"Ow! What the-" Spinning around, Junhong came face-to-face with a smaller male.

"So the ship is still occupied, I see." Jihoon let out a sigh. This put a damper on their plans to run away. Who was this shorter male, and where was he from? Clearly, he must be from Yoongi's world if he was on this particular ship, right?

Taehyung rushed over and grabbed Jimin's arm."What were you thinking?" He knew they were both probably in a world of trouble from that hit.

"Oh, now I recognize you two!" It was like a lightbulb lit up in Junhong's brain."Jihoon, these two were with the little one!" He remembered them now.

"They were?" Taking a better look at the other two men, Jihoon recognized them as well."Oh boy. What are they doing here?" Sniffing, he knew he had smelled something familiar right before Junhong had been hit."You've been mated." His gaze fell to Taehyung."You can understand us."

Taehyung cocked his head a little to the side. He was about to surprise and confuse his friend."Yes, I can understand you," he spoke back in nearly-flawless Szarvounian.

The two incubi were both shocked."And you speak our language! That makes this so much easier!" Junhong was so glad that there wasn't going to be a language barrier.

Jimin, however, was entirely confused."Wait, Tae, since when can you speak their language? I thought you could only understand it but not speak it." That was how it had been explained before.

"Namjoon taught me." Hoseok had been against Taehyung learning to speak Szarvounian, but Namjoon had taught him behind Hoseok's back.

Hearing Namjoon's name, Jihoon spoke again."What are you two doing here? Szarvoun is very dangerous, especially for weak, little beings like you. Have you come with Hoseok to save Yoongi?"

"Well, actually, we were supposed to stay behind and just wait, but we didn't want to." Taehyung explained."Our mates came here, so we came. We didn't want to be away from them."

"Your mates." Junhong reached out and swiftly grabbed the metal rod from the smallest male's hands while he was distracted, not wanting to be hit again."Only one of you is mated though."

Jimin let out a huff when the rod was taken from him then crossed his arm over his chest."Are you going to tell me what's being discussed or what?" he asked Taehyung.

However, Taehyung just held up his index finger in Jimin's direction to gesture for him to wait."We are both mated. In our world, we have a type of mating bond that does not require sex. Anyway, we were told to wait on the ship while our mates and friends go to rescue Yoongi and Namjoon." He didn't see an issue with divulging this information. These two incubi seemed friendly. After all, if they weren't friendly, that would have been very obvious by now.

"Who all came with you?" Jihoon asked curiously."Hoseok, Jungkook, who else?" He wasn't familiar with Namjoon's whole team.

"Seokjin." Taehyung answered.

His boyfriend's name put Jimin on even higher alert."What about Seokjin? Why are you talking about Seokjin?"

"Why did you get on this ship?" Taehyung figured he should ask some questions as well."Were you sent by the emperor?"

Junhong shook his head at that."We were sent by Lady Chaerin, Emperor Minseok's mate, to inspect this ship. She knows Namjoon's team came here on this ship. We were specifically ordered to make sure anyone on this ship, well, stays on the ship."

Aside from the obvious dangers of being defenseless humans on a planet inhabited by incubi and succubi, Taehyung didn't understand that."Why would the emperor's mate want you two to make sure we stay on this ship? Is something happening? Other than our mates rescuing Namjoon and Yoongi, I mean?"

That was something the incubi couldn't answer."We don't know." They really didn't, and Jihoon wished they did."We wanted to help Yoongi escape, but Lady Chaerin found us and gave us these orders. We dared not disobey. We have no idea what's going on in the dome right now, but whatever the case, it's best that you two stay here with us."

Frustrated about not understanding anything, Jimin pinched Taehyung's bicep."Tell me what's going on, asshole!"

---

Being left alone with Yoongi in that dim room, Hoseok cradled his friend. This was a disaster, and he wished it was all just a nightmare. Everything was wrong. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He was supposed to be happy with his mates and friends. They were all supposed to be living normal lives on Earth. Why did everything have to get so messed up?

As he held Yoongi close in his arms, Hoseok couldn't ignore the fact that his human friend wasn't wearing a breath mask. He had instructed Seokjin to give Taehyung and Jimin each a breath mask on the way to Szarvoun, just in case. The humans would not be able to breathe in this harsh atmosphere without a mask or breath mixer, which he absolutely refused to give them. He knew how painful mixers were. Hell, all incubi knew. They all got them.

Not seeing a mask on Yoongi meant one thing. The human had been given a breath mixer. Hoseok was somewhat relieved that Jungkook wasn't thinking well enough to realize that yet. It surely would have put him into a rampage to know his mate had been put through such pain. Hoseok had no doubt Seokjin had noticed and chose not to say anything about it. If it had been mentioned around Jungkook, the result would have been catastrophic.

Hoseok felt so weak right now. He was exhausted, not just physically but emotionally too. What was he supposed to even feel in this moment? Anger from the fighting? Grief from Namjoon's death? Worry for his humans' safety? Determination to join the coming war and end the genocide? Relief that the reign of Minseok was over?

What did Hoseok feel?

He couldn't tell if he was feeling all of those things at once or nothing at all.

Did he feel the overwhelming emotions? Or was he numb, only hearing his brain tell him what he was supposed to be feeling?

Despite not knowing what to feel, the tears started again. How many times was he going to cry? Would he run out of tears at some point?

His mind thought of the people he always went to see whenever he was hurt. Taehyung, Taehyung's dad, and...Namjoon.