─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

SEASON 4 EPISODE 1

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Location:

System: Cheyenne

Faction: Freestar Collective

Planet: Akila

Place: Akila City

☆☆☆

Y/n

Over a year after her rescue, Y/n didn't know what to feel.

Walking around the new ship felt like walking by ghosts she didn't know. Souls who had traded places with her due to Jimin's wrath. Every time she took a breath, she questioned why she bothered staying onboard. Why Constellation had allowed Jimin to stay with them. She didn't know how any of them could look at him the same.

"Y/n, wait up."

That included in the moment, with Y/n approaching the cockpit only for her ex to continue his daily interruption of her alone time with the stars.

Y/n stopped in the doorway and turned to see Jimin approaching with an eye smile. Strands of his mop-like hair covered his hickory irises, and he never took off that stupid jacket and scarf. She swore he hadn't changed outfits in years.

"Hey," he said as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "Need any help? I've been working on my co-pilot skills."

"No. Barrett's my co-pilot, and I'm not flying, just stargazing."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just thought..." Jimin pushed some of his long hair back. She could see his eyes, but that didn't bring any new emotions to her heart. "Maybe we could practice together. Y'know, in case anything ever happens to Barrett."

"Like what? You solar flare him cause he talks about your Aurora addiction?"

Jimin's smile disappeared. "I..."

"I can handle it. And if Barrett ever goes down, I have Sam. And then Sarah. And then VASCO. You're the last resort, got it?"

Jimin swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, got it. Sorry."

Y/n entered the cockpit and sat in her seat, and she waited and waited and waited. Then, two minutes later, it happened. The same thing that had always happened, every day for over a year.

"Hey again," Jimin said, poking his head in. "Sorry to bother, just wanted to know if you need breakfast. I'm heading that way, so-"

"I eat breakfast with Jungkook and Taehyung. I tell you this every day. Stop checking."

"Right. Sorry."

And then he was gone. The same routine. It never ended any differently, so she didn't know why he bothered.

The moment Jimin had flaunted around in that mech was the moment she had felt her heart break, but it amplified the more she had learned about his misdeeds. Using a woman for sex and then killing her, blowing off Jungkook's arm, burning Jungkook's shoulder whenever Jimin got angry, threatening more lives than Y/n thought possible, and, the worst one, allowing mind control to hit the market. All in the name of saving her.

It had her soul jumping between two bodies: the one that loved Jimin, and the one that didn't. For over a year, she remained in the one that didn't. But that was selfish, wasn't it? He had saved her from a life trapped in ice, doomed to eat Terrormorphs and shitty canned food while looking up every night, knowing there was no way to leave with the few materials they had. Life was within reach, yet always so far away. Jimin had saved her from that.

But it didn't feel like he did.

Y/n spent an hour in the cockpit, thinking. Nothing of note, just the usual regrets of ever crawling out of that Terrormorph nest. Maybe if Jimin hadn't rescued her...

Y/n shook it off and instead departed the cockpit. Alone time was a blessing, but it couldn't last forever, so she went to the cafeteria and found Jungkook and Taehyung there. Taehyung beamed upon seeing her, the swan under his eye smiling with him.

"Hey, Y/n."

"Hey, Tae Tae." Y/n came by and leaned down to hug him. The dynamic duo, Jungkook and Taehyung, sat with a steak meal pack in front of them, and Y/n joined them after a minute. "Steak for breakfast?"

"It's thirteen-hundred, Y/n," Jungkook said with a snort. "Lose track of time again?"

"Whoops." Ah, so it was far more than an hour she was in the cockpit. Last she had checked, it was nine, not thirteen hundred. Oh well. "Forget that. Any plans today?"

"Captain Park wants us to touch down in Akila City."

Captain Park, because no one had the guts to say Jimin around her. She couldn't blame them. After all, the only reason she asked Jungkook about the agenda was because Jimin had given up on debriefing her himself. All she would answer with was go away and whatever. So, Jungkook was her new commanding officer. It made sense. Jimin had promoted Jungkook to executive officer a few months ago. Took him long enough.

