pairing: Jihyo x Chaeyoung

description: Chaeyoung knew that it shouldn't have felt so good to be devil's top priority.

note: this is the most oc Jihyo I have ever written and also very dark so therefore >

rating: M (harrasment, mentions of murder etc)

Chaeyoung struggled to keep up with the woman before her. She was tall and serious with a strong aura that could have been soothing if she didn’t walk like she was trying to run away. If Chaeyoung could keep up with her in the maze of corridors, then surely nothing bad would happen? Just like making sure your torch won’t burn out in a cave.

"She is in our most secure quarters," the woman, who had introduced herself as Yoo Jeongyeon, said while keeping up the lethal speed. Chaeyoung would have asked her to slow down, but she didn't want to spend any more time in the long and narrow spaces. With or without other people. The faster she could get the hell out, the faster she could begin to forget.

"After the incident with the guard..." The officer said, end of her sentence fading into heavy, musky air that smelled vaguely of insect repellent. Chaeyoung knew the story behind the remark. It made the saliva at the back of sticky and thick, but she tried to concentrate on the other woman who was clearly trying to overcome feelings that were far from professional. Chaeyoung would have felt more sympathy if the concrete building wasn’t pressing on her shoulders.

"Some of our people didn't take her seriously at first," Jeongyeon continued, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "She is very small and light, but they learned after that... Just wish the lesson hadn't come with such a high price."

Chaeyoung nodded, knowing that the woman couldn’t see the gesture but unable to talk out loud.

"I’m glad you’re here. We could use some help," Jeongyeon said and looked back to send Chaeyoung a curt smile. Chaeyoung wished, not for the first time, that they could walk side by side.

"I’m happy to help," she said and willed herself to feel a shadow of that happiness. A little twinkle of light at the bottom of dark water.

Silently, they continued for a few more minutes, during which they saw no other people. The extreme isolation of the place both comforted and terrified her. If something happened down there it would be hard to send help fast enough, but it would also be nearly impossible to get away. In case you were someone who needed to stay locked up.

Chaeyoung a bracelet on her wrist, which was the only personal item she had been allowed to keep with her to the visit. She had left all her other personal belongings in Jeongyeon's office and had only been able to keep the jewelry after a long discussion. She understood why Jeongyeon was so adamant about the golden bracelet, but it had been a gift from Dahyun. She couldn’t make Jeongyeon understand how it made her feel confident and safe, like she was carrying a good luck charm.

Dahyun was the actual good luck charm in Chaeyoung’s life but she would never drag the other woman to the hell she had been in. It was enough that she understood what Chaeyoung had been through and still accepted her, past and everything. It was more than she dared to ask for.

"We're here," Jeongyeon said and stopped, hand going to her hip to secure a firearm. Chaeyoung felt almost relieved that they had arrived. Waiting was nearly worse than the inevitable.

"Are you sure about this?" Jeongyeon asked once she looked up again. For the first time since Chaeyoung had arrived they looked each other in the eye, closer now than two strangers that had just met. It was like they had already been to a journey together.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Chaeyoung said, swallowing the dryness in .

"I'll be there," the woman said and after checking everything once more, she nodded and opened a heavy door with her identity card. As they walked through it, Chaeyoung had a strange feeling that they had just passed through an invisible gate between the worlds. The old rules would apply no more.

They came to another corridor that was wider than the previous ones. The left side of it was nothing but painted concrete, but on the right side were four doors, one every fifteen meters. The doors looked as heavy as the one they had just been through, but somehow more fragile. What she was seeing was the last barricade between them and the world.

Jeongyeon moved to a door nearest to them and began to open it. Even as Chaeyoung kept her eye on the door she couldn't understand all the things Jeongyeon did to pry it open. There were mechanical locks and digital locks, so many intricate ways to keep someone inside. It would have been laughable if she didn’t know what was waiting for them.

"What's the special occasion?" a voice said from inside the cell as soon as Jeongyeon got the door open. The voice made little particles of ice run through Chaeyoung’s blood and she nearly lifted a hand to lean against the doorway. She could have recognized the smooth, low tone anywhere in the world, even under water or through a haze of narcotics. Instead of running, like she had done in many of her nightmares, Chaeyoung forced her feet to move forward, unable to hear what Jeongyeon was saying to the prisoner.

