__________________________

Immediately after her run in with Akari, Mina gave Chaeyoung a brief rundown of the encounter, minus the part about Akari finding out that Mina had accidentally killed her best friend. Mina was still terrified knowing that Akari now knew her darkest secret, which she had been so forthcoming about like an idiot. How stupid could she have been to think Chaeyoung would still want to be her friend after hearing about that?

Chaeyoung’s eyes widened at the explanation, and it was clear the gears in her head were spinning as she tried to formulate a plan to stop Akari.

“She’s too strong for us to take on,” Mina assured. “She can take our powers almost effortlessly. And I have no doubt that she’ll come with some device to disable our powers as well so we won’t even be able to put up a fight. She won’t leave anything up to chance.”

“You could control her, couldn’t you, if you didn’t have your chip in?” Chaeyoung asked.

Mina pressed her lips together for a moment but then nodded. “I could if I ever had the opportunity.” And she was close today, too. If she hadn’t been so stupid...so naive...

“She said she’d be back tomorrow, right?” Chaeyoung asked again.

“Yes,” Mina murmured, eyes looking dark and far away.

“Well what if we took her on today?”

“What...what do you mean?” Mina replied, crossing her arms.

Chaeyoung grabbed Mina’s hand and began pulling her toward the school. “We have to find Nayeon, c’mon!” Together the two girls ran inside.

Chaeyoung didn’t even bother knocking on Nayeon’s door. Instead she pushed it open, causing Nayeon to flinch from where she sat on her bed, facing the door.

“Ever heard of knocking!” Nayeon yelled, but then her gaze softened after noticing Chaeyoung’s serious face and Mina’s grim one.

“Akari was here,” Chaeyoung sputtered. “I think I know how to stop her but we need your help.”

Mina quickly recapped Akari’s threat for Nayeon. “Okay, what do you suggest?” Nayeon asked, pulling out her handy neuralyzer.

“Akari’s planning to come back tomorrow, right?” Chaeyoung said, facing both Mina and Nayeon. “If we try to stop her now she’ll be taken completely off guard. She won’t have any devices at her disposal to block our powers. If we stop her before she even threatens us then we will win.”

“If I could’ve just removed my chip,” Mina replied, catching onto where Chaeyoung was going with this, “then I could’ve stopped her.” Mina looked at Nayeon with wide eyes, suddenly determined. “Nayeon, you have to go back and warn me about Akari. You have to tell me she’s in the school and that…she looks like Chaeyoung,” she said the last part quietly. “If I know that, I’ll be able to get her away from everyone without letting her know that I’m onto her. I have to pretend that I don’t know it’s her, and hypnotize her then. She’ll be taken totally off guard.”

Time was ticking. Nayeon could really only go back comfortably in time a couple minutes. Any more than a half an hour was really pushing it. She could do this, but barely.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Chaeyoung asked, suddenly doubting her own plan. “She’s not prepared for this sort of thing, is she?”

“I don’t think she knows about Nayeon’s powers. She must be assuming we’re planning to take her on tomorrow. Nayeon, just tell me that I’ll find Akari in front of my bedroom door. I’ll believe you,” Mina assured. “Tell me to take out my chip and then bring her back to the garden, and that I have to hypnotize her there. I can do this.” A part of Mina realized Nayeon doing this would prevent Akari from learning that she accidentally killed her best friend, which was also a blessing. Mina sighed with relief at the thought.

“How far back should I go and where will I find you?” Nayeon asked Mina.

“An half an hour. The garden, you’ll find me there. Just be blunt with me, I’ll have no reason to doubt you.”

“Okay,” Nayeon nodded, suddenly feeling nervous that so much pressure weighed on her shoulders. “If it doesn’t work I’ll just go back again. I’ll make sure we stop her for good,” Nayeon whispered, as if to convince herself that she could do this.

Chaeyoung and Mina nodded at Nayeon, letting her know they were ready. “Okay,” Nayeon murmured again. She thought of the time she wanted to go back, closed her eyes and quickly activated her neuralyzer with a click. The jump was always a bit disorienting, but she was back in her room, sitting with Chaeyoung as she had been only thirty minutes ago.

“I’m just worried about her, you know? I just can’t imagine what it’d be like—”

“—I gotta stop you there,” Nayeon exclaimed, jumping off her bed. “I’ll explain later, but I need to find Mina! Stay here! I’m serious, don’t move!” and with that, Nayeon was out the door, leaving a very confused Chaeyoung sitting cross-legged on Jeongyeon’s bed.

