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04
Purple & Partners

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JISOO

"Okay, so let me go over everything you just told me." I put my notebook down so I can't look at it. Jin nods his head and smiles.

After Taehyung left, Jin appeared in my kitchen. He was looking through the refrigerator and I screamed when I saw him. This time, I didn't try to kick him out, since I needed answers. And boy, answers did he give.

I listened because I felt badass when I was RC. I want to do it again.

After a good hour of crying from witnessing the traumatizing scene, I took some time to process everything.

Although Joy isn't my favorite person, that's just because I don't like any girls in our grade in general. Deep down, I know that they are all precious people. Just not people I'd want to make precious relationships with.

That's too scary.

Anyways, if I can remain anonymous, things aren't as bad. I found myself wanting to talk more because I know that no relationship can form if one party is anonymous. I wanted to comfort Joy, and I wanted to make sure she's okay because I can't find it in myself to do that outside of the mask.

Jin explained that when I'm transformed, a spell is cast over my eyes, so no one can recognize me.

"Go ahead," he says, referring to my previous question.

"Telekinesis powers are from you, correct?" Jin nods, "So you're like a ghost of some sort but can move things when you want to, and when I'm transformed," Gosh it feels weird saying that out loud, "I get those powers because you're lending me yours."

"Perfect! Now explain the cleansing part!" Jin looks excited.

"Okay uh, so to cleanse a tainted leaf, I have to kiss it because..." I think for a moment, "the lips of a chosen holder always reveal the truth behind... what was it again?"

"Fabricated flagitiousness."

I roll my eyes, "That's just a fancy way of saying fake evil, but anyways... is that all?"

"Nope. Explain how leaves get tainted and what it does to a person. You need to know this to defeat your opponent, the sender of the leaves." Jin looks really stern and I feel like my favorite teacher is yelling at me.

"Uh, the leaves get tainted when a chosen holder gets super sad or angry and decides to kiss the leaves with bad intent."

"That's correct, they must want the leaves to be tainted. Go on." He gestures with his hand.

"And... when someone gets tainted by a leaf from the sender, their worst desire is multiplied tenfold, and their good traits are dwindled down. They lose all control." I gulp at Jin's unmoving gaze, "To defeat their aggressive and psychologically manipulative behavior, I have to either face them straight on or be just as cunning as they are. I have to learn their weaknesses."

"Extracting a leaf?"

"Uh, knock them out if they are physically aggressive, or deceive them if they are psychologically influenced by the leaf. Then, I can reach into their soul to take out the leaf?" I feel so weird saying this.

Jin stares at me for a moment more, and then starts clapping.

"Beautiful." He proudly smiles, "Now, are you ready for your second mission?"

"Second?"

"The guy that you knocked out the other day, that's mission one checked off the list. I already took the leaf for you—you're welcome by the way—so all you gotta do is kiss the leaf, but we can do that later when you get the next one. You may be surprised at how much energy kissing takes," he jokes and gets up from the couch he was lounging on.

"Ah okay."

This is so weird. Am I really going to arrive at a random house, barge in to fight someone, leave with a leaf, then kiss it all better?

I quickly text Jungkook to let him know I'll probably be late today. Doing that makes reality settle in even harder and my heart starts racing.

"You might run into the other holder today. Remember, no real identities! If he tries to tell you his real name, make sure he doesn't!"

"Okay." I nod again, trying to wrap my head around the situation. It's been a few days since I first met Jin, but things are still so unreal.

"Bite your bracelet now. I'll disappear, but don't worry, you'll know where to go. Just follow your gut."

I shake my head, mentally preparing myself. I bite down into the bracelet again and Jin vanishes with a puff. The wave of warmth and calm energy washes over me again.

When I examine myself, I'm wearing the same thing as last time.

I turn to look at the glossy small picture of me and Jungkook. The picture is dark so I can see my new appearance in the reflection.

No one will know it's me. I can say whatever, do whatever, and not have to be afraid of commitments or feelings.

I feel good—confident.

"Fuck yeah."

Although I'm grinning, I know that there's not a lot of time to celebrate...

... because RC has some leaves to cleanse.

TAEHYUNG

January 4th

Excited might be the understatement of the century.

I'm beyond stoked. Yoongi told me I'd have my first mission today! Well, he told me that after reviewing how to use my abilities like, a thousand times, but still!

Usually I'd hangout with friends or study after school(mainly hang out with friends), so this would be a nice change. And as a bonus my friends don't have to get annoyed at me coming over to their house so much.

I like going to their houses because it's too quiet in mine.

My parents are rarely home and when they are home, my brother usually is too. That's just suffocating.  My 80 year old grandparents make more of an effort to visit than they do.

I get lonely. That's one of the reasons why I'm so curious on how Jisoo survives without any friends. Isn't she lonely too?

"So I just have to bite it?" I ask Yoongi one more time, who grumbles in confirmation.

