved.

if the building is going to collapse, they need to save these soulmates, too.

"stop!" jeongguk yells at them, even as a shrill whining noise fills yoongi's head, loud and painful enough that he almost drops his gun. everyone in the room has the same reaction, which means it's clearly an ability being used on them. yoongi grits his teeth, trying to muscle through it as he lifts his gun again. "the building—the building is going to collapse!" jeongguk shouts at them. "you have to get out!"

they fight through the painful whining as they struggle toward the group, but all hell breaks loose inside the room—along with the whining, someone with what must be an empathy ability immediately gets into their heads. yoongi feels such despair take over him that he can't possibly think of fighting anymore, and yet he knows he has to get through this. he has to. fire bursts from another of the soulmate's palms, fireballs being thrown at them and the detained soulmates, and as yoongi watches, the last lifts her hands and they turn into guns which she begins firing.

"c'mon," yoongi growls. "this can't be it."

the building shakes again and yoongi finally manages to take off for their new opponents, intent on knocking them out so he can just drag them outside and save them. he dodges a fireball, ducking under a few bullets, but before he can get to them, the whining just stops. he turns and realizes one of the other members of his squad has shot one of their opponents in the foot, forcing them to lose their concentration, and then yoongi takes the opportunity to run for him, knocking him out with a few clean blows.

with the whining under control, everyone is able to get back up and continue evacuating as jeongguk and yoongi try to deal with the attacks. it's not easy—but they have to make sure as many people get out of this building as possible.

when yoongi turns back to the soulmates, jeongguk is still shouting at them. "can't you see?" he yells. "they're using you! they're going to sacrifice you because they don't care about your lives! what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"we have to fight for them," the woman with the gun hands shouts back. "it's our duty!"

yoongi gets to his side, the two of them becoming one once again as they shoot and duck and run, as yoongi keeps one eye on the evacuations and uses his ability to help them. "we're trying to save you!" he hears jeongguk screaming, and then yoongi realizes—if they can't detain these opponents, they just have to lure them out of the building.

"if you want to do your duty, then come get us!" he shouts; the others have gotten almost all of the detained soulmates out, which means it should be safe to draw their opponents away. he runs for the other door, the one leading into the flooded hallway again, and drags the unconscious man he knocked out earlier. still fighting, the other soulmates follow the bait and run after them, and as yoongi bursts into the hallway, he feels the building shake once more. he doesn't know how long they have, but they have to try and get even their opponents out.

"fuck you!" jeongguk shouts, but when yoongi glances over his shoulder, ducking around a fireball thrown in this direction, he doesn't think jeongguk is shouting at the soulmates. "fuck you for taking so much from me! for not letting me have a real life in the first place! why can't you just let people be happy?"

they're almost to the front door now, or what was once the front door, and water and smoke and weeds are crawling along the hallway, the aftermath of fighting. the building is swaying and rumbling and shaking, and they're so close to the exit—yoongi turns over his shoulder and holds out his hand for jeongguk, but the moment they touch, he sees jeongguk jolt as though shocked by something.

the future.

"hyung—" jeongguk begins, letting go of yoongi as he instead reaches up for yoongi's chest and gives him a hard shove just as they reach the door. the moment yoongi goes stumbling out, he sees, feels, and hears a massive explosion from within the building go off. the force from the blast sends him flying, and jeongguk, who stumbled right into the spot yoongi was just standing, is hit with a massive chunk of concrete as the building explodes.

the last thing yoongi sees before he hits the ground and is knocked unconscious is jeongguk's hands still outstretched toward him and the front of the building collapsing on top of him, the spot where yoongi should have been.

≡ ≡ ≡

yoongi drifts in and out of consciousness. when he comes to again, he's still on the ground and everything is on fire, smoke and dust filling his lungs as pain drowns him in its clutches; he tries to move but can't, everything burning within and around him. he slips under the darkness again only to come back moments later to someone dragging him across the ground. he whines at the pain, feeling like he's underwater; there's a whining in his head again, not unlike when they were in the east wing, but he tries to blink through the fog in his mind. when he looks up, he can't tell who is dragging him but he thinks—jeongguk.

he slips again. again. again. he comes to in time to see the remnants of the building that has collapsed, nothing more than rubble and dust and smoke and fire, and yoongi lets out a groan of pain and anguish as he tries to remember what happened. when he slips and comes to again, he's being lifted, hands on his shoulders and his feet and he thinks he says jeongguk's name but he can't hear anything, pain overtaking him as he passes out for the final time.

