"Thank you," Namjoon spoke formally, his phone tightly clutched in his hand. "We'll be in touch."

"Well?" Jungkook asked with hopeful eyes once the taller man removed the cellphone from his ear.

"He's been spotted two days ago in a small town at a six-hour drive away from here." Namjoon informed.

"Two days ago," Jin mumbled worriedly. "Would he still be around when we get there?"

"Who knows," Namjoon sighed, pinching the root of his nose. He swiveled on his chair. With his hair washed and done and his frame clad in clean form-fitting clothes he had finally gone back to his usual sharp look. "I mean, we have to at least try and go there, right?"

"Even if he's left, he can't have gotten far," Jungkook supposed, looking at the map on his phone. "This isn't a very densely populated area, so there aren't a lot of other towns nearby. And I doubt that he'd try and flee the country, at least not yet."

"Okay then," Namjoon decided firmly, assuming a serious air reminiscent of the times when they'd gather in the security room office at the hotel and try and figure things out. "I think a couple of hours are enough for us to pack up some things and go. Jungkook, you go and pick up Meisa, and me and Jin will be waiting for you at the town exit."

"Roger that." Jungkook nodded curtly.

He groaned, placing a hand over his head. Judging by the way he had left things with Meisa earlier that day, he doubted he'd be received with a warm welcome back home.

He took his jacket and went outside to his car, mentally bracing himself for what was waiting for him at home.

She's going to kill me.

The drive back home went by in a blur as his mind was taking turns being terrorized by thoughts of his lovely girlfriend and his dear best friend. Jungkook pulled over in the driveway of the newly bought house he and Meisa had just moved in, and fled his seat behind the wheel at neck-breaking speed. He ran up the porch and yanked the door open, his heart in his feet.

What he was met with sent him reeling back from shock. His jaw dropped as his eyes rounded in two perfect circles. His gaze wandered his surroundings, taking in the most horrible pink hue that covered every inch of the walls and the floor.

Jungkook was appalled. It was like walking straight into the vagina of a Disney princess.

Instantly, he flew straight into the living room, only to see a rather smug Meisa sitting on the couch, arms folded over her chest and one leg over the other. Her mint green hair was tied in a loose ponytail and there were smudges of pink paint on her denim overalls.

"I hope you don't mind me painting the entire house in pink," she said sardonically. "I know how you said you'd hate it, but I really think it looks cute."

Relief washed over Jungkook so overwhelmingly that his knees grew weak. Instead of getting angry, he literally ran up to her and took her in his arms, easily lifting her up from the couch.

"I'm so glad you're here." He admitted breathlessly, nuzzling his face in her neck.

Taken aback, it took her a couple seconds to regain her senses. Obviously she hadn't expected this reaction from him, but there was not a single part of Jungkook that could ever get angry at her.

"Of course I'd be here," she cooed, wrapping her arms around him. "I'd never leave."

Jungkook pulled away, cupping her cheeks lovingly.

"I'm sorry I was such an asshole this morning."

"Already forgotten," she said with a simper. "To be fair, I think I went a little bit overboard in trying to get it back at you." she glanced at the pink walls innocently.

"You really got me there," he grinned. "But I don't really care for the color of the walls if I get to share a home with you."

Meisa chuckled softly before bringing her lips to his. Jungkook stroked her cheek gently before drawing back and giving her a serious look.

"I'd want nothing more for us than to continue this, but I'm gonna need you to get your cute ass upstairs and pack some bags for a quick unplanned trip."

"Where are we going?" Meisa gasped.

"We're getting Jimin back home."

***

Lazily, Jimin leaned back on the bare outside wall of the small shop. Iris had gone in a minute ago to grab some ingredients she claimed were necessary for performing a locating spell.

He brought another cigarette to his lips and lit it up, inhaling promptly. His chest pushed out the smoke in a slow deliberate burst. Jimin sank back in his thoughts as he observed the wafts of smoke floating upwards with each puff, twisting and distorting in random shapes.