With a giggle I crunch my teeth onto the pearl of the bracelet, and something extremely weird happens.

I'm super warm and fuzzy. It's as if every part of my body is wrapped in comfort. When my eyes flutter open, I feel lighter and bouncier. Yoongi is nowhere to be found.

My outfit changed too! Am I like Spider-man now?

I stare at my altered reflection in the mirror.

Purple.

I didn't think it would look this good on me, damn. My previously brown hair is now black, and it suits me well too.

Ridding myself of self-indulging thoughts, I open my window to jump out from my second floor bedroom. Yoongi said that while transformed, I can do this without getting hurt. So I do, and true to his word, it doesn't hurt.

Apparently while Yoongi is lending me powers, he can also help me sense tainted leaves. Trusting that, I follow my gut while running around the streets and occasionally doing parkour off of various structures.

This is so fun! I feel like I can do anything— I even did a backflip off a trash can!

The wind that rushes through my face is harsh and cold but refreshing nonetheless.  The sun has already set, since it's still winter and nights are long. Stars are sparkling in the sky and there's an almost full moon.

I'm running until I feel a tug in my chest upon reaching a certain household.

I come to a full stop, the euphoria of rushing around dissipating when I notice a scene occurring through the window.

It's hard to be sure, but with heightened vision I can see a woman flailing her arms around viciously as if throwing something, while her head is thrown back in psychotic laughter. Her eyes seem lifeless.

That's what the tainted leaves do to someone.

With a nervous gulp, I climb up to the window by using the bumps and dents on the surface of the house.

"Kids! You have to leave! It's not safe to be here with her!" A feminine voice yells.

That's my partner! It's a she?

Whatever, I have a partner in crime!

That got me a little excited again, and gave me the strength to push myself through the window.

I fall ungracefully, barely catching myself before I face planted on the carpet floor. I notice it's stained with blood and smells metallic.

"Ouch," I mumble, and I stand up to face four pairs of questioning eyes.

There are two kids in the corner of the room, huddled together with tears streaming down their face. The woman who was psychotically laughing earlier stands in the middle of the room with a bottle of beer in her hand as if she's going to hit someone with it.

Then behind the woman is a girl. I think she's my age. She's in a similar suit as mine and she is holding back the woman with her arms.

We meet eyes and a flash of recognition happens between us.

That's the other holder!

We both widened our eyes.

In that same moment, the woman shrugs out of the girl's grip.

"Who are you to be telling me what to do?" The woman snarls, pushing the girl back roughly, "Is this your little accomplice?" She eyes me up and down.

"Uh hi! my name is Ki-" A hand clasps around my mouth.

"NO! What the fuck are you saying?"

"I'm introducing myself? It'd be weird to not know my partner's name, right?" The girl sighs and shakes her head. She steps in front of me and faces the woman again.

"Leave. I don't want you here."

I think she's talking to the woman until she looks over her shoulder and glares at me.

"Wha--why?"

She grunts, "Ugh fine, just stay there and look pretty." With that, she charges towards the woman to attack.

My partner tackles the woman down, and they tumble on the floor together. Both of them are clawing at each other's limbs.

I go in to help attack, but a force on my chest pushes me away. I couldn't see it, but it was definitely there. I spot my partner's--or my not-partner's--scowl and I know what happened.

She used her powers on me.

The two women battle it out for a bit while I stare in shock.

There's no way that she actually tried to get me out of the way with her powers, right?

The other holder uses her telekinesis powers again, this time, I notice it when a picture frame conveniently drops right in front of the kids as the mother tries to throw a beer bottle at them.

Amidst the chaos, I frown because I want to help. Who is she to tell me I can't? I can't sit here and do nothing!

I spot the kids huddled in the corner, and rush over to them as sounds of grunts and punches fill the room.

"Hi kiddos." They can't be over eight years old, but bruises were marked all over them. I wince internally, "Follow me and let's get out of here."

I led the two kids away while the girl was battling with the woman. I feel bad for not helping, but I don't want to make my partner think that I don't trust her. She already dislikes me enough for some reason.

When the kids and I are away, I bend down to their height.

"Are you guys okay?"

The older one sniffles, "Mom... she's usually not like that. But about not along ago, she started acting crazy! I don't know why."

The younger boy cries into his sibling's chest and they sob together.

My heart breaks at the sight, my own eyes watering too. While my parents aren't the most amazing in the world, I should still be grateful. I could never understand what these kids are going through.

"It's gonna be okay. Your mom is going to get back to normal, trust me." I pat their heads and pull them into a brief hug which they reciprocated.

After the leaves get extracted from the individual, they return back to their normal state. They usually lose memories of what happened, unless they were already evil from the start and the leaves just gave them courage to act out their thoughts.

I hear a scream from the bedroom where the woman is.

Another thing: People tend to experience extreme pain during leaf extraction. It makes sense though; they have to be knocked out, then all the sudden, someone is spiritually reaching into their chest and grabbing a leaf out.

