“Tell me, Wendy. Would you happen to know what a Fetch is?” the King asked.

+++

Joy was up before Seulgi. She stumbled to the bathroom, knocking into the wall on her way down the hallway. Just as she was reaching for the handle, however, the door suddenly opened and there was Henry, save for a towel wrapped around his waist.

Her towel.

“UGH!” she shrieked. “What are you doing here?!”

Henry retreated into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. “My clothes are out there!” he exclaimed.

“Did you use my towel?!” she asked indignantly.

“I’ll give it back!”

“BURN IT!”

“What's all the shouting about?” Seulgi asked, coming up to Joy cautiously, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Joy gestured to the bathroom door. “Henry decided to help himself to our shower,” she explained in a haughty huff.

“Henry’s still here?” Seulgi asked soberly, her gaze settling on the door handle.

Seulgi’s dark mood helped Joy settle down a bit. “Apparently. Hey, he seems fine,” she said after a moment, putting a hand on Seulgi’s arm. She could see Seulgi was still upset about her actions last night.

The door opened a crack and Henry’s face peeked through.

“O-oh… morning, Seulgi,” he mumbled. “Joy, my clothes?”

Joy tsk’d and went to the living room to go find them. “Why didn’t you bring them in with you…” they heard her mutter as she stalked off.

Seulgi looked like she was about to leave too, so Henry called her back. “Hey, Seulgi…”

She didn’t want to talk to him. She was upset at herself for hurting him, but she was more upset that he seemed to have something to do with Irene’s disappearance. Still, they had known each other for a while, and had even collaborated recently-

Seulgi slowly turned back and gave Henry a dark look. “Butterfly,” she breathed. That was around the time her recurring dreams started.

Henry paled.

“That was you playing the music.”

He swallowed. He knew what she was referring to, and couldn’t deny it. “... Yeah,” he said finally. The admission sounded painful. “I played to lead you into the Hedge.” Night after night after night.

“He’s lying again,” Joy said darkly as she came up and his clothes at him.

Seulgi looked between them both as Henry slowly accepted his clothes. She trusted Joy far more than she trusted Henry just now, but she still didn’t feel threatened by him. “How can you tell?” she asked the youngest.

Joy glanced at her, suddenly a little shy. “... I just can. Not all of us get cool stuff like super strength and fire,” she said with a soft smile.

Seulgi watched her for a long moment, and Henry took that as his cue to shut the door and change.

“I think it’s cooler than accidentally hurting people,” Seulgi said, still in awe about this revelation. She realized Amber hadn’t been facetious when she used the term ‘lift the veil’ to describe introducing her to all of this new information. How could she have missed all of this happening at the company after being a trainee for years?

She decided she had no right to get offended anymore when people for being dense.

Joy just gave her a tight-lipped smile. The truth could sometimes be just as painful as a blow. “I think he’ll live,” she said after another moment. “Besides, he deserved it.”

Seulgi disagreed, though she supposed she should withhold judgement until she heard the whole story.

Presently, Henry stepped out of the bathroom and offered Joy her towel back. She took it from him with a look of undisguised disgust, which he chose to ignore.

“Okay,” he said with a sigh. “I think we need to sit down and talk.”

Both of the girls agreed.

+++

“Fetches. They’re… replacements, in a way,” the King mused. He had no mouth, but Wendy could somehow still discern that he blew out a breath as he sought for an explanation. His silvery cheeks puffed a bit. “I made her from a bit of Irene herself. In a lot of ways she really is a proxy for Miss Bae,” he said with a gesture down to the Fetch. “She’ll have most of the same traits and personality quirks… but there is one thing I cannot give her, and that is Irene’s memories.”

“It’s a temporary solution, Wendy,” the King drolled, continuing his explanation as he stepped down from his throne. He put a silvery hand on Irene’s shoulder and gestured for Wendy to come forward. “She is my gift to you. You see, the marketing department, in their infinite wisdom, has already begun dropping hints about your comeback to the public, so we are a little pressed for time, unfortunately. While we search for Irene, you will have to make do with her.” The company couldn’t risk anymore drama this year with two girls already making their departures from their respective groups.

