4.6 | Dark Ages ✓

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SHE IS THE key to everything.

With Antigen V in her hands, she swiftly gets to work. She runs several tests on it until his other self arrives. He reluctantly watches her go, envying his other self for having her unwavering attention, and spends the rest of the day in her lab. There's plenty of food here, stored in a mini-fridge, and even a bathroom. Besides, having lived through the Dark Ages, this would hardly be called 'roughing it'.

So he wanders about in her lab and, when curiosity gets the better of him, browses through her academic journals. They bore him quickly, so he moves on to studying the few photo frames she has scattered around her lab. There're several of the two of them—happy, as always. There's three with her colleagues in white coats. He's fascinated to find Hoseok in the pictures—they had, after all, worked together before she focused on time-travel.

The last picture he finds is of a familiar woman.

The one I saved from drowning.

Looking into the camera, with her arms wrapped around the girl of his dreams, is the woman he met thirty years ago. Where the color of her hair differs from her mother's by several shades, the smiles on their faces match.

Warm affection sweeps through him. In retrospect, he's glad he was pushed off the bridge. He's glad to have almost drowned. He's glad to have almost drowned again in the process of saving the woman.

Because if I hadn't, he thinks, his eyes drifting to the young girl in the photograph. There wouldn't be you.

Slowly, he sets the frame down and steps away. He spends the next few hours studying each equipment in her lab while fighting the urge to tamper with them. In between several microscopes and lasers, he finally finds it.

The Cypher.

There, on a metal plate, is the same watch as the one around his wrist.

He can't stop himself this time. With shaking hands, he picks up the Cypher and presses the two buttons by the side. The plates light up. Each contains two sets of numbers: an ongoing countdown, and a static date from the past.

A strange feeling sweeps through him. These are my jumps. She's already input the numbers upon his request five years ago. And he—the other he—will eventually use the Cypher to time-jump.

How unsettling to know what will be, because you've already been through it.

Letting out a quiet breath, he sets the watch back down.

But as soon as she returns to her lab, he swiftly forgets about it. She's brought with her leftovers from dinner, as well as several clothes she's nicked from his other self's wardrobe.

"It's not like I'm stealing from you," she insists earnestly, much to his amusement. "Because, technically, these are yours."

He wants to tell her that his other self can go hang, but instead pulls out the other chair for her. "How was your day?"

She beams at his question, but doesn't seem at all surprised. My other self must've asked her often, too, he thinks.

"I gave the formula to him," she says. "He went to the research facility to work on it because our labs don't have the equipment he needs. I wish I could've given him these—" She gestures to the bullets on the table. They've disassembled the contents of his gun, and Taehyung can finally see what he'd been killing zombies with—dark blue capsules containing the Antigen. "—but it would've been too obvious. All I could do was point him in the right direction and let him figure it out."

"How long do you think he'll take?"

"Give him a day or two. He's very smart."

Of course, he thinks dryly. Smart enough to create something that could wipe out a third of the world.

But he doesn't voice his thoughts aloud, and simply watches her work. Everything about her captivates him. The light in her eyes when she realized that he had a successful Antigen, the relaxed way she moves about in her lab and the graceful movements of her hand as she writes.

Gradually, she seems to become aware that he's watching her. She darts several glances his way, only to find him openly staring, and her cheeks flush pink.

"Is there a reason you keep staring at me?" she finally asks.

He swallows and nods. "Yes. I'm afraid you'll disappear again if I look away."

"Actually, you were the one who kept disappearing, if you remember. I even cried after you left that one time, when I was ten, thinking that I'd driven you away for good."

To his surprise, he finds his lips twitching into a smile at that. It comes so easily when he's with her—smiles, laughter, happiness—that he almost forgets what it was like when he was without. "You know that I wouldn't have left if I had a choice," he tells her.

"I know." She accepts his answer easily. "I know what it means to be a time-traveller. Although, I'm really glad you're here now. I had hoped to see you again after we last met five years ago."

Her words strike a lead weight in his chest. Suddenly, he's reminded of why he'd come, and the revelations that have led him here. If he has come to change the past, shouldn't he tell her before it's too late?

He opens his mouth to tell her the truth, but before he can, she nudges him. "Could you hand me that?" she asks, pointing to an optic lens beside him.

He stares at her for a moment.

Maybe not today.

With a sigh, he reaches for the lens and hands it to her.