Then Chaeyoung saw her, a millisecond before she saw her too.

Jihyo sat there, both hands and legs tied by a thin chain that was connected to cuffs around her wrists and ankles. Her eyes flashed the way they always did when she was pleased and Chaeyoung shivered, remembering the look all too well.

"Good to see you," Jihyo said and smiled, making it hard not be swayed by the warmth on her face. Her hair had grown long since Chaeyoung had last seen her and age had melted some of the roundness from her cheekbones. She looked… vibrant.

"You too," Chaeyoung said, more quietly than she had intended. Jihyo could tell right away that she was lying but instead of commenting on it, her smile grew into a grin that bared a row of white teeth. She looked so good, better than Chaeyoung had remembered. Even in the country's strictest prison the woman was glowing, like a rose pushing through concrete. And here was Chaeyoung, diminishing, just when the cuts from the thorns had began to heal.

"Miss Son is not here to exchange pleasantries. She is here because you said you would reveal more details about the prison break only to her. She is here now, so start talking," Jeongyeon said, gesturing towards a chair in the farthest corner of the cell, as far away from Jihyo as possible. Jeongyeon's chair was between her and Jihyo, not blocking the view but still working as a gesture of safe boundary.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it," Jihyo said. She laughed, the sound of it filling the space and making Chayeoung remember things she had tried so hard to forget. Long, slow mornings, deep, dark nights and lies so twisted you could end up bound by them. "Your new boss must be a real stickler if he wants to find out who did every petty little sin in this rathole."

Jeongyeon stared at the prisoner unfazed and Chaeyoung could tell that nothing Jihyo could say would get a rise out of the officer. But when Jihyo turned to look at her instead, she began to fear for herself.

"And I didn't think you'd come. I'm proud of you, Chaengie," Jihyo said, looking so soft and sincere that Chaeyoung wished she could throw up.

"Enough," Jeongyeon said, the word cutting the tail of the endearment.

"Fine, fine," Jihyo said, mock-humble with her hands up in surrender. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know who helped Im and Han escape. You know that."

"What about you?" Jihyo said and turned to look at Chaeyoung again. "What would you like to know?

Chaeyoung moved to the chair that had been bolted to the floor. She had a feeling that once she sat down on it, she wouldn't ever get up. Like sitting in the center of a giant meat-eating flower.

"I want to know what Miss Yoo wants to know," she said, looking Jihyo in the eye and lifting her chin up in what she hoped was the right amount - not too much to show how scared she was, and not too little as to make her look timid.

"And what's that?" Jihyo said, smile moving on like a shadow.

"Stop playing," Jeongyeon cut in again, trying to get Jihyo's attention to herself. "If you don't behave, we'll leave immediately."

"Behave? Am I a child?" Jihyo laughed, turning to look at the officer just as an ear-piercing alarm went off in the corridor. Chaeyoung flinched, her body already sensitive in a state of suppressed panic. The noise felt like a physical blow against the fragile shield she had built around herself.

A beat after the alarm the sprinkler system went off.

"," Jeongyeon muttered and took a radio from her belt, pushing a button so hard her finger turned red-white. Her hair and clothes were rapidly getting damp. With great efficiency she managed to open the door and look to the corridor, trying to get a hold of other staff.

Chaeyoung sat in the fake-rain and watched Jihyo watching her. Neither of them made any gesture towards moving up or saying anything, but Chaeyoung could read the whole story from the inmate's eyes, while Jeongyeon was too busy to pay attention. A trickle of water escaped from Chaeyoung’s hair and ran under her collar, tickling mercilessly, but she paid it no mind.

"Miss Son, we need to go," the officer said, water falling down her forehead like beads of sweat. It was admirable how she managed to look so cool, but Chaeyoung had learned to study people and could almost taste her terror.

"Why?" Jihyo said. "She just got here. And not afraid of a little shower. Right, Chaeyoung?"

"Miss Son. I can't leave you two alone."

"I am all chained up," Jihyo continued, lifting her hands high in the air to show chains in their full glory. "She is safer here than out there. You don’t even know what’s going on.”

Chaeyoung looked from one woman to the other, feeling far away as the two argued about what was the best choice for her. In the past, she had learned how little control she had over things when she was with Jihyo. It was like being followed by a God of Vengeance - watching her create havoc all around them but being unable to do anything about it. Like the hand of Midas, except that when Chaeyoung touched something it didn’t turn things gold but only destroyed them.