"For books?" Y/n asked, but she didn't need to. Taehyung nodded with a boxy smile, and Jungkook chuckled.

"Yes, for books. Cora's been getting restless. Don't worry, you don't have to come."

At least Jimin never forced Y/n to go with him on his missions. He never made her fly anywhere she didn't want to, and as their head pilot, that meant all the missions were determined by her approval. Jimin was a certified a-hole, but he had the common decency to not use his captain power to keep her close to him at all times. Even when she had first gotten back, he hadn't forced her. Common sense existed. Yay.

But it looked like her peace didn't last long, seeing as Captain Park stepped into the cafeteria.

"Jungkook, I-" Jimin stopped when he saw Y/n there, and she avoided eye contact. Jimin cleared his throat. "Officer Jeon, I came to tell you be prepared for landing. Thirty minutes. Please ask our pilot to land us."

Jungkook sighed. "She's right here."

"Yes, but she won't listen to me. Please report on my behalf."

Y/n shrugged. "He's not wrong. Jungkook, could you tell our captain to get out and let me eat in peace?"

"Y/n..."

Taehyung stabbed his fork in his steak to garner attention, and he gave Jimin a sarcastic smile. "Captain, would you mind rechecking with VASCO to see if I did my leech inspections right?"

"Of course." Jimin came over and rested his gloved hand on the table, and Y/n had no choice but to look up at him at that. He made eye contact with her, and she hated how his dark hickory irises had her adrenaline spiking for a flash. It wasn't supposed to do that. She had trained herself to keep her emotions in check. "Miss L/n, please see me in my quarters before we touch down."

Y/n tightened her hold on her fork. "Fine."

Captain Park nodded and backed off, saying one last thing to Jungkook about the landing or whatever, but Y/n didn't care. She zoned out and ignored him, not noticing he departed until Taehyung poked her hand to bring her back into reality.

"Hey, look, we understand why you two broke up, but this whole not being able to even talk to him thing is too far," Taehyung said, and Y/n wanted to yell at him for that, but she knew he was right. "He's trying to be better, Y/n. I'm not saying go fuck him again or some shit like that, but at least talk to him. If not for his or your sakes, then for ours. We can't keep playing messenger and getting all scared whenever you two are in the same room."

That was the truth, wasn't it? As much as Jimin had done terrible things that were unforgivable, he was trying to atone. Every day he performed some new act that would guarantee him prizes from the UC. Like taking out Spacers, freeing space stations from Ecliptic hold, rescuing prisoners from the few remnants of the pirates that remained across the galaxy, stopping at outer rim civilizations and donating minerals he had mined himself, creating a grave for Isabelle he did all by himself and leaving fresh flowers there every week, and the list went on and on. Everyone viewed Jimin as a hero.

Why didn't Y/n?

"Sure, I'll try. I can't be on peaceful terms with him, but at least talking terms," she said after a beat, and Taehyung nodded and didn't press the issue any further.

Y/n enjoyed Taehyung's presence. He was the older brother she had never had, and Jungkook the same-aged brother she had never had. That led to the leech inspections turning into chaos, with Y/n spraying Jungkook and Taehyung with the leech-away chemicals (human-safe, don't worry) and laughing when they sprayed it back. Marbles would run around the vents and end up taking care of any leeches that had managed to sneak onboard. Sarah scolded them every time, but that didn't stop them from acting like children.

Fifteen minutes later, Y/n excused herself from her mock siblings to instead bite the bullet and go to Jimin's quarters. She knocked once, and it opened less than two seconds later. Jimin stood there with his hair pressed against his face, a tank top on and damp with sweat, and loose drawstring joggers on.

"Sorry," he said, brushing his long hair back. It was wet. From sweat, no doubt. "I was hoping for a quick workout before the mission, didn't expect you so soon."

I thought you'd push it off until the last possible second was probably what he wanted to say, but he didn't. She appreciated that.

"It's fine. Can I come in?"

"Of course."

