"Is this a kidnapping?" Iris whispered once Jimin slammed the door after them and closed the dusty blinds. "Because it awfully seems like it's a kidnapping."

"Keep your voice down." He scolded. "And I don't advise you on screaming, there's no one in a one-mile radius and it would only make me mad. Understood?"

Iris gave a dry swallow. The color completely disappeared from her small face, if it weren't pale enough as it already was.

"Can you not speak to me so harshly for, like, one minute?" she mumbled, azure blue orbs glistening in the dimly lit motel room.

Jimin faltered for a second, rethinking his behavior. In actuality, he was probably coming across as some sort of caveman. Observing the situation from afar, he could understand why Iris would be freaked out by him, but in reality had no intention of taking her feelings into consideration.

"Sit down." He ordered, pointing with his chin to the bed.

Iris's darting eyes enlarged, a slight panic spilling across her face. A million possibilities of why this complete stranger she barely knew would drag her to a motel room were probably running through her frantic mind right now. Jimin could only imagine how terrifying most of them were.

"I'm not going to hurt you." he assured her eventually, no emotion whatsoever in his voice as she eyed him warily.

This seemed to ease her anxiousness a little bit as she released a long sigh. Taking tiny steps, she shuffled to the bed and slumped on it.

"Talk." Jimin commanded, folding his arms over his chest.

"About... what?" Iris asked cautiously in a small voice. It could not have been more obvious that she was afraid of him, but showing kindness wasn't on the list of Jimin's priorities right now.

"About this so-called guidance you mentioned before."

Iris's eyes dropped to her hands in her lap. "I'm what people would call a little bit different." She confessed. The emotional pain was audible in her voice, telling the story of a girl being rejected all her life. "A freak."

Jimin remained unmoved. "I'm not interested in listening to a sappy life story. Why did you approach me last night?"

"I found you intriguing." Iris seemed genuine as her electric blue hues flickered towards him. "I wanted to know more about you. You were pulling me in-"

"Let me get something clear from the beginning," Jimin cut her off, his stare hard and rigid. The way Iris would gaze at him with the eyes and the girlish vulnerability of a hopeless romantic deeply vexed him.

"I didn't drag you here because I fancy you. I'm not being harsh with you because I like you and don't know how to show it. This is not the beginning of a love story. If you have some delusions, you need to strip yourself of them as soon as possible. I came back to look for you simply because I want to use you." he groaned when he noticed her traumatized stare. "No, not use you in that way. For heaven's sake, not in a million years."

"Thank... you?" Iris murmured, her shoulders drooping. Suddenly she seemed even smaller than she already was.

"I think that you can help me," Jimin went on. "And you are going to help me, whether you want it or not."

"What makes you think that I can help you?" Iris's brows pulled together.

Jimin walked around the bed and marched to the window. He peeked through the blinds before spinning around and looking back at her.

"You're a witch," he declared, eyeing her intently. "Aren't you?"

Iris drew in a sharp exhale. With a trembling hand, she tucked a strand behind her ear, then she locked her fingers together in a vain attempt to cover up her shaking.

"How did you know?"

"Call it intuition." Jimin smirked apathetically.

Iris's teeth caught her lower lip as she internally processed that Jimin had figured her out. As a matter of fact, for him it had been a shot in the dark that turned out to be successful.

"Why should I help you?" Iris grumbled. "I don't even know your name, and you have been nothing but a jerk to me. You practically abducted me." It was the first time that she was addressing how rude really he had been to her.

"In my defense, you never really said that you didn't want to come," Jimin argued. "You came here on your own free will. If you had put up a fight, I would have let you go."

She glared at him, still not saying anything.

"My name is Jimin." He deliberately gave her no promises of being nicer to her. Part of him realized she didn't deserve to be treated so poorly, but that part was quickly silenced. She was no one to him, just a tool he'd use in trying to bring Aera back.

For a second, he could see it in her eyes that she was contemplating the idea. Her face slowly softened, and after ten seconds of internal debating, Iris's shoulders relaxed and she huffed.