Nayeon ran as fast as she could for the garden, ignoring all the strange glances she received from other students she passed. By the time she made it outside she was panting, but sure enough there was Mina, walking by herself, facing away from her. “Mina!” Nayeon cried, willing her legs to carry her further.

Mina spun around and looked at Nayeon in alarm. Nayeon was disrupting Mina’s peaceful walk spent gathering her thoughts. A walk she desperately needed.

“This is gonna sound crazy but I just came from the future. Akari is here, now! And she looks like Chaeyoung. She’s gonna threaten all of us. She’ll be back tomorrow for blood if we don’t stop her today. You’ll find her outside of your room in the hallway. You need to take off your chip now and hypnotize her while she thinks you don’t know it’s her!”

Mina continued to wordlessly stare at Nayeon in alarm. Nayeon huffed at the girl’s intense silence and took Mina by the shoulders and shook her, trying to snap her into her senses. “Listen, in a few minutes you’ll bring her out here, to the garden, and you’ll talk to her. You’ll pretend you’re talking to Chaeyoung, but we both know that’s not true. You’ll hypnotize her when she least expects it. You’ll stop her here and now!”

Mina pulled out her chip and placed it in her pocket without a word. “Okay,” she gulped, feeling her heart starting to pound already. “She looks like Chaeyoung, and she’s in front of my room?”

“Yes! Go find her, she’ll be there now!” Nayeon urged. “I’ll be waiting out here, hidden. I’ll make sure you’re safe. If anything goes wrong…”

“You’ll go back in time, got it,” Mina assured, gritting her teeth. She began walking quickly toward the school, feeling a shallowness in her breath. An intense fear overcame her as she thought about the future Nayeon had come from. What had happened that caused Nayeon to travel back in time? Maybe Mina didn’t want to know. She pinched the inside of her left palm as she walked closer to the girl’s wing, trying to calm herself. She wasn’t ready to face Akari so soon, yet she had no choice.

Sure enough, she could see Chaeyoung’s silhouette at the end of the hallway, in front of her door. Mina stepped forward, quickly approaching the girl. Was she sure this was really Akari and not the real Chaeyoung?

Chaeyoung heard the older girl approaching and turned to look at her with a small smile on her face. “I was looking for you,” Chaeyoung explained, a bit sheepishly. “Well, I was about to knock on your door, but I figured you weren’t in your room anyway.”

Mina closed the distance between them, standing next to the girl awkwardly. “Here I am,” Mina chided, trying to mask any unease in her voice. “Want to walk with me?” she asked. She’d take Akari out to the garden and get this over with there, just as Nayeon said.

Chaeyoung simply nodded and as the two girls walked for a few minutes, mostly in silence, Mina suggested sitting outside in the garden. “It’s rather warm outside,” Mina mused. “It’s a nice day for sitting out in the sun, I was just out there.” Once outside, they sat on a bench at the far end of the garden, which had easily become Mina’s favorite spot in the school.

Despite being in her favorite place, Mina felt like someone was suffocating her, though she didn’t dare show it. She was sitting next to a girl who probably wanted nothing more than to kill her and her friends and the thought made Mina feel faint.

“How are you holding up?” Chaeyoung asked, looking at Mina worriedly. It was scary how well Akari was playing Chaeyoung. Mina could easily see herself falling for this trap if Nayeon hadn’t warned her in the first place. In another timeline, one where Nayeon didn’t appear from the future, Mina must have taken the bait. Mina wondered what she had done then, and how long Akari played this game until she actually revealed herself. Mina nearly shuttered at the thought.

Trying to make herself seem comfortable, Mina folded her hands in front of her. “As best as I can be, given the circumstances,” Mina replied. She didn’t say anything else, but simply bit her lip and tried her best to continue making eye contact with the girl sitting beside her. They were so close that their knees were almost touching, and Mina had to fight the urge to slide away in disgust.

Nayeon was watching from behind a bush nearby, positioned so that she could go back in time at any moment. Come on Mina, what are you waiting for? She thought to herself, watching the girl that looked like Chaeyoung stare at Mina knowingly.

“You must’ve been so scared, seeing her—” Chaeyoung began, but was promptly interrupted by the sound of the door to the school opening. Nayeon swore to herself as Chaeyoung, the real Chaeyoung, appeared. Chaeyoung froze as soon as she saw Mina sitting next to someone who looked just like her.

“Mina?” Chaeyoung replied, a bit helplessly, hand curling into a fist, staring at the imposter next to Mina with dark eyes.