≡ ≡ ≡

this time, when yoongi wakes, he's immediately aware of what's happening. he blinks up at the roof of a truck, the bumping of the road rocking him awake. the pain is still pounding in his head and other areas of his body, but there's no fog anymore, and he groans as he tries to sit up.

"hyung," someone says, and yoongi groans when he sits up enough to see jimin crouching beside him, slowly helping him sit. "oh my god, you're okay."

"what the fuck," yoongi murmurs. it feels like there's cotton in his mouth. "what happened?"

"the building collapsed," says jimin. it's only now yoongi realizes he's covered in soot. "you just got out in time, but you must have hit your head pretty hard because you were in and out of it. i was already out when it happened so i rushed to get you out, along with anyone else who could be pulled out first. we're going to a field hospital."

yoongi smacks his lips, finally able to focus enough to see that everyone else is in the back of this truck too; taehyung and seokjin are sitting on the other side of the truck, both of them bruised and bloodied but otherwise looking alright. namjoon is here, too, unharmed as he must not have joined the battle at all.

"did we do it?" yoongi mutters. "did we save them?"

"not everyone," admits jimin. "the building collapsed before we could get everyone out and there are still people trapped under there, so we're going to have to dig to see if anyone is alive. but... we got most of them. almost everyone in your wing got out, hyung. and—" he takes a deep breath, tears shining in his eyes when he says, "we got hoseok-hyung."

yoongi sighs in relief, slumping against jimin at the news. he'll have time to be upset later about the soulmates that they did lose—but if the mission was mostly a success, then that's something to be happy about for now.

and then—"but hyung," says jimin. he forces yoongi to sit up properly, looking at him with wide eyes. "jeongguk..."

yoongi gasps, lurching into reality once more as he remembers—reaching for jeongguk and jeongguk touching him and then pushing him out of the way. jeongguk must have predicted it right then and there: yoongi was going to die. this was what he'd been predicting for weeks, what he'd been begging yoongi to avoid this whole time. he knew yoongi would die when the building collapsed so he pushed him out of the way, saved him, and then—the building collapsed on top of him.

"jeongguk," yoongi gasps. "oh my god, jeongguk! where is he? jimin—" he tries to get up as though he can just get out of the truck and run back, as though he can dig under that rubble to get to him, but jimin grabs onto him and forces him back.

"hyung, stop," he says.

"but—jeongguk—"

"yoongi," says seokjin sharply, and then his eyes shift downwards. with furrowed brows, yoongi finally pushes jimin out of the way and sees that this entire time, there's been a sixth person in the back of the truck. jimin's body was blocking him, but there—there. lying on the floor of the truck, half wrapped up in a blanket, is jeongguk.

yoongi makes a noise, some guttural thing caught between a moan and a sob, and crawls over to him. he reaches for jeongguk's hand, panicking as he searches for any signs that jeongguk is okay—and his chest is moving, but barely. he's breathing, but shallowly. his body is covered in dust and blood, several of his limbs crushed or at awkward angles. there's blood on his head and he doesn't look well, not at all. the fucking building collapsed on top of him, or at least half on top of him.

but he's alive.

"we had to drag him out," says taehyung quietly. "his legs were pinned under the concrete and he was out cold, so we think something hit his head. he's... he's not in great shape, hyung."

yoongi can barely breathe as he holds jeongguk's hand. this was supposed to be him. he was supposed to be hit by the concrete, supposed to be trapped under that building. but jeongguk saved him, sacrificed himself so that yoongi would live. this was what jeongguk had been trying to keep them from this whole time—but yoongi had been too stubborn to listen to him.

and now jeongguk is barely breathing and he's bleeding profusely and he's not okay.

"is he—" begins yoongi, breath shaky. "is he going to make it?" when he looks up, he finds himself staring right at namjoon. namjoon, whom he's been with longer than the others. namjoon, with whom he's grieved lost friends before.

namjoon's cheeks are wet. "we're going to a hospital, hyung," he says.

"is he going to make it?" yoongi repeats, a little more firmly.

there's a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. tears fill his eyes, but he refuses to think that they won't last through this. he refuses to think this might be the end.

yet when namjoon finally answers, all he says is, "i don't know, hyung. i just don't know."