Wendy was frozen in place. It was so eerie to be in front of someone who looked exactly like Irene, but who… wasn’t Irene. The girl wasn’t returning her stare, however; she seemed exceedingly shy.

“Wendy, please,” the King said softly, beckoning her.

Wendy broke from her reverie and came over to them.

The King inclined his head. “Wendy, this is Irene, for all intents and purposes. And Irene, this is Wendy.”

This Irene timidly looked up at Wendy and even though the King was obviously making introductions, Wendy noticed there was something akin to the spark of recognition in the girl’s eyes. They stared at each other with the same searching look.

“I know you will treat her kindly,” the King intoned. "She may be a Fetch, but they are people, too, keep in mind." He left them together and mounted the steps of his diaz. “Now Wendy, I am leaving it to you to explain this situation to the others. Should you need help, well, I believe you are becoming good friends with our lovely Miss Taeyeon now?

“As for Seulgi,” he continued, “Since she is not one of us, you will need to help Irene come up with some excuses as to why she will not remember certain things, including the choreography for your next song.”

Wendy was a little confused. Why should Irene already know the choreography for a song that hasn’t even been announced to them yet? “Wh-what is our next song?” she asked, unable to pull her gaze from Irene’s haunting eyes. There wasn’t even a glimmer of Irene’s Seeming in this Fetch.

“Why, it’s Be Natural, my dear.”

+++

Henry sat down heavily on their couch and rested his elbows on his knees. Neither of the girls wanted to sit next to him, so Seulgi stood while Joy pulled over a chair from their kitchen table. They waited for him to begin, watching his eyes sweep back and forth as he stared at the ground.

“Okay, first,” he began, glancing up at Joy from beneath his brows, “I won’t be able to tell you everything.” He held up a finger as Joy opened to speak. “I’m oathbound. Please don’t make me break it. I’ve already broken one pact and that’s what landed me here,” he ended with a grumble.

Joy closed and folded her arms across her chest. He made their dorm suite sound like the clink. Seulgi wasn’t sure what the big deal was with breaking a promise in such a dire situation as Irene being missing, but she was still willing to give him a chance to explain.

He sighed loudly. “So there’s this prophecy going around. You know Yeri, right?” he asked Joy. Seulgi knew the girl, too. They had worked together in that rookie group before Red Velvet’s debut. Was everyone in the company a - what had Amber called it? - a Changeling?

“Anyway, this prophecy’s bad news, okay? I don’t remember the whole thing, it was really long, but basically we think it means the True Fae are coming for the SM Court.”

“The who?”

Two sets of eyes swiveled over to Seulgi who stared at Henry in obvious confusion.

“Th… the True Fae?” Henry half-asked. “They’re the big wigs in Arcadia.”

“Arcadia?”

Henry blinked at her.

“Arcadia, the magical land of the Faerie Folk?”

Seulgi nodded slowly. Henry took a breath to continue, but she interrupted with another question.

“What’s the SM Court?”

Henry stared at her in open wonder. “I thought… I thought Amber explained everything to you?”

Joy squinted at Seulgi. “What exactly did Amber tell you?”

Seulgi shrugged sheepishly. “It was really confusing, but she basically said we’re kind of like the X-Men.”

“That’s…”

“... not even close…”

Joy rubbed her temples while Henry just put a hand over his mouth and stared past them both.

“Actually,” he said as he stared, his voice muffled by his hand, “that’s not too far off after all.”

“It’s so much more dangerous than that,” Joy countered. “Seulgi, this is really serious. They took us from our families. We’re here because we escaped. The SM Court was formed to protect our kind, because they want us back.” Joy’s arms weren’t simply folded any longer. She was hugging herself, trying to keep herself from trembling.

Henry nodded solemnly, but Joy wheeled on him. “And you were ready to give her to them just like that!”

“I wasn’t going to give her to them! I would never…!” he shouted back, then suddenly bit off his retort. He took a breath. “It was just part of the plan! We needed more information, so we… “ He shut his eyes tight and exhaled through his nose. “It was just part of the plan, okay? I can’t explain it more than that, but I wasn’t going to let them take her.”

