"Ow." Zia mumbled when she tried to get up. Her head felt heavy.

Hoseok rushed to her side. "Don't make any sudden movements. It will hurt." He whispered and kissed her cheek.

She felt weak. Her vision was blurry and unfocused. She blinked a couple of times. The room came into focus. Hoseok was bending in front of her, his eyebrows scrunched.

"What happened? I remember the General shooting me and the pain, but nothing else after that. And how long have I been in bed?"

"The General did shoot you and you passed out for a week. We are on Earth-" Hoseok said, lacing his fingers with hers.

"How did we get back?" She asked, cutting Hoseok in the middle of his sentence.

She was back in her room. Everything was just the way she had left it before leaving. Hoseok had drawn the curtains. She couldn't tell if it was day or night.

"That's a long story and very complicated." Hoseok explained.

Zia tried moving. Pain shot through her body, and she fell back on her pillows. She pulled up her shirt to see her wound. It was bandaged.

"I should call Jimin. He has to heal you." Hoseok said, eying her wound.

"What do you mean?"

"The General stabbed you with an Erothian blade. Ahaan said, those take time to heal. So Jimin's been healing you regularly." He said.

Zia's lips curved upward into a small smile of gratitude. Whenever one of the Phenomenal were injured, it was always Jimin who would heal them. Without a complaint, he would do it.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Night has been waiting for you to get up. She wants to talk to you about something." Hoseok said. He got up and kissed her forehead. "I'll call Jimin."

What did Night want to talk about? Did something happen?

"Zia! You 're awake! How are you feeling?" Jimin asked cheerfully when he walked into her room.

"Weak, I think that will wear off after a while." Zia replied.

"Let me see your wound." Jimin said.

She pulled up her shirt enough for him to see the bandages wrapped on her side.

"Okay, so I'm gonna remove the bandages and heal you before wrapping the bandages again."

She nodded, wondering whether it would hurt if her wound would be left open.

Jimin removed her bandages and healed her. She could remember her most treasured memories. She could feel Hoseok's lips on hers. His lips tasted of champagne and gummy bears like they did when she first kissed him. The memory of her and Night driving to Seoul made its way in her mind. She sighed happily. Temporarily, she couldn't feel the throbbing pain in her wound.

After he was done, he gave her a big smile. "You are all healed. Though you should still stay in bed for a while"

"Did you hear him, Zia?" Night asked, leaning on the door frame. Her hair was messily dropping down her shoulders. Her eyes were distracted.

"You can't get out of bed. If you do, then no Hoseok." she smirked before making her way to the bed.

"Now you are just getting back at me for the time you were injured." Zia groaned.

"Maybe, but still." Jimin chuckled and left, shutting the door behind him.

"Hoseok said you wanted to tell me something."

Night nodded and sat down on the bed. She looked nervous and didn't know where to start. She took a deep breath.

"I activated my powers."

Zia felt like Night had dropped a bomb. She stared her Night wide eyed, for a whole minute, without saying a word. She didn't know what to say. This was the last thing she had expected to come out of Night's mouth.

"How?"

"Stephanie, she was the General-"

"The one who shot me." Zia whispered.

"Yeah, then she threatened to kill Jimin, Hoseok and you and I just kinda activated my powers." Night explained. "Then I killed her."

This left Zia speechless. Night was continuously dropping bombs of information on her. She killed Stephanie.

"But didn't you kill her before?" Zia asked, referring to the time she had stopped using her powers.

"I didn't, actually. She led me to believe that. I just sent her back to Eroth. But this time, I killed her."

"Okay, how do you feel about that? Do you feel guilty?" Zia asked.

"I don't know. I mean, before I thought Stephanie was amazing and that she actually cared, because I hadn't experienced anything different. But now, I just think it was toxic, the whole thing." Night admitted. "It devastated me when I thought I killed Stephanie. But when I saw her in that room, I couldn't understand it. I thought I had killed her. But I actually killed her this time. I don't feel guilty about it. I don't know, it feels kind of reliving."

"Maybe because when you saw her, she wasn't who you imagined her to be. So that image was gone. And only someone who betrayed you was left. That's why you reacted the way you did. I'm not saying that you saving us was bad. It's just that the years of pain and that sudden betrayal were the thing which triggered your powers." Zia said.

"No, that didn't trigger my powers." Night said firmly. "She almost killed you. She was saying she would kill Jimin and Hoseok, too. That's what triggered my powers."

Zia didn't say anything. Night's concern touched her. She leaned forward and hugged Night. Night hugged her back and pulled back after a minute.

"You should rest." Night said. "I'll tell Hoseok to get you some food." She said and left the room.

-

Namjoon sighed, looking down at his broken bowl. Jin was in the background, scolding him. The bowl broke when his hand accidentally hit it and knocked it off the counter. Unluckily, it crashed and broke right next to Jin's feet. Every utensil present in Hoseok's villa was made of glass.

"Jin, I didn't know you could rap." Hoseok joked once Jin had calmed down.

"Sorry," Namjoon apologised. "I'll clean it." He went and got a broom and swept the pieces of broken glass into the dustbin.

Jungkook was helping Jin cook dinner. Things were going smoothly until Namjoon wanted to see what they were making and knocked the empty bowl.

Why is it always me?

"What's for dinner?" Night asked. She looked happy today. She had been disturbed since they had got back for Eroth.

Namjoon's head was still buzzing with the information they had received on Eroth. It was bombarded on to him, all at once, because didn't have time. His consciousness didn't want to trust Aqua again, but his gut said otherwise. He always had this feeling that he should talk to Aqua. He hadn't done it yet, but it was just a matter of time before he did.

"Ramen." Jungkook said, his doe eyes glistening.

In a tray, Hoseok took two bowls of ramen. One for Zia, and the other for himself. Zia had just regained consciousness. Her wound was healed, but Jimin had advised her to stay in bed for a few days.

After dinner, Namjoon went to his room down on his bed, finally deciding to talk to Aqua.

"Aqua?" He called out.

"Namjoon! I'm so happy you are here." Aqua said happily.

"Well, I'm not happy about your betrayal." He thought bitterly.

"I didn't betray you, Namjoon. The gems didn't betray the Phenomenal. We just didn't tell you the whole truth." Aqua responded.

This made Namjoon's blood boil. The gems didn't even tell them the quarter of the truth. And now, Aqua was saying, it didn't betray him. Aqua needed to see the definition of betrayal in a dictionary.

"There is a reason we didn't tell you anything." Aqua said. "There were some things which wouldn't have happened if you knew the truth. For example, Night killing Stephanie. She was the General of the Erothian army. Her death is going to cost them a lot. You meeting your siblings. All of this wouldn't have happened if you knew the truth. Truth changes things."

"You used us like pawns." Namjoon complained.

"We used you as pawns until you were ready to kill the king. Now you play your own game. We are just going to advise you."

Namjoon sighed. He didn't want to talk to Aqua anymore. He didn't want to think about the words Aqua had spoken to him. He removed his bracelet and kept it on the bedside table, and switched off the lights. Darkness enclosed him, and he fell into a deep slumber.

------------------------------

{A/N}: Do you think Namjoon is right? I liked Night and Zia's talk. 

What's your favourite part?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMIN. (KEEP READING AHEAD)

DOUBLE UPDATE TODAY ON THE COURTESY OF JIMIN'S BIRTHDAY. 

WON'T SAY MUCH ABOUT THE NEXT CHAPTER BUT IT'S SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. 

💙