She saw blood.

A dark, deep shade of red, pooling around her. Nothing else in sight for miles until she started drowning in the black void that surrounded her. She screamed for help. She called out for anyone and everyone she remembered.

"Jungkook!" She shouted again but he wasn't there.

"Help me!" She pleaded again but to no avail.

And then she was in the kitchen of her own house. Everything seemed fine, it felt warm and for a second she felt safe until the glass slipped out of her hand and hit the ground, shattering into millions of pieces. She looked around, terrified someone might have heard it break but no one came. She felt as if some force pushed her out of the kitchen hurriedly, rushing her towards the staircase.

Blood, she saw once again. But it gushed out of a lifeless body alarmingly fast.

"Mom!" She cried out, running to the body as fast as her reflexes allowed her. She fell on her knees, calling out for her mother again and again. She lamented, she cried, she tried to do everything she could in her power. But her actions froze upon noticing the unfamiliar face. That was not her mother. That was no one she had known of.

Eyes wide with terror and heart accelerating at a speed too fast. She moved away from the body, looking around to make sure it was her house. Indeed it was.

She heard the clattering sound of metal falling from some height and she looked up. She felt petrified, panic rising in her mind with every step it took down. Who was it? She wanted to know. She wanted to shout to scare the silhouette away but her throat dried up. Her brain froze in its own nightmare and she couldn't help but stare at the dark shadow.

The stairs creaked as the silhouette started to show itself and before she could catch a glimpse her mind ushered her to run away. The adrenaline discharge gave her the strength to push off the ground and stand on her own feet and sprint for the door briskly. Time felt to be ticking by and she did not bother grabbing anything other than what she already had on her. The only mantra in her mind, repeating itself, 'Get out of here.'

The hallway seemed to extend and her steps slowed down although she tried to run with all her might. 'Get out of here, he's coming!' She turned her head to look backwards and she saw a shining metal falling. She couldn't look more, she had to save her life. She felt tired, sweat dripping down her forehead. She closed her eyes for a second, losing balance immediately and hit her head against something, screaming in pain, in dread.

Youra's sleep cracked early in the dawn. Taking in deep breaths, she looked around. She heaved a sigh of relief, finding herself in the same room she had been assigned a few weeks back. She looked out of the window, it had been drizzling and the weather was quite cold. Turning to the bedside table, she switched on the lamp and scooted over to the bedrest to lean on it whilst closing her eyes.

Deep breaths, she heard and shivers ran down her spine. Her eyes shot open at once and she screamed after seeing Jungkook passed out on the bean bag kept in the room.

"Good morni-" He woke up abruptly, rubbing his eye with the fist of one hand while the other stretched sluggishly as he yawned loudly, only for a pillow to hit his face. "The fuck?!" He groaned.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned in return, unable to resist the urge of throwing another pillow in his direction but he caught it this time.

"What am I doing here?" He asked, his voice surprised as if he felt accused, tossing the pillow back to her.

"Yes, that." She stared at him, waiting for a response until he looked at her in confusion.

"What am I doing here?" He questioned himself with the scowl now leaving his face and puzzlement in his eyes. "I... We were talking about your case last night!" He snapped his fingers, finally remembering the scenario, "and I might have stayed here to complete my work and dozed off without realising. Sorry." He murmured the last part, yawning for the second time as he got up. "I'll go now. Bye-bye." He sheepishly smiled and waved at her sleepily, fixing his shirt as he left the room.

"Good God..." She finally took a free breath, staring at the lawyer's back as he left and chuckled for a reason unknown. Her mind was finally off of the nightmare, thanks to the sly yet cretinous lawyer.

⌘

Yoongi rushed through the doors of the firm, dodging any obstacle, living or non-living, in his path. He blasted in the lawyer's office at once, startling the two juniors who had been assigned to work under the lawyer for a better experience and more pertinent knowledge.

"Hyung?" Jungkook asked, unaware of the reason behind his friend's visit. "What's up?"

