4.6 | Dark Ages ✓

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HE LANDS IN the same year, but at a different time.

At least, that's what it reads on the note that Hoseok had given to him. He glances down at the crumpled paper in his hand, then up at the sky. Where it had been sunny before, dark clouds loom overhead and a distant crack of thunder echoes in his ears. Raindrops splatter on his cheeks and he pulls the hood of his jacket over his head.

Two weeks and three days ago.

Along the street, there's the coffeeshop he'd seen her at. His feet move of their own accord to the now vacant table. For a moment, he looks at the empty chair, imagining her sitting in it with the sunlight on her hair. It's a strange feeling—almost déjà vu but not quite, because their first meeting has not happened yet.

It will in two weeks and three days' time.

Abruptly, he becomes aware of approaching footsteps. He turns at the sound, only to freeze in his tracks when he realizes who it is.

"Hello, Taehyung."

Dressed in a pea-green coat and carrying a yellow umbrella, she tucks her hair behind her ear and beams up at him. She smiles the same way she's smiled before—like greeting someone she's known all her life.

"I thought it was you I saw from across the street, but I couldn't be sure," she continues brightly. "I'm so glad to see you again."

He swallows. "Again?"

Her smile begins to falter. "Has it not been again?" she asks, looking concerned. "Are you here still? But it's been five years since we last met, and I did see you disappear. Or did Yoongi's watch fracture with all the time-travelling you did?"

He almost chokes. "You—Yoongi...how did you—"

"Oh, like I said, I'm very smart." She seems oddly satisfied at watching him fumble, and folds her arms across her chest triumphantly. "I found it odd that you knew about Yoongi, so I let him copy off my test the next time we sat together in class. Then we started dating—we no longer are, by the way...I mean, not that it should matter to you...I don't even know why I'm telling you that, but—" She stops to drag in a deep breath, but he doesn't miss the blush staining her cheeks. "Anyway, long story short, when he gave me the watch—I knew."

He stares at her warily. "What do you know?"

"That I'd help you travel through time," she says, with a shrug. "You've created a loop, you see? Five years ago, you told me that time-travel was possible so I studied it. And because I've studied it, I will someday help with the creation of your time-travelling device, which will then send you back in time to tell me that time-travel is possible to begin with."

He stares at her in wordless surprise. He should've known, all along, that she was smart enough to figure it out. The world might've called him the genius in his past, but here she is, stunning him with her brilliance.

Under his gaze, she shifts on her feet, suddenly looking self-conscious. "Did you...did you maybe need to tell me something?" she asks. "I'm guessing you didn't come here to save me this time."

"I—"

His mind works rapidly. Why have I come here? That's a good question. When he'd met her in his previous jumps, she'd always been in need of saving. But everything seems fine now. At this point, his experiment with Jimin wouldn't even have backfired yet, except...

...except it will, won't it?

It will happen. In two weeks and three days' time, Marlow will steal their Strand and use it to create a generation of un-killable monsters. In two weeks and three days' time, Jimin will tell him about the armageddon that will happen. In two weeks and three days' time, his other self will meet her.

And what was it that Jimin had observed after his call to her? She didn't seem that surprised to hear it, he'd said. But what if the reason for her not being surprised was because she'd already known?

This is why I'm here.

He looks down at her and lets out a quiet breath. "How much time do you have?"

A bright smile spreads across her face. "However long you do."