Summary: Today it was video, a memory of the past with V and Rika. All caught on camera all thanks to the In-Between. He was here, V was close by and you had to speak with him.

Prompt: Haunted

A/N: Can be read alone from the other chapters but it does continue R&R and enjoy!

Click

The sound of the shutter is like music to your ears but you can't help but sigh at your poor attempt at taking photos in manual mode on the DSLR. The screen was all white and washed out. Only the faint outline of the tree could be seen but aside from that all the details were lost.

Sighing, you rummage through your bag and find your phone and send a text to 2B.

Ugh, my photos are turning out shit. HELP! Why is using a DSLR so difficult?! Look at my tree picture.

You turn the dial on your 9 year old camera to auto action mode and take another photo of the tree. This time the photo comes out perfect. Your phone beeps with a response from earlier.

Why are you outside taking photos?

You look up at the clouds for a moment and bask in the sunlight. You rub your arms as a chill passes through. The Mint Eye Castle… Saeyoung and his memories. The game was just supposed to be a game, but you go through your bag once more and pull out the metal cylindrical container. This tinderbox was real and every memory and experience Saeyoung had to relive was real.

You fiddle with the tinderbox, opening and closing the lid. You remember how you watched him change from Saeyoung Choi to Luciel, Agent 707. How his soft and guarded features changed the deeper into the castle you went. It was difficult watching him go through that.

A ghostly image of him appears in front of you, his eyes wide and his body shaking from waking up alone and without memories. The lantern his only lifeline in the dark is held with a firm grasp. You raise your hand to take hold of his hand again to calm him down, but the image fades away. It was a memory and your own hands begin to shake. You wanted to see him again, the real him.

Looking down at your phone and staring hard at 2B's question.

It was all too much.

Your life here mattered too. No matter how much you were pulled into their lives. You knew that you were always destined to fade away and come back to this world.

This was your life, here right now, at this very moment. That's why you were out here today because you had wanted to escape successfully for once. No more searching for overlapping points on a map. Today you would give importance to one of your own personal rituals coming up.

Focusing on the phone, you tell 2B about how nervous you were about the photoshoot that you were both planning to do. Despite owning a professional camera, you still took terrible and unflattering shots.

It was your yearly tradition to have a Halloween photoshoot. Usually, a third person would help take photos, but this year she had bailed on Halloween. You didn't want to let down 2B especially when she had spent so much time on her outfit this year. The phone in your hand beeps again with 2B's response to your complaints and worries about this photoshoot.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. It's not going to be as bad as you think. Have a little faith in yourself.

Her words cheer you up, but you wanted to practice photo composition a bit more. You tuck the phone into your bag and continue walking around. You kneel and point the camera at a few clusters of trees for the shot. You think the photo will look magical and gram-worthy for later, so when you look at the photo preview you feel like the air has been sucked right out of your lungs.

Your hands shake and the strength in your legs almost give out.

The camera screen is clear as a mirror and no matter how many times you exit from the screen and enter back into the preview the image does not change. Long golden locks and bright green eyes staring back at you. Her lips tug up in a soft smile and her hands are tucking away a stray lock of hair. It was her. The Saviour. Your mind flashes to the castle and the Rika you found there. Her serene face that you see now is replaced with a snarling one, with her clawed hands lunging towards you in that dark chamber filled with magenta electricity.

Your hands shake as you raise up the camera again. Click.

The preview shows the same thing as last time except the image is now closer. Her hands are reaching out towards you but instead of her wild and frenzied eyes, she is looking at you with a soft expression like a child fascinated by a small bird.

You want to run home and slam the door shut. Rika. The Saviour. She was the last person that you wanted to see. Not after what she had done to everyone just to save them all. But, here she was a ghostly image on your camera staring at you with those loving green eyes.

That moment of fear passes and it dawns on you like a brick being thrown at a window, the sudden realization that Rika is not looking at you.

You take a few steps away from where Rika was standing. The connection you had to Rika at that moment needed to be broken. You put away the DSLR camera and opt for your cell. Any semblance of composure is gone now as you search your bag for the phone.

When you do find it, your hands fumble with the unlock button. As the camera app opens up, you see them on the screen just as you had guessed. V, holding his camera up, taking photos of a now posing Rika, her soft and light laugh echoing out of the cell phone. Your fingers flip through the options. Pictures were great but they were also V's speciality and not your strength, so you click the record button and watch the scene play out.

"Beautiful."

V has lowered the camera down, looking at the screen. Rika walks closer to him and peaks at the photos that he had taken. Her face scrunches up in distaste and her eyes cloud over in disgust. You watch Rika bite on her lip while V scrolls through the images.

"You're like an angel of pure light."