Jimin backed up and let her in, closing the door behind her. He grabbed his towel from off his bed and dabbed himself down. It had been ages since she had seen his body. Since anyone had, really. It wasn't like Jimin to go out in anything less than his jacket, scarf, and long pants that never showed an ounce of skin aside from his face. Even his right hand had a glove; he had worn two gloves ever since rescuing her.

"Your attitude is impacting my crew," he said, ruffling his hair with the towel before he tossed it in the corner and leaned against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest, and she noticed the way his biceps tightened. They were larger than she remembered. "And I take my crew's morale very seriously, Miss L/n."

"Yeah, well, maybe if you didn't murder innocent people, I would actually want to talk to you."

Jimin shook his head and remained quiet for a moment. "Not a day goes by where I don't think about that, but you know damn well if the roles were reversed, you'd do it for me."

Y/n stared at the ground. "No, I wouldn't."

Jimin chuckled. There was no humor in it. "Y/n, if I was trapped in a hole that you made, you would build that mech yourself. Don't lie to me, or to yourself. That's a sin."

"You know I'm not Universal anymore, so don't pull that bullshit with me," she said, her voice coming out in a snap, her eyes whipping back up to glare.

Jimin didn't answer. Instead, he changed the topic. "I know you're mad at me, but I need you to at least pretend to listen to me whenever we're in a room together, otherwise I will have to ask you to leave."

Leave. Y/n had nowhere to go. Sure, she could return to her family, or she could take her old UC ship she had in storage and go explore the stars, but that'd bring her no purpose. Between her quitting the Vanguard and leaving the Universals, she had no profession outside Jimin's crew.

"I love you, so, so much," Jimin whispered, averting his eyes. "But the last time I abandoned my crew, I blew up a ship. I'm not doing that again. If I have to boot you out to keep them happy, I will."

And she believed him.

"Fine." She let out a soft breath and hoped it'd calm her. It didn't. "I'll play nice for their sake. Not for yours."

"That's all I ask."

Jimin turned and took off his tank top, revealing the padauk tattoo Taehyung had touched up not long ago. It stretched across Jimin's sharp shoulder blade. On his shoulder was the Universal symbol Taehyung had told Y/n about not long after she had been rescued. Something about Jimin wanting a reminder of her. Looked like it was meaningless now.

"It's been a while since I've done this," Jimin said, folding up the top before tossing it in the same corner as his towel.

"What?"

"Let someone see my skin." Jimin took his black, long-sleeved undershirt and pulled it up and over his body, concealing himself from her once more. Next came the jacket and scarf. When his hands went to his joggers, he glanced up at her. "I have nothing left to discuss, so unless you want to give me extremely mixed signals, please leave."

Y/n stiffened, and her heart squeezed. Pressure, pressure, and more pressure hit her skull and body and prevented her from budging. Her mind begged her to run, but her lips moved instead. It was instinct. Instinct from when she had loved him.

"Are you okay?"

It felt like she hadn't asked him that since long before she had fallen into that crater. Long, long before.

Jimin's grip tightened on his pants, and then, he eye smiled. "You're alive, Y/n. I know you'll hate me until the end of our days, and I'll never get to call you my wife again, but..." Jimin laughed. That time, there was humor present, but it was more relief. "You're alive, and as long as you're here, whether you hate me or love me, I'll be okay."

Why did he have to love her? That conversation was the harshest he had ever been to her. Even when she had screamed at him that he was a terrible person, all he did was smile and stare at her. Why? Why couldn't he hate her the same way she told herself she hated him?

"You're right, I do hate you. You're lucky the galaxy isn't destroyed thanks to the mind control you let on the market," she said, almost spitting out the words. Jimin kept his cheerful expression. "So stop trying. It's never going to work."

"Y/n, I'm not trying anything. I'm your captain. It's my duty to make sure you're mentally well and staying in line."

"That's all this is? A formal meeting?"

"Yes, it is." Jimin released his joggers and approached, his eyes never leaving hers. His breath huffed out and heated her face, and his hand went to her waist to press on it, coaxing her closer to the door. "And it's over, so please leave."

