Dean was a sweet talker and a liar.

And now Lilith knew it for sure.

"GET ME OUT OF THIS OR SO HELP ME—"

Dean smirked over at Lilith, who was squirming in the copilot's seat of their transport shuttle with handcuffs binding her wrists and feet. There was a seatbelt firmly fastened around her torso holding her down as she shifted and squirmed.

Dean noted, "I kinda like you all wound up and bound up like that. Gets me—"

"God, why are men such unfathomable tools? THERE IS NOTHING SEXY ABOUT HOLDING ME PRISONER YOU ASSHAT."

Genuine shame flushed in Dean's cheeks. He muttered the unthinkable: an apology.

"S-sorry, I'm just tryna handle all this mess. I'm an expert at treasure hunting. And at a few other things." Dean's eyes flickered up and down Lilith's frame. She scoffed. Then Dean went on, "Yoongi sent me on this wild goose chase to beat Chimin to the punchline at finding those big ol' books. Thanks to your weird ass favor with the dark spirits of this creepy as hell mountain... we did. And honestly, honey, now I know why he really sent me."

Lilith rolled her eyes. "And what, pray tell--you irritating abscess--is that?"

Deen's voice fell into a loud whisper. "SPIRIT SHIT." The renegade young man's eyes got wide with drama and his fingers wiggled around in front of his face like he was about to relive a scene from Hocus Pocus that had somehow scarred his childhood.

He went on, "I have waaaaaay too much experience with the SS life, and I don't need any more spirit shit staining my general state of wellbeing. No thank you and good effing day, sir."

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Well, first of all, when I get out of these handcuffs I'm going to murder you and Yoongi both for this utter NONsense. So be forewarned. But also, while you're running off like a proper coward... the love of my life is somewhere stuck in that cave with a murderer and a crazy person."

Dean twisted in the pilot's seat to shot her an earnest look. "Trust me, Lilith, I'm doing you a favor."

She was hardly stunned that he was using her name for the first time. She was determined. "Jin is back there. And I can't leave him. I... I can't. Please."

Dean sighed. "As enticing as those sad brown eyes are, the answer is still no."

"Well, you neanderlithic idiot, what if I told you that the only two people who know how to read these big ol' books that are supposed to save our rebel force asses the cruel fate of being Mysterium-less... are Kim Namjoon and Park Chimin? What THEN?!"

Dean groaned. "Please tell me you're joking. In that cruel and beautiful way that women sometimes do."

She answered smugly. "Nope. Not a joke."

He flipped off the engines and fell back into the pilot's seat with a heavy sigh. "The universe hates me."

"How adolescently self-absorbed can you get?! Not everything is about YOU."

"Some things are about me," Dean muttered defensively, like a child making a halfhearted argument. He sat quietly for a moment. Then: "Can I just save one of them or do I have to save both Chimin and Joon?"

"JIN FIRST!"

"Okay, okaaaay. Sheesh! I get it. Jin first. But if I can only save one more, then who?"

Lilith hardly hesitated before answering. "Kim Namjoon."

Dean looked surprised.

Lilith felt shocked at how easily she said what she had. "Don't judge me. Just do it."

"Ayeeee, you pick your poisons. I ain't got any room to judge." He had lifted his hands up in mock surrender, but he was almost laughing now. "A'right, a'right. Be back in a jiffy."

Time passed and with it, Lilith grumbled incessantly to herself over how she wished than Dean had been smart enough to at least unbind her before taking off solo straight through solid rock on his weird arm-guard magical rampage.

Lilith sighed.

But then the transport shuttle back door slid open all over again and a pair of muddied black boots stepped inside the bright, sterile space.

Well, that was fast. Lilith pivoted her head.

The owner of the muddied black boots and tight black body suit ran a gloved hand through his damp black shaggy hair. Those almond eyes were set in a scowl against his sweaty tan skin.

"Joon? What in the name of sweet cream and biscuits..?"

His warm voice crooned, "What the devil happened to you?" His eyes traveled up and down to take in Lilith's bindings.

"It's a long story. Now hurry up and get me out of this!"

Joon didn't move towards her. "We need to break for it with these old texts before Chimin has a chance to see them."

"That makes zero sense. Why is everyone around here but me such a complete halfwit? This is a TEAM EFFORT. So let's just wait for the rest of the TEAM like—"

The dark glint in Joon's eyes as he approached startled her. Almost as much as his random as hell hair dye job from under the mountain, from white to black. Like day to night. He slid into the pilot's seat. "Trust me, Lil. If I get to go through them first, before Chim, it'll be better for everyone."

Lilith closed her eyes. She pictured Jin's face in her mind. "Why don't you let me out of these stupid handcuffs and I can start up the engines while you study away, Einstein?"

One of Kim Namjoon's eyebrows arched up in suspicion. "Oh... you mean so you can ground us until Jin gets here?"

Kim Namjoon didn't bother with the seatbelt as he started flipping switches and revving up the engines.

