A\N: I think I was feeling a certain type of way when I wrote this... I don't necessarily hate Rika, I think she just annoys me. Anyway, this has no particular pairing. And for this oneshot, I used the standard brunette MC. I went back and forth with all four MC's and decided that the brunette, I think, would be able to flip the switch better than they could have (if that makes sense). I also left her name as MC, but you can switch it out for a name of your choosing. Enjoy. x
Disclaimer: I do not own Mystic Messenger.
They were all blinded by the very thought of a woman they no longer knew. She had only been with them for eleven days, but MC had gotten a crystal clear image of who exactly she was dealing with.
A lone woman who had a psychotic break and used her broken past to justify her actions against the people who held her in such high regard; on a pedistal, like she could never be touched.
But she could. MC knew this. Everyone could.
When she was lured to Rika's apartment that night eleven days ago, she never thought that the people she'd grown to consider family would mean so much to her. And it was this family that she needed to protect, no matter what.
Saeran hadn't only chose her to bring into this world because of that woman, his 'savior'. No, MC didn't believe that. There was another reason. More personal than the first. MC knew that it was also a cry for help. She was chosen to be the one to save them all. She needed to. They were her family, her loved ones, and she'll be damned if she let some ghost of the past come in and mess everyone up like she did the first time.
She wouldn't allow it. Not this time. This time, there would be someone to stop her. To end the trauma that everyone's endured all of this time.
And it was obvious, the only clear way to do that would be to end it all. End her. The savior.
Rika.
The others probably wouldn't have agreed with her methods, but after having to witness the physical, mental, and emotional damage this woman has inflicted upon the RFA, MC couldn't allow for it to continue any further. And her presence would forever be a reminder of the past they shared with her. So, she had to eliminate it. Obliterate her very existence because it only further drove everyone to the brink of insanity otherwise.
Finding Rika after her hideout was exposed was simple enough. Rika, in her haywire state of trying to escape, had left a very messy trail that even she would have picked up on if she had any technical experience. But a last, without having to stir up unnecessary trouble within her family, MC sought the help of one whom hated Rika more than anyone...
Saeran. The very man who brought her into this world to begin with. The very man she held in higher esteem, right next to V himself for having been put through so much.
MC originally assumed she would have had a hard time dispelling any concerns he may have had with the very idea of finding the woman who mentally crippled him into thinking he had no one but her, his savior, but she only needed to ask before he quickly whipped out his laptop and began furiously typing away like his very life depended on it.
It didn't. Not anymore. And MC felt bad for a brief moment before she was looking over his shoulder at his work. She had wanted to apologize soon after, but Saeran merely offered her a tentative smile and shook his head.
"You've done more than enough for me. For everyone. I could never turn you away, MC." He had said, promising not to say a word to anyone else about this, though MC never thought to ask.
After she had gotten the address, MC had taken a cab directly there, loosely holding onto her bag that she had grabbed from the apartment beforehand. Her expression remained blank, eerily calm as she watched the scenery go by.
There were no second thoughts. No hidden guilt that sprung up out of nowhere. She didn't think that she was making a mistake or thought there was an error in her judgement. She didn't even feel bad at the idea that panned out in her mind.
MC once heard that if you do something bad and you justify it with reasons outside of your own selfish desire, you're not doing it for them, you're doing it for you. She supposed that Rika must have felt the same way. And that was the only thing she'd give the distraught woman. That's where the two of the similarities of each other ended. That line was immediately drawn.
Though MC was doing this for her family, for the people this woman has hurt, the desire was surely hers alone.
As the scenery gradually began to change from city life to country, MC knew they were close. The houses were now far and in between, and the weight in her bag somehow felt lighter. They eventually stopped seeing houses altogether, except for one abandoned farm house that sat farther down the road, appearing like something out of a horror movie with the way it seemed like it would cave any minute.
MC wanted to laugh. If that house had collapsed before she had a chance at her, she thought she might cry. She didn't deserve that. No, the only thing she deserved was the bullet she was going to put between her eyes as they looked at the last thing she'd regret ever sending to their doorstep.
"Want me to wait for ya?" The cab driver asked automatically, apparently use to seeing odd locations for his passengers.
MC thought for a moment before shaking her head. She quietly paid the driver before waiting until he had already started back down the dirt road he had came. Turning towards the rickety old house, MC casually made her way up to the house, her bag hanging off of one shoulder effortlessly.