In all that time, Jimin had rarely touched her, and of the times he had touched her, it had been on accident. Feeling purposeful touch from him had her body lighting up with desire. Desire to be held by him again. To remember what it felt like to be loved by Park Jimin. As much as she couldn't stand looking at him sometimes, she had to give credit where credit was due: he knew how to love. He showed it with every expression he gave her. But she couldn't bring herself to think about it any further.

Y/n took the hint and departed his quarters, opting to go to the cockpit. Barrett was there. As always, he sat in the pilot's seat, but upon spotting Y/n, he scurried out of it, tripping over the center console. He landed in the co-pilot's seat and cleared his throat.

"Hey, Y/n, good to see you."

"Yeah, yeah." Y/n strapped in and glanced at the UTC clock inside the metal wall on her left. It flashed digital crimson numbers reminding her it was the afternoon, and she started a mental timer. "We have to set down in the city soon."

"I already have the landing path set."

Y/n acknowledged his words and waited, watching the clock move until she figured it had been long enough. She flicked on the ship's comm system and let it ring out to every room onboard.

"We're landing. Strap in."

She flicked it off and engaged the engines. The grav drive hummed, doing its work to keep them in artificial gravity. Without the grav drive, they'd float around. Sometimes Cora turned it off so they could float around like "old astronauts," as she put it.

It took five minutes to land. Between getting scanned by the Freestar, finding an empty landing pad, and actually landing, time slipped away, and Y/n fell into autopilot while doing so. The rumble of the engines didn't bring the same comfort they had in the past.

The ship touched down and creaked as it did so. The vents bumped and hissed with leeches, and Barrett opened a comm to Taehyung's quarters to inform him of the parasites above. Marbles would go and sniff them out, and Taehyung would kill them and burn their bodies outside with the assistance of the ship technicians.

One good thing that came of the Terrormorph fiasco was new jobs for techs. New employees came from all over the Settled Systems to handle burning leech corpses. If there was one thing Y/n could give Jimin props for after she had disappeared, it was how he had handled the execution of the Terrormorphs. Every system knew about the leeches turning into Terrormorphs because of Jimin and Jin pushing for the UC to share the knowledge instead of hide it.

"Alright, systems are green," Barrett said, powering down the engines and unbuckling. He paused and groaned. "Ah, spoke too soon. I'm picking up on motion in the core."

The core, where all their hydraulics and main power nodes were. It was buried inside the belly of the ship and only accessible via vents, meaning leeches sometimes shimmied their way inside.

"I'll handle it. I'm like the only person staying on the ship, aren't I?"

Well, she knew Sam, Cora, Jungkook, and Jimin were leaving, but the others were, too, if she had to guess. No one enjoyed staying cooped up on the ship for as long as they did. Except Y/n, of course. Even Taehyung would finish his leech job in a flash just so he could join the others on the surface. Though, in Taehyung's case, perhaps it made more sense; the man had grown up on Neon, and Y/n knew from experience how Neon natives reacted to other planets. To trees.

"Probably, but Taehyung can do it," Barrett said.

"No, he can't. I know the sensitive equipment down there, Taehyung doesn't."

"Fair, but what about the ship techs? Captain Park can pay them extra to take care of it."

Captain Park. Again.

Barrett had a point there. It wasn't their first time getting leeches in the belly, and whenever they had, Jimin forced a landing at a Settled System landing pad to pay the ship techs extra to snuff them out. The crew had to handle it within one UTC day, otherwise the power would become unstable due to the leeches nibbling on the wires. Sometimes the lights would flicker out, sometimes the engines would sputter, sometimes the landing gear would stall—there was no shortage of complications.

"It's fine, Barrett, I can do it. No need to spend the extra credits."

"But is that a good idea?" Barrett asked, his voice a touch tighter than before, and he stared at Y/n without blinking.

Y/n unbuckled. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Barrett didn't answer and instead sighed, squeezing her shoulder and getting up. She followed him out of the cockpit and saw Jimin in the bay with Cora clinging to his side. He had a small braid in his hair, and Y/n guessed Cora was the cause of it. That girl did Jimin's hair every other day, if not every day.

