Jimin shrugged wearily. "What's been done is done. Like I said, the kid is not going to make it. I can tell he doesn't have what it takes. If it wasn't going to be with me, it's going to be with another trainer."
I cautiously took a step towards him. "Did you... ever break when you were training?"
I'd heard the raw yearning hidden behind Jimin's words at the boy, number 5, being sent home.
"Multiple times."
"They never sent you home?"
He fixed a flat level stare at me. "My father is the Infinity Council General of warfare. You think I got to go home?" He laughed bitterly. "No, I was just sent to another camp if I was signed incompetent. After the fifth time I broke Father finally decided to train me himself. He was ashamed of me for not 'living up to the legacy waiting for me'. He called me a failure every time I messed up. He'd push me past the breaking point until at times I thought I'd lost my sanity and every shred of humanity left in me."
It felt like something was tearing inside my chest as Jimin opened up about his militant background that he'd been so elusive about for so long. "How old were you when you began training?"
"Six."
"Jimin..." I began to reach for him.
"No." He abruptly shied away as I took another step closer. "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?" I halted.
"Like... like I'm sort of broken toy you need to fix."
I set my jaw and finally closed the distance between us. I gently took his face into my hands, lifting his face so our eyes met. "You're not broken or a toy, Jimin," I murmured, gently stroking his cheeks with my thumbs. "You're strong, even after all you've gone through, you don't let it hold you down or hold you back. That takes true bravery from the heart. You're fearless."
He took my wrists and pulled me against him. We stood there, our arms wrapped around each other.
"You're wrong," he murmured. "I do have one fear that grows every single day, every single moment the world around us crumbles."
"What's that?"
I expected him to say something to do with the inevitable war drawing upon us all like a dark cloud of doom. Instead he said,
