Iris may had never felt as cold as she did right now.

Her blood had almost frozen in her veins and her bones were chilled. She hugged her knees close, tucking her chin in. Her hair fell loose around her face, tousled and tangled.

She felt him walk in more than she heard him. It was as if her heart were a door left wide open to the icy wind and the latter did not wait for a written invitation to come in. Immediately she realized she may have underestimated how dark he could become. How powerful his psychological control could get and the shadow he could cast on her mind.

She moved her lips slowly, freeing them from the frost that had claimed them.

"Min Yoongi."

"Little witch."

Just like that, they exchanged looks as if they were old acquaintances. None of them questioned how come the other knew who they were. For Iris, it had been as clear as day. Her psychic abilities told her of the mysterious man before he could even venture in. Her body was sending her brain weird signals, like she was being robbed of her best senses and being replaced with a paralyzing fear.

"Your Powers... they've laid dormant for too long," Iris commented, groaning as she rested her back on the cold wall. "They seek release."

She recognized his talent wasn't among the physical. He was a magician, but the kind that could bend and sculpture with his mind. His Power was a unique but malevolent one and somehow in the back of her mind she sensed he wasn't here to use it for good.

"I've kept them in check since I got here." He said dryly.

"For what? To impress Aera and make her believe you're a changed man?"

It was a shot in the dark, but it worked. Iris knew so from the not so subtle way Yoongi's expression changed. She had no chance of ever knowing the depth of complexity of his relationship with Aera, but her unique sixth sense told her of a tale saturated with pain, misunderstanding but also fervent love.

Iris could see the turbulence bubbling beneath Yoongi's cold façade. His despair could not have been more obvious. This was the infamous Min Yoongi, the Liar, the Manipulator, the Master of Deceit? No... this before her now was someone else. Someone desperate and lonely.

"What's the point?" he grumbled. Instead of looking pissed at her for calling him out, he just seemed lost and defeated. It was like he was locked into his own head now. Seeing him like that, a man who was always in such control of himself, was spine-chilling.

Iris felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as Yoongi moved closer, sinking down to look her in the eyes.

"You couldn't do what I expected you to do," he drawled. "You couldn't even fulfill your purpose." He talked with such disdain as if she were an object turned useless to him.

"My purpose?" Iris was puzzled.

With a derisive sneer, he got back to his feet and started making slow strides around the room, locking his hands behind his back.

"I just have to know." he said more to himself than to anyone else, staring down at the floor intently.

"Know what?" Iris asked, wide azure orbs swimming with questions.

"If this is worth it."

Yoongi halted briskly, as if he'd abruptly woken up from a dream. The look in his eyes was odd, frantic even. He placed a hand on his forehead calmly, contemplating something in his mind.

Quickly, he strode over to her and sat on the ground right in front of her.

"I just need to hear the truth," he said in a voice that was barely there. "Just this once. Please."

"What truth?"

"Tell me. You know things, right? You can see them. You already know what I want to ask you."

Iris's face creased with profound sadness. All she could see before her was a deceiving hollow soul, holding a thousand pieces of glass wedged in between his heart and body.

"I... I can't."

"Why?" he whispered, eyes glistening with sorrow.

"I just can't."

"Why, goddammit!" Yoongi boomed, grabbing her by the shoulders. His desperate eyes stared into her soul as if searching for a glimmer of hope.

"It's too invasive!" Iris said softly, her heart struggling to keep a steady beat.

"Just tell me," he begged, his desperation hung over him like a black cloud. "Or I'm going to get it out of you." his stare turned rigid but still held a telling vulnerability.

Iris made a deliberate pause, her teeth sinking in her lower lip as she debated inwardly.

"I'm sorry." She said finally, hoping he would understand.

Slowly Yoongi's hold on her shoulders grew weaker, his arms falling to his sides limply. Right now he was a ghost of his past self, empty eyes staring into nothingness.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated, fighting back sobs.

Her god-given trait of always having faith in people prevented her from hating him. Truth be told, there was no way she could hate him right now, not when she was seeing him like this, so raw and real. She felt for him and perhaps even pitied him a little.

"I'm sorry. She will always love him..."

Iris's words lingered in the air like a deafening echo. Yoongi's heartache was like a blood-thirsty wolf eating at his chest. It left him listless and empty. It was like he already knew it but he hoped for a different answer.

Iris immediately regretted her words, but there was no way her intuition would be lying to her. Jimin and Aera's bond was eternal and unbreakable; she had learnt this the hard way. This much she knew. Where was the point in lying to Yoongi when he was going to get it out of her anyway?

Her timid gaze drifted back to him. His shoulders sank and he had the expression of a man beyond salvation. Like something had changed inside of him and there was no going back now.

Perhaps she could help him. Lord knew she could recognize the pain of unrequited love when she saw it, she knew it could make a person do terrible things. Perhaps if she reached far enough...

"I'm sorry it has to be this way," She said sympathetically. "This doesn't mean what the two of you had meant nothing-"

"Had."

"Huh?" she gulped.

"Don't say 'had'. Don't use past tense. We can still have it."

"Have what?" Iris asked.

"Our happy ending." Yoongi's lips spread in a mad grin.

She felt cold chills run down her spine. "Whatever you've come up with, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "I don't do good. I betray people, I hurt them, I manipulate and trick them, I bargain with the devil. Doing the right thing is not a privilege of mine."

Mustering all of her willpower, Iris pushed herself up and stood on her thin frail legs, swaying lightly. Her skin clung to her bones, pale and sickly.

