The third day of his capture is the worst, Jeonguk decides. All he'd wanted was a little midnight snack, and he'd thought himself big and bad enough to defend himself, should the worst come to pass. To be fair, he is a bulging sack of muscles, and he has certainly never been beaten in hand to hand combat before.

But as Seokjin is so fond of stating, there is a first time for everything.

The silver manacles about his wrist burn like hell with every touch against his bared, tan skin. Already he is sporting several rather nasty looking burns, and due to the silver, he isn't healing at the rate he normally would. Sweat drips in rivulets from his skin, and the fringe of his bangs is plastered to his forehead. He must have a fever, he thinks, because the moon daze has begun to call to him. And in these conditions, he doesn't think he can fight the siren's call for very long.

The moon, his fickle and wan mistress, is no boon to him during the best of transformations. With the help of Seokjin's curse, and Brianna's will, he can control himself. It's hard, but not impossible. However, there's no telling how his wolven instincts will respond under this level of threat to his safety.

And that, more than the snivelling psychopath before him, frightens him.

"Be safe, " Hoseok cautions somberly.

Both of his hands are clasped firmly upon Brianna's shoulders. To his credit, Hoseok doesn't falter, not even once, at the vision that plays out before his eyes. The after-shocks of today's events just might be a disaster, but he has long since learned to let Brianna in.

He still remembers her chubby fingers, and pudgy, saccharine smiles. Little Agathe brought life and light, brought meaning to his world when he had lost all else. Somewhere along the line, that sweet little girl had grown up. But Brianna will forever remain that tiny and helpless girl in Hoseok's mind.

"Papa, " Brianna smiles half-heartedly, "try not to worry about me too much. I'll be fine."

Hoseok wishes he could say that her assurances give him peace.

"We all know what we need to do, right?"

Seokjin eyes everyone warily, waiting for Yoongi and Brianna to confirm the plan. He too, is opposed to Brianna getting involved. But she wouldn't listen to him any more than she would Yoongi or Hoseok. 

"Yes Jin, " Brianna replies, voice calm and reassuring, "we all know what we need to do. I promise that I will be careful. Yoongi will keep me safe, you'll see."

The Ifrit eyes the reaper dubiously, but says nothing. For once. Brianna knows that it's hard for him right now, in so many ways, and that he only dislikes Yoongi because he cares so deeply for her. Genie's really don't make friends, and yet she is honored enough to be counted as such by Jin. She's grateful, really, really grateful, that he chooses not to egg Yoongi on or pick a fight.

"Thank you, Jin." Brianna murmurs softly. "You are the world's best friend, and I've been so lucky to have had you. It hasn't felt like it lately, I know, but I love you so much."

She knows that he knows she does not mean in a romantic way. There is nothing sexual, no secret longing between her and Seokjin. She loves him like one loves family, that the bond is of her own choosing means very little to Brianna.

And Seokjin doesn't care very terribly either. He'd long ago buried the hypocritical way his kind tend to view the world, and awakened to the world around him. Brianna had been his guide, and his only friend. His people have no words for the relationship that he and Brianna share. The concept of family is alien to a genie. But he thinks that, if ever there was someone he'd call family, it'd be Brianna.

But Seokjin is still a genie, and an elemental Lord at that. And pride is the one thing he still often struggles to control.

Yoongi seems to understand the dynamic between the two, as he only squeezes her hand tightly. He is quiet; uncharacteristically so, even for him. His heart burns angrily in his chest, his stomach clenched so tightly, that he is afraid he might vomit.

This whole plan revolves around his reaction time. Seokjin will evacuate Jeonguk while Brianna keeps him occupied, and the second Jeonguk has been freed, he will strike. If he is even a moment late, if something is to go wrong, he could very well lose Brianna tonight. And the thought terrifies him.

But he can also see that same fear, if a bit different, in both Hoseok's and Seokjin's eyes. His woman has so many people who love her, and admire her. They'll keep her safe, when he's gone. Right? So why does the thought of leaving her to anyone else make him boil on the inside with a teeth-gnashing intensity?

