─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

SEASON 2 FINALE

PART 2

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Location:

System: Toliman

Faction: United Colonies

Planet: Toliman-II

Place: Londinion

A/N: Welp, what you guys want, you guys get. You blew it out of the water last chapter with 30+ votes not too long after the chapter dropped, so here you go, part 2 of the finale.

Thank you guys for all the love on the last chapter! Enjoy this finale!

☆☆☆

Jimin

"Unlocked. We are ready to proceed."

Kaiser opened the door, and moonlight hit the remaining members of the squad. A tundra revealed itself. The mountains that had once been in the distance were currently nearby. Jin went first with Kaiser stomping on the surface after him. The ice shook under Kaiser's weight, and Jimin recognized the texture from Suvorov, back when he had fired at the ground to get it to break and sink the scorpion queen. All to save Hobi.

Look where that got him.

Y/n held his left hand, and he knew she did it to remind him it was still there. The idea of losing a body part had never occurred to him before, yet the reality faced him. The reality faced Jungkook, too.

Although both his hands were gloved and his face froze up from the icy weather combined with his lack of a helmet, he brought his right hand to his mouth to nibble on the tips of his fingers. If he ended up using his powers more, the glove would decay anyway, so he figured it didn't matter.

"My scanner indicates the sample is up ahead," Kaiser said, and Jin stopped at that.

"Up ahead? There's nothing out here."

Correct. Not a single crate, building, or indication of life was in the vicinity. A barren wasteland of ice stood there in place of any nature. Not even heatleeches bothered to make an appearance. However, what Jimin noticed was the fragmenting surface beneath them. If he squinted, he saw darkness under the ice. Considering they just came out of tunnels, Jimin had a feeling the abyss below him led to a Terrormorph nest.

Giant piles of snow extended around them, and they were large enough to cover entire hills and boulders. One was the size of a damn house, that was how massive the build up was. Jin and Kaiser poked through them to find the sample, but there was one issue: they were looking for the Terrormorph sample. They had received an extra one from the heatleech turned Terrormorph that had a feast on Jimin's arm, but the original sample had to be in the area. That meant they were looking for a Terrormorph. A living one, too.

"This is the last sample," Jin said as they approached the final pile of snow in the back of the vast landscape. "Jimin, keep your distance and use your powers to support us, I have a feeling this is our final fight. Kaiser, get on the right side and provide covering fire. If it's alive, aim for the legs. Y/n, you go to the left and aim for the head and torso. I'll trigger it and run like hell if it's alive, and you two give me covering fire while I flee. Sound good?"

Having Jungkook and Tuala would benefit them, but after the Life Force incident, Jungkook wouldn't be able to fight for weeks, and Tuala had too much on his plate to worry about helping the squad. Yoongi couldn't help other than to give moral support, but even then, he was checking on Jungkook. That meant they were alone.

With a Terrormorph.

Jimin, Y/n, and Kaiser went to their assigned posts and waited for Jin to go to the final snow pile the ping of the sample originated from. With the muzzle of his weapon, Jin parted the pieces of the boulder of snow. However, it crumbled a second later, and a veiny black arm shot out from it. The movements were slow and staggered, and as soon as Jin spotted signs of life, he fled. Kaiser and Y/n opened fire without waiting for the beast to reveal itself. Jimin did the same but conserved his ammo and focused on readying his powers.

When the snow fell, the gunfire stopped. Not because the Terrormorph was dead or because it wasn't moving, but rather because it was unlike any Morph they had ever encountered. Unlike the babies with slick skin and wobbling movements, or the adults with shouts that could transport Jimin into a different dimension, the Morph before them had thick black armor all around it, making the skin appear impenetrable. Its head was small but had sharper teeth than any creature Jimin had seen, and its body was the size of four Terrormorphs.

It screeched, and the force of it knocked Jimin to the ice. It cracked, and he realized how fragile it was. He got to his feet and continued firing, and when he did, so did the others. The Terrormorph didn't care. It shrieked and sent Jimin into a frenzy. His powers flared up and became unstable due to the intensity of the beast's shout. He ended up firing a particle beam by accident, and it didn't have the decency to at least hit the Terrormorph. It ended up in the pile of snow beside it.

The Terrormorph charged toward Jin, but Jin managed to dodge sideways and get out of its path. It had to have been hiding in that snow for ages, and as a result, its movements were frigid. That was the one advantage they had, but seeing as Terrormorphs lived on Londinion, they had enough strength in their joints to adjust to the temperature. Jimin wished he had that ability. His bare face couldn't handle the ice blowing in his direction.

