Despite the blindfold wrapped tightly around his eyes, the alter raised his head at Jungkook's voice.

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Ah, my favorite muscle bunny. What a pleasant surprise."

The sound of chains rustling echoed in the room as the alter shifted. "Unfortunately, Yoongi isn't here right now, can I take a message?"

Jungkook's mouth opened slightly, no words coming out. He walked over, standing just a foot away from the cage.

The alter was dressed in pitch black robes.

"Agust..." He reached out, his fingertips brushing the bars of the strong cage.

As if sensing how close Jungkook's hand was, Agust hissed and jolted back, rattling the chains that wrapped around his arms and torso.

"Don't touch me! Stay back!"

His hands were behind his back, presumably also chained, and Jungkook noticed the steel collar around the alter's pale neck, bolted to the floor of the cage.

The staff weren't taking any chances on letting him escape, and Jungkook grew angry.

"This isn't how anything is supposed to be!" He cried out, banging his fists on the cage. "No! You're not supposed to be here! We're all supposed to be at home! Safe! With everyone happy and loving each other!"

Agust chuckled, tossing his head back to shake his black bangs out of his face. "I see why they brought you here now. You're delusional."

"No, I'm right." Jungkook growled. He studied the cage, looking for a way out of it. "Just trust me."

Agust snorted. "Trust you? The person who hates me most in the whole world? How the fuck did you even find me here? How did you get inside this place? You just suddenly show up and want me to trust you?"

"Agust- just let me talk to Yoongi." Jungkook grabbed the bars of the cage desperately. "I can help you get out of here. We can all escape."

"All?" Agust frowned, leaning back. "Who else is here?"

Jungkook's hand shot through the bars, grabbing the collar and yanked the alter closer.

"Hey- don't touch-!"

He ripped the blindfold off- just as a blaring alarm sounded.

Agust winced and Jungkook clamped his hands over his ears.

"What's that?" He cried.

"You fucking idiot!" Agust shouted over the piercing alarm. "The red light is a motion censor! If anything leaves or enters it the alarm goes off! I told you not to fucking touch me!"

Jungkook got to his feet, panicking. "How do I shut it off?"

"You can't." Agust sighed, cracking his neck. "They're coming."

Jungkook didn't want to know who they were, though he could easily guess who would come running down that hallway.

There was nowhere to hide- the room was vacant of anything but the cage, and the hallway had no other doors to hide behind.

"Fuck," he muttered, knowing he would be punished for being in here, and lose his white robe benefits. They might even hurt Namjoon or Agust too if he got caught here.

Desperate and running out of time, his eyes scanned the walls, the red light flashing and making it hard to see.

But then he spotted a vent, and he raced towards it.

It was a few inches above eye level, and tucked in the corner.

Jungkook grabbed it and yanked on it, but the vent cover didn't budge. He tugged again, harder this time, growing frantic.

"Yank from one side, the screws are small. They'll break if you put all your strength against one at a time." Agust called.

Jungkook didn't have time to thank him- just quickly followed the alters advice.

The cover snapped free.

Quickly, Jungkook leaped inside, crawling in deep until he was fully inside the cramped space.

He replaced the cover just as the door slid open.

Holding a hand over his mouth to silence his frantic breathing, he watched as Dr. Ji and a few guards with guns burst into the room.

"What's going on here?" The doctor demanded, shutting off the alarm with a remote he held in his hand.

The red light powered off and white light poured in in it's place.

"Dr. Jackass!" Agust greeted him brightly. "You came to my little party! How nice. Did you bring the chips I asked for?"

"What are you up to now, anomaly?" The doctor surveyed the room.

He signaled for the guards to fan out in the room, searching for anything out of the ordinary, and Jungkook quietly shuffled further back in the vent.

"Clearly I'm in the middle of my workout." Agust strained against the chains, showing how he couldn't move his arms at all. "Did you come to watch the gun show?"

Dr. Ji chuckled stalking up to the cage and squatted down. "Have your fun while you still can, anomaly. We both know you're alone in the world, with no one looking for you out there, and as for the people you're stuck with in your head, well, they all hate you."

He reached in and Agust scowled as the man ruffled his hair.

