WARNING: this chapter contains depictions of rape/sexual assault.

╔═════ ∘◦ ✾ ◦∘ ══════╗

02
What is Home?

╚═════ ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ══════╝

JISOO

"Uh... happy birthday?"

Right, it's my fucking birthday and I'm spending it with a drug dealer who broke into my house and is trying to get me to believe weird shit.

"Get. Out." I gather courage after listening to him talk for so long. I can't believe I actually almost believed him.

"Jisoo, you have a mission! Don't you want to be the one who gets your hands on those Bangtan leaves? You'll also be saving people from getting hurt."

"No. I have no idea what you're talking about. You're freaking high,"  I grit, marching towards him in what I hope to be an intimidating manner. "I'm going to scream if you don't leave right now."

Jin chuckles again and crosses his arms over his pink sweatshirt, "Obviously, you haven't learned yet. No one can see me. I'm kind of not real."

"You're insane!" I yell, trying to be as loud as possible.

"Scream all you want. Only holders can see me."

"Who the fuck are you, anyways?"

"Why are you getting so aggressive now? I told you, I'm Jin, your guardian. Nice to meet you and all, but we really gotta get going." He motions to me, telling me to follow him out, and I walk behind him slowly as if I'm doing that.

When we get to the door, I surprise him by rushing to open it first. I hold the door out for him to leave in a polite gesture.

He looks confused by my sudden change in demeanor.

"Oh, thanks."

The second Jin exits my apartment, I slam the door shut, making sure that I lock it right after.

Is he gone?

Silence passes.

"Finally," I breathe out, tension lifting from my shoulders.

I let the kitten down from my grasp and set her on the floor—at least I think it's a she. She purrs as she rubs her face against my legs, and I chuckle in response before I make my way to the couch to relax my nerves.

Jin is finally gone.

"You really thought you could get rid of me?" His voice makes me jump up and I turn to see that he's phased through the door. I might pass out.

"Y-you... what are you—how—I...?"

"Jisoo," he states, expression darkening with seriousness, "you have to listen to me. This town is in danger. You have to cleanse the leaves."

I remain silent.

"No one else can do it but you. I don't know why, so don't complain to me. This is your responsibility."

"My what? Since when did I sign up for this? I refuse. What happens if I refuse, huh?" I get angry. Who is he to tell me what I have to do?

"Responsibility isn't always something you sign up for."

I know that already—all too well. Being forced to grow up and fend for myself and my brother at a young age was never a duty I wanted. But I had to do it.

Still though, this is different. I can't possibly save my town!

"Get out." I say again, this time with real confidence.

Jin sighs, rubbing his temples.

"Fine, I'll leave," he says, and I try to hide my evident relief, "but..."

Oh no. There's always a but.

"You have to wear that bracelet."

Huh? I look at the accessory that I had left on the kitchen table at some point.

"If you promise me to wear that bracelet wherever you go, I'll leave you alone, that is, unless you need me."

I internally scoff. Like I'll ever want to see him again.

"Deal, I'll wear it."

I probably won't.

"Good. I'll be watching you, Jisoo." With a far too charming smile, Jin phases through my door again, and I almost collapse on the floor.

I sit there for a few minutes before eyeing the bracelet.

It's reflecting the light in my kitchen in the most beautiful way possible. In certain angles, an orange-red hue highlights some parts of the chain, reminding me of autumn leaves. It's a simple design, and has a little clip that holds the two ends together. The only ornament on the bracelet is a white bead of some sort.

The bracelet is cute. I feel oddly drawn to it.

No.

I refuse.

There's no way that I'm actually going to wear it.

January 2nd

I can't believe I'm wearing the bracelet today.  I haven't been wearing it for the past few days, but for some reason I felt guilty this morning and ended up slipping it on.

I'm walking from my part time job to meet Taehyung.  Today is Monday; I texted him yesterday telling him to come to my apartment to work on the project, and he agreed.

I'm dreading it, but I'd rather get it over with as soon as possible.

