She honestly didn’t mean for it to happen, but now she was running through the streets of Seoul with a stranger, their hands held tight. She looked back for a second, the girl’s light brown hair flowing freely behind her.

The girl smiled at her, trusting her to take her wherever she wanted.

An hour earlier

“For ’s sake, Yuri. I swear, if you use even a little bit of your flame from now on without my permission, I’ll kill you myself, reincarnate you, and kill you again.” This tirade came from a seemingly calm girl, one with auburn hair and slender fingers. Yoona chastised her best friend as they strolled through the afternoon streets of Seoul, both of them experts at displaying poker faces.

“Come on, Yoong,” Yuri said. “No one even noticed. And you should have seen their faces; they were too busy wondering what force was disturbing their atmosphere.”

“OH,” the fuming girl retorted, turning to look at Yuri. “I had to memory wipe four people, stop time, make another unconscious, and place a ing car in front of her to make it look like an accident. And where were you? Adding more trash to my list of unwanted things by blasting a group of men into pieces.

Yuri sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to be hearing the end of it. “Okay, I’m not going to apologize for knocking them unconscious. They were trying to touch me. Who has ever heard of a filthy human making contact with someone as holy as I am?”- At this, Yoona couldn’t help but roll her eyes- “But I will for not cleaning up after the mess I created.” They stopped at the circular fountain which was empty except for a few couples sitting around. 

Yuri opened her arms for a hug, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

The auburn haired girl couldn’t help but soften. They had been best friends since the beginning of training, and Yuri never failed to impress her. The times that the older girl wouldn’t care about the rules were those she, secretly, enjoyed the most.

Yoona stepped into her embrace. She said in a lower voice. “I didn’t mind replaying the scene over for a while. It was funnier each time.” She let out a chuckle, making Yuri smile, one of the rare times she ever did.

The two of them wandered inside Skyview Mall. “You want to go to the food court below? I could eat a Yuri and a hippo,” Yoona said, leading the brunette to the escalators.  

Yuri looked around cautiously. “I really don’t like this world. We never get cases of or abuse in ours.” Her eyes became distant, and Yoona squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Look at me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “The only way we’re going to be able to return is if we find where Viper is. We’re not as strong as we used to be without our stones. But you never know when our journey ends, so we might as well enjoy this world since there’s nothing we can do.”

Yuri gave a shadow of a smile. She felt a sudden wave of affection toward her best friend. “See? This is why I need you. Right now, I’m just picturing how ecstatic I’ll be when the three of us can beat the out of him.” This made Yoona give her an alligator smile.

“I’m sure Taeyeon and her shared sadism with you can give Viper a satisfactory ride to hell.”

They stepped off the escalator and proceeded to order some food at the sushi place. Yoona scanned the menu quickly while they waited on the long line.  Yuri observed a girl who appeared to look lost and scared. She had golden brown hair and a face with the words goddess written over it.

Yuri didn’t want to invade into the stranger’s mind, so she turned her attention back to food. But the girl’s image lingered in her mind, as if she had such a troubled past that it seeped into Yuri’s mind.

“Yes, I would like to order six servings of eel, four of California, and four miso soups,” Yoona said. A raised eyebrow and six minutes later, she walked happily toward the escalator to go back up to floor 1.

“Yah, we’re not eating here? Oh great choice, let’s eat at home,” Yuri called. She quickened up her pace to catch up to the auburn haired girl, but snapped her head around when she heard a shrill scream. Yoona appeared immediately to her side.

“No.” she warned, gripping Yuri’s arm firmly.

Yuri gave her a pleading look. “You said to enjoy this world, and I can’t do that if I don’t meet my wants.” She found the source of the scream, and knew she had to go when she saw the golden brown haired girl in the grasp of an angry man.

“I promise to do anything you’ll want and I will come home today with ice cream,” Yuri compromised quickly.

Yoona dove into a deep train of thought, and shrugged. “Alright, make sure it has mint.” Yuri gave her a quick hug and ran toward the girl. Yoona looked after her, her expression that of a proud, yet exasperated, mother. She took one glance at the unpleasable man, and sent a thought to Yuri.

And Yuri?

Yea?

You have my permission.  

Yuri approached the scattered crowd of people surrounding the man and terrified girl. Yuri entered the girl’s mind partially, flinching at the sights she saw and felt. Slides of being trapped in a corner, locked in a filthy cellar, and cowering underneath the dark, towering figure of the same man flew past, repeating itself. P-please, I beg you.

Yuri forced herself out, gasping to catch her breath. Once her mind was hers again, she rested her attention at the matter at hand.

“What did I say about running away, you piece of ?!” he barked. He tried to pull the girl with him, but she appeared to have done this many times before and this was the last straw.

“I don’t know you,” she said coldly. This surprised Yuri, though this only made her even more intrigued. It seemed that the people viewed this as a common paradigm, and watched with nothing else to do.

“Come on, let’s go back home, and you should apologize to your mother for making her worried,” he urged, his tone suddenly calm. This made the people shake their heads in disapproval, clearly on the side of the supposed father.

The girl trembled, knowing this very well. She spoke again. “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m waiting on a…friend. Excuse me.” She tried to break free but her strength did not match her oppressor’s. 

As soon as she saw the raised hand, Yuri stepped in between them, her hand stopped the man’s from slapping the girl. She feigned surprise. “Oh, there you are. It took me forever to find you. Who’s this? I thought I told you not to associate with es.”

The girl widened her eyes at how blunt this stranger was. She was lost for words, until the man released his grip on her and attempted to hit Yuri. The latter twisted his arm, eliciting a grunt. The sound of bones cracking made the crowd cringe.

“We’re going to be late for the movie,” Yuri said nonchalantly. She then paused time and kneeled down to the immobile human.

You deserve the life waiting for you. She pressed her palm against his chest, closing her eyes and whispered the deadly words. A blue energy radiated from her palm and tunneled into the man’s body, which emitted a blue halo. The body hovered a few inches off the floor. Yuri slowly closed her fist around the gray blob of energy and carefully transferred it into a jar.

She stood up, and time resumed again. A woman saw the body on the ground, screaming on impulse as most do, “MURDER!”

Yuri let out a sigh. How stupid are these people? She saw a man dialing for the police and knew she had to get home quick. She turned around, relieved to find the girl still there. Yuri extended her hand.

“Let me take you somewhere safe.”

The girl stared into Yuri, and a smile was all it took to convince her to go. Hands clasped, they ran toward the exit, the beautiful summer late afternoon shining upon them.

Yuri suddenly stopped. She turned to the girl who looked at her expectantly. “Sorry, we’ll have to make a stop at the ice cream store first.”