When I return to the room, it looks like a hurricane hit with how messy it is. In the center, the girl is crouching down next to the woman, who opens her eyes slowly. There's life in her eyes now.

"What? What happened?"

My partner swallows harshly at the confused woman.

"You are a fucking witch."

Woah, language. I walk towards the two ladies and crouch down.

"Hello ma'am. Do you recall any events from the past week?" I ask, oblivious to my partner's rage.

"No, the last thing I remember is being at home and watching videos of my deceased husband..."

"Do you think that because your husband is dead that you can hurt your children?" My partner growls. I turn my head to her in disbelief. Doesn't she know that the mother had no control over her actions?

"What? Never!"

"Then go look at your children. Those bruises were all you. Tears? All you. You fucking hurt them and no parent should do that or even think about it!" She grabs onto the mother's collar and pushes her back.

I intervene and try to pry her hands off, "Calm down, she wasn't herself—"

"Does it look like I care?" She shoves the mother down one more time before letting go. "You're lucky I'm not supposed to call the police on criminals like you. I would've called them and have you arrested for ever touching those children in the first place."

"I-I never did anything—" The mother starts, clearly confused and disheveled. "I get frustrated with my kids sometimes because it's hard being a newly single parent, but I'd never intentionally hurt them!"

"Fuck you! Those are excuses! You're a pathetic, horrible, nasty excuse of a human being! Who cares if you didn't want to hurt them? Because you did anyway! You're a monster, an evil, wicked—"

"Okay!" I pull my partner towards the window and feel bad for having to leave the mother alone, but I really gotta calm this girl down. "I'm so sorry ma'am, please stay healthy and talk to your kids!"

With that, I successfully drag the fuming girl out of the house. She's just not used to seeing horrible things happen.

Her fury is understandable but not an excuse. She should know not to lash out at the victim of a tainted leaf.

"Let go of me!" She shrugs out of my grasp once we're outside in the cold streets.

"Okay, okay! Just calm down. I know that wasn't pretty to see, but you gotta realize that the mom wasn't herself."

"So? She had thoughts about it, and that's bad enough."

"C'mon! We all have intrusive thoughts at times!"

"That doesn't make it right. She should be arrested."

"If we arrested all the tainted people, there'd be so many people wrongfully determined guilty. If anything, they're the victim!"

"You know what? I'm done with you. Goodnight." She turns to leave.

Attitude much?

How can she be a superhero if she can't even properly recognize who the real victims are? I'm sure even someone like Jisoo would have compassion.  The mother never chose to be tainted by a leaf.

"Wait! I don't even know your name! How are we going to be partners?"

"RC, and don't tell me your real name. Also, we aren't partners," she grunts, still walking away.

"Why not? Do you want that wish or something?"

RC halts her steps and hesitates.

"No, I don't. I just don't like you."

Of course, she's just "too good" to work with anyone else. Love that for me.

"I'm..." I think for a moment, "V. My name is V!" I call out.

I'm waiting for her to ask what my name means so I can explain that V stands for victory, but she continues walking without acknowledging me. 

I get frustrated and catch up with her, stopping right in front of her much shorter stature. I'm kind of hovering over her.

"What do you want?"

"Pay attention to my existence. Talk to me. Say something that will make me hate you less because you're not leaving a very good impression right now." I try to not get angry.

I used to think Jisoo was a bad person too, but now I don't. Maybe if I give RC a chance, she'll prove my judgement wrong.

"What?"

"Didn't you hear me? You're more than a first impression, and so am I. I don't know why you dislike me, so tell me. Make me understand." I grab her shoulders as a means to keep her from running away or avoiding this conversation.

Her eyes widen a bit and I keep going.

"Look, I know you want us to remain anonymous or whatever—"

"Actually it's a rule, my guardian told me," she interrupts and I sigh before continuing.

"Okay... anyways, even though we can't know each other, we should actually understand each other. If we hate each other it'll be a lot harder to cleanse leaves, even if we aren't partners."

I hear her take a sharp breath, and I realize how close I got to her while talking. We're practically chest to chest because I didn't want to give her space to move away.

We're standing in the middle of a cold, dark street right underneath the moonlight. If this were any other girl, I would've called it romantic.

"And I guess the anonymity is good, because you can tell me anything and no one will know. So relax and stop hating me for no reason, would'ya? We don't have to work together--even though I was looking forward to it--but at least be on good terms with me."

"You..."

The wind blows a little stronger, leaving goosebumps on the parts of my skin that are exposed. Her hair ruffles slightly and there's heightened tension in the air.

"We can still be partners even if you want to get that wish or whatever." I wouldn't mind helping her out if her wish benefits the greater good. "Do you?"

She gulps before answering.

Author's Note:

DUn dun DUNN~ I wonder what she'll say?

Haha, I decided to update today because some AMAZING people flooded my comments and I got motivated! thank you for reading :)))

<3 lalalalala7fire