"I need to talk. Alone." Yoongi glanced at the newbies and Jungkook gestured for them to leave the room. "I'd suggest you should take a deep breath before seeing this. We aren't implying anything here but this could be a lead."

"What is it?" The younger one asked as he saw the older push away his files to a corner on the huge table and grab his laptop, inserting a hard drive in it, and type at a rapid speed.

"You'll see." Yoongi looked at him, giving him a reassuring glance, leaving him all the more confused until he passed the electronic device to him.

"What-" His eyes squinted on seeing her enter the house rather in a way that said it was a usual routine. He looked at the older one, wondering what was the recording supposed to mean.

"Keep on looking, it's from that night. Currently, 9:08 in the footage." Yoongi pointed at the side of the screen as the lawyer nodded.

"What about that? It seems like any other day and she has returned from work."

"Patience, Jungkook-ah." Yoongi sighed, waiting with his friend as they watched literally nothing happen in the next few minutes. The recording forwarded to a few minutes and he squeezed Jungkook's shoulder. "9:17. Focus." Jungkook leaned closer to the screen, waiting for any movement.

Nothing yet.

Another split second passed and he was already out of his seat. "You don't mean-" He looked at the older one frantically. "That's not possible." He tried reasoning to his friend, waiting for a response in positive but nothing left Yoongi's mouth in his pleasure.

"See, as I said we aren't implying that Youra... you know. And as much as I want to believe in the negative we have more evidence that speaks otherwise." He looked at his friend in worry.

"This can't be, hyung." The younger one muttered, rummaging through his things to search for anything although he had known he had nothing.

"This is a lead and we would need her in the interrogation room," Yoongi explained, beckoning his friend to sit.

"But you can't!" Jungkook argued, remembering that Youra did not have any memories from that night, except for a few conversations she might have exchanged, or even before that. "You know she cannot-"

She doesn't remember anything.

He stopped speaking, being pulled in his own pensive void. He was trying to save someone who didn't remember what she had done when the evidence he had just seen patently showed something else. She was running from her own house, covered in blood, leaping away in unsettled steps.

"I have to talk to her." He said, leaving the room at once whilst the cop followed after him.

⌘

Jungkook couldn't help but stare at cars that passed by theirs, hoping that their path would somehow elongate and it would take them forever to reach their destination. That somehow the suspicion that grew in his brain like a contagion would be a piece of false information that he would happily throw in a trashcan later on.

Youra couldn't have lied about it all. He clearly remembered the moment she entered his life, like a maze that had to be solved. Like a maze that he wanted to solve. The mystery that he would unravel, slowly but definitely.

Every second he had spent with her led to a new possibility about her and suspicion so small could not make him believe otherwise. But if there resided a possibility in which she was innocent, there could be one where she was the culprit. She might not have lied about her amnesia but the truth held behind the heavy curtain of that dementia was a riddle too difficult to solve.

Thinking about it only caused him a greater dilemma, he was unknown to a greater part of her reality. Just like her, or maybe a million times more than her. He took the floating piece of ice to be a landmass and jumped on it to discover but he was stupid enough to not realise that he had landed on an iceberg that reached deeper than his imagination.

What if she had done something so terrible that he could never fantasize? That she could never think of it to be a part of her memory? What if everything led to her being the danger? Or maybe not. What if she was in danger?

"What if I am the danger, Jungkook?" He saw her leave him, strangled in his emotions, strangled in his so-called laws. And he could not stop it from happening.

"HYEIN!" He screamed, pain and agony evident in his voice. Guilt had been by his side that night and it didn't leave him for the next, he grieved as it dawned on him, it wouldn't leave him forever.

A tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it away with the back of his palm as fast as he could.

"Help me, Jungkook. You know you can save me. You know I haven't done anything. Don't leave me alone."

He wanted it to stop. Everything. He wanted the continuous voice buzzing at the back of his head to stop, he wanted the cheers to stop, he wanted the time to stop. He just wanted it all to stop. The headlights of the cars blared at him with an accusing furious flame, telling him he had done something so forbidden that he disgraced the world by living in it. The horns sounded like the allegations he had raised against someone he had devoted his life to. The chilly wind hitting his face evaded every ounce of warmth from his soul and all he could do was to let it all happen. He had no power then, he had no power now.