Once more his fetters are strained by his love for a woman, and the feeling in Yoongi's gut is a bad one. This can't be like Ophelia. Not this time. Or any other as far as Yoongi is concerned.

He hides his torment, as they gear for action. He holds her close, while he still can, he passes her whatever she asks for, and watches her with guarded eyes. These might very well be his final moments with her, one way or another. Yoongi strains and struggles against the chains that bind him, the very magic in his blood calling him to return once his mission is complete.

The Gods, the Antediluvians, want him back.

And Yoongi doesn't want to go.

If he could, he would remain by Brianna's side forever. Eternity, a concept not so far fetched to his people, would not be enough.

He so easily imagines it then. Dark hair and bright eyes, together against the world. Her encouraging smile would give him the strength to face the world. To be the person that he wants to be. He'd love her. He'd love her until the world crumbles around them, and then some.

Inside his soul, the chains rattle. And Min Yoongi begins to change.

"I'm telling you, " Jeonguk croaks, "she won't come. And if you don't let me go before the full moon rises, you're fucked."

"Your kind are of no concern to me, " Cole sneers. "A nephilim can't be killed by a measly pup."

Jeonguk snarls, teeth snapping together with enough force to cause his cheeks to shake. There is a raw and blazing fury within the young werewolf's eyes. There is intensity there, as well, and a devout hatred for the man before him.

He smells them, long before Brianna's immortal presence floods into the room. Even before Jin's staggered entrance, and invisible hands upon the source of his constraints.

"You shouldn't have come, " Jeonguk wheezes.

He speaks directly to Brianna, with wide eyes. He knows, however, that what he will say will influence Seokjin's choice.

"The full moon, " Jeonguk tries to explain, "it's tonight…"

Understanding dawns upon Seokjin, but Brianna's impassive face doesn't change in the slightest. Even despite the light of understanding in her eyes. She'd seen this. He can tell from the look in her eyes.

The temperature in the room drops so drastically, that Brianna can see her own breath. Dark and twisted, something looms behind her. She is reminded of one of her visions, one of her dreams, by the feeling of hot breath against the nape of her neck. But the choices she's made, and the choices she will make are her own. And nobody can take that from her.

Brianna whips around, fingers already tracing arcane symbols in the air.

She knows from one of her visions that if she doesn't cast the illusion now, the consequences might be dire.  Caught between an unstable Jeonguk, and a psychopathic nephilim, Brianna will admit that she is afraid. If she could chose, she'd rather not die. But fate has different ideas, and the option has not been given to her. She will die. It is her time, and her fate. She won't run from it.

"I knew you would come."

She hears his voice before she feels the sickening weight of his fingers against her spine.

"Let Jeonguk go, " she demands.

Brianna stands tall, refuses to cower or crumble beneath his intentions.

"And why should I do that?" The nephilim croons, breath caressing the shell of the seer's ear. "Do you want to fuck him too?"

The tone of his voice is harsh, and accusatory.

"That's really none of your business, " Brianna snaps.

"Oh but it is, " the nephilim insists.

The feeling of his fingers against her throat makes Brianna want to gag. His fingers trail softly against the exposed skin of her neck, 

"I must ask, " the nephilim murmurs, lips against her neck, "what was the point of casting an illusion?"

Cole's lithe form comes into Brianna's view. In this lighting, he truly looks otherworldly. Dark, and sinister. Just like Yoongi. How is it that she didn't notice the resemblance before?

The darkness in the boy's eyes is different. Hotter, and with all the intensity of the frozen oblivion that is his father's. Time stops, and the breath in her lungs is stolen, as she realizes who this boy must be.

When she was a young immortal, she'd once rescued a boy from a reaper attack. She'd gone, despite Hoseok's insistence to the contrary, to save another little boy. That day, so many years ago, she'd learned the most painful lesson a seer is ever to learn. Just because you can see it, doesn't mean you can stop it. Fate will not be denied, and fate holds hands with the fickle Gods.

But seers are no Gods.