He smirked humorlessly, taking notice of the irony. Aera's occasional smoking and drinking, her vices that he disapproved the most of, had become his own. He'd sulk over her destroying her health, but right now he was doing the exact same thing, like a fucking hypocrite.

Busy with his brooding, he couldn't notice the argument taking place inside of the shop before it moved outside. The shop's door was yanked open, revealing an agitated Iris who was having a rather heated conversation with some man.

"Leave me the hell alone!" she yelped, her cheeks flushed and eyes fearful.

"Told you I'mma kill you next time I see you around!" the man, who was easily two times Iris's size, yelled. He had his hand wrapped around her tiny wrist, jerking her harshly.

"Get away from me!" Iris whimpered, struggling to free herself from his grip.

"Fucking freak!" he was shouting, face contorted in a monstrous grimace, saliva spitting out of his mouth. "Why don't you just die!" the harsh words along with his relentless yelling made Iris flinch and hide her face helplessly.

While sizing the abuser up, Jimin took in his red hair and freckled boyish face that right now was cloaked by seething rage. Time had seemingly slowed down to a crawl as he watched the scene unraveling before him.

Violent scenes hardly managed to bring a wince on Jimin's face. But something about Iris in this situation reminded him of Aera and that time he'd walked in on her half-brother attacking her, the bastard's fingers tightened around her throat.

It activated a primitive mechanism in his brain and his subconscious mind identified the dainty blonde with the woman he infinitely loved. He pictured how she must have fought for her life while battling Jiah, the way she'd hiss and moan from the pain caused to her fragile body.

Reality shifted. The images swirled before him and there she was, Aera herself, being assaulted by some random scumbag. He blinked and refocused, not believing his eyes. It was her, standing a couple of feet before him, whimpering helplessly while this random red-haired dipshit assaulted her. His gut wrenched in horror. He had to save her, he had to keep Aera safe...

"Get your dirty hands off of her!" Jimin growled, lunging forward and stepping in front of the girl's form. He shoved the intruder away roughly. There was no need for Jimin to use his Powers on him, he was easily much more built and stronger.

"What the hell, dude?!" the man was sent toppling backwards, arms flailing to grab onto something in order to keep his balance.

"Stay the hell away from her!" Jimin barked, his all-consuming wrath surging deep inside.

"You have any idea what she is?" the man gave an evil sneer. "She's a fucking freak. She's deranged. Why are you defending her?"

That particular word along with the scorn entangled in his voice reminded Jimin of Aera's half-brother, and soon enough Hyukjae's face appeared before him. There he was, with his arrogant and wicked grin, laughing at him.

Jimin wanted to tell him that he had no right to talk about Aera that way. No one had the right to talk that way about her. However, his fist was faster to fly straight into Hyukjae's jaw, colliding with it. His body operated out of his control as he shot forward, not waiting for his adversary to land his own blow. Hyukjae staggered backwards, dropping to the ground, and Jimin wasted no time in straddling him and landing another fist on his face.

Everything around him became an unimportant blur as he kept on mercilessly throwing punches in his blind rage. All he could see was blood, an awful lot of blood. It was on the ground, on his fist, on Hyukjae's face and on his t-shirt. Everywhere. He kept on hitting and hitting desperately until tears started to stream from his own eyes.

"Jimin! Jimin, stop!" someone screeched from behind him and he slowed down his movements. A small hand gripped at his upper-arm, yanking him backwards feebly. Still in the clutches of his fury, he shoved it away. A pained cry coming from his side finally snapped him out of it and he averted his gaze.

Slowly, he recognized Iris who was watching him with shocked eyes, scrambling on the ground. He had shoved her, causing her to stumble backwards. She looked traumatized, completely dumbfounded and startled.

Jimin glanced down at his own hands that were covered in blood. Then his gaze traveled down to the person glued underneath him. Barely conscious, the red-haired man was hissing and groaning miserably.

"S-stop... stop hurting him." Iris pled with tears in her eyes. Stunned, Jimin whipped around to look for Aera who he had been sure was around there somewhere. And Hyukjae, he was there too... abusing her... Jimin had to help her...

