ANYTIME SEOKJIN VOWS to stop turning back time to save people, he breaks that vow.
Now, he's been doing it for the birds.
Doves, Seokjin realizes, are the only birds he's found that are killed during the war.
He's healed six of them, and this one is about to be the seventh.
The cage he carries the dove in is covered by a dirty cloth. Seokjin enters his hut and sets the cage down on a table in front of him.
He closes his eyes, and wills for the dove to come alive again, wills for the dove's time to turn back.
And it works, like it always does, except before Seokjin has the time to grab the cage and head outside and release the dove, there are loud footsteps outside.
And then his door is flung open and Hoseok — who has fire in his eyes and looks about ready to kill — storms up to Seokjin and grabs him by the collar.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Hoseok's arm swings back and his fist collides with Seokjin's face. Seokjin feels something break, and he knows there's blood trickling down his nose and into his mouth.
Seokjin knows why Hoseok is mad.
After all, it was his fault that the boys were stuck in this timeline — he time travelled too much, and there's a punishment for everything.
"It wasn't my intention," Seokjin says. He sees Hoseok's fist pull back again and he takes another hit, doing nothing to stop it because he knows that this is what he deserves.
"You — put — us — here!" Every syllable is followed by a punch before Hoseok throws Seokjin into the wall. The bird cages around him clatter as he falls against the ground.
And now Seokjin's eyes are too blurry to see what's coming next, but he can feel that Hoseok isn't about to stop just yet.
Then Hoseok's body slumps backwards into someone's arms, someone waiting there to catch him.
". . .Jimin?"
Jimin lowers Hoseok onto the ground before crouching down next to Seokjin, concern evident in his eyes.
"You used. . . your abilities," Seokjin mutters.
"Yeah," says Jimin. "That doesn't matter right now. Let's get you some help."
;;
TALKING TO ANIMALS isn't his ability, no, he just understands them well.
Namjoon's ability is healing.
So when Jimin, carrying an unconscious Seokjin on his back, approaches him in a panic, Namjoon already knows that he's needed.
And this is something he will not run away from.
Jimin lowers Seokjin onto the ground. Namjoon crouches down to his knees and rests his hands on Seokjin's chest. Slowly, the colour returns to Seokjin's face and his breathing evens out. Instead of being unconscious and in pain, Namjoon healed him and put him to sleep.
Namjoon removes his hands, glancing up at Jimin.
"What happened?"
"Hoseok was beating the shit out of him," says Jimin. "I don't know why. . . Hoseok disappears for a week and comes back and goes absolutely berserk on Jin hyung. . . I stepped in but it took a while, 'cause tapping into Hoseok's head and making him pass out is harder than it seems."
Jimin is able to wind his way into people's heads and control them. He rarely uses his ability against someone's will, but when times become drastic, he does so without hesitation.
Namjoon swallows. He knows that if he wants answers, he has to go back to their home base.
"Let's go," he says shortly, and he and Jimin carry Seokjin between themselves, heading back to the very place Namjoon ran from.