Considered by many as the weakest amongst their immortal brethren, a seers lot in life is often a painful one. Forever to watch, forever to know, and yet be helplessly unable to change a single thing. There are times when there might be more than one potential reality, times when a choice might matter. But no matter the difference, ultimately, the outcome is predetermined.

As a young seer, she'd railed so harshly against the injustice of such a life. Why should they be forced to repeatedly watch terrors unfold, and brittle lives snuffed like a flame? Why can't they change it? Why should Hoseok, who can't even touch a being without viewing it's inevitable death, be forced to withdraw from humanity altogether?

Why are seers to be punished so?

So she'd gone. To save the boy that her mentor, and father, told her she couldn't. In the end, he'd been right too. She couldn't save that boy, but she did save another. It pressed upon her heart in ways that left her shaken for at least a century, the sight of blood and carnage, the sounds of mother's crying in the streets. The streets ran crimson indeed, that night, and many homes were destroyed. But the most troubling memory, by far, was the mother and child she'd dragged from the wreckage of their home.

She'd known, even, that the reapers were attacking because of nephilim. The boy she'd gone to save was one, and she'd suspected that many of the children in that village might be nephilim. But she'd never put two and two together, never realized that the boy she saved would be the man standing before her now.

"Illusion magic doesn't work on higher immortals, " he drawls, fingers sliding against the curve of her jaw like oil. 

Behind him, Brianna sees Jeonguk resisting Seokjin's efforts. She cannot see the Ifrit, but knows from her visions that he is there. Jeonguk doesn't want out of the chains, he's about to shift and is terrified for the safety of his friends. The young werewolf is scared out of his mind right now, and Seokjin must be pleading.

"Are you a higher immortal?"

Brianna's tone of voice is cutting, and full of contention.

"I am, " he replies. "And you were meant to be mine."

There is a sinister edge to his voice. He gazes down at Brianna's face with an inscrutable look in his heated eyes. Brianna feels slimy, contaminated by the filth in those eyes. But there is still steel in her voice when she replies.

"I was never going to be yours."

The nephilim's fingers snap to her throat, and firmly sink into her flesh.

"You were! You saved me! You belong to me!"

As the fire in his eyes rages, the strength of his grip increases. Brianna rises to the tips of her toes as she claws desperately at the man's hand, spots beginning to bleed into the edges of her vision.

Cole releases Brianna with an angry sneer, pushing her towards the wall with firm hands against her shoulders. When her back hits the wall, Brianna gasps. All of the air in her lungs is pushed out by the force of her collision. 

"I saved you because it was the right thing to do, and for no other reason." Brianna insists. "You were a child."

"I'm not anymore, " Cole replies, voice dripping with lust. "I've been a man for a while now Agathe, I could satisfy your carnal cravings. I'm quite certain of it, actually."

"No thanks, " Brianna retorts, "I'd rather not."

"Because you're fucking my esteemed sire?"

The blood in Brianna's veins freezes, and her heart thumps wildly in her chest. And even so, she replies.

"No. Because even if you were the last person on earth I wouldn't fuck you. You murdered my friend!"

"The witch, right? She stood between us, and had no right to do so."

"You're insane!" Brianna cries.

"So I have been told. Repeatedly, in fact." Cole replies dryly. "But don't change the subject. You're fucking daddy dearest, aren't you? Don't deny it, your werewolf friend has already told me everything. And I can smell him all over you."

Seokjin is helplessly torn. Jeonguk refuses to let him remove the chains that bind him, convinced that he will go feral any minute. Already, Jin can see pain of transformation upon Jeonguk's flesh. The young immortals skin has already begun to shift and bulge beneath his already straining clothes.

On the other hand, the nephilim has his hands on Brianna, and it doesn't sit well with him.

"Where the fuck is Yoongi?" He thinks.

The reaper should have been here by now, and the nephilim should be little more than a pile of ash already. But neither is now true, and every instinct he has is screaming that he should help his best friend.

"Save Brianna!" Jeonguk wheezes, the edges of his voice tinged with madness. "Leave me here!"

But then, Brianna looks straight at Seokjin, and nods.