He stood at the beginning of a road he had already walked through. He knew he had failed back then and he did not want to this time. He could not. The twists and turns had to be chosen wisely and he knew he'd make the same dumb mistake again. Even if it wasn't a fall too long, it was a fall he was scared of.

He glanced at Yoongi in the seat next to him, driving peacefully, contrary to his mental state.

"Goodbye, Jungkook. I did, and will always love you, my love."

He shook his head as if trying to throw the thoughts away, blinking rapidly before looking away. He took out his phone, rummaging through any news he could find at the earliest. Accidents, suicides, homicides, a celebrity couple broke up, another news about Youra's comeback and news about her and Taehyung being seen in a cafe together, two days ago that was.

He felt a new emotion rise in him, he couldn't name it. He clicked at the site, reaching the webpage that held a brief knowledge about that day and several more pictures from that moment.

She looked happy. She deserved to be. But the mess she had so apparently forgotten at that moment would swallow away all her ecstasy. It would wipe away her beautiful smile and he would watch it happen, yet again.

He despised himself.
But he also wanted to help it from not happening.

At any stake, he could not let that happen if she was really the person he had seen her for. The person he had slowly gotten accustomed to seeing every morning, every night. The person who he was annoyed with every time she tried to pry a little more than needed, just because she was curious. The person who somehow managed to remind him that if she could learn to restart it all again, he could too. He was just a coward who needed the strength to get up from his own nightmare just like she was trying to.

She was someone who he had not realised was helping him in a way he had failed to help someone else. Someone who would always live in his memories. And Youra, oh her being alone was enough to remind him of that someone, not because he felt like their attributes matched but because he knew he was capable of helping her just like he was earlier. It was a choice he had to make back then and it was still a choice he had to make right now.

He scrolled down, reaching the end of the page. Several other links popped up and one caught his eye the most.

"Shit." He whispered, afraid Yoongi could have heard it but he didn't bother glancing.

His eyes scanned the news with utter distress and he could not help but message Youra, asking her if she was fine. He looked ahead of himself, he saw the car drive near the parking lot and his eyes started searching for her.

How could he not have seen this coming?

Yoongi had barely managed to park the car and Jungkook leapt out of it midway. He had known it was difficult to keep up with the lawyer's speed but never had he seen him run so fast and thanked the heavens as he saw Jungkook stop near the reception.

"What... Happened?" Yoongi breathed heavily, hands on his waist as he gasped for oxygen.

Jungkook did not answer, he took fast steps towards the elevator as the cop followed suit.

"Tell me, Jungkook." The older demanded again but got ignored as Jungkook took the flight of stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. Yoongi stared at him in disbelief, his mouth twisted in a way that screamed of impending murder.

He ran as fast as he could, worried that he might see something that he would be sacred to experience. He received glances that slowed down his steps but his concern only grew deeper. "Youra?" He called out again, opening the door to another room even before he could knock at it. But to no avail.

He looked through a bunch of other doors until he reached the end of the hallway and burst inside the last green room at the trail.

"Youra..." His whisper turned into a call of triumph as soon as his eyes landed on her. He looked at her eyebrows twist in confusion and his name left her mouth with astonishment. But it felt so much better than the feeling of dread that had been lingering in his mind longer than required. He smiled a smile of relief, and took swift steps towards her before he could gather the number of eyes staring at him.

Their bodies clashed as he held her tightly, rightfully hugging the last breath out of her and she chuckled with merriment laden with perplexity, her hands hanging in the air, unable to settle on his frame yet wanting to touch his soul.

"Are you ok?" He asked, pulling away from her and cupping her face with one palm.

"Yeah, why?" He clearly did not bother to look in the direction Youra was and he distinctly did not realise the pair of eyes boring in his back with a flare stronger than the blazing flames of jealousy that rose in Taehyung's heart. 

It was only her for him and it was only he for Taehyung, in that moment.

༺༻

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN.