★ No one's going on their own ★

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- Control -

Taehyung's POV

The end of the day was signaled by our usual useless bickering coming to an end as we dispersed and opened the doors to our rooms. As Jungkook and I stepped through the door that granted us entrance to our dorm room, my midnight black tattoos that decorated my biceps began to glow and heat up.

"Soros?" I whispered. Jungkook turned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as the door shut calmly behind us. His eyes traveled from mine to the glowing tattoos beneath my black t-shirt. "Is he calling you or something?" He asked.

"Not sure," I murmur curiously. Was he calling me? If he was, what for?

My eyes find Jungkook's. He gives a singular nod as his smile forms and his wings appear. Without a second thought, I summon the portal that allows us entrance into Soros' palace.

Within a few seconds of us being in his palace, Soros' voice echoes through the large, dark hallways. My head snaps in the direction of the voice and Jungkook and I begin to head to the only room I haven't been to in quite some time.

The training room.

Sure enough, Soros is standing in the middle of the room with darkness magic seeping from his fingertips. It spills like water from a faucet. His gaze shifts from his fingertips to us and the entrance to the training room shut loudly.

"Seems you two got the hint," he teases. I roll my eyes in a playful manner as I send a gentle wave of water towards him. He shakes it off and looks at me with a fond smile on his face.

"How did the mission go?" He asks. Jungkook and I take a seat on the ground as we glance at one another then back at Soros. "As expected. It wasn't difficult, but it wasn't boring either. However, fighting evil magic is way more exciting."

I hum in a mutual agreement. Fighting evil was more exciting.

"That's actually why I called you two in here," Soros says as he takes a giant step back and summons his darkness tendrils beside him. They slither like snakes and a part of me cringes.

Good thing Hoseok isn't here.

"Is there something we should be worried about?" Jungkook asks with sudden interest. He sits forward a bit as he rests his arms on his knees. His legs are bent as his feet plant themselves to the training room floor.

"Yes," Soros says thickly, "however, it's not something that'll occur just yet. It's something you should be aware of, most definitely, but it's nothing to stress over quite yet." We give him our full attention as he stares at us.

"What is it?" I ask. He glances at me and his eyes lighten up a bit. "Evil magic will make a reappearance within the world." At the mention of evil magic, my spine straightens and I recall the fight that almost got Jungkook killed and the fight that allowed us to release Demolition.

"How will it return? Wasn't Demolition supposed to remove any traces of it?" Jungkook questions as his arm brushes beside mine and his fingers intertwine with my own.

"For a specific amount of time, yes. It will rid of any evil, but not forever." I nod. It's expected.

"The balancing act," I say. My voice is thick with annoyance. Soros nods. "I predict in about a year that evil magic will return to the world of earth." Jungkook and I frown but we nod. We were trained to take down evil. We should be happy about this at least.

"Which brings me to the reason I called you here- or, more specifically, the training room." With a nod, I glance around the dark, empty training room with furrowed eyebrows. Yeah, why were we here instead of the throne room?

"Unlike your fellow Elementals," he says, "you two possess more than one magic element with specific ultimate abilities." Jungkook's eyes flash a fiery red and orange color. It almost looks as if there's a flame within his pupils.

We nod. He's right about that. "Meaning that you two need to master your abilities fully. There are both pros and cons to having more magic abilities. While your friends may have already mastered their elements, you two have more to deal with.

"You also need to master control. As an Infinite, you two carry unlimited amounts of magic power. In case of a dangerous and deadly situation, that magic power can be unleashed in the wrong, careless way." My heart drops as I recall the way I felt when Jungkook was buried within that pile of bricks.

And the nightmare I had not too long ago.

"I will be helping you two master your elements and control. That's why I called you here." We glance at one another then back at Soros who nods at us with a smile.

In return, we smile too. "With that being said, warm up. You'll be entering a simulation." Our eyes widen and my jaw falls open in shock. Simulation training? We haven't done one of those in months.

"You haven't exactly seen my simulation training, so warm up good." We rise to a stand and glance at one another. With a quick hug and a kiss, we part and split up to other sides of the training room.

I concentrate on my ice, water, and darkness magic as I feel them swirl around me. Ice flies from my fingertips and digs into the walls as I extend my hand outward. Water crashes in waves around me and darkness forms tendrils and deadly smoke in front of me.

We warm-up for a good ten or fifteen minutes before Soros takes his place in the middle of the throne room once more. With a few words, the two of us are transported into a whole new environment.

For me, I see nothing but darkness. I feel myself turn from left to right, searching, squinting in the black nothingness to find something- anything. I'm spinning around in a circle just searching for some kind of exit or enemy that I need to fight.

Until finally the darkness lifts slightly and mirrors are seen all around me. I'm in a giant room that's covered from wall to wall with full-body mirrors. I squint, eyebrows furrowed, and my heart racing. My magic stays close to me, hugging me, comforting me.

I stare at my reflection, studying my appearance as I turn my head from time to time. While I stare, I happen to notice that my reflection doesn't fully follow my own actions. My hand raises yet the reflection's doesn't.

With widened eyes, I nearly scream when the mirrored image charges at me and sends a deadly ice spike my way. I duck, eyes wide and heart pounding in my chest.

"Pathetic," it says. This isn't my reflection. Yet it looks like me. What is this?

"Always hiding, aren't you?" It asks as I roll around on the ground and stand up. Darkness swirls around me protectively as ice pools at my reflection's feet. He smirks evilly, eyes darkening.