Mina looked back and forth between the girls, reminding herself what Nayeon had told her. Before Mina even had time to think, Chaeyoung, standing by the door, suddenly dropped to the ground, groaning in agony. Akari, beside Mina, suddenly stood up and had her arm outstretched toward the younger girl on the ground. “We can’t have anyone interrupting our important conversation,” Akari snapped. “Mina, don’t even think about using your powers or her head explodes.”

Mina’s mind went blank as she watched helplessly as Chaeyoung wailed and gripped at her head, writhing in pain. Mina stood up from the bench, nearly falling over at the sudden wave of terror that washed over her—

CLICK.

—“I’m just worried about her, you know? I just can’t imagine what it’d be like to be in that situation in the first place, held like a prisoner for over a year—”

“—ughhhhhh,” Nayeon groaned, running a hand through her hair in frustration and causing Chaeyoung to widen her eyes in alarm. The jump left Nayeon feeling slightly queasy. Two jumps within a short span of time always did. “Dammit Chaeyoung,” Nayeon muttered. “When I tell you to stay put, stay put, okay?” Nayeon jumped off her bed and put both hands on her head, grabbing her strawberry colored hair in annoyance and pulling slightly.

Before Chaeyoung could ask what the heck Nayeon was talking about the older girl held up a hand. “I need to go and find Mina. I’m here from the future. Something happened with Akari and I need to stop her. The only one who can do that is Mina. But this time, you need to stay in here in my room for at least an half an hour, alright? I’ll text you when it’s safe to leave…”

“Nayeon, you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t have time to explain, I will later though, I promise. I’m serious, you better stay here. If you don’t you could die...or Mina could,” and with that, Nayeon was out the door, leaving a very confused and slightly scared Chaeyoung sitting cross-legged on Jeongyeon’s bed.

Nayeon could really feel the strain from the jump now. Her limbs felt like jelly, as if they hadn’t completely solidified yet in this time. Nevertheless, she made her legs move faster than she thought possible as she headed toward the garden.

“Mina!” Nayeon cried when she spotted the girl once again. This time she cried out with more desperation.

Mina spun around and looked at Nayeon with alarm—the same expression Nayeon had seen only minutes earlier.

“Look, Akari is here in the building and she looks like Chaeyoung. I know this sounds crazy but I just came from the future, so I know these things, alright? She’s planning on getting you alone and then threatening all of us. She’ll be back tomorrow to kill us all if you don’t stop her here and now, okay? She’s outside of your door in the hallway. You need to take off your chip so you’ll be ready to hypnotize her while she thinks you don’t know it’s her!”

Mina continued to wordlessly stare at Nayeon in alarm with that same, aggravating look of disbelief on her face. Nayeon felt like shouting at the girl but internalized it, grabbing Mina’s shoulders and shaking her like she did before. “Myoui Mina, listen to me, in a few minutes you’ll bring Akari out here, to the garden, and you’ll talk to her. Humor her for a bit, but not for long. Hypnotize her when she least expects it. You need to stop her now Mina, you can’t hesitate! If you do, Chaeyoung could die.” Nayeon took a breath and removed her hands from Mina’s shoulders. “I know you feel some sense of guilt or whatever for this girl, but you need to put that behind you. Remember what she did to Sana and Momo, you don’t want her doing that to anyone else, do you?”

“N-no,” Mina whispered. She carefully pulled the chip out of her head and placed it in her pocket. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt,” she gulped, feeling her heart starting to pound already. “I’ll do it.”

“You need to do it as soon as she’s out here. As soon as you sit down, do...whatever it is you do. Put her under your spell.”

Mina nodded. Instantly her mind ran through a list of possibilities, as there were so many things she could do to Akari. There was one thing she knew that was the easiest and quickest way to put the older girl out, and so Mina went with that as her plan. She solidified it in her mind as she crossed the garden and entered the school once again, heading for the girl’s wing.

Sure enough, she could see Chaeyoung’s silhouette at the end of the hallway, in front of her door. Mina stepped forward, quickly approaching the girl. Was she sure this was really Akari and not the real Chaeyoung? How did she know the girl that called out to her wasn’t actually Akari, and that this was all a trap? She bit her tongue to stop her world from spinning.

Chaeyoung heard the older girl approaching and turned to look at Mina with a small smile on her face. She looked so much like Chaeyoung... “I was looking for you,” Chaeyoung explained, with a sheepish smile on her face, not quite making eye contact. “Well, I was about to knock on your door, but I figured you weren’t in your room anyway.”

