"What kind of sucker do you take me for?" asked Yoongi as he looked at Namjoon. He was more irritated than he had been originally after hearing Namjoon's explanation.

"It's the truth!"

"You expect me to believe that Tae is actually this man Kim Taehyung who has been cursed into being a tiger for the last several decades, and that he is only human around my stepsister for some unknown reason."

"You just summed it up perfectly," said Namjoon as Yoongi let out a snort.

"Take me to my stepsister right now. After today, she's not coming back here."

"She's old enough to make her own decisions," argued Namjoon.

"That may be true, but you and Tae have a screw loose if you expect me to believe any of this."

Yoongi paused in reaming Namjoon out when he heard his phone ring. Moving to slip his phone out of his pocket, he saw that Gemini was calling.

"Gemini, where are..."

Yoongi paused when he heard her worried voice on the other end.

"Wait...wait, slow down...Where are you?"

Namjoon looked at Yoongi as he took the call, noticing that his features were getting more and more furrowed by the second.

"I'll be right there. Just don't move..."

Yoongi hung up, moving towards the door without looking back at Namjoon.

"What's going on?" asked Namjoon.

"Gemini just said the coffee shop she went to with Tae was robbed and that Tae turned into a tiger..."

Yoongi sighed as he looked back at Namjoon who was already moving to the door so that he was right on Yoongi's heels.

"I'm coming with you," insisted Namjoon.

Namjoon shut off the lights, flipping the 'open' sign to 'closed' as he locked up the book shop and followed a disgruntled Yoongi to his car.

- - -

Taehyung ran until he felt like he couldn't anymore. It reminded him in too many ways of what had happened when he had first been cursed. He was going to run back to the book shop initially, but was worried that - if the police were on his tail - he'd get Dal in trouble for harboring an exotic animal.

Taehyung knew he needed to find a place to lay low until he thought it was safe to sneak back to the book shop. He barely made it behind a dumpster just as his limbs decided to give out on him completely. The pain he was experiencing raced through his whole body. As he turned his head, he could see how he bore strips of brilliant maroon now that dripped off his body and onto the cold asphalt beneath him.

'I probably ended up leaving a trail,' thought Taehyung as he laid there, 'But probably by the time the police find me, I will be dead anyway.'

Even though he didn't want to entertain the thought, he had a feeling that he wouldn't make it back to the book shop. He felt like he was about to die by the dumpster like the piece of garbage he was.

'I deserve this,' he thought. 'I don't deserve to be given a second chance. Chan-mi didn't get a second chance. She is dead because of me.'

Tears glistened in his eyes as he gazed down the alley where a bright light had suddenly appeared. It was a light that rivaled the sun. Taehyung wondered if this was the first sign of death coming for him, watching as an angelic figure stepped out of the light. She was dazzlingly beautiful from head to toe; her brown hair cascading in waves about her head. Taehyung didn't know who this angelic woman was, only recognizing her when she stopped to crouch down right in front of him.

'Chan-mi?' thought Taehyung, recognizing her face.

Glittery star like dust fell from her ember yellow dress as she gave him a tight smile.

"Yes, Taehyung. It's me."

His eyes widened in surprise when he realized he could hear her thoughts. He watched as she reached out a hand to put it gently on his head. Maybe this was his chance to apologize to her before he died.

'I'm sorry for the way I treated you, Chan-mi,' thought Taehyung. 'I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but you didn't deserve to be treated that way by me or to die...'

"It wasn't your fault I died," she said as she ran a hand over the top of his head. "You were a jerk, yes, but you didn't know that truck was coming. People have a time to live and a time to die. It was my time to die."

Her lips turned into a frown as she took in his tiger form.

"What did my brother do to you?" she said softly with a tsk.

'That's not your fault,' thought Taehyung. 'You weren't the only one I was a jerk to. He was just trying to get vengeance for you and make me learn a lesson. I deserved this for the person I used to be.'

"You really have changed," she said as she brought her hand away from him.

'Are you here to take me with you?'

"It's not your time to die yet, Taehyung," she said.

'You sure about that?'

She couldn't help the small smirk on her lips that came at hearing Taehyung's thought. She moved her hand down to where one of his wounds was; stardust falling from her fingers and healing that wound before moving on to the next.

"I wish I could heal you from this curse too," she said as she withdrew her hand, "But where my brother cast it, he is the only one that can take it back."

'But Gemini...'

"She may be a means to breaking the curse, but then again, it could just be my brother playing a trick on you," she said. "The only way to truly be free of all this is to convince him that you've changed Taehyung, I'm going to ask you to take it a step further though."

'What do you mean?'

"I need you to save him from himself," she said. "When he was murdered, he gave in to all that hatred and darkness inside him. Please help him to overcome that so we can be together again."

'I will try. I owe that to you Chan-mi,' thought Taehyung.

"Thank you, Taehyung."

The light in front of him got a bit brighter for a moment as Chan-mi disappeared. As the light started to fade, he noticed Gemini at the end of the alley.

"HE'S DOWN HERE!" she yelled before rushing towards him. When she was within feet of him, he felt himself turning back into a human. He looked down at his shredded outfit, noticing that the wounds really were gone.

"Are you okay?" asked Gemini as she crouched down in front of him.

Taehyung nodded, watching as Gemini looked him over for wounds. She was having a hard time looking him in the eyes, and he couldn't blame her. He had turned into a tiger right in front of her after all.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, watching as she nodded her head.

Taehyung looked up when he heard feet running down the alley towards him. Namjoon and Yoongi were soon standing there, looking down at him.

"I thought Gemini said you'd been shot," said Namjoon, noticing the dried blood but a distinct lack of wounds.

"I was, but it's...it's a long story."

Yoongi glared down at Taehyung, crossing his arms as he watched Gemini and Namjoon help him to his feet. Thunder rumbled in the sky overhead; sirens sounding out in the distance.

"Well lets talk about this somewhere else," Yoongi said. "The cops are still searching around and there is a storm coming."

Taehyung nodded as he followed them out of the alley and to the car Yoongi had parked against the curb. Slipping into the back, Taehyung looked back out the door to see that Yoongi wanted Gemini up front, but she shook her head and got in back beside him.

"I'm sitting back here with Tae," said Gemini to Yoongi.

Taehyung gave her a weak smile as she sat beside him.

"Gemini, I'm..."

"Tae, lets just talk about it later, okay? Please don't apologize again right now."

Taehyung nodded his head as Gemini reached out to grab one of his hands in hers; Namjoon moving to sit up front in the passenger seat. As Yoongi drove them back to the book shop, the storm that had been rumbling overhead came pouring down on them. It was a storm that was just as volatile as what was about to happen next.