The Terrormorph screamed so loud, Jimin fired a particle beam at Kaiser by accident and took out one of his arms. He couldn't apologize since they had too much on their plates. However, he jotted down a mental note to say sorry later.

Jimin fired and fired with his AA-99, but nothing worked. The armor on the Terrormorph was far too much to the point where his scanner identified it as an anomaly. That meant he had to do something, and he had to do it fast. He stopped shooting and glanced around, kicking at the ice in the process to test its fragility. While he formed a plan, the Terrormorph ran over and knocked Kaiser over, ripping off his other arm and rendering his legs useless. Jin shouted and saved his robot friend as best he could. That backfired when the Terrormorph shifted its attention to him instead and pounced.

Jin got his rifle knocked out of his hand, and Jimin had to risk it: he fired Sunless Space. Despite the close proximity between Jin and the Terrormorph, it was either risking Jin getting frozen or letting him die a gruesome death. However, Jin didn't freeze. The Terrormorph didn't either, but half of its body did. It was enough for Jin to escape the near-death experience and pick up his weapon in the process.

Y/n kneeled and kept shooting with her Breach. She had to get closer for the shotgun to do more damage, and Jimin readied his freezing ability. When the Terrormorph broke free of the ice and charged Y/n, he fired again and stopped it in its tracks. It got pumped full of led. The bullets tore through its armor and shattered pieces of it, but it wouldn't be enough. They needed to kill it, not harm it.

There was one power Jimin hadn't used much of yet. Since the freezing didn't impact the Terrormorph well, he didn't know if his anti-gravity spell would, but he loaded it up anyway. His eyes burned green, as did his fingertips. When the Morph got close enough to Y/n, he fired at the ground by her, and both of them floated. The Terrormorph soared into the air, and while in the sky, Y/n shot at it and thanked Jimin for helping. He loaded up another anti-gravity for when they hit the ground again, but that never happened.

That was because the ground disappeared.

The ice gave way and disintegrated into an abyss. Half of the landscape fell apart, and Jimin had to vacate before he succumbed to the darkness. That had to be a one-hundred foot drop, and his boost pack had broke earlier. He scattered to his feet when he spotted no solid terrain underneath Y/n and the Morph. When the ability ended, the two would plunge to their deaths. Y/n had a boost pack, so maybe not her, but he didn't want to take that chance.

"Jin! Grab her!" Jimin shouted, and Jin obeyed by using his boost pack and attempting to get to Y/n. Y/n remained unfazed and continued her onslaught against the Morph. It didn't die no matter how many pellets she sunk into its skull.

Jimin had no choice but to stare from his spot on the breaking ice. Jin closed the gap as much as he could, but Jimin knew he wouldn't make it. Not even close.

"Y/n!" he shouted with his voice cracking and water coming to his eyes. "Honey! Look out!"

Y/n peeped down and saw the abyss awaiting her. It led to the underground tunnels; the Terrormorph nests. She didn't flail around or scream. Instead, she strapped her Breach around her back and waited with her hands near her boost controls. She tried to activate the pack right away, but it sputtered from the intensity of the anti-gravity power. Then, their time ran out. Jin didn't make it.

Y/n dropped through the pit of ice, as did the Morph. Jimin sprinted to the edge and leaned over the side to see if he could find her boost pack flames roaring in the blackness, but he didn't. He didn't hear any shouts. All he heard was an intense silence.

Jin tried to hover down, but boost packs were meant for short travel. If Y/n started boosting from the bottom of the pit, she wouldn't make it halfway up.

After his failed attempt to fly into the void, Jin came over and landed next to Jimin, who still waited and waited to see his wife come back up. When she didn't, he waited some more. Then some more.

"We have to get back to base and send a rescue team. I'm guessing the fall killed the Morph, but not her. Boost packs aren't enough, we'll need to send a small ship down there after her. I'll lead the team myself-"

"She'll come back up, hang on," Jimin interrupted, but Jin ignored him.

"That's too far of a fall. We need to send a rescue team-"

"She'll be back, Jin. Hang the fuck on."

They sat there in silence for several minutes. The coldness of the exterior didn't occur to him as he peered into the abyss. No boost packs sprung to life, and Y/n was nowhere to be seen.

"Believe me yet?" Jin asked after a while, and Jimin hung his head. "The longer we wait, the more likely she dies. That's a damn nest down there. We need to get back to base now."

"But I..." Jimin trailed off and raised his trembling right hand, staring at the ripped fabric of his glove. "I didn't mean to... I didn't mean..."

