"The lady at the reception desk said that Jimin checked out of his room early yesterday morning." Namjoon announced as he strode towards his friends, the gravel clinking underneath his feet. "She informed me that he seemed like he was in a hurry."

"Okay, okay," Jungkook nodded his head rapidly, processing the information. "So he can't have gotten far. He still needs to spend the night somewhere. How many motels exactly are there in the area?"

"There's something else," Namjoon pressed his lips into a thin line. "It appears that he wasn't alone. There was a girl with him."

"A girl?" Meisa shrieked in astonishment.

"A girl?!" Jin's jaw rolled somewhere on the ground.

"A girl!" Jungkook yelled out.

"A girl." Namjoon confirmed curtly.

"A girl as in... a person of the female gender?" Jungkook could not believe his ears.

"I'm fairly certain that's what 'girl' means." Namjoon frowned.

"How could he!" Meisa was outraged. "After everything that happened with Aera!"

"I'm sure there must be some kind of a misunderstanding." Jin tried to pacify her.

"Sure thing!" she fumed. "What else would Jimin be doing with a girl at a dingy motel, huh? I doubt he called her to his room to play Scrabbles with her!"

"Maybe- maybe it was a boy!" Jin started frantically skimming through any possible scenario. "With, like, really long hair."

"Maybe it was a one-night stand." Namjoon suggested, scrunching his nose disapprovingly.

"This is so not like Jimin," Jungkook mumbled. His heart dropped to his feet. "He's never engaged in promiscuity."

"But people change," Namjoon reminded. "And he went through a really traumatizing life-altering experience."

"Let's not judge him without knowing anything for sure." Jin proposed, always the most understanding one.

"I agree," Jungkook sighed deeply. "Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for everything. Maybe he was helping that girl out, or maybe the lady at the reception is mistaken."

"She was pretty old." Namjoon stated.

"Let's give Jimin a chance to explain once we find him." Jin concluded.

"He'd better have a really good excuse," Meisa threatened. "Otherwise I'm petrifying the hell out of his sorry ass. And he'll never ever be able to get it up again."

"She's scary." Jin whispered to Jungkook very quietly once they started walking back to the car.

"You have no idea."

***

"It's a pretty basic spell," Iris kept on rambling and rambling, her voice like white noise to Jimin's ears. She talked a lot. It somehow seemed to him that by talking so much she was trying to assure herself that she actually got it. "Most witches know it perfectly. My grandmother would use it when she'd lose her glasses. It happened rather often."

Jimin was disinterested. "Great."

"Usually it would be best if we had the person's blood," Iris's teeth tugged at her lower lip. "But it's come to my understanding that's hardly possible."

"Correct."

"We're going to use a candle." Iris put the bag of groceries on the table of the motel room.

They had established that it would be best if they flee the town for now, so they traveled a couple hours north to another, just as seedy motel.

Iris had warned Jimin that the guy he had beaten up at the shop would most likely come after them; apparently he was a pretty scary guy around there.

Jimin didn't really mind, he could use a good fight; at the very least it would be entertaining for him. Violence seemed to be the only thrill there was in his life right now. Yet, for whatever reason, he did not want to cause problems for Iris.

"And some salt," the blonde continued unpacking, placing a bag of salt on the table. "And this," she reached underneath her shirt and slid out what seemed to be a pendant. Something small and blue shimmered on it. "Every witch has a precious gem that multiplies her power. Mine is blue tourmaline." She explained as she held the stone next to her face. The color resembled significantly the electric blue hue of her large eyes.

"I see." Jimin mumbled. As a matter of fact, he didn't really care about precious gems and all that shit, he just wanted her to perform the fucking spell so that they could be done with it before another hallucination could set in.

And so that he could have any kind of information whether Aera was still somewhere out there.

Soundlessly, Jimin installed himself on the flimsy couch and observed as Iris drew a perfect circle on the ground and covered it with salt. With a lot of attention to detail, she put four candles at 12h, 15h, 18h and 21h o'clock respectively, and lit them with Jimin's lighter.

He did not make any more sounds as Iris read something very attentively in a book she had brought with her. He didn't want to disturb the process. Once she was done, she tossed the book aside, and took Aera's shirt he had given her out of her backpack. She placed it neatly in her lap, and finally her eyes flickered back to him.

Without a word, she made a sign for him to come closer. Perplexed, he did as she asked to, and knelt down on the ground.

Iris placed a sheet of paper on the floor. She rummaged through her stuff some more and pulled out a small pocket knife. With a pained hiss, she cut her hand with it, and squeezed, prompting a few drops to fall down on the paper. Then she handed the knife over to Jimin.

He stared at her questioningly.

"You need to do the same," she explained patiently. "Your emotional connection to her is what still binds her to this world, so the spell would be even more powerful if it involved your blood, too."

Jimin offered her a grave nod, drawing a deep intake of breath before gliding the blade over his palm. The blood started flowing out immediately, and he hurried to place his hand over the paper.

"Now," Iris released a shuddering breath. "I'm going to hold this over the flame of the candle. It's supposed to turn into ashes and they're supposed to migrate on the map, showing us where's the nearest open portal to Abaddon, if she really is there."

"She is." Jimin uttered.

"Okay." Iris exhaled, readying herself to initiate the spell.

She splayed the map on the floor before her, and put one of the candles in the middle of it. Jimin held his breath behind pursed lips as he observed intently her every movement. Iris took the sheet of paper and placed it over the candle.