"We got leeches in the belly again," Barrett said, and Jimin grunted.

"Of course we do." Jimin held Cora's hand and glanced at Y/n before settling his gaze on Barrett. "I'll pay the techs extra to take care of it. Let's-"

"I can handle it, sir," Y/n interrupted, and Jimin stiffened at that. Yeah, that had been one of the first times Y/n had spoken to him not through another crewmate. "I know the ship better than any tech."

Jimin peered at her, and for a moment, she swore she saw a hint of a smile on his plump lips. "It's tight down there."

"I'm aware. I've only been piloting my entire life."

"I know you know, but..." Jimin paused to shake his head, his little braid made from the thick front pieces of his hair shaking with him. "It's dark and cramped. Let someone else do it."

"This is my ship, and you want me to let a Freestar get their dirty hands on it?"

If there was a smile on his face, it left in a heartbeat after she said that.

"Woah, okay, chill," Jimin said, his tone sharp and fast. Almost like Jungkook's. "Let's get one thing straight: this is my ship, not yours. I don't care how much you make out with the yoke, this ship is in my name, and I'm the captain, not you. You're lucky I'm not benching your ass for that comment. Now go to your quarters and let me pay the techs to handle it."

Y/n had never seen Jimin glare at her in that way. For the first time since she had been rescued, he seemed angry with her, and genuinely angry with her. Y/n made a mental note to avoid insulting his faction in front of him, which she found hypocritical. Jimin had spent the majority of his life pissing on UC graves and calling UC citizens slurs. Did he have the right to get upset about receiving the same treatment?

"I'm not a child-"

"Y/n," Barrett interjected, nudging her. "For all our sakes, can you please do as he says?"

Of course, she didn't want to, but since Barrett, her lifelong friend, had asked, she decided it was best to spare his sanity, and she agreed and stepped back.

"We just talked about this," Jimin muttered, rubbing the top of his nose.

Y/n didn't reply to that, and she instead retreated to her quarters and didn't look back. She plopped down in bed and wanted to punch the wall. Though, at the same time, her knuckles ached at the thought. That had her curling up on the mattress and listening to the faint chatter from the rest of the crew. Ten minutes later, the ramp closed, and she knew they had departed, leaving her alone on the ship.

So, she made her choice.

Y/n threw on a loose black jacket, grabbed goggles she had nabbed from Jin a while back, put on gloves, and picked up her toolkit from the corner of her spacious room. That asshole Park Jimin had given her the third-largest room, outside of the captain and executive officer's quarters. She wanted to trade rooms with anyone else, but everyone had refused under the guise that they had already settled in and didn't feel like moving their shit.

The ship felt peaceful without anyone on it. The bump and hiss of the vents had her flinching, but otherwise, she enjoyed the solitude. It gave her a much-needed moment to toy with all that had happened thus far. Though, at the same time, she hated the thoughts that came to mind. Whenever she was alone, she would think of New Atlantis all those years ago, back when Jimin and her had first gotten together. When he had kissed her in bed and teased her for being shy. Talked about sex and ensured she felt comfortable. Stroked her hair and whispered about how beautiful she was-

Focus.

Y/n dug her nails into her palm, her other hand holding the toolkit feeling pins and needles as a result, but it gave her the strength needed to approach the center of the bay, where the access panel to the underbelly was. She knelt and pried it open, pulling a flashlight out of the heavy toolkit to peek inside and see if she could spot any leeches. None. That meant she had to go inside to perform a deeper inspection.

"You're becoming very predictable," a male voice said right as Y/n swung her legs to drop inside the wire-infested belly.

Y/n snapped her head up and saw Jimin leaning against the wall, the braid dangling in front of him as he ate a granola bar. He hummed while chowing down on the chocolate chip grains.

"Damn. Where did we get these again?"

Y/n averted her eyes. "New Atlantis."

"You UC dogs have good food, I'll give you that."

"Don't call us-"

"UC dogs? Yeah, but you can call Freestar dirty, right?" Jimin tossed the rest of his granola bar in his mouth and devoured it, wiping his lips with his gloved right hand and approaching her. He knelt with her. "Don't do it. Please."