He wanted to roll forward and fall into the chasm. Despite not having a boost pack, he wouldn't mind falling to his death. He'd be in the same place as her.

It started slow, then it whacked him more as the seconds ticked by. Each second represented a new emotion. One beat, he refused to accept the reality of the situation: Y/n was gone. With one snap of his powers, she fell into a hole filled with Morphs. The next beat came, and rage flooded his eyes and filled his vision with a crimson color. He wanted to punch himself over and over, but the tick of the clock continued before he could, and he hunched his back and prayed to the gods he didn't believe in to take him instead of her. When that didn't work, his entire body slumped to the ice. He didn't care how his hand could get frostbite from prolonged exposure. He didn't care if hypothermia settled in and took his life.

"We need to go," Jin said, but Jimin didn't budge. "Look, I'll have another team get more samples while we check on Jungkook and rescue Y/n, okay? We've done enough. Let's go."

Jimin gazed at the spot Y/n had just been and reached out. He swatted at the air and pretended it was a piece of her he could breathe in and hold against his chest.

Jin placed his hand on Jimin's shoulder. "It's not your fault, don't blame yourself, but come on. It's not safe out here. We need to get Kaiser back to base with the data chip of the Aceles sample. Cry later, focus now. Don't make me slap you again."

Jimin shuddered while standing, and he had to lean on Jin for support. He didn't get to tell Y/n he loved her one last time. He didn't get to kiss her, hold her, or make love to her, and that was because of his childhood memories preventing him from wanting to get that intimate for the time being. It didn't matter anymore. He should've just made love to her and told her how beautiful she was. Was she gone forever? Was she mauled by Terrormorphs?

Was it his fault?

They went to Kaiser, and Jimin zoned out as Jin did whatever it was he had to do. The ice blended together and created a canvas of whiteness he wished he could paint on. He'd paint her beautiful smile. Maybe his mother's, too.

A cacophony of voices sounded off inside him, and it wasn't until Jin shook him that he realized it was Jin repeating his name. He paid attention and helped Jin drag Kaiser away and back through the tunnels. That wasn't what he cared about, though. In the course of one day, Jimin had destroyed his life. His mother had been wrong: he wasn't enough. Though he had done what he thought was right, he ended up crippling his best friend and losing his lover to a pack of Terrormorphs underground. It was over. His life felt like it was over.

He lost.

☆☆☆

Soft beeps engulfed the room.

The infirmary had metal floors with blood soaking them and trashcans overflowing with medical supplies. Supplies that had been used on the unconscious man on the cot, Jeon Jungkook. Jimin sat by his side and listened to the heartbeat monitor confirm Jungkook's condition. No death had come for the former SysDef officer, though recovery wouldn't be a walk in the park.

Yoongi was on the opposite side while placing his hand over where Jungkook's arm should be. The arm had been severed up to the shoulder, just like Jimin's had been. His armor was gone, replaced by a cut-up black undershirt with sweatpants to match. The hip injury got stitched and covered. Crimson liquid stained it, but not enough to become concerning.

"I reached out to the Cabinet," Yoongi said, breaking the hour-long silence between them. The infirmary had a dying heater puffing out clouds of heat that didn't stop Jimin's face from feeling cold. "They'll get him a prosthetic. He'll be okay, Jimin."

"Do you really believe that?"

Yoongi chuckled, though no humor entered his tone. "He grew up next to the Red Mile. It's a miracle he hasn't lost all his limbs, so he'll pull through. He wouldn't have done it if he didn't think he could handle it."

That wasn't true. Unlike Jimin, Jungkook was selfless and would lay down his life for the greater good or to protect his friends. Jimin didn't know if he could say the same. Death terrified him more than any height or elevators could. But, more recently, ending up alone topped his list of fears. At the time, that was what he was. Yes, he had Constellation and the UC Vanguard, but Y/n...

The door to the infirmary snapped open, and the moonlight poured in followed by Major Kim. Jin took his helmet off, and the dangling lights from the low ceiling painted his skin in a golden hue. His boots squeaked on the hard floors as he made his way to the occupied bed. It was one of five in the tiny infirmary.

Jimin averted his gaze. "I assume since you're here and not my wife..."

"I'm sorry, Jimin."

He tapped his fingers against the poor excuse of a mattress. "She's gone, isn't she? There's no hope of finding her in a Terrormorph nest?"

Jimin wanted nothing more than for Jin to rush to deny those claims, though despite his lack of education, even he knew that fantasy wouldn't happen, and it didn't. Jin stayed quiet, and the silence screamed the three letter word he didn't want to hear. No one said it, but it didn't change that it was there.