She knew with exhausting certainty that Jihyo had planned the whole meeting and there was only one way to get out of it. To play her part until Jihyo would see fit to let her go.

"You go. I'll stay here and wait for you," Chaeyoung said, managing to sound sure now that she was lying to someone else than Jihyo. God knew she had practiced.

Jeongyeon stopped operating the radio and looked at her, for the first time appearing to be properly unhinged since they got underground. But before Jeongyeon could argue about it, the radio started talking in static bursts.

"All available personnel needed on corridor 7F."

"Go," Chaeyoung repeated, proud of herself for getting the word past the lump in . The radio continued to sprout commands until Jeongyeon turned it off for a moment.

"I'll be right back. Don't do anything," Jeongyeon said, directing the last sentence to Jihyo, leaving the room and closing the only door between Chaeyoung and the world. The torch had burned down.

"Jihyo, please," Chaeyoung whimpered as soon as the door stopped moving. The other woman got up from her chair with theatrical ease and freed herself from the chains as if they were mere cobwebs.

"You know I always liked magic tricks," Jihyo said conversationally and stood up, rubbing her wrists where the chains had left red marks. "What's magic to the audience, is just pure skill to the performer. Can you still do the rope trick I taught you?"

Jihyo walked closer, taking her sweet time with every step, like she knew exactly how much time she had left. Chaeyoung suspected that that was the case. Jihyo was nothing if not meticulous.

"Maybe," Chaeyoung said and sat deeper in her seat, her back touching the chair rest. She let her chin lower, until she could only see Jihyo's feet approaching her on the grey cell floor. Jihyo had always walked softly, soles rolling against the ground as if she was the only person whose ancestors were part big cats, part dead humanoids.

Jihyo stopped two steps before Chaeyoung’s chair, leaving behind footsteps on the damp floor.

"Look at me," she said, with steely quietness that she had not used since Chaeyoung had entered the cell.

Swallowing, Chaeyoung lifted her face, but when her gaze landed on Jihyo's dark eyes, she had to look further up where Jihyo's hair ended and the empty space above began.

"Almost," Jihyo said and Chaeyoung followed the silent instruction, lowering her gaze so that they were eye to eye. A rush of sudden adrenaline nearly brought tears to her eyes and Jihyo could see it, swirling in the ness of her eyes.

"Good girl," Jihyo purred and lifted her hand to caress Chaeyoung's cheek. It was such a soft, intimate gesture that it was hard not to lean into it. Chaeyoung felt drunk after years of sobriety, secretly proud that Jihyo had planned the whole scene just to touch her and not to break out of the prison.

It shouldn’t have felt so good to be devil’s top priority.

Suddenly, Jihyo used the same hand to grab Chaeyoung on the shoulder and lift her up, spinning her around so that Chaeyoung was left with her back against Jihyo's front. It all happened so fast that she could do nothing but close her eyes and gasp. The world was going around in circles on both sides of her closed eyelids.

"I've missed you so much," Jihyo said, nose pressed against Chaeyoung's neck, breathing in great gulps, like she had just gotten above water. She was making a sound at the back of that sounded like a twisted hum of a happy animal.

Chaeyoung tried to shake her off, but she had no fight left in her body. When Jihyo pressed a kiss on the skin just below her ear, her knees wobbled. Tears of frustration began to gather in her eyes.

"It's been too long, Chaengie," Jihyo whispered, her words slithering from between her lips. "None of the other girls are like you."

"You're lying," Chaeyoung whispered, wondering how much time had already passed since Jeongyeon had left and how much time still would before she would return. She had lost the sense of anything except the other woman's presence.

"Would you be jealous if I was?" Jihyo asked, her lip curving into a smile against the spot where Chaeyoung's neck met her shoulder. She pressed another kiss there, delicate and burning.

Chaeyoung kept her eyes closed, submitting completely to the kisses and caresses that touched layers in her that had been left alone for so long. If Chaeyoung let her thoughts go, she could almost forget all the people Jihyo had murdered and all the lies she had ever told her, while they were still together in some distorted past life. It had been another Chaeyoung back then, only Jihyo had remained unchanged.