There was no one around him except for the terrified Iris and the groaning man lying in Jimin's feet.

Realizing he had fallen victim to the illusions of his mind, his face twisted in dismay. He pushed himself up, completely horrified by his own actions. His legs weak, he stumbled backwards.

"We have to go," Iris suddenly said, tugging at Jimin's sleeve. "Before the cops get here."

***

"Take this." Iris extended her henna covered hand, handing Jimin a small box of band aids, purchased from the pharmacy they were standing in front of.

They had ended up having to flee the motel room in a hurry.

"I don't need that." Jimin muttered. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans and hissed. The punches he had thrown at that man earlier that day had left his own knuckles bruised and bloody.

"But I insist!" Iris scowled stubbornly. "It's the least I could do to make it up to you for coming to my rescue. Thank you, by the way." Her baby blue eyes softened, glistening with sincerity.

"Don't worry about it." Jimin shrugged, putting another cigarette in his mouth.

Iris eyed him suspiciously. She put the band aids in the pocket of her backpack and her eyes directed back at him. She was studying him, obviously trying to make out something about him, and she wasn't being very subtle about it.

"You're staring." Jimin mumbled.

"I..." she was clearly about to say something but stopped herself. "You seem to have a lot of anger built up inside."

"What a spectacular observation." he taunted.

Behind this mask of mockery, Jimin was freaking out. Apparently he had finally hit rock bottom. He knew this day would come when his mind would finally flip and start playing tricks on him. He could have sworn that it had been Aera back there in front of the shop. It was still so vivid in his mind. It made him shudder.

"Anyway, who the fuck was that guy?" he said, trying to drive the conversation away from himself and the fact that he almost broke someone's face.

"Just this asshole from my high school." Iris said, opening a can of Pringles, and brought one to her mouth.

"But why was he treating you like this?" Jimin questioned.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I used to get bullied a lot. Almost everyone from school treated me that way. It got so bad that at some point I ran away from home."

"Oh." Jimin said.

"But he, specifically, has a particular reason to hate me," she confessed, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "At some point he started dating the only friend I had from class. She was head over heels with him, and he was with her because he only wanted her for sex. I instantly picked up on that, but she wouldn't listen to my warnings."

"Hm." Jimin hummed, not really interested in the whole high school drama.

"So she told me she was planning on losing her virginity to him on prom night. I wasn't happy about it, but ultimately I couldn't tell her what to do. Meanwhile I overheard him talking to his friends that he had planted a camera in the hotel room they had gotten for later that night and was going to record everything. I tried to tell her, but she didn't believe me. So... I may or may not have cast a softie spell on him." She sang innocently. "I think somehow he always suspected it was me, but could never prove it."

"A softie spell?" Jimin knit his brows together in confusion.

"A softie spell," Iris nodded. "You know, when you can't..." she raised her eyebrows and glanced down to his crotch suggestively.

"Jesus Christ." Jimin cringed.

"When a guy can't get it up." she clarified bluntly.

"I got it, I got it!" he groaned.

"You know how it is." Iris wiggled her eyebrows.

"Yes... um, no," his speech slowed down and he frowned deeply once he realized what he had just said. "No, actually I do not know."

"You don't?" she gasped, mouth curling into a smile. "I read somewhere it's happened to every guy at least once."

"Not to me," he blurted. "Actually I'd prefer if we don't talk about this."

"I hear it's normal," Iris continued talking shamelessly, loud crunching noises coming from her half-open mouth. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

"I wouldn't know." Jimin grunted, averting his gaze to the ground.

"Is sex talk making you uncomfortable?" Iris giggled sheepishly.

"No, you're making me uncomfortable," he glared at her. "Finish your fucking Pringles so that we can finally go."

"Yes, sir!" she saluted mockingly and waddled after him as he started walking up to his Harley. "Oh, and Jimin... I'm sorry I assumed you couldn't get it up."

Author's note:
Uh-oh, is Jiminie losing his mind? 🥺