"I'll give you two a minute," Yoongi said before rising and departing, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as the entrance clicked shut, tears burst from Jimin's eyes, though no wails or screams came like he expected them to. After a long day of sobbing and pain, his energy depleted to the point he couldn't do anything but bite on his fingernails and rub his dirty boot back and forth on the floor, hoping it would drill through the earth and find his wife.

Jin hugged him, and Jimin fell out of the chair and collapsed into Jin's arms. Jin shushed him and tried his best to calm Jimin down, but nothing worked. At Jin's delicate touch, he broke. Whatever screams he thought he didn't have arrived in that moment, yet at the same time, he didn't believe it. Y/n was there—she was out there, and he had to find her. The rescue teams weren't enough; Jimin had to do it himself somehow.

"We'll find her," Jin said, but Jimin disagreed.

"No, we won't." He broke off and pulled on Jin's chestplate. "Don't lie to me. You think... you think she's dead, don't you?"

Jin twirled a strand of Jimin's hair and sighed. "I'm so sorry, kid."

After those words, the day became nothing. Time passed, and somehow, Jimin was still in Jin's embrace, wailing and begging for the universe to kill him, not her. The universe didn't listen. He considered shooting himself with a particle beam as one final middle finger to the higher powers that had taken his wife away, but he had promised her he'd stay alive for her, so he did.

Hours had to have slipped by unnoticed. Some came in to check on Jungkook, though they left upon seeing Jimin's state. His tears didn't stop until sunlight peeked in through the cracks of the doorway. Somehow, Jin hadn't abandoned him. Even his mother had, so he didn't understand why Jin didn't do the same.

"Why didn't you leave?" Jimin asked in a sniffle, crawling away and hugging his knees against his chest as his back pressed on the wall.

Jin offered him a soft smile. "Because you needed me."

Jimin didn't sob again despite wanting to. After a beat of quiet, he nodded a few times and rubbed his hands all over his legs as if that'd do anything. He wanted his mom. He wanted Y/n. He wanted Jin to hug him again, though that was selfish considering how long the man had held him. That meant none of his wants could come true. He didn't know how to cope with that.

"I hate to do this to you, but you need to talk to my father," Jin said, and Jimin quietly agreed. "He's the reason all this happened."

Jimin froze and glared. "The reason Y/n is gone?"

"I believe so, yes. If he was the one who planned all the Terrormorph attacks, then-"

Jimin interrupted him by jumping to his feet, making sure his pistol was holstered by his side, and stomping off. He went to leave the room, but Jin grabbed him to prevent him. They locked eyes.

"What are you doing?" Jin asked in a rushed, breathy tone similar to Jungkook's. Jimin moved out of his grasp. Then, he smiled.

"Exactly what you said: paying your father a visit."

☆☆☆

"Why did you do it?"

Rage swirled inside Jimin's chest as he glared down Vae Victis. Once known as Admiral Kim, Jin's father stared back and held his tablet close to him. He didn't answer for a long moment.

"Back from Londinion already? I take it you found what you were looking for?"

"I did. Jin and I picked up a physical copy of you saying you knew about the Lazarus Planet. That's why you bombed the spaceport, huh?"

Vae tapped his free hand against his chin. "I take it Jin knows I'm alive?"

"I only told him what he needed to know, but yes. There, you got your answer, now give me mine. Why did you do it? You attacked New Atlantis, and I'm guessing Tau Ceti too, right?"

"You want a confession?"

"I just want to know why. My wife is missing because of you! Give me the fucking answers or I'll blast down that door and beat it out of you!"

Vae chuckled. "Blast it down? With what? Your pistol?"

Without another word, Jimin lit up with his particle beam and fired it at the glass. It shattered, and before the man could react, Jimin charged in and threw him against the wall. He fired another particle beam, and it landed right next to Vae's head.

"The next one is down your fucking throat!" Jimin shouted, keeping his eyes glowing and his hand sparkling with cyan light. "Now tell me why you did it!"

Vae stared with his lips parted and his tablet cracked on the ground. For a moment, his fingers shook, but he cleared his throat and tucked his hands behind his back a beat later.

"What the hell are you?"

"An amalgamation of the fucking universe," Jimin said, and strands of his hair floated in the air as his powers burned through him. "Now answer the question."

"Captain Park, I've been down here for years. You think death scares me?"

"No." Jimin closed his fist, then powered up with his Life Force ability. He grabbed his pistol and pointed it at his own leg. "But I should."