"What do you need me for?" she simply asked.

Jimin pushed himself off the wall and took a couple of steps around the room.

"I need you to find someone for me," he explained. "Can you do that?"

Iris slowly nodded, wringing her fingers. "I mean, I guess. I... okay, full disclosure. I don't consider myself a very good witch," she cautioned. "My grandmother was a witch, my mother was one too, but I myself don't have a lot of experience with practicing magic. I think it's only fair that I warn you before we get into anything further." She admitted honestly.

"I appreciate that." Jimin said monotonously.

"With that being said, I'm going to do my best to help you, but I can't make any guarantees that I would be successful," Iris chewed on her lower lip anxiously, leaving a small bloody spot. "You need to be aware of that so that you won't want to, you know, kill me if I fail." She murmured.

"Okay." Jimin hummed.

"Tell me about this person you want me to find," Iris coaxed. "The more I know about them, the bigger the chances that I'll be able to sense their whereabouts."

"It's- a girl." Jimin got mad at his own stammering. Every memory he had of Aera flooded his tortured mind. He had to grab a hold of himself if he didn't want to burst into tears in front of Iris.

"Is it a special girl?" Iris asked quietly when he stopped talking.

"You could say so." Jimin spoke quickly, unwilling to disclose any further information about Aera. How could he say in front of a total stranger that she had been the love of his life? Probably not this life, but even the next one after that? That by being gone, it felt like there was an integral part of his heart missing as well, preventing it from functioning properly?

This was too personal.

"Hm, okay." Iris eyed him suspiciously.

"This is not for stalking purposes," Jimin clarified, aware of what was probably going through her mind. "I'm not a creep. She's missing, I need to bring her back."

"I see," Iris nodded. "I'm going to need something of her possession. Do you have something? Jewelry, a piece of clothing?"

Hastily, Jimin shot down to the small bag of necessities he had brought with him. He pulled out one of Aera's t-shirts, an oversized black v-neck she had left behind at his place. He may have been imagining things, but the piece of clothing seemed to still carry her scent. Sometimes he'd even sleep with it by his side, it managed to calm his nerves at least.

"This?" he handed it over to Iris very carefully as if it would break.

"This will do," she agreed, taking the t-shirt in her lap. "But I'm going to need more information. How exactly did she go missing?"

It was the question that Jimin dreaded the most and definitely the one he was reluctant to give an answer to. As a matter of fact, he hadn't imagined that he'd be able to find a witch so soon and hadn't planned the way he'd explain this.

"It's a long story," he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "We were attacked by a demon fox. She got caught up in a struggle. There was magic involved. She-," he gulped, realizing just now that he had never said it out loud. His gaze gravitated to the floor. "She was trying to protect her friends. The fight must have drained the life out of her because when I found her, she... she wasn't breathing."

There was a sound of sheets moving from Iris's direction. When Jimin looked up at her, it was as if he had shot her squarely at the chest. She reeled back on the bed and crawled backwards, wide boggling eyes staring at him and face frozen in utter shock. She was trembling, terrified, looking like she wanted nothing more than to disappear right this second.

"You mean to tell me... she died?"

Pausing for a bit, Jimin gave a grave nod.

"Not actually dead, but more like-"

Iris's hands shot to the side of her cheeks, her forehead breaking out in cold sweat. She was horrified and clammy, something in her reaction reminded Jimin vaguely of the man he had tortured in that abandoned house some days ago. Only this time, he actually acknowledged and even felt her panic.

"You- you can't!" Iris was appalled, her whole body shaking. "Necromancy is a very serious thing, it's Death magic! It's abominable! You can't make me do that, please, please, don't make me do it!" she cried out, face twisting with despair as she curled into a ball and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Calm down!" Jimin yelled, thrown off guard by her hysterical reaction. "She isn't dead! Listen to me, she isn't dead!"

Iris hiccupped, her body rattled by incessant sobs. She sniffed and raised her watery gaze to Jimin.