"Manners?"

"Well, shit, I'm desperate here, okay?" Jimin peeked his head inside the panel, and he lifted it a beat later. "It's dark."

"I have a flashlight."

Jimin stayed quiet for a long moment. "It's dark, Y/n."

"I'll be fine. I'm not a baby, so stop treating me like one." Y/n grabbed a screwdriver from the box, slid off the edge, and dropped into the underbelly. It was cramped and almost pitch black with various tubes and wires with the texture of a slug pressing up against her. Condensation rubbed over the jacket. The goggles protected her from any steam firing out and hurting her.

"Regretting it yet?" Jimin asked from above her, and she flipped him off as she forced herself forward.

The narrow, cube-shaped passageway had one direction: forward. It wasn't a large passageway in terms of length; it was only about fifty feet forward. That meant the leech, or leeches, had few places to hide.

Y/n slowed to listen. Hums, bumps, and hisses. Those three sounds made up the soundscape of the vent, but no leeches came to her. She tried to move forward, but her hand came into contact with a pile of hot water she imagined originated from the pipes and wires. When she looked down at it, she thought it had a red hue despite the darkness. The flashlight in her grip was unreliable; the light kept shaking, for some reason. It wouldn't narrow in on what color the pile truly was.

"Y/n" Jimin asked from the exit. "Everything okay?"

No answer came from her. She swore she tried to, but no words had the strength to barrel past her swollen tongue. Or, it felt swollen. Like someone had stabbed it. Wrenched it from her body. Stomped on it until it became mush.

"Talk to me, Y/n. Please."

Manners. Again. Maybe Y/n wasn't the only one who changed.

"Jim..." It was all she could manage. Heaves took it from there, and she swore her breaths spelled out his name in a desperate cry. But it didn't matter; any sense of self disappeared in favor of the tunnels. She could see Londinion. The ice. The Terrormorphs. The UC soldiers dying around her. The UC soldiers with limbs torn off like Tuala's, begging her to kill them and put them out of their misery. The UC soldiers who-

"Y/n!"

When she snapped back into focus, she was coughing and out of the vent, her hands pressed against the cool metal of the flooring of the ship, and Jimin was in front of her, close yet so far, and she yearned to grab him and hold onto his chest until her hands went numb. But she didn't.

"Breathe," he whispered, reaching out, but he dropped his arm as fast as he raised it. "You're okay. You're here, you're with me. I'd never let anyone hurt you-"

"Fuck you!"

She shoved him back and grabbed the top of her hair, tugging and tugging and tugging until she heard pops from the hair disconnecting with her scalp. No pain came from that, but she knew it meant when, or if, she showered later, she would see more strands in the drain than usual.

"You promised me!" Y/n whipped her head up, and her vision blurred between seeing the wide eyes of Jimin and the dead eyes of her UC companions. "You told me you'd... you'd never use..." Y/n hyperventilated and felt so numb she didn't realize she was sobbing until she spotted the moisture piling up in front of her on the floor. "You said you'd never do anything with mechs again. You promised!"

Jimin scooted closer, but not quite close enough to touch her. "I know."

"You promised me!" Y/n cut herself off to whimper, and she didn't know if she was talking to him or herself anymore. "You... you... you promised..."

"I know," he whispered, and Y/n wanted to slap him for that, but she couldn't. She had done that once and regretted it ever since. Despite all he had done, it hadn't been fair to him; there were other ways to punish him for his misdeeds that didn't involve violence. Especially when he had endured abuse before.

Y/n stared at anything that wasn't Jimin. "I hate you."

"I know."

"Stop saying that!" Y/n wanted to scream but somehow held it back. "Tell me you hate me too!"

Jimin didn't hesitate. "Y/n, I will love you until the last star dies."

A million thoughts hit her, yet at the same time, it felt like she had none. No harsh words spewed from her after that. Instead, she sat there, silence rising between them. Y/n refused to make eye contact, no matter how long the quiet went on. It had to have been at least five minutes, if not far more. Y/n had lost her ability to tell time, though, so maybe she was way off.