Something wordless passes between the two, and Seokjin knows that Brianna will never forgive him if Jeonguk dies. If he saves Brianna, and not Jeonguk, Brianna will be forced to live with it for the rest of her immortal life. And her burdens are already so many.

Jeonguk is young, and full of potential. Brianna saw that before anyone else.

Respect. That is what Seokjin owes Brianna. In this moment, he realizes that he needs to respect Brianna's decisions. Her feelings. No matter what they might be.

Seokjin has always been fairly good at thinking on his feet. Most of his kind, the truly ancient immortals, are slow to action. When you live for thousands of years, many learn to measure their actions carefully. Jin, however, is a fire genie. And Ifrit. And Ifrit are well known for their brash and explosive will. Just as genies of the air are known for their capriciousness.

If Jeonguk wants to resist, that is his choice. But Seokjin will not fail in what has been assigned to him.

With little more than a thought from the Ifrit, the manacles restraining Jeonguk fall away. The young werewolf howls, eyes wide as he struggles to keep the transformation at bay. Through the window, the pale light of the moon filters through. His inner beast is confused, though the light of the full moon is touching his skin, Jeonguk sees no moon in the sky.

Taking advantage of the werewolf's confusion, Seokjin firmly grasps him by the arm.

Just as Cole turns around.

"Do you know why we have summoned you?"

Yoongi stands before the Gods, cold fury raging in his eyes. He knew that the Gods would summon him soon, but he was foolish enough to believe that they would at least wait until he'd dealt with his progeny. Right now, Brianna must be within the clutches of his offspring, and he'd wager that the Gods know that too. If he doesn't show up soon, Brianna might just die.

And he'd be willing to bet that this is the outcome the Gods are hoping for.

"It hasn't escaped our notice that you've been romantically involving yourself with the seer." One of the Gods reveals. 

It's facelessness does little to hide the sneer in it's voice.

"I'm sure you know why this cannot be allowed to continue." Another chimes in.

"So you bring me here, hoping that she will die? Is that what you're doing right now?" Yoongi snarls.

"It is for your own good, " yet another God insists. "It is for the best that she perishes."

"So that you won't lose your leash!" Yoongi argues persistently. "It's for your good, not mine!"

"What is good for us should be your primary concern."

Yoongi scoffs, will frantically straining against the Gods' leash.

"Then you shouldn't have given me free will, " he spits, "or maybe you should have strived to be worthy of being my priority."

Anger claws against Yoongi's insides, boiling away within his veins. But the Gods, too, are displeased. This is made painfully obvious to Yoongi as white-hot pain rushes through his nerve endings. Black wings spread wide, he falls to his knees before the owners of his leash.

"We gave you life, " one of the Gods snarls, "you owe your existence to us!"

"You owe your allegiance to us!" Another cries.

The strain of the invisible chains that bind him presses eagerly upon Yoongi’s very soul. He can feel the Gods’ will pressing down upon his own, attempting to crush what remains. But all he can think about is Brianna, and the look on her face as she breathes her last. She’d believed in him. Trusted him. And now she is about to die because of it.

“I owe you nothing!” Yoongi snarls.

He beats his wings once, then twice, and the leash suddenly snaps. For the first time since he can remember, he cannot feel the Gods’ influence upon him. He cannot feel their will repressing his own. The Gods stare dumbfounded, unbelieving of the thing that has just occured. No reaper has ever completely broken free before, and the results could be disastrous if Yoongi should escape.

How unfortunate for them, then, that Yoongi has no intentions of sticking around.

Wings spread wide, he takes off. 

The Gods screech demands that he return as he rises, and the realization that the compulsion to obey is gone fills Yoongi with smug satisfaction. In the history of the world, not one single reaper has ever managed to break the Gods' leash. But he just did.

He is free.

He rises higher and higher, the cool air of the black void around him sifting through his wings as he does. And then, he folds his wings about his body, and plummets.

Yoongi breaks through the void and into the night sky of Seattle. Lightning crackles ominously in the sky, and the voices of the Gods are carried in the booming thunder that follows.

"Come back!"

But Yoongi has no intentions of doing any such thing. He has the love of his life to save.