He fired and groaned when the bullet tore through his flesh, and Vae jumped back at the sudden violence. Jimin huffed and stood up straight as blood poured down his pants. Then, he shot Life Force at Vae, and he screamed when his leg ripped open to heal Jimin's. The hole closed and reappeared on Vae's leg. He fell to his knees in front of Jimin, and he powered up Sunless Space afterwards.

"Would you like your arm frozen off next?" He grabbed Vae's hand and watched as particles of ice formed on the man's flesh. "You think you know everything, but you don't. You don't know shit about me and what I can do. Tell me what I want to know, and do it now."

Vae stared him down, but Jimin could feel the shakes his body had. "The UC won't approve of torture."

Jimin smiled and froze Vae's entire arm, and the man shrieked at the temperature dip. "You rounded up and bombed innocent UC soldiers all because you wanted to keep the secret of the Lazarus Plant to yourself. And that's without mentioning how you were slated for execution all that time ago. Admiral Kim, this is long overdue. The UC gave me permission to use force. There are cameras. If they didn't approve, why am I still here and not getting dragged off to a cell?"

Vae hyperventilated from his limb's frozen state. Although he didn't whimper or whine, tears slipped by, and he rubbed the back of his head against the wall as if trying to distract himself.

"Would you like me to break it off, too?" Jimin said, raising the butt of his pistol and preparing to slam down on the ice to shatter it.

"No!" Vae sucked in a breath and set his shoulders before continuing. "You've made your point. I suppose not much..." He cut off to groan. His lower lip quivered. "...Worse can come to me. You're right, I did it. Orlasse and I did it together. He gathered the plant with his connections to the UC, then he tested it on heatleeches and sent it to Tau Ceti under my supervision. I had him raise Terrormorphs to send to New Atlantis to convince the UC to open the Archive to you. I even sent Kaiser the steam vent maps to lead you to the plant."

"If you didn't want the secret getting out, then why lead us there?"

"Not you. Jin."

Jimin stepped back and brought his brows together. "Jin? You put your own son in danger, and for what?"

Vae spat on the ground, and Jimin couldn't tell if it was out of disrespect or to mask his pain. "How much do you know about the UC's side of the Colony War, Captain?"

"Only that you hired child soldiers and bombed the Freestar for trying to farm."

"It goes beyond that. The Freestar were once UC citizens who broke away to colonize their own planets. When the UC attempted to open trade routes to form a stronger nation, fighting broke out, and the Freestar mistook it as the UC wanting to control them. All we wanted was a stronger network for the Settled Systems. This was back when House Va'ruun rose to power and terrorized the UC. We needed all the help we could get."

"Did you ever wonder why the Freestar left the UC?" Jimin asked with a scoff.

"Of course, and the reason is they wanted to explore. Your Constellation friend, Sam Coe, for example. His ancestor was Solomon Coe, the person who discovered Akila and pretty much the entire Freestar Collective. There was no hostility between the factions back then, but wars kept breaking out until the dreaded Colony War, and it was far more than them breaking the peace treaty. They tried to colonize three additional planets without consulting us, not just one. The Freestar got greedy, but is that much surprise when Benjamin Bayu is one of your most powerful figures?"

Well, Jimin couldn't argue with that. Benjamin Bayu made the Crimson Fleet look like a paradise.

Vae grunted as he adjusted his frozen arm, and he let a soft whimper pass. He covered it up with more words. "I did what was asked of me and led the UC. We had the strongest navy in the galaxy, so when we battled in Narion's orbit during the Narion Siege, we were ready to end the war right there."

"The Narion Siege? Sarah Morgan was part of that battle."

Vae hummed. It sounded more like a whine. "Correct. I was in the flagship, and we beat the Freestar and could have won the war, but then, Freestar ships came. Colonist ships. Random civilians using their banged up monstrosities to shield the remaining Freestar fighters. I saw them as nothing more than an inconvenience. New enemies on our radar. They made themselves part of the fight, so they would die if they needed to. The other UC soldiers didn't feel the same way, Sarah Morgan included. So I watched as my men refused to fire on what I called enemy ships, and the strongest navy in the galaxy got reduced to nothing. All because the UC didn't want to open fire."

Jimin stepped over the cracked glass beneath him and shut his fist to stop any power from slipping by. He stared at the pieces on the ground, and in their reflection, he could see the UC logo in the background, hanging off one of the many white walls in the cell.

"The UC... refused to fire on Freestar civilians?"

"No. They refused to fire on enemies who chose to join the battle. They should have died, but the UC was too weak to do it."

