He had three seconds. Jisoo counted them in her head and it was enough time for him to finish her off. He could have cursed her, hexed her, did anything to her with his wand while she was sitting there on the street, defenseless and looking at him like some wounded animal with nowhere else to go. 

She was staring at him, waiting for him to do something. 

He had three seconds. But he stood there, pointing his wand at her and not moving his lips the way she wished he would because that would have been better than the slow, agonizing seconds passing. It was the longest three seconds of Jisoo's life. It was also the emptiest. Jisoo looked straight at him, at his eyes, and the hatred that had been burning behind them were gone. The static energy that had pulsed and vibrated between them just a few minutes ago disappeared.

He stood still in front of her. This was his chance to end it all. Kill her, kill him, kill everything. Jisoo had already accepted her fate, that she would perish in his hands one way or another. But Taehyung looked liked he didn't want to do that. His heart, if he still even had one, was not into it. And his eyes, those mirrors to his black soul, did not seem empty anymore. He felt something and whatever it may be, it was enough to hold him back.

He had three seconds before the Aurors showed up and blasted his wand from his grip.

Two Aurors swiftly tackled Taehyung from behind, grabbing his arms and pinning them to his back to cuff his wrists together. They laid him down right there on the street. Taehyung made a noise of defiance but it was too late. He had been caught. In the next second, he had been surrounded by at least half a dozen Aurors as they began to lead him away just as quickly as they had apparated into existence. 

Jisoo collapsed onto the ground in relief. She turned and saw Johnny's chest heaving up and down. He was unconscious, cold and pale but he was still breathing and she was still alive. They both were. 

"Jisoo!" Jinyoung called her name as he ran to her. The Head of the Aurors kneeled down beside Jisoo to help her up, his warm hands gripping onto her shoulder and elbow to support her. Jisoo saw the way Jinyoung's eyes skimmed over Johnny's body as he was being loaded unto a gurney by paramedics. It was clear that he had questions he wanted to ask her about Johnny's identity and role in the capture of Taehyung, but he swallowed them down for now. "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

"Jinyoung, I'm fine." She's almost surprised to hear that her own words ring with a strong sense of truth. A knot unravels in her stomach and her chest feels lighter somehow, a burden lifted, a mission successfully accomplished. She looks up at Jinyoung and she can even feel a genuine smile creeping up her face. "We caught him."

Jinyoung returns a small smile back at her in courtesy and Jisoo ignores the way it had so many hidden meanings behind it. For now, she just wanted to eat up the fact that they had finally caught Kim Taehyung. 

Jisoo's relief didn't last for very long as the magnitude of the situation rattled her: if catching the most violent and murderous Death Eater in history was a challenge, she thought that keeping him locked up would be twice as hard. 

But of course, the Office of the Aurors and the Ministry had been prepared for this. They didn't send him to Azkaban, as that place had long lost its title as a top prison due to the three massive breakouts in the last twenty years, but instead they kept him in the Ministry dungeons. It resembled the prison cells in Azkaban, only smaller and more compact. The area was heavily guarded and heavily enchanted. It could have been a mini fortress, right under the marbled floors of the Ministry. 

This place is befitting of a criminal, for Taehyung who will rot in here until his trial. They're certainly not planning on keeping him locked up here long, or locked up in general. He deserved a worse punishment than being stowed away. 

"He's at the last cell." Jinyoung points into the darkness. He and Jisoo were standing on the last step of the staircase after going through a series of doors and disabling charms and spells along the way. This place was even more heavily guarded than Azkaban or Gringotts put together but Jisoo knows better. They shouldn't feel so cocky even if Taehyung is finally in a cell, behind magical bars that will keep him there. 

There were only ten cells in the dungeons because it had been built only recently and Jinyoung did not allow to keep the Death Eaters they captured here because they were either shipped off to another prison or were tried for execution. Taehyung was by far the most important figure they've captured and the International Confederation of Wizards wanted their hands on him too but it was the Ministry who caught him, it was Jisoo who planned the whole thing, including the trap. 

Taehyung had to stay here for the mean time, which erased most of Jinyoung's prior annoyance about Jisoo teaming up with the spy the Confederation sent. Not to mention, she had done it behind his back. But some things can be forgiven during these times of war, he at least understands her decisions and why they had to be made. 

"You know, I'm still amazed," Jinyoung and Jisoo are back at his office. They left the dungeons once Jinyoung had given instructions to the ten Aurors on guard duty. Being so close to Taehyung again after just a few hours since capturing him made Jisoo feel nauseous so she was glad to be rid of his company. She needed air to breathe for a little while. "About how you managed to expect that he'd pursue you once it looked like you were escaping."