"It's not your fault." She uttered quietly.

"What?"

"It's not your fault." she repeated with more conviction than before.

"I know," he glowered.

"It's not your fault she walked away. She didn't have any choice." She went on, shortening the distance between them and pressing her tiny palm on his chest.

Jaw tightened, Yoongi gave her an odd look.

"It's not your fault. She was looking for a way out. She couldn't take it anymore."

"What are you talking about?" pure terror spread across his face.

"It's not your fault she wanted to forget about you. It's not your fault she moved away to create a new, better life for herself. With a new family."

"Don't bullshit me!" his hostile glare cut but the words came out of his mouth quiet, almost emotionless.

"It's not your fault she abandoned you. She was doing the best she could. It's not your fault she never called. It's not your fault she forgot you existed. It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

Iris kept mumbling relentlessly, her palm still lingering on his chest.

The image of a little boy resurfaced, cheeks flushing red and red eyes brimmed with tears, lonely and starving for warmth as he walked in on his mother erratically packing a back overnight.

"Mom? Mommy?"

"Shht, Yoongi. Stay quiet. Please. Mommy will be back for you. I promise."

His eyes cast upon the purple bruises painting her arms. Her white knuckles wrapped around a bag and her eyes fearful and anxious.

"Where are you going, mommy?"

"Mommy is going to leave the house for a while. But she'll be back, I promise you," the woman whispered, beautiful almond eyes darting around in fear at the thought of some invisible threat.

"Are you going away because of daddy?"

"No, no, no, my boy," she choked back on the sobs. "No, it's not because of that. My perfect little boy. Just don't cry, okay? Promise mommy you're going to be a good boy and not cry."

"Okay, mommy. I will never cry again."

"Good boy. Now remember, Yoongi. Mommy loves you. You are so loved." she crooned in a heartfelt tone as if she was saying goodbye. Guilt was evident in her eyes as she glanced down at the bag full of clothes and pills.

"But you'll be back, right?"

"Of course. Mommy would never leave you behind. Come on now, give mommy a kiss. I love you, Yoongi. I love you..."

... "Mommy, are you there?"

The harrowing memory faded as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Yoongi devastated.

"You still haven't forgiven her. And you still haven't forgiven yourself for hating her. You have to, or you'll never find peace. You'll never be enough. You were just a boy..."

"No," he breathed, recoiling away. "No, no, no... No, don't fuck with me! Don't fuck with my mind!"

"I'm sorry all of this happened to you. I'm truly sorry, Yoongi!"

"You don't know shit. This time it's going to be me. She's going to choose me."

"Don't go there," Iris begged solemnly. "I'm sorry... about Aera."

"Our love will never die," Yoongi's eyes bulged as he murmured with determination. It was as if someone had flicked a switch deep inside of him. "I'm going to show it to her. I will make her see it. By the end of it all, she'll love me again."

"Don't succumb to this!" Iris whispered in a warning voice. She knew dark forces when she saw them and the heart of this man before her now was claimed by the darkest ones she'd ever seen.

"Don't you see, little witch?" he snapped with fierceness he had never exhibited before. "If I don't' have her then I have nothing. There's no point in living, you see? I have to do this. I have to show her what he's become or else she'll never see it. She has to know that there's nothing good left in him... nothing human, nothing kind."

"This is pointless!"

"Mayhem shall follow if she chooses him. Many will die. Do you want innocents to die, little witch?"

"N-No..."

"Then you'll help me," Yoongi leaned forward, a chaotic cluster of emotions flashing across his face before disappearing completely.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked in a trembling voice. All of a sudden her mind was captured by a thick fog, preventing her from thinking clearly. There was a thought that was evading her... It was important, but whenever she came close to grasping her, it disappeared again.

"You know a secret no one else in Abaddon does, little witch. What is it?"

"What are you talking about?" she shot him a quizzical look as he inched closer, his face hovering dangerously close over hers.

"What. Is. It." He reiterated, his pupils dilated and slightly twitching. Iris was overcome with the urge to bend down to his will unconditionally and answer his every question.

"Meisa is pregnant." She blurted out, immediately hating herself for it.

His eyes narrowed slyly, resembling those of a feline.

"How interesting," he slightly pursed his lips, intrigue dancing in his orbs. "I wonder how this might come in handy."

"Please," Iris was stupefied, rooted to the spot. She wanted to run, but she couldn't move. The tears started streaming down her face. "Please, don't hurt her or the baby."

"Oh, I don't intend to hurt anyone, little witch," Yoongi smirked, lazily removing a tangled strand of her ashen hair from her sweaty forehead. Iris shook like a leaf, pinned down under his claws. "But you do."

"I do?" she echoed sheepishly.

"I have a new plan for you, little witch," he stroked her wet cheek with the back of his fingers. His tongue poked out to sweep across his lower lip hungrily. The animal inside of him raised its ugly face, thirsty for destruction. "From now on, you're going to do as I say."

His face contorted into an ear-splitting grin, the most haunting expression Iris had ever seen on anyone. She became entranced in his midnight orbs, hypnotized by the allure they exuded. In a second, she started feeling a little bit out of it, as if someone had injected her with a sedative.

Yoongi's dormant Powers unleashed, silently commanding her to follow his abominable orders.

"I want you to make sure Meisa and that baby do not survive their trip to Abaddon."

a/n:

psst. Yoongles has gone a lil bit mad, y'all