Jimin's POV

Since that day when I had to drive her home, Hoseok and I haven't seen her a single time.

We thought she would be back soon, as usual, but she's simply... disappeared.

I'm really worried for her after what I saw last time, how much in pain she seemed to be, something that clearly had to do with her collar, with her magic never being released and with each day that passes, I regret some more not bringing her to the hospital instead of home.

It's like she's avoiding us now and I can't help but wonder if it's because of me, something that breaks my heart.

"Jiminie, I don't think she'll be coming today either, it's been two weeks already. You know her situation, she has Eunwoo and Sung-kyung driving her around now, maybe she doesn't have time to come here anymore" Hoseok says with a sigh and I turn to him to see him looking just like me, concerned and saddened, yet here he is trying to reassure me, comfort me.

We really enjoyed seeing her, it was like a fresh breeze came to wrap around us whenever she'd come over, her smile and laugh would always look and sound so bright to us.

Hoseok even admitted developing a crush on her at some point, one he has yet to fully get rid of, one he doesn't want to get rid of, his feelings selfishly cradled in his heart like a precious treasure.

I'm the only one to know because I'm in the same boat as him, something we both feel guilty about, but we can't help it. There's something about her that we really love and seeing her disappear just like that... I can't deny the depression we've fallen into.

"I know, Hobi hyung... I know" I whisper as I join his side and into his inviting arms, our tasks on a standby as the shop is currently pretty calm, no one coming in for a while. There are days like that, but it only serves to make our spirit darker, sadder.

When I'd mentioned knowing where she lives, that maybe we could give her... I don't know, a get better basket, just dropping off some good food for her, something Jin had impatiently nodded to, eager to take care of her as well, Yoongi and Taehyung had both voiced against it and Namjoon had to comply as well, something about it that would feel like an intrusion, that me getting her address hadn't been because she wanted to give it and that we shouldn't take advantage of that.

That had stung really bad and I ended up crying in my bed in Hoseok's arms, the only one I feel really understands my pain because of the feelings we share about her.

We'd seen her often for a year, she was someone we would impatiently await every single day, our magic unconsciously seeking her out, searching for her before she'd even get here, even if we wouldn't be able to sense her. Seeing her quickly became the highlights of our days, a reason for us to keep pushing through even when working would be more difficult sometimes.

It had become the connection linking us to her. As long as we would have the coffee shop, we would be seeing her, but now, that all seems to come crumbling down and going to work doesn't bring me the same excitement as it used to anymore.

I wish I wouldn't feel that way, but I do and there's nothing I can do to stop this. I know I've been souring the mood in the house, all of my soulmates getting affected by it, the smiles and laughter so rare now that I don't even remember the last time I truly enjoyed a good joke.

The only good day I can clearly remember is when Jungkook graduated last week, something that made us all so very proud of him. To congratulate him, we'd taken him out to a fancy restaurant and it felt wonderful to see him smile brightly, something that felt like I hadn't seen in too long.

He's now getting ready to start his new job very soon and he's so excited about it, so proud because it's a good job, much better than what his classmates are getting and he's aware of it, his attempts at remaining modest and humble something he struggles with sometimes when he can't help but point at the TV whenever he sees his company's collections that he will now participate in designing.

It's refreshing, his excitement bringing happiness back in the house, but it never really... covers the sadness that still lingers around and sometimes, when he thinks no one's looking, I can see when his own smile falls, eyes filling with worries, something that makes me feel really bad.

Yet another thing that I have caused.

As for Namjoon, he tries to call her once in a while for a meet up so he can check her vitals and make sure she's recovering well, especially after I told him about the last time I saw her, my guilt making me unable to sleep one night, but she's yet to return any of his calls and he's growing extremely impatient, something completely opposite of how he normally is.

He's usually very calm and knows when to put a line between work and personal life, but this time, it's been eating him up from the inside even at home, something that bothers him that he has yet to open up about to us.

It's a literal mess that surrounds me now and I have no idea how to get through it. It feels like my soul is missing a piece and I don't know what to do with this, how to fill this hole.

"We'll... I'm sure we'll see her soon, Jiminie, don't give up. When she does decide to come back... we'll be right here, welcoming her with a smile, let's just wait some more" Hoseok whispers in my ear and I nod, face going to hide in his neck as tears fall down my cheeks.

"I just miss her so much" I whimper and he shushes softly, his thumbs going to gather my tears gently.

"I know, love... I miss her too, we'll get through this".

Namjoon's POV

Ever since that day, when I spent some time with her in the hospital room, I can't forget about her words.

It's been two weeks now, I thought I would forget about it, but no, they invade my mind without end, they come in one word after the other, her face flashing back in front of my eyes, her tone, her despair loud in my ears.

