Chapter Text
“Yixing? Our Yixing?” Minseok frowned at Jean across the table in the galley, clearly confused.
“Yes, ou- your Yixing,” Jean sighed. Some variation of this question had punctuated every sentence she spoke as she told them about what happened on Fortuna. A day and a half behind them now, Jean assumed it was probably safe to tell them. She passed her datapad across the table to Minseok, open on the drawing Yixing had done. Jean had looked at it for hours after he left, but she couldn’t work out what it could be. That is, until she was helping Kyungsoo set up for dinner and caught a glimpse of his forearm when he rolled up his sleeve to wash vegetables. There, too small to be actually decorative but large enough to see clearly, was a tattoo. The tattoo seemed to be some kind of bird, but it was in the same geometric style as Yixing’s unicorn.
“What is that symbol?” she asked Minseok now. The others crowded in to look over Minseok’s shoulder.
“His sign,” Jongin muttered, and Kyungsoo nudged him gently. Jongin looked up in confusion, saw Jean, and reddened slightly. Jean felt a stab of irritation; she was being shut out again. Baekhyun walked back into the galley.
“Yixing’s in the transponder room now,” he motioned over his shoulder. The crew started to file out. Jean didn’t move; this was probably one of those things that was crew only. Baekhyun was the last to leave and gave her a tight smile before he left her alone.
They were shocked, she could tell. There was more than a little hurt in their expressions too, but whether it was directed at her or Yixing or both, she couldn’t tell. She had kept her word to him, but she hated lying to the crew. When she had found them again on Fortuna after Yixing left, when they had asked her if she had seen anything interesting, she had just talked about the markets. Would they ever trust her now? Could they, after she had lied to them about meeting Yixing - their friend? Chanyeol’s eyes had been huge, Sehun had gaped at her in disbelief, Jongin-
Jean shook herself. It didn’t matter if they trusted her or not. She wouldn’t allow herself to feel bad about this. She was leaving soon, and then it would be like she was never here. They could keep all their secrets, too.
For two days, she had been looking for more signs of what she had witnessed before. The strange powers they all seemed to have, like Yixing’s ability to calm her down. The only thing of note to her had been finding Jongin already in the galley when she arrived this evening, though she had heard him singing to himself when she left the med bay and he hadn’t passed her on the stairs. That was it, though… the uncanniness of the whole thing. That was what unsettled her. Nobody else seemed to notice these small things, or be surprised by them. She had started keeping a little list on her datapad and then deleted it, because whatever the reason for their secrecy and whatever the reason for Yixing avoiding them on Fortuna, one thing was for sure: they were running from something. And so was she. She was starting to think that maybe they were both running from the same enemy, and if Red Force captured her, they would find the datapad and see who she had been with. Because she also had a theory now. It was a wild theory, based on nothing more than half-remembered whispers and stories of locked rooms back on the station. It wasn’t a hopeful theory, and if she was right… well, she was better off leaving this ship as soon as possible.
A tap on the door made her look up. It was Baekhyun, back again.
“Yixing wants to say hello,” he said, and gave her a little smile that gave her some confidence. Whatever Yixing had told them, that smile gave her hope that he had confirmed her story and maybe it had given them some peace of mind. She followed Baekhyun to the transponder room. They were all arrayed about the edges, with Yixing in the centre. Now that she had met him in person, she felt like the projection of him didn’t do him justice at all. He smiled broadly when he saw her but kept talking. Everybody else was listening to him.
“-when it fires. A reflective tool works on it, the same as the lasers from the sentries, so if you can find something that absorbs energy then we could project it back-”
“Yixing, that’s enough. You can transmit your report later,” Minseok said, catching sight of Jean in the doorway.
“She was with me at the market, she saw the Sentinel too,” Yixing said, a tinge of impatience in his voice. But he stopped talking anyway. Jean felt instantly awkward again and something in her snapped. Some small, fragile piece of the ego she had started to build since she left the station. She was sick of this.
“I’ve never asked to be part of whatever it is you’re doing or… are,” she said bluntly. “I don’t mind being cut out, but I don’t like to be talked around like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Minseok said, eyes pleading like he really was. “We just don’t want to endanger you too.”
“Endanger me?” Jean was taken aback. She had assumed that all their secrecy was about keeping themselves safe from her. “You-” she remembered her theory and took in the room. She counted seven of them, including Yixing. That wasn’t right. Her theory must be wrong. Chanyeol stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we won’t put you in danger,” he reassured her, mistaking her confusion for fear. “We- none of us want you to get hurt, and we know you’ve got your own reasons for wanting to stay away from Red Force.” The others nodded around her. None of them looked angry. Would they be angry if they knew what she suspected? Or frightened? Which was worse? She didn’t know. She looked at Yixing, at his open, hopeful expression. At the way he was smiling at her like seeing her had made his day. She had to be honest with herself; seeing him had kind of made hers.
But what if she was right? Would they be as concerned for her safety if they knew that she knew who they were? Could she tell them what she suspected that they were seven of the Powers?
That she knew their capture and destruction was Red Force sole focus? That they were who Red Force had been hunting for all her life, and that she had once been part of that hunt, though she had never really thought about who the Powers actually were. And if they were the Powers, if she was right… did she tell them about the Paradise Project?
Jean made a decision and damn the consequences. She was sick of the secrets.
“I don’t want to know what’s going on,” she said, meaningfully, to the room at large. Whatever it is that you- are involved with, just please leave me out of it.”