"Can never face problems head-on, huh? Cowering in fear. For years you let those idiots of a family torment you. For years you let the students at school treat you as utter shit," it laughs darkly. I feel my heart clench at the words and my shoulders drop.

"Yet you never stood up for yourself. Pathetic. Useless. Why didn't you? Too scared? Too weak?" My eyes darken and water forms in waves around me. The air intensifies and my reflection smirks evilly.

"Getting angry? How long will it take until you lose your control?" I can feel the power of all the elements within me. I can feel the pressure bubbling underneath my skin as I stare at the reflection in front of me. Control.

"Can't handle the truth? Are you really still hiding?" Something burns within me and I charge forward. Ice covers the ground as my left leg changes from flesh to ice. An ice spike is sent flying forward and aimed directly for the reflection's chest.

Yet it goes right through and doesn't even injure it. I stop, eyes widening as the ice pools at my feet. He laughs, head tilting to the side. "Giving up already?"

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about," I retort. His eyebrow cocks. "I don't? Then how come you're getting so worked up over it?" My hands clench.

"You know," he says, "it's only a matter of time before that soulmate of yours begins to see you as your parents do." At the mention of my soulmate, my world freezes and my mind clears entirely. My eyes darken and I feel anger radiate around me.

"He'll see you as nothing!" He roars.

I charge forward again. Ice forms deadly sharp spikes on the ground and water boils as steam covers the room. The same smoke that appeared earlier from my darkness magic shows itself and invades the reflection's body.

He doesn't go away though. His laughter lingers in the air. "Keep acting this way and you'll lose your control. You claim that nightmare was a warning," the voice says.

"Then remember what Ozagi said." My eyes widen and my magic fades. I feel like I'm falling.

No. Don't tell me I'm reliving my nightmare.

I'm falling into the darkness as laughter swirls around me.

My back hits the ground and I open my mouth in a silent scream. A breath barely escapes my body.

Sure enough, at the other end of the room stands the same reflection, yet this time he changes to Jungkook. Just as Ozagi once did.

"You're a monster," he teases. The words haunt me and I recall the memories of the nightmare and my palms sweat.

"You killed them."

Killed them.

I killed them.

It was a warning. He's warning me about the fact that I could lose control.

That I would lose control.

My head shakes back and forth rapidly as I stare at the reflection in front of me. It switches from Jungkook to myself again. This time, the reflection has horns and torn apart black wings. The feathers are ripped and there are holes through my wings.

No.

No!

I want to scream but I can't.

"You killed them!" He mocks.

Soros' words swirl around me. Control. He wants me to learn control.

In order to learn control, I must overcome what I'm scared of the most.

It clicks then and my eyes widen in surprise.

For months, I assumed that my worst fear was losing Jungkook. However, as I truly think about it, that isn't my biggest fear.

I fear losing Jungkook, truly I do, but my biggest fear doesn't even involve my soulmate.

My biggest fear is me.

My eyes find the reflection's and he changes again. "Pathetic. Weak. Useless. Worthless." The words escape his mouth easily without a filter. However, this time they don't anger me.

I smile as I unleash my darkness magic. My wings form and they glisten with white lights that imitate the stars.

"You're clever, Soros," I whisper to myself. Control.

With a smile, I close my eyes and allow my darkness magic to do the work. I'm the Angel of Darkness for a reason. I specialize in new beginnings.

My palm extends and tendrils form from nothing. Water and ice combine together as they move quickly towards the reflection. Darkness works fast as it traps the reflection in its tight embrace.

Ice and water engulf it too and keep it from moving. The ice freezes him alive as the reflection's scream fades into thin air.

"My biggest fear is me. I'm too scared of myself and my capabilities. I understand that now, Soros. Thank you for making me realize it," I say as I stride forward. Light and dark dust are left in my presence of where I lingered seconds ago.

Then, with my boxy smile and the unfurling of my wings, I unleash every Elemental magic I possess at the reflection trapped in my magic. The ice shatters.

What's left is glass. Glass is all around me, broken and shattered against the floor. I'm breathing heavily and shaking slightly as the darkness of the room fades entirely and it changes into Soros' training room.

He stands against the wall, smiling happily as I appear in the training room.

"Well done, Kim," he says. He's proud, I can hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes.

Jungkook isn't back from his simulation training yet, but I let myself relax and allow tears to stream down my cheeks.

"How did you know when I didn't even know myself?" I ask Soros. He looks at me then back at his hand.

"I knew because you told me about your nightmare. It was clear that Ozagi wasn't referencing your fear of losing Jungkook. He was referencing your fear of losing yourself." I'm breathless as the tears stream like waterfalls.

"You never fully admitted it to yourself but you knew about your fear all along. Especially that day you inherited Illume's magic from Namjoon. The day you killed the forest." My head snaps up to meet Soros' gaze.

"You knew?" He nods. "I know a lot of things, Kim. I keep my tabs on you. Why do you think I appeared the day you became the Angel of Darkness?" My eyes widen and my lips part open.

"So, now what?" I ask him. "What happens now? I've admitted that I fear myself, so where do we go from there?"

Darkness seeps from his fingertips and travels over to me. It swirls around me and allows the air to intensify once more as my hair moves with the breeze. However, it's calming and reassuring.

"Now," he says clearly, "you overcome your fear."

"How?" I ask.

"Control."

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This will be important. Just remember it.

So, Taehyung and Jungkook are learning control from Soros. Will they achieve their goals to master it or will they fail?

I purple you 💜

~Pisanthrophobia.