He's standing at the convenience store near my complex; that's where I told him to meet me. I see that he's changed from his school outfit and instead is wearing a brown outer jacket, jeans, and a fancy black bag which I assume holds his school work. My old work jeans and button up t-shirt plains in comparison.

I don't greet him when we make eye contact, but at least I nod at him to acknowledge his existence.

"My apartment is this way," I laconically state, walking ahead of him. 

His footsteps trail behind me in an effort to catch up.

"Uh okay! So..." he struggles for something to say to fill the silence, but gives up and follows me quietly.

We walk for a bit until we reach my apartment. I unlock the door with the clattering keys and go inside, while he follows behind me murmuring: "I'm so cold."

"Okay, what should we do first?" I ask once we've settled down at my kitchen table.

"Right, we should probably start mapping each other's essays and asking questions." He pulls out a sheet of paper from a folder. "I prepared some already, so can I ask you?"

"Sure," I reply, though I'm biting my tongue on the inside of my mouth.

I hate talking about myself.  Hopefully he won't ask too many intrusive questions.

"What is home to you?" he starts, getting a pen from his backpack.

I pretend to think about it for a moment. "This apartment, I guess."

"I meant like, what does home mean to you? Yeah your apartment is your home, but why? What makes it home?"

"A place where I feel safe and spend a lot of time. So this apartment."

Taehyung nods and jots down some notes. "You spend a lot of time here?"

"Yeah."

"What do you do when you're here?"

I furrow my brows, "Study? Eat? Everything a normal person does? I don't see why that's important."

"Jisoo, I actually have to get to know you, so yes, it's important." He rolls his eyes, "Also, do you live alone? Do you do everything alone?"

His questions are starting to annoy me. I have to take a deep breath to avoid lashing out at him. Is there a problem with being alone?

"Yes. I do live alone and do everything alone. My home is myself."

Taehyung writes down some stuff again and looks around the apartment. He scans the minimal furniture, empty fridge door, and undecorated walls. Well, mostly undecorated walls. There's one picture of me and Jungkook near the couch. It's from when I was five and he was three.

"Do you have any family?"

I had a feeling this question would come up. "I have a brother but he's not living with me." The room goes silent, only filled with the sounds of him writing again.

"Parents?"

He probably noticed how I sharply inhaled at the question.

"Not talking about it." I try to not sneer at the mention of my parents. The tension in the room rises. "Are you done with your questions now?"

"Yeah, I have just one more for now." He puts his pen down and leans back in his chair while I straighten my posture in anticipation. "You say you do everything alone, but do you ever get lonely?"

Yes.

"I like being by myself," I say, and he eyes me skeptically.

"What about your brother? Why do you live alone?"

I sigh before deciding to tell him, "He's... sick." Taehyung's eyes widened but before he could press further I cut him off, "Aren't you done with questions? It's my turn."

"Hold on, I'm just curious. You're a kind of a mystery."

He doesn't need to know my life story to write this essay. I'm about to finally snap when I feel a fluffy face nuzzle my ankle.

I look down and see the little kitten from a few days ago.

I tried bringing her to the animal shelter, which is where I work, but they said that they're full.

"Hey dude, you hungry?" I reach down to scratch behind her ear, realizing that I haven't fed her today yet. "Give me a second, I need to feed her."

I get up to prepare cat food, oblivious to Taehyung's calculating gaze.

"You have a cat?"

"No, but the people at my part-time job said that they're full so I decided to take her in for a few days." I scoop some food into the bowl, and find myself smiling lightly when the kitten practically dives into the food.

"Your part-time job?"

"The animal shelter," I supply, forgetting that he doesn't know where I work.

After tending to its wounds, I realized that it was probably beaten by its owner. It saddens and angers me to see how people always take advantage of those weaker than them.

"What's the name?"

"Huh?" To my surprise, Taehyung is also smiling, and I take a moment to think about my answer, "Uh, I don't know, I've just been calling her Dude."