"She isn't?" she hiccupped again.

"I think so," Jimin groaned, mentally skimming through ways to soften the information. For a grown-ass adult, Iris was a real crybaby. "I have enough reasons to think that she isn't. I can sense it. She's not dead, not yet. I think that she's stuck in a place that she can't get out of."

"Place? What place?" Iris wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Have you heard of Abaddon?"

Iris's pupils dilated slightly as she refocused. She gave a hesitant nod. "Yes... Yes, I have. I've read about it in my grandmother's grimoires."

"There was an open portal to Abaddon at a close proximity from her," Jimin explained. "I think that she might have gone through it instead of actually passing away."

"Are you sure about that?" Iris sniffed again, her little pointy nose was red from the abrupt burst out.

Jimin knew what she was asking him. She wanted to know whether he wasn't in denial, not wanting to believe that Aera would actually be dead.

"Yes, of course I'm sure." he affirmed. Aera couldn't be dead. He could still feel it in his barely beating heart that she was alive. Nothing would keep them apart, not even another dimension.

Witnessing Iris's faltering, Jimin realized how the power in this situation had shifted. For now, he didn't want to hurt her, at least not yet. It was her who had the upper hand now, and as proud as he was, he'd really stop at nothing in bringing Aera back.

He'd even beg.

"Iris..." her name tumbled out of his mouth softly. "Please."

Iris's chest collapsed in a heavy anxious sigh. "I- I think I could help. But... if she really is there, that would complicate things a lot. My magic might not be strong enough to pass through dimensions and reach her. I'll try my best, though. But please, just don't make me perform necromancy."

"No necromancy, got it." Jimin firmed.

"And we'll start tomorrow," she bargained. "I'm too exhausted to do this tonight."

"Okay." Jimin was understanding. "Would you like me to give you a ride to your place or?" he asked despite his reluctance. No matter how little he cared about her, there was still some chivalry left inside of him that stopped him from letting a girl wander the streets alone at night.

There it was, the same panic that Jimin saw in Iris's eyes just some minutes ago. He caught a fleeting stiffening of her face. For a moment, she even seemed fearful.

"Can I stay here?" she swallowed hard. "I live alone and I'm feeling rather scared right now. I don't want to be on my own."

Jimin registered the tension entangled in her voice. She stared at him, pale and jaw clenched, and he wondered what exactly in that conversation made her so wildly unsettled. Was it the necromancy, or was it something else.

"Fine," he mumbled, back to his cold exterior. He motioned to the bed. "You sleep there, I'll be on the couch."

A grin spread across Iris's lips and she quickly discarded her jacket and shoes, slithering underneath the sheets.

Groaning, Jimin shuffled to the bathroom. He wasn't worried about letting Iris sleep in the same room as him, he was going to help him after all. With her childish naivety, she hardly seemed like a threat to him, and even if she attempted to do something during the night, he'd definitely catch her. He barely slept any more.

When he came back, her head was already rested on the pillow and her eyelids were fluttering closed. Once again, she reminded him of a child, so small and weak. Could she really be of any help to him? She seemed like she'd need help in even picking up her backpack.

Assuming she had nodded off, Jimin turned off the lights and slumped on the couch. He lay down, eyes fixated at the empty ceiling. If he had any luck, perhaps he'd be able to get a solid one hour of sleep tonight.

Just as his own eyes started closing, he heard her speak.

"Jimin?"

It was the first time she was calling him by his name since he had given it to her.

"Hm?"

"This girl you want me to help you find..." Iris exhaled. "Do you love her?"

Jimin shifted on the couch. Grief and sorrow crawled up in his heart as they did every single night. Something ached deep inside of him and tears embraced his eyes. This pain was unlike any other physical pain he had experienced.

He gave a small cough and turned to the side.

"Go to sleep, Iris."

author's note:

What do you guys think of Iris? Do you think she'll help Jimin?

As always, thanks for reading 💕 I hope you're enjoying the story!