"I'll pay a ship tech to do it," Jimin said, standing. Although she knew he knew the outcome of it, he offered her his hand anyway. She got up on her own. With wobbles, but she did.

"I can do it."

Jimin lowered his hand back to his side. "I know, but you shouldn't have to."

More thoughts attempted to pry their way through her, but she battled them until she was left with the void again. A void for her thoughts, a void for her feelings. Both had formed over the year and a half it had been since the chasm.

"I hate you," she said. It was all she could think of.

"Yeah, you've said that once or twice." Jimin clicked his tongue and backed away, not that he was too close to begin with. "Sometimes I don't know if you're saying it to me or yourself."

Yet another time Y/n wanted to slap him. Over the years, she had lost count of how many times she felt like doing that but never did. Aside from that one time she would never forgive herself for.

"You." Her voice cracked over the single word.

"Sure, Y/n. Let's go with that."

Jimin went over to the exit not too far away, opening the ramp and allowing the delicate breeze of Akila to trickle in. Dust particles Akila was known for settled in, and Y/n wondered if they could help her feel real.

Jimin stopped and glanced back at her. "Go rest. I'll get a ship tech."

And then, he left without bothering to close the ramp behind him. Y/n gazed at the spot he was in, and she wanted to scream and sob, yet at the same time, she couldn't. Numbness choked her more than tears ever could.

Y/n hauled herself back to her quarters and laid down, tossing the goggles, jacket, and gloves away in the process. She stared at the ceiling and searched for any cracks in the metal. Back at the Lodge, the ceiling had cracks if you looked close enough, but on the ship, all Y/n saw was glossy metal with no dents or blemishes. She had half a mind to grab a knife and throw it at the ceiling to change that.

A few minutes later, she heard movement in the hall. Funny. The footsteps sounded like Jimin's. Shipping with him and the crew for so long meant she could tell them apart by how loud the metals creaked when they stepped on them. Jimin's boots always had a distinct squeak! to them, and she heard that high-pitched squeak. It was because he hadn't taken off those stupid boots in years, and she doubted he would ever get an outfit change.

Jimin's footsteps departed not long after, and what replaced his were footsteps she didn't recognize. Ship techs, she guessed. Fixing the belly so they wouldn't go without lights or hydraulics. Calling a ship repair service in the middle of space was embarrassing, so Y/n would prefer to avoid that.

The footsteps and bumps from the vents faded into the background. Y/n kept peering at the ceiling and trying to piece together what had occurred earlier. Despite it being from not long ago, she struggled to remember what had happened when she had tried crawling in that vent. She remembered Jimin calling for her, but the details were fuzzy. Everything always was.

Time passed by. Y/n didn't bother with counting and instead stayed trapped inside her quarters for what could have been hours. She didn't realize the ship tech had left until she heard Jimin's footsteps again and noticed the lack of others.

Y/n got up and opened the door in time to see Jimin stumbling inside, his eyes wide and his hair a bit messy, though the braid was intact. He noticed her and had his mouth ajar and his hands sprawled out by his sides as if he didn't know what else to do with them.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Jimin laughed, though she couldn't tell if it was from humor, disbelief, or a mix of both. That was when he met her gaze.

"I just became a Freestar Ranger."

☆☆☆

UPCOMING CHARACTER:

MARSHAL KIM NAMJOON - HEAD OF THE FREESTAR RANGERS - BASE OF OPERATIONS: AKILA CITY

Leave it to Jimin to be left unsupervised for five minutes and somehow manage to join a whole new faction that is so selective there are less than 50 of them out of billions of Freestar citizens.

Starfield Jimin is the type to accidentally blow up an entire planet because he sneezed.

Anyway, welcome to season 4. It's gonna be a bit like a reverse on season 3, where Jimin was losing his mind and descending into madness. Now, it's Y/n's turn lol.

I hope you enjoyed the introduction, and see you in the next chapter, which will show Jimin's POV of what happened on Akila when he was left unsupervised 💀💀💀