Dark Waters ✓ tk

THIRTY SIX

It wasn't long before they had moved everyone to their temporary base. Taehyung was gently placed in the tub by Jimin, the merman happy to be back in water. "I feel so refreshed!", he sighed in relief, stretching his arms.

Though he was happy to be in his natural element, he was saddened to be apart from his mate again. Jungkook was laying on the kitchen table, baring his teeth at the pain surging through him as Yoongi dabbed at his wounds.

"Shouldn't you be healing or something?", the male asked, eyebrows furrowed as he saw the dark red blood flow down the male's body.

"A werewolf's body can handle much, but I doubt it can handle this many bullet wounds at the same time", Hoseok replied, averting his eyes away from the blood. His gaze fell on the eldest of the team who was staring at the picture frames that littered the living room.

"Your parents seemed to love taking pictures", Hoseok said, appearing at the male's side. Jin seemed to tense at this. The younger could guess why. There wasn't one picture in the room that displayed their son.

"There used to be pictures of me", the eldest replied, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth after he said those words. Hoseok glanced at the male before looking back at the picture frames. "What happened to them?"

Jin shrugged, his face void of any emotion, "Thrown in the trash, burned, buried. Who knows what happened to them? They didn't want to see my face so they did enough to make that happen".

Namjoon was currently buried in papers and documents, nose almost pressed against the letters he was trying to read. The newfound information was enough to make him nearly explode with excitement.

To be a scientist and get to be in charge of something so big, it was honestly both frightening and exciting, and he couldn't help but barge upstairs to get Hoseok.

He quickly shoved the documents into the other's face before stepping back. He waited until the older had read everything before they started discussing their ideas.

"So it started in the ocean?", Hoseok began, taking in a deep breath, reading the notes again. It was barely readable by the messy handwriting and it seemed to be written by someone in a hurry.

The virus was first found in the ocean in large quantities. Mutated species of fish were found and people that came in contact with the ocean started to show symptoms. It seems the longer something stays in the ocean, the more it mutates. Itching skin, aching limb, splitting headaches and malfunctioning intestines were the symptoms that were shown the most. We do not know how this virus got in the ocean and how it mutates people but everyone should be cleared from beaches until further information is acquired.

Another note was attached to it, this one being written after the first one.

The virus spread between humans and mutated them even further into horrible living creatures. The violent tendencies and never-ending hunger makes them dangerous enough to shoot on sight. People have been evacuated and police forces are alarmed. The army seems not too bothered by it but it soon will see how bad the situation is. This will be the end of humanity. We need to find a cure.

"Who wrote these notes? Would he still be alive?", Hoseok wondered, turning the page incase it contained a name. Namjoon hummed, walking towards one of the drawers that stood in the laboratory.

"I asked myself the same thing until I started nosing around here. Look at this", he dropped a bunch of bound up papers on the desk, all written by Jin's father. Hoseok squinted his eyes at the forms until his mouth fell open, "It's the same handwriting!"

"Indeed. Jin's father seemed to be one hell of a scientist", the younger nodded, looking around the laboratory.

"There's something else I've been wondering about", Hoseok said, flapping the documents around, "Why didn't they start creating the remedy when they had the formula?" Namjoon hummed at that, having wondered that himself.

"Did they have a hidden agenda?", the older proceeded, Because that sounds like bad guy stuff".

"I'd rather not think about actual bad guys trying to stop us", the other scientist spoke, feeling something bad stir in his stomach at the thought, "It's worse enough as it is".

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

(a few days later)

The team had time to get back on their feet, especially Jungkook needed it. His body had fully restored from the shot wounds. He was currently sitting in the bathtub together with his mate, who had complained he needed a washing.

"You smell", he had said, sticking up his nose in distaste. It hadn't taken long before Jungkook joined the merman in the tub, rubbing the tail between his fingers.

Taehyung had been ecstatic since that morning. Hoseok had informed him that they had been experimenting with some things and they may have found the cure to his mutation.

Even though he absolutely loved his tail when he was in the water, he hated the thing now he was on land. He could stop being dead weight and finally move around freely.

He just had to break the news to Jungkook. He feared it wasn't going to be too pretty.

"Jungkook", he spoke, wiggling his tail between the boy's fingers, "Do you like my tail?"

"Of course I do", the boy replied in a heartbeat.

Taehyung tilted his head to the side, a smile falling on his lips, "Would you still like me if I had legs instead?"

"Don't be silly Taehyung", Jungkook smiled, patting the boy's tail, "I love you no matter what".

The merman nodded, seemingly relaxed, but his heart picked up its pace, "Then you'll have no problem with me getting legs right?",

Jungkook's face fell at that, his hands dropping from the glittering tail, "Taehyung, baby, what are you talking about?"

"I didn't mean to keep it hidden from you but I knew you wouldn't like the idea so that's why I'm telling you now", the merman began, his voice already began to falter as he caught Jungkook's look.

The werewolf didn't seem too happy with those words. "Hoseok found a cure for my tail. It comes from the same mutation the other mutants are suffering from".

The werewolf was silent for a moment. Taehyung had almost never felt his nervous and he was sure his mate could feel the nerves coursing through his body. "I hate being a dead weight Jungkook. I want to help. This tail needs to go".

"Is it safe?", was the firs thing Jungkook asked, his voice monotone, "What if something goes wrong?"

"But what if it doesn't?", Taehyung retorted, "Don't you trust Hoseok?"

The werewolf let out a growl at that, frightening his mate by the sudden sound, "Of course I do. I just don't trust some weird potion being used on you".

"This is what I want Jungkook", the merman bit back, ignoring the red rings now evident in the other's eyes, "I want to be useful for this team. I want to be of help".

Jungkook grunted, "You are of help already".

"I'm dead weight Jungkook, have been since leaving that damn ocean. I need this cure. I won't be able to live with myself for much longer like this".

"Taehyung-"

The said male furiously shook his head, "No Jungkook. This is my decision. I've been feeing guilty forever. It's been eating me away. Having you carrying me every day, rescuing me when I couldn't run away, it's been tough".

Jungkook waved his hand, almost as if the other's words didn't matter, "I don't mind-"

"No, but I do!", Taehyung yelled, angrily splashing his tail in the water, "I'll be tested on today, whether you like it or not".

Woops perhaps he snapped. Thanks for reading!