“Then where’s Irene?” Seulgi asked as Joy and Henry glared at each other.

Just then, the door to their suite opened and in walked Wendy, her expression dark and her steps slow.

And behind her was Irene.

Henry frowned in mild confusion and Joy closed her eyes briefly.

“Ha,” Seulgi laughed in disbelief.

Henry, Joy, and Wendy watched in mute helplessness as Seulgi walked over to Irene and pulled her into a tight embrace. Henry remembered a similar scene occurring in the Court Haven recently, and he expected this situation to end fairly similarly.

But before the others could find the courage to tell her, Seulgi suddenly kissed Irene, right there in front of them.

The Fetch was more startled than any of them, first at being hugged and now at being kissed. She blinked rapidly, but didn’t pull away. She didn’t have to. Wendy stepped in and gently tugged at Seulgi’s shoulders.

Seulgi looked suitably embarrassed at the display, and she shyly took a step back. “S-sorry, I…“

“Seulgi, there’s something I need to tell you,” Wendy said quietly. “I think you should sit down.”

Seulgi looked up at her, then slowly looked again at Irene. And she finally noticed. Wendy tried to pull her over to the couch, but Seulgi was rooted in place, staring at the Fetch.

“What’s… going on?” she asked faintly.

The Fetch looked away, unable to face the shock and pain suddenly revealing themselves in Seulgi’s expression. She was already doing one hell of a job standing in for Irene.

Seulgi finally tore her gaze away from the girl and looked at Wendy. “Who is she?”

Wendy tilted her head, searching for an explanation. She had tried to think of one the entire walk back from the main building, but what could she come up with that would cover up the harsh truth? She now wished she had spent her time preparing the Fetch for Seulgi’s reaction instead.

“She’s… like a double,” Wendy said. “She’s meant to stand in while Irene’s gone.”

“But she looks just like her,” Seulgi said, and everyone fell silent again when they heard her voice crack on the last word.

Joy came up to stand next to Seulgi. “Because she is her, in a way.” Wendy tried to give Joy a warning look, but Joy forged on. “She comes from a small part of Irene. I know it’s not quite the same, but there’s good news: at least we know if she’s here,” Joy said, indicating the Fetch, “then Irene’s still alive, wherever she is.”

“But… why? Why is she here?” Seulgi asked. She looked at the Fetch again, though the girl didn’t return her gaze.

Wendy inhaled. “Because of our next song. It’s… it’s Be Natural, Seul.”

+++

“Are you sure you don’t want me to teach her?” Joy offered as Seulgi slung her duffel bag over her shoulder. The next day their manager had formally told them about the next song, and explained the procedure to them. They would be filming the video in a few days time, since the three of them already knew the choreography. It was up to Seulgi to catch the Fetch up.

Seulgi shook her head. “Wendy’s your partner. It’s better if she and I practice together.” She left their suite before Joy could make any other protest.

Irene was waiting for her out in the hall and fell into step with Seulgi as they headed to the company building.

Seulgi couldn’t help feeling like it was as if time had rewound itself five years and she was meeting that shy girl from Daegu all over again. The Fetch was so quiet, just as Irene had been. So unlike the way Irene was now.

They stepped out into the surprisingly cold evening air and Seulgi heard the Fetch gasp in surprise. Seulgi glanced down at her as her white breath clouded in front of her face. The Fetch was dressed in a t-shirt and aerobic pants - Irene’s clothes - not having anticipated how much the temperature was going to drop.

Seulgi glanced away and shrugged out of the button down shirt she had been wearing over her own t-shirt and handed it to the Fetch. She knew it wasn’t much but hoped it would at least help on the walk over. The Fetch accepted it in surprise, but before she could thank Seulgi, the taller girl had already walked on ahead.

The Fetch quickly threw on the shirt and trotted to catch up.