"What am I saying?" The doctor laughed, tousling the alters bangs back in his face. "Your mind isn't even yours, it's that teachers. You have nothing. You are nothing. So crack jokes all you want, we both know it's all you have in this world."

Agust raised an eyebrow as the man withdrew his hand. "So...that's a no on the chips then?"

"How did this fall down?" Dr. Ji grabbed the blindfold that was hanging around the alters neck.

"Guess you aren't as good as tying knots as you thought." Agust shrugged. "I guess that's why your wife left you."

Dr. Ji ignored him, yanking the blindfold off. He rose, walking behind the cage and hooked the fabric around the alters eyes again, tying it tighter this time.

Agust winced when the knot was tightened uncomfortably, the fabric digging into his skin at his temples. He wanted to cry out- beg to able to see just for a little longer. Even though the room was dark and he wouldn't be able to see much beyond the red lights, he was always kept blindfolded and it was slowly but surely breaking him down. Same with being stuck in the small cage, isolated and chained up for twenty hours a day.

"Kinky." He said instead.

Ji stood up and kicked the cage in warning. "Behave, anomaly. We wouldn't want a repeat of your first day here, would we?"

He laughed when Agust tensed, and Jungkook wondered what had happened.

The red light switched back on, signaling the motion sensor was working again, and the guards left.

"Sweet dreams." The doctor chuckled, before leaving as well.

The door hissed as it shut again, and Jungkook waited nearly a full minute before deciding they were really gone.

He pushed the vent cover back off and shuffled out, dropping to the ground. He replaced the cover carefully, knowing he would probably use it again in the future.

"Agust..." he said softly, crouching down a foot away from the cage. He could have gotten closer, but he didn't want to risk setting off the alarm again.

Agust turned away from him. "You should get out of here, Bunny McSteroids. While you still can."

"Not without you." Jungkook declared.

Agust huffed. "What are you- fucking stupid? Get out of this place! They'll torture you and inject you with shit and call it science! They'll kill you and shrug and grab someone else off the street to take your place! You and whoever else is in here need to make a break for the exit and don't look back. You of all people might actually have a chance. Don't waste it."

"I'm not leaving without you." Jungkook's voice was firm and serious. "You're not an anomaly, Agust D. You're a good man. I know you are, even if you don't know it yet. You don't deserve to be in here. You don't deserve to have gone through whatever they've done to you. You deserve to be loved."

He crawled a little closer, wishing he could comfort the alter.

"I love you. And I'm not leaving without you. I promise."

Agust was silent for a moment, then let out a choked laugh.

"You know what's sad? I'll tell you, because I'm pretty sure you're just a figment of my imagination, bun bun. When you're tied up in a cage by yourself for hours and hours on end, you start imagining things to keep yourself from going crazy. Wanna know something I came up with? I had a fantasy that you- the shy, strong kid from Yoongi's class- would break into this fortress one day, because sometimes you're even smarter than the sub, and would definitely find a way, and you would find me and we would escape. That's how desperate I got- imagining you of all people saving me. Even as I laughed at how ridiculous it was, a small part of me still hoped it would become real, because you're my only shot. My only chance out of here. But now that you're here, that final, tiny piece of hope that I've been clinging to just shattered. Because you're crazy. You're insane. You really think I'm a good person- I'm laughing at the way you're referring to me as an actual human being, by the way- so I know you either went crazy outside this place and they brought you in, or they got you too and made you crazy. That's the doctors plan. Either way- that hope is gone now. We're both in here until the day we finally die, and since it's pretty obvious we'll be going in different directions in the afterlife...I...want you to pass on a message."

There were a million things Jungkook wanted to say in response to that, but he could tell that this message was something Agust had been wanting to say for a while now, and had no one to say it to.

"Yeah?" He asked softly.

"Tell him...tell him...I..." Agust lowered his head, and Jungkook saw the tear race down the alters cheek.

"Tell him...I'm sorry. For everything."

Jungkook nodded, aching to reach inside the cage and hold the alters hand. "I'll tell Namjoon."

He stood up, knowing he had spent way more than ten minutes here, and had to get back to Namjoon.

"And," Agust called at the retreating footsteps. "Tell him..."

He choked and went silent.

But Jungkook understood.

"I'll tell him. Don't worry, Agust. I'll tell Jimin."