"That's cute," he chuckles.

I realize we're getting distracted and return to the table. "We got distracted. I'm going to ask you stuff now."

The next hour blurs by, and I feel like I've done nothing productive. Essays are already hard enough for me, and social interaction is even harder. Even though I asked a lot, I felt that nothing I wrote down could be used.

He's packing his stuff up as I gather my notes about him. I asked some of the same questions he asked me, but I didn't take anything from it that can be used into the essay.

"When are we meeting again?" He surprises me by asking.

"Again? Is it necessary?"

"Well, duh," he scoffs, "We barely talked today. I don't have enough for the essay at all."

Relief washes over me since I'm not the only one that needs more information. "Alright, let's finish it next time then."

"With the rate we're going, it'll probably take a month before you tell me enough for me to write this essay about," he says, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

"What, why?" I scoff.

"You're not opening up to me. I need to actually understand you as a person to write this essay in your perspective, you know.  Aren't you supposed to be smart?"

"Literature is not my strongest subject," I admit, avoiding his eyes. He laughs a little with a short, quiet series of chuckles.

"It's not mine either, but at least we always make it to the top at the end of the semester!"

Is he trying to get along with me? Do I laugh at that?  I awkwardly enunciate two "Ha's" while he laughs.

"Uh anyways, I'll text you later. My house next time?" he asks, heading for the door.

"Yeah, sure." I decide to be a nice person and walk him there.

Gosh it's weird having people over. Wasn't I supposed to offer him water or something earlier? Oh whatever.

Taehyung suddenly stops in his tracks, and turns around. He looks like he's considering saying something but is unsure as he shifts his gaze to the floor. I raise an eyebrow.

"Jisoo..." He makes eye contact now, "are you okay?"

It takes me a moment to process his words.

"Yes? I'm fine."

"No like, mentally." He gestures to his head, and I nod slowly to confirm that I am, indeed fine mentally.

"I'm mentally stable, yes."

"No, I mean like, emotionally then. Do you need help? Do you feel the sudden urge to be rude or evil even though you know it's not you?"

Now he's just talking nonsense.

"I used to think that you were like, straight up evil, but after seeing you help the kitten I feel like you're actually kind of a good person, so why do you act so rude?" he continues bluntly.

I take a sharp breath. He seriously just said to my face that he thought I was evil.

Wow, I'm aware that I'm not the nicest person alive, but I didn't know people actually think I'm evil.

"I'm perfectly fine and I have no urges to do anything evil. If I seem rude or cold it's just because I don't care enough to make friends." I huff as he stands there staring at me, and I get impatient. "Aren't you going to leave? It's getting late."

I motion to the door and he finally turns to go after sighing heavily.

He tries to wave goodbye but I shut the door as soon as he's outside.

While he wasn't as rude as I initially thought he'd be, I still wouldn't miss his presence—especially when I know he literally thought that poorly of me.

I sit on the couch to start homework, but something on the kitchen counter catches my eye.

Taehyung left his phone.

Of course, it's been less than a minute since he left and now I have to find him again. I sigh, picking up the device and checking outside. He couldn't have gotten too far away.

I grab my jacket and leave the apartment, hoping to spot him somewhere.

—
SENSITIVE CONTENT AHEAD

I walk around for a few minutes but fail to find him.

Just as I decide to give up and start walking home, a frantic voice from the end of an alleyway catches my attention.

"Stop! Get off of me—"

I gasp when I realize who that voice belongs to.

Joy.

Before I know it, I'm running to the sound of her shaky cries and find a dark, secluded corner tucked away in the back of the alleyway. I gulp before turning the corner.

A tall man is grabbing onto Joy's neck, pinning her down to the ground as he straddles her. She only has her bra and underwear on, while her jeans were bunched up at her ankles. Tears and bruises decorate her face and I'm left there standing in shock.

She's getting raped.

My hand flies to my mouth, and I fight the urge to vomit as I hide behind the wall.