His expression is dream-like as he remains fixated on the images instead of the muse who stands next to him. Her eyes darkening every photo that passes by.

V.

You walk closer to the pair and with each step the louder your heart seemed to be.

Look up! Look at her!

The angelic smile and doe-eyed expression, she had earlier is gone. You see it now bubbling and pushing through her mask; the darkness that she hides and the one that V is trying to blot out with light.

You think your frenzied screams must have reached them because you watch as Rika's glowering expression shift from the camera to straight at you. Your hands are sweating and you worry that at any moment she would lunge right at you like in the dream world. V looks up from his camera as well, and you watch him throw a hurried glance at Rika then towards you. His eyebrows are scrunched together and his eyes squint. He sees nothing. Rika sees nothing. You breathe out in relief, but the thrumming of your heart has not settled down.

V cups Rika's face in his hands, his touch gentle, as if he is holding something fragile and holy. In some ways she was fragile, ready to split from the confusion of light and dark. His eyes are dilated and entranced with this Rika that he reveres.

"Do you love me?" she whispers to him. You see it in her eyes the disbelief and just how her hands grip around his. It was just shy of breaking skin, but you see how desperate she is for him to love her.

"Of course, I love every part of you," he replies, tucking away a stray lock of beautiful golden hair behind Rika's ear.

"I'll save you from that darkness because you are my reason and muse."

No. No. This was wrong.

You scream again at V telling him to see her. You look at Rika and watch her dark eyes water in pain. Those were the wrong words for her because he was drowning her darkness trying to change her to what he wanted to see.

Rika perks up at your voice. You watch her stare longingly towards you.

Her hands snake up and cup his face. You zoom the phone camera on Rika's face and see that her eyes are asking. No, demanding something from him. Her once soft features look darker and you see the wild, desperate eyes instead.

"Would you love me even if I took away your most precious and important gift?" Rika's soft, airy voice has a sultry edge to it.

You watch as her thumbs outline the corner of his eyes. Your stomach turns and the blood in your veins feel as if they have frozen in place. You realize what she is thinking as her fingers wipe a stray eyelash away.

"Yes, even if you took everything away from me. It would always be you."

NO. NO. NO.

You scream and grab the closest rock on the ground and throw it. The rock never reaches them but the thud of the rock is enough to scare them apart.

Every curse word in your mind comes rolling off your tongue like a series of hexes.

The spell breaks and you see that the darkness has hid itself away again. The Saviour had retreated back into the corner of her mind. Rika blinks for several moments, having finally awakened from her trance. The peaceful expression from earlier has returned.

"V, where's your favourite place to go?"

"Besides being with you?" his tone is playful as he takes hold of her hand and gives it a small kiss. Rika slaps his arm and urges him for another answer.

"My art gallery close by because those contain my favourite photos of you."

You watch Rika's face freeze up and you see how for a moment it flashes in her eyes. How she lets go of V's hand and wraps her arms around herself. She did not believe that she deserved to be loved.

Rika.

You find yourself saying a loud. This relationship was drowning her. You wanted to pull them apart because they were just pushing each other further and further into their own delusions.

The phone freezes and you watch in horror as the phone screen turns black. You try and power it back on but nothing. Shit. The batteries must have died. You scramble to find the external battery in your bag, but when you do manage to get the phone plugged in there is no sign of V or Rika anymore. They were gone like a fading memory.

No.

What was this overlap? It wasn't like anything you had experienced before. Was this an old memory? V and Rika were still together and V still had his eyesight. Something had allowed you to see an old memory.

You open up maps on your phone and find the closest art gallery and run there. There was a chance that you could finally meet V.

You run without stopping, but you feel it the overlap is passing with every moment wasted. The crisp October day shifts from bright sunny to heavy rain. Your clothes are soaked when you reach the gallery.

It's quiet when you enter, like being in a ghost town, but you assume that this emptiness was because of the weather.

You send a message to 2B explaining to her what happened and how you were looking for V now.

Something told you that he would be here somewhere. There was an overlap that would allow you to see him in person.

Walking around the gallery, you realize it was larger than it looked on the outside. After a moment, you feel the hair on the back of your neck rise. This was it; that feeling of passing through one place to another. You look around on instinct and wonder if something would lead you to him much like the other times. Nothing. This time you can only follow your instincts. You were getting good at understanding how this in-between world worked.

You round a corner, feeling pulled into this part of the gallery. You see him, like you knew you would, yet you freeze at the sight of him sitting in front of you. His mint hair looks bright and otherworldly, but his eyes… they were covered with bandages. Despite his damaged eyes, he was staring at a painting of Rika.

He was alive.

"I had a feeling I would meet you soon, after what everyone has told me. Don't just stand there, sit by me."