Jimin shook his head and narrowed his gaze. "No, the UC were strong. They sacrificed their own lives to protect the innocent. They lost the war because they refused to go that far. I'd call them heroes. Sarah Morgan is a fucking hero."

"Look at you, getting all patriotic for a faction that isn't even yours," Vae said with a sigh. "I figured you wouldn't understand, so you won't understand why I did the attacks either."

"Oh, I'm sure this'll be good. Let's hear it, Admiral."

"There is no one more loyal to the UC than me, Captain. I did everything I could to protect the UC, Lazarus Plant included. But the UC hated me for blowing the spaceport and firing on Freestar civilians when no one else did. They had me 'executed' and destroyed my family's legacy. They outlawed cloning because of me."

"Yeah, Jin told me he was a clone of you. So... how's that work? There a mom?"

"Yes and no. A woman who raised him, yes, a biological mother, no. You may not believe me, but nothing matters more to me than my son and the UC. I did this for him. I know I ruined his life, so I restored my family's honor. Jin will be the one to discover the Lazarus Plant and make the breakthrough on Terrormorphs. He'll be the war hero his father once was, and he'll restore what our last name means to the galaxy. And I won't lie, this is also personal."

"Considering you killed all those innocent people in New Atlantis and Tau Ceti, I'd hope you did it for a personal reason and not as a whoopsie daisy," Jimin said with an eye roll.

"Correct. The UC humiliated me despite all I did to protect it, so I wanted to humiliate them and show the cracks in the UC's defenses. This is why I kept the Lazarus Plant a secret, Captain. If the Freestar got their hands on it, it'd be over. If the UC got their hands on it, they'd risk unleashing hell in their cities. You're not from the UC, yet you had to help clean up their Terrormorph mess. Tell me, did President Logan do a good job reacting to the spaceport attack?"

The man before Jimin was a psychopath and a monster who had bombed innocents to keep a secret, but sometimes psychopaths had points. The UC hadn't responded to the Terrormorph threat well, and months later, riots still broke out every day. Citizens still refused to leave their homes. The economy fell off, and Jimin and Constellation were lucky enough to be considered elite members of society, otherwise they could be in danger of losing their home. He didn't want to think about what it did to the Well.

"If anyone got their hands on the Lazarus Plant, it'd be over. I didn't want to kill all those men, Captain. They're UC, and I protect my soldiers. But there was no time for evacuation. If I requested evacuation, I'd take ships away from the other cities the Freestar attacked. Which city would you prefer I sacrifice, Captain? Cydonia? New Atlantis? Londinion?"

"You already sacrificed New Atlantis, you self-righteous piece of shit," Jimin said, spitting on the man's dress shoes. "Make all the excuses you want, but you did this for yourself and to hurt the UC. You didn't do it for Jin. You used Orlasse and all your fancy smancy ex-admiral connections to have everyone plant the seeds to fuck up the UC, and now you're deflecting."

"That is where you're wrong. I take accountability for my actions, and why wouldn't I? It took decades of planning to get this to work, and it did. The citizens see the UC for what it is: weak. Tell me, how has New Atlantis recovered since the attacks?"

Not at all.

"Not much, right?" Vae asked, cradling his arm against him. "You can disagree with my methods all you want, but I exposed the UC for what it is. Maybe now, change will occur. Maybe President Logan will listen and make the UC the dominant force it once was."

Jimin brushed him off. "I'm tired of this conversation. Congratulations, the UC really will execute you this time. You made this big long confession right on camera, I hope you're happy."

"Oh, Captain, you flatter me," Vae said with a tight smile. Then, he laughed. "But my God are you stupid."

"Excuse me?"

"You said it yourself: there are cameras. Cameras that captured my confession, and cameras that captured you admitting you told Jin about the UC's most top-secret person."

Shit.

Fuck.

God fucking dammit!

Jimin staggered back before rushing out of the cell. He holstered his pistol and composed himself as best he could. He was fine with letting the UC Cabinet see his powers—if anything, he wanted them to see it for more fear factor; however, the UC knowing he broke their rule wasn't on his to-do list. Thoughts of Y/n and all that had happened on Londinion clouded his judgment, and he had a feeling that mistake wouldn't bode well for his future in the UC.

Without saying anything to the guard, he departed the basement and went straight to the Cabinet. Upon entering the space, he saw Jin standing at attention in front of the entire Cabinet, and Jimin joined his side.