Mina quickly closed the distance between them, standing next to the girl awkwardly. “Here I am,” she chided, trying to mask any unease in her voice. Could Akari see right through her? “Want to walk with me?” Mina asked. She’d take Akari out to the garden and get this over with there, just as Nayeon said.

Chaeyoung simply nodded and as the two girls walked for a few minutes, mostly in silence, Mina suggested sitting outside in the garden. Once outside, they sat on Mina’s favorite bench.

“How are you holding up?” Chaeyoung asked, looking at Mina worriedly.

Before Mina could respond, she thought the simple word, sleep, directing it toward Akari. The girl on the bench fell backward, slumping back against the bench until she slid off the bench and landed onto the ground with a thud. Her eyes were closed.

Mina stood up abruptly and Nayeon emerged from the bushes. “You did it,’ Nayeon uttered, staring down at the girl lying on the grass with wide eyes. “Mina, you did it!”

The sound of a door opening echoed through the space and Nayeon and Mina’s heads snapped to the door. There was Chaeyoung, the real Chaeyoung, looking at the both of them with wide eyes. She came running over in record speed.

Mina breathed a sigh of relief as Chaeyoung simply stood staring in shock down at the girl on the ground before her. “Akari?” Chaeyoung asked. Before Mina could respond Chaeyoung turned to Nayeon. “Was that what your running off was about?”

“Yes,” Nayeon confirmed. “Sorry about that. I came from the future to warn Mina that Akari was here. Twice, may I add, because some people don’t know the meaning of stay put. Seriously Chaeyoung, what did I tell you a few minutes ago? If you came any earlier Akari would’ve had you writhing on the ground like last time.”

“Sorry,” Chaeyoung apologized. “But how can you expect me to stay put after dropping a bomb like that? Is she dead?” Chaeyoung asked.

“No,” Mina breathed. “Asleep. I think I know what to do with her though. Something I should’ve done before. I can make sure she never hurts anyone again.” Chaeyoung’s eyes widened at that and she quickly grabbed Mina’s arm.

“Wait, Mina…are you sure you want to...”

“I’m not going to kill her,” Mina assured. “I’m going to try to erase her memories, all of them. That way she won’t remember all the terrible things that happen to her. She won’t remember any of it. She won’t remember me…” her voice trailed off.

“Are we sure we shouldn’t just...take care of her?” Nayeon asked. “Even if you wipe her memories, she’s still dangerous with her powers alone, isn’t she? I won’t let her hurt anyone again, even accidentally…”

Even accidentally. That hit Mina hard. She couldn’t help but think back to her past. Her friend...her best friend...she’d hurt someone—killed someone—accidentally. If Nayeon knew that would she want Mina dead too?

Mina fought the tears that suddenly came to her eyes. “I can’t do that to her,” Mina whimpered. “I just...I can’t do that.” She sank to the ground slowly, staring at Akari’s limp form.

“I’m gonna call JYP,” Chaeyoung replied. “Before we make any decisions, he’ll know what’s best.”

“Okay,” Nayeon agreed. “Good idea.”

Chaeyoung pulled out her phone and pulled up his office contact, waiting patiently as the phone rang. As he picked up, Chaeyoung tried her best to calmly explain that they had Akari, asleep, in front of them. In a few minutes, JYP appeared, walking quickly toward the three girls still standing around Akari.

“She’s just asleep but we’re not sure what else to do…” Mina explained. “I thought, maybe I could just wipe her memories. She wouldn’t be a bad person then, after all. She wouldn’t remember the facility. What was done to her...any of her training...”

“But she’s still a threat, right?” Nayeon challenged, looking squarely at JYP. “Don’t you think we should…”

“Mina, if you do that, we will be responsible for her. We can’t let her out of our sights. She must stay here, where we can teach her to control her powers again. She’ll be scared and confused. We’ll have to fabricate a story, give her another life, so that she has no chance of remembering her old one. Can you assure me that you can keep her under control?” JYP asked.

Mina looked down at Akari, and then back at JYP. “Yes,” she nodded firmly. “I can.”

“Alright, well I’ll have another room prepared for her then.” JYP bent down and picked up the girl up off the ground. “For now we need somewhere comfortable for her while you erase her memories.”

“My room,” Mina replied. “She can use my bed for now, she won’t be out for much longer anyway.”