It caught fire instantly and she closed her eyes, lips moving almost imperceptibly as she started chanting some unknown words. In a matter of seconds the paper turned to ashes and they floated down towards the map. Iris carried on chanting, her eyes squeezed shut and a small frown formed on her forehead.

"Did it work?" she murmured softly, eyelids fluttering slowly, and glanced down. The ashes hadn't moved an inch. "Wait, uh-" she stammered, whipping around to grab her book again. "What am I doing wrong? Okay, let's try again."

Jimin remained silent against the disappointment surging deep within him. They did the whole thing all over again. And all over again, nothing happened.

Iris was underwhelmed. "I swear I'm doing everything the way I'm supposed to." Her eyes darted to him, pleading for him to believe her words. "Maybe if we tried again, third time's the charm-"

"No." Jimin cut her off.

Iris had said that the plan would work if Aera was still stuck in Abaddon. If the witch was doing everything right like she said she was, then that meant...

Aera could not be brought back.

"I'll think of another way," Iris set free a small whimper. "I promise, I'll do it... there has to be other spells, other ways to communicate with her somehow..." she talked and talked, the powerlessness in her words chipping away at Jimin's last layers of hope.

"No you won't." he firmed coldly.

"Jimin, wait-"

"It's useless."

The words hit him harder than he thought now that he said them aloud. The thought weakened him. It made him want to scream, want to cry and break things. The urge was stronger than him. It brewed deep within like a storm at sea. Every atom of his being screamed in unison from the pain. He could not accept that Aera was really gone. He couldn't. He was hanging by a thread, and now this thread was too thin to take the weight of his agony.

He stood up and started pacing through the room. Iris scrambled on the ground, putting out the candles. She looked haunted, staring at him as if he was a ticking time bomb.

"Calm down, we'll think of something else." She tried to reason with him.

Sympathy was evident in her eyes, but it was not what Jimin needed. It was destruction, a way to let it all out. Because he could not take any more of the pain, nothing made it go away. The whole world had vanished for him and he was terrified that he'd slip up in one of his dark episodes again.

"You need to go." He grumbled, putting his head between his hands. He didn't know how much longer he could keep it together.

"And leave you alone like that?" Iris gasped. "No I won't."

"Leave!" his voice broke with despair, his fingers raking through his blond locks. Iris surveyed him in confused horror. Falling under her scrutiny upset him even more. He scurried towards the bathroom, but she flew forward after him, not giving him any time to close the door.

"I won't leave when you so clearly need a friend!" she mumbled from behind his back, azure blue hues swimming with unfeigned sadness.

Jimin exhaled heavily, falling down before grabbing on the sides of the sink. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, realizing his eyes had started forming tears without him even noticing.

"You're not my friend!" Jimin shouted, making Iris jolt from the sudden mood change. His face twisted in anger. He wanted to keep it together but he was losing it. How wasn't she already terrified of him? Why wasn't she running away?

"Talk to me," she pled in a small voice. "Tell me about her."

The memories hit him again out of nowhere, and Jimin could feel himself losing his mind. It was unraveling like threads of every happy memory he ever had of Aera. His hands were unsteady as they clawed at the sink. In his torment, he saw nothing. He could almost swear he could hear her voice...

"I love you, Jimin. I love you more than anything."

He opened his mouth, but not a sound came through. All of his atoms were screaming from the pain. Even death would be better than this...

"You've been with me throughout the worst moments of my life. You showed me that love doesn't necessarily bring pain along, and I love you for it."

Her voice rang in his ears again. The sorrow reopened every wound. His chest rising and falling unevenly as he gasped for air. His fingers coiled into fists and he grunted, slamming them straight into the wall, the tiles cracking underneath his mighty blow.

Iris let out a muffled shriek, her hands pressing over her mouth to stifle her screaming. Jimin stared down at his hands, the same hands that were covered in blood yesterday were now bruised again. The same hands that once held Aera's, he wished he could just erase the sensation of her touch against his skin.

He turned the water on, wiping the blood away roughly and creating more painful sensations over as he brushed over the open wounds. He jolted when he felt a tiny hand rest on his shoulder.

"Go away." He growled, wiping his hands off with the towel.

"No." Iris was bemused but still rooted to her spot right behind him.

Jimin sneered, a glimmer of spite scintillating in his amber orbs.

"Fucking leave, don't you hear me? Are you stupid?" he spat out. "You're not wanted here. All I wanted was to use you and your powers for my own personal gains. Turns out you're totally useless to me. Seems like I'm gonna have to move on and find another disturbed freak like you to help me."

Her chin quivered, but he was unmoved. Just like that, the sharp thorns reclaimed his heart again.

"I know the pain is very strong," she whispered, struggling not to burst into tears from the harshness of his words. "I get it, I do. I lost someone I loved, too. Talking makes it easier, I promise-"

"I don't need your fucking promises!" Jimin hissed. "And stop fucking touching me!" he shoved her away shamelessly. "No one can touch me except for her. She's gone, and she can never ever be replaced. Not by anyone, especially not by you! I don't need your fucking pity! Go away!"

Iris gasped. Her expression dropped. Tears filled her electric blue orbs and she let out a small hiccup. Jimin took a step towards her, towering over her small frame in an attempt to chase her away.

She whimpered, her whole form shaking with the sobs that fled her one after the other. Then she spun on her heels, grabbing her backpack from the ground, and dashed out through the door and into the night.

author's note:
I'm sad for Iris 🥺