Jihyo ran a hand down Chaeyoung's arm, possessive like she was deciding whether to buy her or not. When Jihyo’s fingertips crazed the line where Chaeyoung's sleeve ended and skin began, she halted, body turning hard from concertation.

"Who is she?" Jihyo whispered.

Chaeyoung opened her eyes and saw that Jihyo had curled a finger around her golden bracelet, so that the lone bee pendant was hanging in the air. The bee was turned away from its golden chain, eager to break free and fly away.

Chaeyoung felt something precious inside of her die.

"You must like her a lot," Jihyo purred, swinging her finger so that the bee dangled in the air, looking like it was under a seizure. Jihyo’s hand dig into Chaeyoung’s hip so hard that it should have been able to dislocate something.

"It's alright, baby. You should have fun while you wait. But remember, I'll come back to you soon and then it's just you and me."

With that, Jihyo grabbed Chaeyoung's wrist, crushing the helpless pendant against her skin. Chaeyoung yelped and spun again as Jihyo moved her, a doll in tiger's arms. When they were face to face again, Jihyo grinned and then pressed their lips together, swallowing Chaeyoung's broken whimpers. Chaeyoung forgot her fear for herself and Dahyun, forgot where she was and who she was, forgot how to breathe until she was back in the chair, all life drained out of her.

At some point the sprinklers had stopped pouring water on them and Jihyo had returned to her place, wearing the chains like they had never been off. Only thing that had changed was the look in her eyes. It was the most subtle change in the cell, yet the most profound. The tiger was sated. For now.

Seconds or minutes after, Jeongyeon entered the cell, carefully scanning the space for any signs of struggle. When she found none, she turned towards Chaeyoung.

"Are you okay?"

Dazed, Chaeyoung nodded.

"Did she do or say anything while I was gone?"

Chaeyoung shook her head, water dripping to the floor from the motion. Jihyo was all silent praise, simmering with the satisfaction of her favorite prey’s actions. Chaeyoung didn’t let herself feel anything.

Jeongyeon relaxed visibly and returned to her seat, eyeing the prisoner carefully.

"I can behave," Jihyo said, as if she had been addressed and once again, she lifted her arms to swing them side to side. "Your chains are too much for me."

Chaeyoung wanted to scream. It was so obvious that Jihyo was showing off, could Jeongyeon not see it?

"You still haven't answered the question."

"Our guest didn't ask any questions."

Chaeyoung watched the two women resume their previous argument and closed her eyes, drawing a slow, shaky breath.

"Who helped Im and Han?" she said, making Jihyo and Jeongyeon turn towards her, the former with a look of interested amusement and the latter with a look of mild surprise.

"The new guard upstairs," Jihyo said and began to pour out details so fast that Jeongyeon had to ask her to slow down. Chaeyoung watched the inmate talk; the way she sat in the chair like she was in her own office and they were her guests. Jihyo’s mouth moved and all Chaeyoung could hear was a strange buzzing in her ears, like a part of her was trying to get her attention. At an unknown point in time, Jihyo turned her gaze towards Chaeyoung and when Jeongyeon wasn't looking, she winked.

When the interrogation was over, Chaeyoung followed Jeongyeon the way they had come, corridors birthing corridors, like walking through an abandoned beehive. She could feel Jihyo's presence on her skin and at the back of her head, like the knowledge of the Queen Bee at the center of her kingdom.

Jeongyeon thanked her and Chaeyoung said her lines, uncertain whether they were her own making or something Jihyo had planted in . The officer didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and with gratitude she set Chaeyoung free, returning her the rest of personal items. Only now they seemed like a mismatched collection of things from charity shops and Chaeyoung wanted to leave them behind.

In her car, at the far end of the parking lot, Chaeyoung removed the bracelet from her wrist and inspected it. It was identical to the one she had worn only two hours ago, but she could swear it looked somehow sinister. She hadn't noticed it before.

Starting the car, she drove off, wondering if she should call Dahyun, but realizing she had nothing to say. When the car crossed a river, she threw the bracelet out of the window, watching as the gold flashed against the grey sky.

Funny how she had just left a prison but felt more trapped than ever before.

A/N: Jinnibal Lecter, in the tune of Run For Your Life: These chains don't have a hold on me~

Happy Halloween!