His voice is filled with humour and life. You wonder how he knows that you are standing there looking at him. Your footsteps are quiet even to your own ears, but you sit on the bench next to his wheelchair.

"Hello," you greet him.

His fingers twitch and you see how he gives a heartfelt smile.

"So it was you that day in the woods."

You nod but realize that he could not see and respond aloud, "Yes."

"You know I think you were the first one to see her darkness. She really wanted to meet the ghost in the forest. Her fascination with finding that voice grew with each day."

You stare at the painting of Rika. It was true to her likeness, but there was something wrong with her expression. It was too angelic, too bright. This was the idealized beauty V had seen in her.

"I wanted to save her and you, but..." you trail off. How could you save them both? There was no way because the story had already been played out.

"We both didn't want to be saved, we were both too stubborn with our ideals that…" And then it is V's turn to trail off. He raises his hand and touches his bandaged eyes.

"Jumin insisted I have the operation on my eyes while in the hospital for a gunshot wound."

Your eyes tear up and the sob you had been holding in is released.

"MC? Are you okay?"

"Thank you for being alive," you blurt out. You are happy that he was alive, despite it all, that this one tragedy was avoided.

"I'm happy that I can be with them for this Halloween party," he says.

You were so happy that you could sit beside V today. You wipe away the tears and smile that everyone could be together for Halloween. You look at the painting and smile. Everyone had been brought together because of her.

"This is a lovely painting," you finally say.

"This was my first attempt to paint before the operation. I wanted to try to capture her with my own hands... it's how I saw her… no…. it's how I wanted to see her. Faultless and perfect. My own muse sent to me from the heavens."

V's voice is distant and tears escape from the bandages.

"I didn't really see her and instead I ended up hurting everyone I cared about. But most of all… Saeran and Saeyoung."

You place your hand on his back and try to calm him down.

"Saeyoung and Saeran, they have big hearts. You're their family, so be the best one you can be. The RFA are also part of that family. Be open and honest with them because they don't want to see you suffer," you tell him.

You remember the funeral. The one in the world where V died. Their goodbyes echo in your ears.

Jaehee is the first. V was always consistent and reliable, he was my role model.

Followed by Jumin who's words are solemn and wise. He was a good friend, a good teacher, and a mirror of truth.

Zen is thankful and shocked at the turn of events. V was a warm and fair person who gave me a new family.

You remember Yoosung's honesty and bitterness fade away to sadness and regret. I honestly hated V... but now I forgive him.

Saeyoung could barely string together a sentence in despair. Don't be lonely there, don't try to save anyone there… just live a selfish life, V.

Jaehee cannot stop herself from speaking again. Good-bye, V…

But, it's Jumin's anger and resentment of being left alone by his best friend in the world that resonates.

I will never forgive you for leaving on your own.

You wake from your memory and see V sitting beside you on the wheelchair. He was living and breathing and you just want to cry all over again.

"I don't want to loose them and I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to them." He looks at you despite his eyes being covered and smiles.

You tsk because V has always tried to do so much for everyone. You don't want him to spend his life feeling guilty.

"They want you to be happy too,"

V is quiet and it seems like your words are really reaching him now.

"My bandages come off on Halloween. Just in time for the party and I want to see everyone clearly again, so I can draw and paint everyone in costume," he laughs. His voice more hopeful that earlier before.

"I'm glad," You can't stop smiling at his words.

V is turned towards your direction again and he is hopeful.

"Will you be able to make it?"

It has been awhile since someone asked you about it. Just as you're about to answer him, you hear footsteps closing in and see Jumin walk into the room.

"MC?!" his eyes widen and he stops in his tracks. You realize that it was Jumin who took V to this gallery today. Even with his busy schedule, he took the time to accompany V to places.

You feel the shift in the air. Time was running out. Your time here was getting shorter and you realized that in order to attend the party you needed to know where it was in order to attend. You jump up to your feet. How could you have not realized this earlier?!

"I need to know where the party is or I won't know where the overlap is!" You try to say it quickly, but it's too late, they couldn't hear you. You were going to slip back any moment now.

There was no time, so you do the only thing you could do to help them: You toss your cell to Jumin. It had all the information they needed to find you again. You had all this data on them, but they in turn had nothing on you. You needed them to find you this time.

You watch them disappear like a mirage and find yourself alone in the gallery.

Thank you for reading Haunted! Yes, I know I'm late. I didn't quite manage to finish my prompts in time for Halloween but that doesn't mean I've given up on this series! two more stories to go. Yes, I couldn't kill this mint haired boy. IT WOULD BE TOO SAD AND I WANT EVERYONE HAPPY. Anyways, thank again!