She talked about volcanoes, tsunamis, tornadoes. She talked about them as if they could really happen because of her, as if they were her reality, but there was more behind her words. It wasn't just anger, it wasn't just fear, a mix that caused her to shout at me.

It was a call for help. She's stuck in a cage and she has no way to exit it by herself. Her eyes were almost begging me to find out the truth so I could help her. I've never seen anything like that in someone before and I just can't forget about it.

It's been two weeks of trying to call her, to try and get her to talk, maybe even insist about meeting a psychologist, something I had told her I wouldn't do, but right now? I feel like I could do, say anything just to get to see her again.

Knowing her in pain, near her limit without anyone to help her, it's something that makes my guts pull and twist in agony, that I'm failing my role of being her doctor, that I'm letting someone be in pain while they're under my responsibility, it doesn't sit well with me.

Taehyung is a very good psychologist and a part of me really wants her to meet my soulmate, someone I trust, something that would reassure me, to know her in good hands, as if her being in someone else's care could turn against her, hurt her, but every calls have reached her voicemail.

Heck, I can't even make one anymore, it's completely full. She hasn't been checking any of them. I'm honestly very close to breaching a professional promise and just go straight to her place to see for myself what the heck is going on, even though I told Jimin that this wasn't a good idea.

It's absolutely confusing because I've never felt that way for any of my patients before and I've had more than a lifetime of them. Part of me believes that it might be because she's so close to Jimin and Hoseok, we've heard about her for a year, it almost feels like she's part of our family.

I remember when Taehyung came into the room after Y/N left, his eyes had told me that he saw something but he refused to open up about it for some reason.

It's the same with Yoongi, but the both of them are keeping silent, something that is starting to get on my nerves.

There are too many things I don't understand right now and to have my soulmates possibly knowing something important and not telling me? Gosh it pisses me off.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and look down at the newspaper on my lap, my day off spent at home resting on the couch, everyone else at work at the moment.

I can't focus on anything anymore, every thoughts I have filled with her and it started to show, so Jinjin sent me home, said to come back after a good day of peace and quiet, something I'm grateful for because I really need it, my mind getting overwhelmed with everything happening inside of it.

I turn the page and let my eyes fall on a text about the coming anniversary getting prepared for the terrible earthquake that shook our town thirteen years ago, the day still a few months ahead but ominously getting closer.

I was young but I remember that day very well. How the ground had shook beneath my feet, how the walls had crumbled to the ground around me in a matter of seconds, buildings destroyed one after the other, the screams, the fear.

My parents died because of it, as did an incredible amount of people. It was so big that the whole town had to be reconstructed from head to toe, which is why it now looks brand new. People mourn the dead every single year and this one won't be any different.

I can't believe I almost forgot about that... I should start preparing something for when the day comes and go visit my parents, I'm sure they would love hearing about what's been going on in our lives since last year, maybe my soulmates will want to come with me.

I'm about to turn the page but then notice a particular word. Uncontrolled. I frown and adjust my glasses on my nose to read this part of the text.

It's been told that the earthquake couldn't be of natural cause. No scans predicted any movements of the tectonic plates that day, which would normally be impossible, as have stated the researchers still on the case. It was sudden and extremely powerful, yet the government closed the subject quickly and refused to divulge anything about it. Was the earthquake really one of natural cause or was it the result of an uncontrolled magic? Is the government trying to hide a criminal act?

I sit back into the couch and frown. Y/N talked only of natural disasters. Ones caused by elements. Fire, ground - volcano. Water - tsunami. Wind - tornado.

My eyes widen. Those are Y/N's powers. The four elements. That's all we could get from her magic from the sensors before she wore her collar again.

I throw the newspaper aside and hurry to the front door to grab my shoes and keys before rushing out of the house and to the car, brain now understanding so much. That's why she's scared. Of course she would be scared.

Her magic caused the earthquake from thirteen years ago.

I enter the car and turn on the engine, heart beating so fast in my chest, with ache, with sadness, with pity, the way she closed herself off that day still bright in my mind. She still feels guilty about it.

We've all spent so much time trying to understand why she's refusing to remove her collar, but this? This explains everything.

So much for a day off, that girl has no idea how much she's making us work just to try and understand her. She has no idea.

Yoongi's POV

The last thing I expected happening today was to see Namjoon entering my office with a face that screamed he made an important discovery, yet here he is, slamming a newspaper on my desk while panting, the man clearly looking like he ran over as if his life depended on it.

Obviously, sensing his magic is no trouble for us, so when Jin comes peeking inside with a curious frown, when his eyes fall on Namjoon's form dropping on the chair in front of my desk, he comes inside as well to see what is going on.

"Read the text on the page first, I'll explain next" is all the doctor says and I hum, eyes falling on the subject mentioned, the earthquake that ravaged our lives a long time ago.

Jin comes to stand besides me and I shift the newspaper so we can read it together.

My eyes trail over the words, nothing that seems new to me until I reach one certain paragraph, one that seems to theorize the possibility of the earthquake not being of natural cause, which, let's be real, doesn't make sense at all.

The scans couldn't sense it coming before it happened, but there has to be an explanation for that other than a human being. That much strength, what it caused? It's impossible.

"Joonie... what is this? Why did you bring this here?" Jin asks the man and I lift my eyes from the paper to observe our soulmate who grabs the newspaper to point at a word.

"Uncontrolled. Doesn't that remind you of someone?" he asks back and I lick my lips, arms crossing over my chest as I stare at him, unsure of what to believe right now.

"You're not trying to say that Y/N could be behind it, are you?" I let out, watch as he nods, his eyes confident, no place for hesitation on his pressed lips.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. I didn't tell you what she said at the hospital, I've been mulling over her words since that day without understand what she meant, but I'm extremely sure of what I'm going to say. Y/N is behind that earthquake" he says, but Jin shakes his head incredulously.

"You have to give us more than that, Namjoon-ah. What did she tell you to have you so convinced?".

Namjoon sighs. "What is her magic? What elements does she have?".

I sit straight and stare right into his eyes, mind now starting to make a link. "She has the four elements". He nods.

"Right. What she told me at the hospital? She talked about tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, she said that she refuses to remove her collar, as if these could happen, said how she doesn't believe that the wards at her place could control her magic. Those are all natural disasters, those are all she mentioned. Tell me that it doesn't make sense" he says and I rest my face on my hand, heart and soul processing this as Jin remains still where he is next to me.

"It... actually makes sense" our eldest soulmate says, lips pursed as he turns his eyes to me.

"Think about it, Yoongi-ah, remember when Sung-kyung told us about Y/N's magic? How what she did to stop the explosion, it was but a tiny little portion of what it can really do? Her example of the bathtub, it being out of control, I hate to say it but... I think Namjoon is right".

I run a hand through my hair, the information overloading my brain.

"I hear you, I really do but... this... that means she'd be behind our soulmates'..." my eyes fall on Namjoon, his eyes softening at what I'm implying.

"That would mean that she's behind my parents' death, behind our soulmates' pain, yes".

He says it with such a blank voice that I have no idea how he feels right now, it makes me a little uneasy.

For Y/N to be behind that earthquake? That's... fuck. That's not a small claim. That's not small at all.

If that's true, how has she been carrying such a burden all by herself? I understand why she wouldn't want to remove her collar, why she's so afraid of it. The day of the explosion, when she didn't hesitate, that was a leap of faith, it was only because she knew her magic would never hurt soulmates, because if it's capable of that much?

The world could've been ending at her feet that she would've continued to keep it on, just to be sure that it doesn't make things worse.

"But... how old was she when this happened? Ten?" I ask, yet again something that doesn't make sense. "How could her magic be so strong at such a young age? To cause an earthquake at ten years old?" I elaborate, eyes falling on the newspaper in front of me, the old image of the destroyed town not fitting with what a little girl could do.

When silence greets my words, I look up, only to find Sung-kyung in the doorway, her hands holding a stack of paper that might have to be reprinted from how hard she's clenching her fingers on them.

I take in her wide eyes, her posture tense and that alone is enough to confirm the truth.

"What kind of nonsense are you saying about Y/N?" she asks, but Namjoon snaps his fingers at that.

"We hadn't mentioned her name, unless you've been listening in from the beginning, which I doubt from the look of surprise on your face. That means we're right, thank you for confirming that for us" he says smoothly, words that only serve to cause the woman's face to twist in a frown, protective of her best friend, with good reason.

"You're always talking about her, it's not hard to guess. Whatever you think you've found out, you're wrong" she says before turning around but I clear my throat, head tilting as I hum long enough for her to stop in her tracks.

"Don't you want to know what else I've found out?" I ask, words that have Jin and Namjoon quirking an eyebrow and turning to me in confusion.

Sung-kyung turns around, walks back in the room, shuts the door behind her and walks to the desk before sitting down next to Namjoon, her arms crossing over her chest in frustration.

"What? What else could you possibly know?" she grumbles and I hum, wondering if it's really right that I say it while Namjoon and Jin are here, but I feel it fair that they would considering what they know about her right now.

"She's our soulmate. You already know, don't you? Y/N told you" I tell her, observe as three pairs of eyes widen at me, Jin nearly choking on his saliva as Namjoon looks like he just got sent into a whole new dimension.

As for Sung-kyung?

Completely frozen in time.

"Wait, what?!" Jin shrieks and I wince, the loudness of his voice making my eardrums bleed while Namjoon has yet to fully process.

I rub my ears and nod, silently praying that this was the right decision to make.

"H-how..." she lets out, taken aback. Clearly she wasn't expecting me to know, so is Y/N.

I shrug and lean back in my seat, brazenly staring at her as she starts sweating.

"Remember the day when you came at the station? Y/N was waiting outside, I went to talk to her. I made a test, I wanted to see how she would react to my magic. Ends up that swarming her with it suddenly is enough to have her jerk away from me like I just burned her, yet she'll claim it being an arm spasm, except it wasn't, she was too receptive to it. When I told Taehyung about it, he shared with me that when he saw her at the hospital, when she left the room where she was with Namjoon, he automatically had a doubt. We talked together a while ago and came to the conclusion that Y/N is our soulmate" I explain, watch as realization flashes in Namjoon's eyes while Jin starts pacing the room.

"Why keep quiet about this, Yoongi-ah? Don't you think you could've told us sooner?" he asks, clearly unhappy that we hid such important information.

"I have to agree on that one, hyung. This is... She's one of us, and in a lot of pain right now, we need to do something... gosh... this..." Namjoon adds, hands combing through his hair, around his neck, eyes already trying to search for a solution, anything.

"And what exactly is that, Namjoon-ah? What do we do? We just go and tell her - You know what? We know that you're our soulmate. We also know why you don't want to remove your collar, which is absolutely understandable considering you caused the worst incident known to this town, but we still want you to know that you should ignore all of your trauma to be with us because that's what we want. Would that work?" I say sarcastically, watch as my two soulmates look down, lips pressed tightly in frustration.

Sung-kyung clasps her hands together nervously, unsure of how to deal with the fact that we already know everything. That wasn't part of the plan in her mind. I don't even know what the plan is.

"I... I don't know what to say, to the three of you. Y/N... she's not in her right state of mind these days, I don't know how to reach her anymore, she's... she's becoming that empty shell, like she's just locking who she is away to avoid suffering. I really don't know what to do, it freaks me out to see her like that, but what can we do? She won't remove her collar, she feels the guilt from the earthquake... every single second of her life. I think she's seeing what she's doing as her punishment, like she deserves to not be happy, that she deserves to suffer. The more I try to help her, the more she pushes me back" she fully opens up, her words settling in our mind, heavy on our heart, because we're finally hearing about our soulmate and it's not hopeful information, not at all.

"What about her current state with her magic? Is it getting worse? Jimin told me that when he drove her home, she was in an awful state, she locked him out as soon as she entered her apartment. Did she tell you anything about that?" Namjoon asks her and I turn to him, not having expected that he too would bear this knowledge.

Jin seems shocked that there's so much he didn't know and I can see that we're going to have to deal with his anger later, but right now, he's doing his best to keep his focus on what can be done right now and I respect that.

Sung-kyung bites on her bottom lip, eyes frowning, this information clearly being new to her as well.

"If that's true... that explains a lot of things... gosh, I was such an ass to her that day, I didn't even..." she shakes her head to stop herself from going down the wrong path and stares at us to answer the question.

"Not good, Namjoon, really not good. She's completely disconnected, I'm starting to wonder if she even gets a break from the pain anymore, her eyes are always shallow, like nothing's getting to her anymore. She's just... working, then going back home and sleeping. Even Bo-young doesn't know what to do anymore, she's trying to get her to smile a little but she's getting ghosts of the smiles she used to be able to make. If she were to meet any of you again... I'm honestly afraid that she's reaching her limit".

Shit.

I turn to Namjoon whose eyes are looking more and more like a panic disco mess, the information registering, but no solution appearing except forcefully getting her to take the help we offer, even if it makes her hate the whole world.

"We need to remove her collar" is all he says, but we can all agree on that one, yet reality is much more complicated.

If we remove her collar while her magic is already near its limit, much more than the day of the explosion, what impact will it have? If we remove her collar in the middle of the town, is it going to act like a bomb and blow the area?

"We do, but we can't have that happen just anywhere. Do the others know? Do Jimin and Hoseok know that she's your soulmate?" Sung-kyung asks, but I shake my head.

"No, we haven't told Jungkook either. Right now, it would only cause them to worry even more, they already have it hard enough, knowing would only make them want to see her more and that's clearly not happening for now" I explain and she nods, understanding easily my reasoning.

"Okay... gosh... Y/N will hate me for it... but I really think we need to start planning a way to get her collar off against her will in a safe manner" she says and I nod, soul filling with relief that she's on the same ground as we are, that she's ready to work with us.

But I know, I know for a fact that the same way she would be angry at Sung-kyung, she would be angry at us too. Angry doesn't seem strong enough of a word to describe how much she would hate us for taking her choice away from her, but it feels like we have no other possible road to take.

It's either that, or her dying and we're not having that.

None of my soulmates are dying if I can help it.