I have to help her.

But how? I'm not strong enough. I'm barely over 5'2" and that man is probably a good 6 feet. My heart is racing so hard and my hands are shaking. I'm shivering, but not because of the cold.

The sun's about to go down, but the last sliver of light manages to reflect off of the bracelet I begrudgingly put on this morning.

"With the bracelet, you not only get physically stronger and more durable, but you're also able to basically see things in slow mo! When you're transformed, you get even more enhanced abilities, a cool mask thingy that covers your face—which will protect your identity—plus telekinesis-type powers!"

I don't have think.

Something in me snaps and I bite into the chain of the bracelet.

A powerful wave of tranquility rushes through my body, and I feel warmer than I was before. It happens like a flash of light, but at the same time, it feels like the 'transformation' lasted forever.

When I look down at my body, I'm no longer wearing my normal clothes. Instead, I'm donning a pair of dark purple combat boots, and a lavender colored halter top. The material is thick, but not made of cotton because it feels silky. My pants seem to be made of leather with its shiny appearance, but it feels oddly stretchy. A black mask and purple headband are on my face. My eyes are exposed, so I have no idea how effective it'll be in protecting my identity.

I don't have time to ponder over my outfit.

"Please... s-stop." Joy's cries are getting weaker.

I step back into the scene and find that Joy and the man haven't left their positions.  I take a deep breath and barge in.

I try tackling the man, and he actually falls back.

The two of us tumble away from a shivering Joy. Even though a few seconds have passed, I feel like I have a lot of time to move around.  It's as if the world is moving slower than me.

When he tries to sit up, I elbow his rib cage and he grunts in pain.

"Motherfucker—"

My fist connects with his jaw. I don't know what took over me, but I feel powerful.

"Get off of me, you bitch!"

He tries to push me again, but I push him back and end up on top of him. Without hesitation, I knee him as hard as I can where the sun doesn't shine.

He screams in agony and then his eyes roll to the back of his head.

He passes out.

I'm panting heavily, in fear of what just happened and amazed at my ability to take someone down so easily. I'm not tired at all. Is this what Jin meant by enhanced abilities?

Joy's sobbing knocks me out of my trance.

She's still in her bra and underwear, and my heart aches for her. She must be traumatized. I blink back tears myself.

That was not a pretty scene to see.

"You okay?" I ask when I kneel down next to her.

She immediately grabs onto me, and sobs harder. Unsure of what to do, I let her cry for a bit, and pat her shoulder awkwardly with one hand.

"Thank you," she mumbles, eyes closing.

I hum to state 'it's okay', and help her get dressed. I end up walking her home too, because as much as I didn't get along with her, I'm not going to let her walk alone at night—especially after what she's gone through.

___

I don't know how to comfort people so the walk is silent, but I hope it gives her the time she needs to situate herself.

When we get to her front door she turns around.

"Can I... know your name? I really owe you."

She doesn't know?

My mask still shows my eyes, so I don't know how she doesn't recognize me. I remember Jin told me to keep my identity a secret, so maybe it's a good thing. I guess that rice cake guy wasn't completely lying about stuff.

Rice cakes.

"RC." I smile, even though she can't see it under the mask, "My name is RC."

____

I'm still transformed when I get home and the weight of the situation finally dawns on me. I just watched someone almost get raped. My chest feels heavy and breathing becomes more difficult as I collapse on the floor.

That was terrifying.

The adrenaline dies out and I let myself feel tears prickle at my eyes, but blink them back. I just helped someone. I saved someone from sexual assault.

What the fuck?

Author's Note:

Okay, one thing I'd like to address in this (ridiculously long) AN is the r@pe scene. I'm truly sorry if you're uncomfortable with those scenes, but there will be more sensitive topics in this book so be mindful of that in consideration to your mental health!

With that being said, please leave a vote or comment if you enjoy! It'd be great to know that people are enjoying my story heheh

Thank you for reading!

< lalalalala7fire