"Captain Park," President Logan said, his hand pressed on his chin. "Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Jimin cleared his throat. "Sir, I am a member of Constellation. What you saw was real: I have powers. Constellation hired me because I have a connection to these strange artifacts-"

"I don't care," Logan interrupted. "Never in my life did I think I'd say that to the revelation of superpowers existing, but you know damn well I'm talking about you breaking the rules. We can discuss your powers after. Why did you tell Jin?"

Jin stepped up. "Sir, I figured it out myself."

"I don't care how smart you think you are, Captain Park still talked about it with you when I told him not to. That is a direct violation of the rules we set in place for you. I'm done. I've had enough of you, Jimin. Around every corner, you act like a rebellious teen. We trusted you, and you betrayed that. You couldn't even handle entering the Archives without Mr. Jeon's help."

Jimin hung his head. "For whatever it's worth, I'm..." He trailed off and focused on keeping his breathing steady. "Sorry. I'm sorry, President Logan."

President Logan stalled for a moment. "I... see. Answer me honestly: did you tell Y/n?"

Jimin shut his eyes and didn't answer, and he heard Logan make a soft humming noise. It was a sound of acknowledgement.

"Very well. You stopped the pirates, saved the New Atlantis spaceport, and helped gather the samples that will stop the Terrormorph threat. For that reason, I won't throw you behind bars."

Jimin snapped his head up at that. "Thank you, sir. I can't believe-"

"But," Logan interrupted, raising his index finger to keep Jimin quiet. "You are hereby revoked of your Vanguard status and will be permanently barred from becoming a UC citizen. You are to return both sets of your UC armor in whatever condition they are in. You are never to enter MAST again, or else I will throw you behind bars. Your buddy, Jeon Jungkook, is also no longer allowed in MAST due to his disobedience. Give my apologies to Commander Min, but I cannot allow rulebreakers into the UC's most important building."

Jimin nodded. "I understand. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I appreciate you not putting me behind bars."

"I believe you. And, Jimin, I know we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, but thank you for your service to the UC. You made amazing changes, and we won't forget that. But..."

"I know, I made mistakes I can't take back. I'm sorry."

Logan agreed. "We are too. As much as that monster in our basement is a criminal, he's right. We didn't do enough during the Terrormorph attack, and we're going to change that. First, we're going to do our best to secure the Lazarus Plant from Londinion, but with how many Terrormorphs are hiding under the surface, it'll take time and resources."

Jimin couldn't help but butt in. "The Freestar should be involved in this, sir, and the plant should be destroyed. They can help you with resources, and by informing them about the plant, you'd show solidarity. Like an olive branch. Isn't it time the factions started getting along at least a little bit?"

President Logan stroked his chin for a long moment. "We're already eliminating one species, eliminating another is not the Cabinet's wishes, but you have a point. We will let the Freestar help us secure it, and together, as a united faction, we can decide if we should wipe it out or not. Thank you for the suggestion. Jin, any comments about the Aceles and microbe? My Cabinet is in disagreement over what to do."

Chief Sarkin huffed. "The Aceles is the safer option, so we should go with that."

"To someone with a limited understanding of biology, perhaps," Chief Engineer Kulkarni said with an eye roll. "The technology behind the microbe is solved science. It isn't dangerous to anything but Terrormorphs. Using it to wipe out the Morphs would be the quickest path to protecting humanity. Jimin may have gotten a confession out of Vae Victis, but that doesn't mean we know all of it. What if there are more attacks? We'll need fast reactions, and the microbe will only take one year to be fully effective while the Aceles will take several. Do you want to wait that long?"

"Cause fast results always lead to the best outcomes, right?" Chief Sarkin asked while he crossed his arms over his chest.

"As you can see," President Logan interrupted, directing his voice to Jin. "There's still debate among the Cabinet. Major, I was hoping you could weigh in on this."

Jin didn't answer for a moment, and he made eye contact with Jimin. The two stared and stared, then, Jin nodded and shifted his attention back to the Cabinet.

"The microbe is the best course of action, sir. We don't know when Terrormorphs can show up again, and the people lost faith in the UC's ability to handle it. We need the fast results, and we know it'll work. The UC has the best scientists in the galaxy, so no one else is better for this project. We can even get the Freestar's best involved, too. I have contacts in Ryujin Industries, if needed."

Chief Engineer Kulkarni beamed. "Glad to see someone's not afraid of a little applied genetics. Ryujin sounds perfect. I'll send a word out so the Freestar and UC can work together for once."

