(Yoongi POV)

Now before you start scolding me, let's go back to the beginning.

Yanna and I were kidnapped. I had three minutes to save our butts before Jungkook came back into the room and decided to do things the hard way.

So yes, I made Yanna faint and I tricked a fellow agent. I did what I had to do. I blew the place up (unintentionally) after Yanna and I successfully escaped.

Yeah, the Chief is not gonna be happy about that. But, anyway, that's Future Yoongi's problem.

I left that Jungkook guy in my dust. Who knows if he was still in the building or not? Honestly, I don't care about him right now. All I can bring myself to care about is the girl limply sleeping on my back as I trudge my way through the back alleyways of the streets.

Yanna's been asleep for almost half an hour at this point. The Agency is still a day's journey away on foot, and what have I eaten since cereal? Nothing. I want to take this moment to sincerely thank all those days of training when I was given squat to survive on. You're helping me more than you know.

I sigh and readjust the growing weight on my back. Yanna is a tiny girl, it's true. But for some reason it feels like she just keeps getting heavier and heavier. It's probably my own exhaustion taking over, but I have got to find something to take my mind off how much my back is killing me right now.

I could think about my training. Recite all the pledges and rules that have been drilled into my mind over the past years. But I can't. Because all that comes to mind are all the rules that I've broken for Yanna. She talks about the lies I've told her like those are my worst mistakes since the mission started. Not even close--

I can't even begin to count how many Agency rules I've disregarded. But the strange thing is, I don't feel guilty. Don't get me wrong, I feel guilty for sure, but not because of the rule breaking. I feel terrible because of Yanna. She doesn't deserve this. If I'm not still one hundred percent sure why her life is in so much danger, then she can't possibly know any more than I do. She's just a bullied high school girl who was thrown into drama she never asked for and now she's hurt. She's hurt, and it was my job to keep her safe. I hate that more than I thought...

I've never cared about anyone but myself. It's kinda nice. But beyond stressful, and Yanna still gets on my nerves. But earlier... when I hugged her... I don't know. It was for the plan. I hugged her so I could tell her the plan without that douche of a henchman overhearing. And now I can't get the way it felt to have her timidly hold the back of my shirt and hide my face in the crook of her neck and-- I haven't been that close to someone in... well, a long time.

Yes, I admit. I care about Yanna. But it's nothing I can't handle. It's not like I'm going to get carried away and take a bullet for her or anything. I'm not stupid enough to fall completely for anyone, let alone my target. Myself is still my top priority. Now and always.

"Hmm." Yanna shifts on my back, bringing her once hanging hands to rest on my shoulders. She gently breaths as I try to keep a steady and calm pace while I walk. I don't want to wake her up.

"Just sleep through the night, Yanna. If you can." I whisper, "We'll be there by morning."

~~~~

Morning came, and I kept my word. It was barely sunrise when I stepped onto base.

"Yoongi?!" Everyone was shocked to see me, but I think the unconscious girl on my back was more of a shock than anything.

A few other agents quickly come to my aid and try to take Yanna, "No!" I shout when they reach for her, "I'm taking her to the Medic Center. Just go tell the Chief I'm here. He probably wants to talk with me. Also, go tell Agent 39 that I need an extra room set up."

They all stare at me with looks so dumb I'm praying it isn't contagious.

"What are you waiting for?!" I growl, "Go!"

They all scurry away like little mice looking for moldy cheese. I swear, I don't know where half these so called "agents" came from.

"Okay, Yanna. Let's get you to the Medic Center." I lightly bounce her on my back to make sure she doesn't fall when I'm literally this close to a safe place.

"Hmm..." She hums, and it kinda sounds like a pout. It's cute.

I chuckle, "I'm sorry. I'll stop moving around so much, Princess."

She sighs in her sleep as if satisfied with my response. I can't help but smile.

The Medic Center is down the hallway in the very back of Headquarters, which to me seems kinda backwards because if you have an injured agent and you need to get them help immediately, but then you have to take them all the way across base just to reach a doctor, how is that productive at all? Sorry, I started ranting about stupid stuff again.

Yanna. The focus is on Yanna.

It takes about five minutes of dodging stares and awkward looks to make it to the Medic Center's front door.

A nurse comes out to great me, "Min Yoongi? Who is that?" She asks, inquiring about the obvious girl hanging on my back.

"She's under the Agency's protection, and she's hurt. Help me." I say quickly, and the nurse holds the door for me to go inside.

She leads me to a vacant bed so I can lay Yanna down. Then the nurse helps me get Yanna settled and starts immediately examining her while I finally stand up straight since putting Yanna on my back.

"Gah!" I groan when my back pops, and I can feel every bone and joint ache, "I can't wait to be born as a rock in my next life, so I don't have to deal with crap like cramps."

The nurse giggles at my comment, "Aren't you supposed to be in the best shape of your life?"

I glare at the women, "Shut up."

She laughs.

"How is she?" I ask her once she's checked on Yanna's condition.

She shrugs, "It's hard to tell anything specific without running any tests, but from what I can see she seems stable. She's got some bruises on her wrists and side. She also has signs of extreme anxiety. Was she under a lot of pressure recently?" The nurse looks back at me.

I clear my throat, "Uh, yeah. You could say that."

She nods, "Hmm, yes, well. I'll be sure to bandage her up and give her some pain reliever, and in a few more hours sleep she should be recovering quickly."

"Thank you." I say sincerely, and the nurse goes back to preparing for when Yanna wakes up.

I really appreciate everything this agency does for people. Yanna isn't even an agent. Actually, she's a civilian, a stranger here, and yet this nurse rushed to help her.

"What is your name?"

"What?" The nurse quickly turns back to me at my sudden question, "Oh, my name is Kim Haehyu."

I give her the most genuine smile I can, "Thank you, Haehyu. It means a lot to me that you take care of this girl."

Haehyu narrows her eyes and slowly tilts her head at me questioningly, "Min Yoongi is that really you? You're known throughout Agency Z for being cold as ice. What happened to you?" I can tell from the tone in her voice that she's joking, but it kinda stung.

"Nothing happened. Just... please take care of her." I say quickly and turn to leave, "Oh, and Kim Haeyu? She lost her glasses earlier during... events. Can you help her with that as well?"

The nurse smiles at me and nods.

I can't stay here any longer anyway. Not because I don't want to be interrogated by the Medic Agent, but also because...

"Min Yoongi requested in the Chief's office."

I hear the voice come over the intercom and internally suffer at the thought of what's coming next.

God help me.