JYP nodded and began carrying Akari back toward the school with the three girls wordlessly following behind. Chaeyoung ran to hold the door open for him and he nodded in thanks. They walked down the corridor in silence, and a few onlookers watched with puzzled expressions. Mina rushed ahead to unlock her room, opened the door, holding it open for JYP, and flipped on the light. JYP delicately set the girl down on the bed. “Once the room is prepared for her I’ll let you know,” JYP said as he backed away and exited the room, leaving the three girls alone with Akari.

“Well,” Nayeon replied, sounding slightly bitter. “If she gets out of hand and hurts anyone else I’ll never forgive you, Mina.” There was a pause, and a heavy silence hung in the air. Mina could practically feel the outrage radiating off of Nayeon. “Better get to it then.” She left the room and closed the door behind her.

Chaeyoung studied Mina’s face but it was a mask; completely neutral. “I think this is the right thing to do. It’s not completely her fault she turned into a monster. This is like a second chance for her.” Chaeyoung took a breath and turned to face Akari again.

“This is...creepy,” Chaeyoung confessed, staring at the girl on the bed. “Seeing her, looking like me,” Chaeyoung explained. Mina nodded in understanding. Mina had felt the exact same way earlier today, back at the warehouse, when Akari had shifted to look like her while holding the bloody knife. “Why me?” the younger girl couldn’t help but ask. Why had Akari chosen her to look like?

Mina sighed. “She just wanted to get close to me...I guess she figured you were the best way to do it.”

Chaeyoung didn’t respond, but moved closer so that she was standing next to Mina. “So she’ll forget everything, even her own name?”

Mina nodded. “Everything. I’ll teach her to be good. I won’t let her hurt anyone else.” Her eyebrow furrowed slightly as her hand began moving in small motions, pointed at the girl’s head. She focused on Akari’s face, and thought exactly what she wanted to happen. After an half a minute, Mina stopped and dropped her hands. “Okay, she shouldn’t remember anything anymore.” Mina blinked and suddenly Akari moved slightly, as if shivering, and then her skin turned into tiny scales, flipping back, and revealing her true form in an instant. Mina held her breath as she stared at the Akari she knew so well.

Chaeyoung’s eyes widened, seeing the girl in front of her shift. So this was Akari, the real Akari. She had long, straight, dark brown hair and a pleasant face. Lying on the bed, she looked peaceful and not at all dangerous. But Chaeyoung wouldn’t let herself be fooled. “I’m going to wake her up now,” Mina warned. “She won’t know who either of us are. We’ll have to explain.”

“What’s the story?”

“She’s an orphan, like Sana and Momo. She’s been at the school for years but she was in a car accident. That’s how she lost her memory?” Mina suggested. “We’re her friends with her Chaeyoung. For all intensive purposes. We need her to trust us, so we have to tell her that.”

Chaeyoung’s stomach dropped at the thought of playing nice with Akari, but she nodded. Mina took a deep breath and focused on Akari. The girl’s eyes suddenly fluttered open and Chaeyoung reflexively took a step back. It took a moment for the girl’s eyes to come into focus before she gasped and looked around. When her eyes found Mina, she looked very confused.

“Hello,” Mina said softly and gently. “Don’t be scared. You were in an accident. Can you tell me what you remember?” She was going off of dramas she’d watched on TV, but she was pretty sure that’s what a doctor might say to someone waking up from trauma.

“What? An accident?” the girl replied. Akari’s voice sounded surprisingly small and light. Chaeyoung watched her closely and skeptically. “I...I don’t...I don’t know where I am. Where am I? Who are you?”

“I’m Mina, and this is Chaeyoung,” Mina motioned to the younger girl. “We’re your friends. We’ve been so worried about you. But you’re alright. You just suffered some trauma to the head from the accident. You’re in my room right now, at JYP’s school. Does none of this sound familiar?”

Akari slowly shook her head, looking quite scared. She reminded Chaeyoung of a fawn. How was this the same girl who stabbed Sana, nearly froze Momo to death, and killed countless other people?

“No...I...I can’t even remember...can you tell me...my name?” the girl was clearly shaken. Her eyes were wide, and she was hugging herself as it was all she could do to keep herself from falling into pieces.

“Akari,” Mina whispered. “It’s Akari.”

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Hey all, thanks for reading! Do you guys think Akari can actually be redeemed?

Thanks for all the upvotes and comments as well, you guys are the best. I'm gonna be really busy soon with work and classes but I'll try my best to continue updating regularly. Please bear with me! xx

(Also excuse any typos in this chapter, when I went to submit it my internet decided to stop working and I lost all my edits. Not fun.)