"Very well," President Logan said, folding his hands together and peering at Jin. "That leaves one last order of business: our response. The UC needs a stronger response to the Terrormorph threat, and from now on, we're enforcing heatleech inspections for every ship that lands in United Colonies space, and we'll recommend the idea to the Freestar, too. As for you, Major Kim, we are appointing you as the founding member and leader of the Terrormorph Management Division, or the TMD. We can discuss further details in private, but we're hoping this division will stop Terrormorph threats before they start."

Major Kim bowed. "It would be my honor, sir."

"Good. Jimin, we may never see each other again, so if we don't, I wish you the best of luck."

Jimin frowned. "Thank you, but what about Commander L/n and the rescue efforts?"

"We'll do our best, but... I'm sorry, Jimin. She fell into a Terrormorph nest. The odds of survival are slim to none, and I can't risk innocent lives to try and rescue someone who's likely dead. I'll grant you access to Londinion so you and your crew can search on your own and utilize the base's resources, but that's all I can do."

Jimin wanted to pummel his fist into Logan's face for abandoning the woman who had always been loyal. UC soldiers would risk their lives to help her, but that coward wanted to hide. As much as Logan did Jimin a favor by not locking him up and going as far as to grant him access to Londinion, Jimin couldn't help the rage inside him. It caused sparkles of cyan to fly off the tips of his fingers.

President Logan noticed and shifted in his seat. "Should I ask about the powers now, or has it been too long of a day?"

"Too long of a day, sir. You saw what I did to Admiral Kim, that should be explanation enough." He stopped for a moment and allowed his glow to burn brighter. "I appreciate you sticking your neck out for me, but this is appalling behavior. My wife sacrificed everything for the UC and got mockery in return. No, I won't accept that. Unlike you, I'll do everything in my power to save her, and don't try to stop me. It won't work. If you ever wondered why one man was able to take down the entire Fleet and Terrormorphs, then here's your answer."

Jimin shot a particle beam into the wall near Logan's head, and he yelped at that. The entire Cabinet froze with half of them holding their hands over their open mouths. A scorch mark appeared where Jimin had fired, and he shut his fist when he was done.

"Don't fuck with me," he said in a monotone voice. He lit up his eyes with cosmic light from his Void ability for further fear, and once he was satisfied with the silence in the room, he nodded. "Good. If Y/n ends up alive, don't expect her to fight for you again. You abandoned her despite how many soldiers would gladly risk themselves to save her. I'll be stationing Jungkook at Londinion after his recovery, and if the UC soldiers want to search for her, don't stop them."

President Logan glared. "You think we're scared of you because you have powers?"

"No, not yet." Jimin paused to shake off his Void power and let emptiness fill his irises instead. "But you will be."

He marched out and went to the elevator, closing it before Jin could rush after him. He didn't kick the metal box of doom or curse at it. Instead, he punched the wall. Fuzziness infected his brain until the same voice that had called to him during the Legacy quest returned. It sounded like a mix of every voice in the known galaxy. For some reason, it soothed him.

"Embrace us, Park Jimin."

In the reflection of the metal elevator doors, he saw his eyes burning red, and he hunched over and drank in the beautiful sight. Sparkles flew off his feet and hands, and his hair lifted as if it had its own atmosphere. No power would be enough for him to save Y/n in the nest of Terrormorphs, but he'd try. He'd try until all his limbs got torn off. Without Y/n, Park Jimin was an empty shell of a body walking around. The Crimson Fleet, Terrormorphs, Neon, his mother... his entire life had destroyed him, and it insisted on taking the one thing he had left. Y/n disappeared. But she wasn't the only one.

Park Jimin died, and he had no idea who took his place.

☆☆☆

END OF SEASON 2

☆☆☆

A/N: Yeah so Jimin's not doing so good-

That was the end of season 2. Season 3 will be very Jimin-focused, and it will introduce many new things, including a new POV.

It will be the darkest season so far with more moral dilemmas, and it will push you into asking many questions about Jimin and what he's doing to himself. It'll certainly be tough but fun to write, so I hope you like it.

Season 3 will take place primarily in the Freestar Collective and will follow Ryujin Industries, the largest tech company in the Settled Systems. Ryujin is based in Neon, so prepare to see more of Neon.

I will be taking a short break so I can focus on my brand new PJM story, A Demon's Sin. It will drop on June 1st, so I hope you check it out!

I will likely take a week or two off then return to the normal schedule. I already made significant progress on the first two chapters of s3, so no worries, you will get consistent updates even with ADS dropping. 

I hope you enjoyed season 2, and I'll see you in season 3!

I hope you check out ADS, too. Just in case you haven't seen it, here's the cover for ADS:

Yeah... incubus Jimin, am I right?

Anywho, I'm rambling. See you guys soon!