~~~~

I knock on the door, nervousness flooding my bones already.

"Come in." I hear his deep, familiar voice say.

I enter the room and immediately bow deeply, "You called for me, Chief."

"Yes." He sighs, "Close the door, Yoongi."

I do as I'm told, silently praying that the door will catch on fire and burn me to death because that's honestly a better fate than my actual near future. I step towards the oak wood desk where the Chief is currently pushing his files aside so he can lean over his forearms.

He looks up at me, and my breathing halts.

"So," He begins, "Let's talk about your mission."

"Sir, please. Don't do anything to Yanna. Not yet anyway. She's innocent in all this so just let me talk to her before anything else, and I promise I'll--"

He puts his hand in the air, silencing my rambles.

He closes his fist before continuing, "I want a full report, of course, but first I want a little explanation for my own piece of mind."

I straighten my back, "Yes, Sir."

"So, tell me exactly what your mission is." He asks in a very disappointed, irritated, and downright angry voice.

"Protect Yanna." I answer.

He motions for me to continue, "You're missing something."

I take a deep breath, "Protect Yanna, undercover, without being detected."

He nods, "Ah, and tell me, because my mind is a little foggy...how did you end up back on base with the girl who you were explicitly instructed NOT to reveal your true identity to?"

I lower my head, my voice just barely above a whisper, "I brought her here because I was escaping the enemy, Sir."

The Chief leans back in his chair and crosses his arms, "And how did you escape your enemy?"

I swallow in obvious shame, "I... I blew up the building." I mumble.

"What was that?" The Chief sternly asks me to repeat my words.

I lift my head and speak up with as much dignity as I can manage, "I blew up the building, Sir."

"You blew up the building?" He says as if this is some brand-new technique he's never heard before. But then... "You blew up the building!" His booming voice can definitely be heard through the door as his fists slam down on his desk.

I bow deeply to cover up the fact that I flinched, "I apologize, Sir. I didn't know what else to do."

He scoffs at me, "You didn't know? Agency Z trained you for years so you would know. It's your job, Yoongi, to keep your assignments clean, short, and most of all secret. Beating up high schoolers is not clean. Relocating your target is not short. Getting kidnapped by the enemy and blowing up a building is not secret."

I stay bowed to the floor, because I don't know what I can say to defend my honor. I know I broke the rules. I know I didn't complete the mission the way I was told to. I know I screwed this one up. And I know I'll pay for that.

"I told you at the very beginning of this assignment that Yanna was not to be taken to the Safe House. But you did anyway, and in doing so you've risked her life, not to mention your own life and the exposure of the entire Agency."

I stay where I am. The weight of a thousand bricks feels as though it dropped on the back of my neck.

The Chief sighs and drops back in his seat, "I will not have this happen again."

I quickly lift myself and place my hand over my heart, "By my life, I swear this will never happen again."

"Oh, I know it won't." The Chief says with expectant eyebrows, "I'm firing you, Yoongi."

"W-What?"

Now the bricks have become realities in and of themselves landing on me like balls of fire, burning up my skin and stealing all I know as it consumes.

"Chief--"

He stops me again with a lift of his hand, "Another agent will be responsible for Yanna after her memory is swiped and she's taken back to her home. She will no longer be under your protection, and you will not be given another mission until I decide to personally assign you. Understand?"

I want to scream. I want to fight. But what can I do? Whatever I say or do at this point will only make things worse.

"I will issue an expulsion, and the two of you will be scheduled for the memory swipe when I give the call."

"The two of us, Sir? You're scheduling both of us for the memory swipe?" My heart physically breaks. He wants to take my memories too?

The Chief only raises his eyebrows and slowly stands, "Is that a problem, Min Yoongi?"

I bow deeply once again, avoiding saying anything else for fear I may use language I'm not permitted to use, "No, Sir."

"Now go get cleaned up and change clothes. You look like hell."

The Chief motions for me to leave. For a second my feet feel frozen to my place in front of his desk. My pulse races when I think of being replaced. Someone else watching over Yanna? Someone else protecting Yanna?

But who? It doesn't matter. They don't know her like I do. They can't possibly keep her safe like I can. She is my mission. Only mine.

And on top of that, the Chief wants to wipe her memory. So, Yanna won't remember me anyway? Why does that hurt me so much to think about? I don't want Yanna to forget me. I don't want to forget her either.

But I did what I did, and there's no changing the past. Even if I could, I don't know how to change what the Chief has ordained. Does this really mean I have to leave Yanna?

"Yes, Sir." I weakly salute before stepping out of his office and almost falling to my knees. How am I going to break this news to Yanna?

If this really is where we split ways, I told myself I wasn't going to let this mission end without telling Yanna what I want to tell her. So, I guess now is when I do that.

A/N Hey Y'all! I'm back from a long hiatus, so a hello to my imaginary reader! I'll try to update more often!