Jisoo hadn't actually counted on that to happen, the prior plan was to bait him to chase her to an open space where it he would be alone and without reinforcements, and the Aurors would follow her thanks to the tracking spell Jisoo placed on herself so they would know her exact location. But Johnny was close to death just a few feet away from her and Taehyung didn't hold back anymore. She still remembers the way his eyes glowed green, reflecting the light from the killing curse as he lashed out at her. She had to improvise. 

There was a slim chance that Taehyung would follow her, but he did. He took her bait. She threw him that look that said it all and he followed her. Perhaps deep down, she knew he would despite fleeing from her all those times before. They had a bond, intangible but unbreakable. And she's not even talking about the vow that they made, it's the bond that's been pulling them towards each other since the day they had met. Interwoven fates, overlapping lives, but this is as far as the bond goes. 

"Taehyung doesn't like to lose," she found herself saying, her eyes trained on the black tiles of Jinyoung's office. "He probably wanted to kill me off and end the manhunt on him." She lied. 

"And yet he didn't, that's the third time." Jinyoung's voice is light and his shoulders are slumped forward, the stiffness in his muscles eases. Now that a huge obstacle has finally been taken care of, he's able to relax just a little bit. One more thing to cross out from their list.

But this war is far from over. 

Jisoo scoffed at him. "He had his wand pointed at me, Jinyoung. You were there, you saw that." 

"I saw his hesitance, Jisoo." He replies calmly. "I saw how he didn't go for the kill like he normally would. He paused." Jinyoung must be thinking that he's on to something, but Jisoo just shakes him off. 

Should she tell him about the unbreakable vow? She didn't feel that comfortable sharing it to another person yet, but she thinks Jinyoung at least deserves to know after everything that's happened and how he's helped and supported her through her entire mission. Then again, she's just not ready for that yet but she'll make sure to talk to him about it, right when the war is over.

There was also another issue she was facing. Jisoo still doesn't know what she'll do now that her task has been completed. It took her less than a week to do so, which was good, but now what? She was torn, she also felt like something was still missing even though Taehyung was locked up twenty feet underground them right now. She should be feeling something more than what she was feeling now, the satisfaction of his capture was brief and fleeting. 

"What are you going to do to him?"

"We're interrogating him first." Jinyoung says and she's glad he doesn't push further into the other topic. He seems to have dropped it completely. "Pick out every piece of relevant information we can from him and then we send him off to his trial in the capital, but I think we both know what the outcome of the trial will be." His eyes darken, so does his tone. His serious expression makes Jisoo nod in response. She understood what he was implying. 

Taehyung, as cruel and gruesome as his crimes are, will be sentenced to execution and there's no doubt about it.

Jisoo tilts her head to the side and looks at Jinyoung. "Can I talk to him?" Her question makes Jinyoung's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Why?" Jinyoung asks. 

"I just..." The words catch in and Jisoo's eyes are wandering away from her boss. She thinks of her parents, of Bona, of that night where she had lost everyone she cared about. She has to know, and maybe then her curiosity will be satiated once and for all. She turns to Jinyoung again, stumbling over her words. "I just... want to ask him about that night... my family -"

"Alright," Jinyoung interrupted her before she could finish and she was grateful for it. His fast approval of her request makes her heart jump inside of her chest. "You can talk to him, with guards around and observation of proper protocol, after we interrogate him." He makes his terms clear. 

Jisoo nodded, a mixture of emotions brewing inside of her but she's not arguing. She dreaded it but at the same time she knew she had to do get it over with. She needed answers, she needed closure and Jinyoung understands that the most out of everyone. He was the reason why she was here in the first place and this was the least he could. "Okay. If you need me, you know where to find me." 

The first thing her eyes land on is the suitcase on his bed, half-packed and filled with all his belongings. 

At first, she hesitates by the door and when she looks up at him folding clothes by his nightstand, he's already looking back at her with a confused expression. "Yes? May I help you?" He sneers. 

Jisoo shakes her head and closes the door behind her. She leans back against it. "Are you going back to America already?" 

Johnny bobs his head, nodding. "Yes, my job here is done." He neatly folds his pantsuit in half and gingerly places it inside his luggage along with the rest of his clothes. 

"Oh," is the only thing Jisoo can say. 

Johnny had been discharged from the hospital in record time and Jisoo came to his motel room as soon as she heard. Jinyoung was too preoccupied over Taehyung to mention another word about Jisoo siding with a Confederation spy. Yes, he understood her intentions but she indirectly defied him. They were not supposed to mingle with other people outside the Office of Aurors and talk about top secret operations and missions, especially people who worked for the International Confederation. 

But what's done is done. Taehyung is locked up right now thanks to the both of them. 

She sits on the vanity chair and watches him meticulously pack his things into a single suitcase. Jisoo's fingers rub at the thread of her pants as she tries to swallow down some of her pride. "I couldn't have done it without you, you know." She tells Johnny. 

"Oh, I do know." He says, sounding every bit of the arrogant git she first met him as.