Lilith's eyes flickered open again, pelting Joon's dark and alluring side profile with all the daggers she had in her mental arsenal.

"Jin will be fine."

"This literally makes no sense. Why would we leave three people stranded here alone without--"

Joon faltered a moment. "Three people? Don't you mean two?"

Lilith's words fumbled around in her mouth a moment. "Uhh, well, yeahhh, I mean... I mean two. Jin and Chimin. We don't want to leave them."

Joon's dark almond eyes were laughing at her. Like he KNEW something. "We're leaving."

Lilith found it absolutely irritating. She didn't think her voice could sound any more bitter. "I hate you."

Joon's chocolatey voice cooed, "Don't worry. Dean will take good care of Jinnie. Just like I'm going to take good care of you."

The engines roared to life.

"D-Dean?" How does he know?

Instead of answering her confusion, Kim Namjoon just threw back his head and let out a dark belly laugh that rippled over Lilith's skin in thick goosebumps.

Lilith whispered, barely audible, "What in God's name...?"

The shuttle started to groan and shift as it rose up from the rocky cliffside of that mountain that hid the Library of Mirth inside of it. He made himself busy about shifting the shuttle back out into the black inky galaxies, in the direction of Camp Cheonghae and the other Noon Moolites.

"I'll get you for this, Kim Namjoon," Lilith grumbled.

"I look forward to seeing you try," he answered darkly, and the sound of his voice stirred a mixture of fear and temptation somewhere in Lilith's gut.

—

Dean wasn't sure what he expected to find as he raced in a blur through stone and shadow, his left magic bracer constantly raised in front of his face.

But it certainly wasn't a motionless body and a pool of blood tucked between racks of petrified ancient bookshelves.

"Oh GHAAA." Dean started dancing delicately around the sticky pool of blood, sure he didn't want to stain his boots. "UH-Kay." He skipped over the last speckle of sticky blood over to where the body lay.

He could see the body rising and falling, and it was laying on its stomach. Breathing. Oh good. Also, Dean noticed that the pool of blood appeared entirely separate from this other unconscious figure.

"What in the four corners of the galaxies...?"

He used his thick combat boot to kick and flip the sleeping figure over onto its back. Dean was intrigued by the shaggy black hair stuck around the Adonis-like face.

"You must be Jin," Dean grumbled. "Of course you are. No wonder Lilith didn't want to leave you behind—look at that annoyingly perfect face. You're so good looking it's embarrassing." Dean flicked his hands in front of him like he was trying to shake off something gross.

Then suddenly... one of Jin's pale hands clawed around Dean's ankle, making the young man give a loud yelp in the dark.

Jin's eyes remained closed, but his perfectly plump lips opened just enough to let out a groan.

Dean reached down to try and peel that pale hand from his ankle. "Jeeze, man! Tryna give me a heart attack or what?"

Jin's voice crackled low, "Err Errlrth."

Dean crouched down and leaned a little closer over Jin. He snapped his fingers in front of that concerned looking face. "Earth to Jin. Come in, Pretty Boy Jin."

Jin grumbled a little more clearly, "Where's Lilith?"

Dean's voice was bright and unconcerned. He answered, "No worries, mate. She's safe and sound on the ship. Now let's say we getcha back there too, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Mmm."

Dean crouched down and scooped Jin over his right shoulder. "Damn, you've got more mass than you look."

"And ass," Jin said through a groggy smirk.

The renegade Dean rolled his eyes and started dragging Jin in the vague direction where the transport shuttle had been left parked.

Jin's mumbling seemed to get slowly clearer. "...Joon... stop..."

"I ain't yer homeboy Joon. I'm way cooler, thank you." Dean gave a stronger shrug to pull Jin a little higher on his shoulder.

Finally, Jin got out the words, "Chim is... dead. And Joon... Joon's gone."

Dean answered rather nonchalantly, "A dead guy, eh? Guess that would explain the blood."

A screach like a bat echoed somewhere behind where Dean was dragging Jin through the darkness. Dean muttered, "Gha. Freakin' spirit shit. Yoongi, I'm gonna kick your ass for this."

Once Dean had dragged Jin outside of the mountain, the rebel without a cause realized that something was missing from the foggy landscape. The transport shuttle... wasn't there anymore.

Jin squinted out of droopy eyes to grumble, "Gone."

"Yes, Sherlock, thank you for the excellent detective work." Dean rolled his eyes and started pulling Jin towards where he'd parked his own stealth jet, off the main terrace a ways. He complained under his breath, "Coulda ended up with the hot girl AND the magical texts far away from this hellhole. But nahhh, I had to get stuck with the drooling mannequin boyfriend and NO effing sacred texts at all. Yoongi is gonna be pissed."

Completely ignoring this little monologue, Jin smacked his lips in satisfaction and gave Dean's chest a pat. "Thanks man."

"For what?" Dean scowled.

"For getting me outta that...nightmare." As Jin got out that last word, he slumped all over again into an unconscious state and Dean hoisted him a little higher over his shoulder.

"Guess this means we're taking my ship instead."