They spent hours rehearsing in the practice room. The Fetch knew she was an intense disappointment to Seulgi, and she felt compelled to make up for it by making sure she could at least live up to her original purpose. She tried her best to follow along, and Seulgi was surprisingly patient with her, showing her the moves sequence by sequence. Once the Fetch had mastered the movements, they moved on to slowly running through the whole piece. The Fetch could feel Seulgi’s piercing gaze on her back when she performed her solo sequences.

“Good,” was all Seulgi said after the Fetch locked eyes with her mirrored reflection. “I think we’re ready to practice with the music.”

Irene was there, wedged in Seulgi’s heart like a shard of ice, and every time she locked eyes with the Fetch, it sent a cold shock through her system. She was a fast learner like Irene. Competitive, too. And god, she looked just like her, right down to that uneven grin Seulgi loved so much. When the Fetch spun, and her hair whipped past Seulgi's face there was even a trace of that lavender scent that Irene liked to wear.

And the way she looked at Seulgi was starting to become a little too familiar as well.

They paused mid-sequence, their hands clasped, their chests heaving. Seulgi watched a bead of sweat trail from the girl’s temple down to her jaw.

“Why did you stop?” the Fetch asked.

“Why did you stop?” Seulgi panted back.

Seulgi’s grip was strong; it felt like she was being a little rough on purpose. A defense mechanism? the Fetch wondered.

“She means a lot to you.” It wasn’t a question. The Fetch’s thoughts burned with the memory of that kiss and the tightness of that embrace.

Seulgi frowned as she searched the girl’s eyes. “You have no idea.” She didn’t mean to let her anger drip into her response, but the bitterness was clearly there. This was their routine. This girl had no idea how much it hurt to have to perform it with someone who was meant to be Irene.

… But who just wasn’t her.

“I think I do. I can see it in the way you look at me,” the Fetch replied, with the hint of a wry smirk playing on her lips. She may be a stand-in, but she wasn’t stupid. And she had feelings of her own. She knew Seulgi was searching for something, like she was hoping if she stared at her long enough, she’d see Irene.

Seulgi finally dropped her gaze.

“Let’s run it again,” the Fetch suggested, before either of them could fall deeper into their thoughts. There was a lot of contact in this dance, but there was something very fundamental that was keeping them separate, and it showed in their execution.

Seulgi glanced at her for a moment before suddenly releasing her and turning away.

“No.”

“Seulgi,” the Fetch began, reaching out to her.

As soon as Seulgi felt the girl’s fingers on her wrist she pulled away. “Don’t-!” she shouted suddenly, then took a quick breath, attempting to calm her frustration. “P-please.”

But this girl was stubborn like Irene, too. She stood herself in front of Seulgi, giving the taller girl a concerned look.

“Don’t,” Seulgi said again, weakly. “I can’t even look at you.”

The Fetch glanced away. It felt like a blow. “I’m just here for show, Seulgi. Not to replace her.” There was a surprising amount of bitterness in her response that the Fetch herself was surprised to hear.

But Seulgi only hurt this much because the Fetch was such a remarkable likeness. Seulgi raised her eyes to the girl’s finally. There was just that one last, little something missing that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She was almost perfect. Seulgi reached out and brushed her thumb along the girl’s cheek, feeling her soft skin, that thin sheen of perspiration.

The Fetch could see that torrent of emotion in Seulgi’s dark eyes. Pain, longing, and something else that made her wish not for the first time that day that she really were Irene. She placed her hand on top of Seulgi’s, cupping it against her cheek. It was selfish.

So very selfish.

“I miss her,” Seulgi whispered, holding the Fetch’s gaze.

“I know.” She could feel Seulgi’s fingers gently trace along the outline of her face, brushing at the stray hairs that had loosened from her bun.

“... We should get back to work,” Seulgi said absently as her thumb strayed dangerously close to the Fetch's lips.

The Fetch swallowed. They had a rehearsal to complete. The King had fashioned her to perform, not to become a distraction. But she couldn’t find the strength to move. She couldn’t find the motivation to be a better person than this. She didn’t want to let Seulgi go.

But Seulgi was the one who finally pulled away and walked over to the stereo to start the music over.

Out of each other’s field of vision, they both squeezed their eyes shut and sighed.