If Rika wanted to run, surely now would have been an opportune time. Or even as the cab had been heard coming down the road. But all was silent as she took the four steps needed to stand in front of the door. Without bothering to knock, MC opened the door and crossed the threshold.
The outside of the house had given MC a good image of what the inside looked like, as it didn't appear to be in any better condition. After checking the living room and kitchen, MC began to make her way up the stairs, not bothering to be quiet or careful. She had a single hand in her bag, gripping the handle of the gun as a slight precaution.
When she finally made the stairs, she checked both doors on either side that she saw first, and when she came up empty, she slowly made her way to the final door on the right. She pushed it open and the damn thing nearly broke off its hinges but her eyes immediately zeroed in on the woman in question, lying pathetically in a dirty bed that looked as if it had seen better days. Much better days.
Rika had already been staring at the door she appeared behind of, her expression less than gratifying than MC would have liked.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up." The blonde-haired tyrant spoke. Her voice sounded terrible, as if she hadn't had a drop of water or used her vocals in god knows how long. She appeared tired and out of wack, no more so than usual, MC surmised, but terrible overall.
And she was injured. From the bomb that blew up her facility, of course. MC smirked and slowly pulled out the gun she kept hidden in her bag. Rika's eyes caught the metal of the weapon before glancing up at MC with a look she could only decipher as acceptance.
It irked MC, but only slightly. It made no difference if Rika begged for her life or not. The end result would still be the same.
The corners of Rika's lips twitched into what should have been a smile, but quickly turned into a grimace. "I k-knew I chose right when I-I picked you," She wheezed. "I-I knew you'd do w-what I could n-not."
For the RFA, went unspoken between the two. MC frowned.
No, Rika didn't deserve to say that. She hadn't the right. Those that suffered through her knowing control over the lives of those MC held dearly; Yoosung, Hyun, Saeyoung, Jumin, Jaehee, Jihyun, and Saeran. Whether directly effected by her selfishness or not, Rika's presence in their life only further proved fatal in the grand scheme of things. She needed to be removed.
And MC had to be the one to do it.
MC closed the gap between them, coming to stand on the side of the bed and raising her arm up to place the cool steel of the barrel directly to her forehead. Rika sighed, her eyes closing for a brief minute before reopening them and meeting the eyes of the one who she knew would bring everything crashing down around her. She had suspected it in the beginning and as the days past, she knew that the outcome would not change. MC was going to be the one to set her free. Finally. After all these years.
"Have you nothing to say at the very least?"
The question came suddenly, nearly startling the blonde as she blinked owlishly up at her. The pain that rocked her body from the explosion at Magenta still proved how gravely she was injured, though the pain had started to numb her very core, and though she felt the effects ripple through her every time she inhaled or moved just so, she forced her face to remain as expressionless as possible.
Had there been something MC wanted to hear? She couldn't have been sure, but Rika thought hard about it regardless. A number of different faces flashed in her mind as she mulled it over, those from her past before the RFA and those from the present of the RFA. Perhaps there was something she could say, but...
Rika allowed a small chuckle to escape her and slowly shook her head. MC stiffened, her hand tightening around the gun.
"There's nothing left to say. No apologies that would matter. No last words that could make a difference." She spoke, her green orbs losing that last vibrant ray of whatever hope she had left. "I have done horrible things to good people. I have lied, used, and betrayed those closest to me. If I'm not going to be forgiven, what point would there be to apologize?"
She has a point, MC thought as she shifted slightly. "You're not going to be forgiven, but hearing an apology might give you some peace of mind." Not that you deserve it.
And really, she shouldn't have offered.
Regardless, however, Rika merely shook her head once more. "I am already at peace, my dear. I only need you to pul-"
A shot rang out before she could finish her sentence. MC had blinked from the loud shot, the slight recoil making her step back to keep her ground. MC released the shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and lowered her weapon.
She had finally did it. Everyone, after all this time, would finally be...
Abruptly, the sound of her phone going off tore her from her thoughts and she sighed, quickly fishing it out of her bag.
"Hello?" She spoke, not bothering to check the caller I.D.
There was a pause, some breathing, before Saeyoung's voice filled her ear. "MC... You're okay."
She blinked, her eyes never straying from the body on the bed. Rika's golden hair fanning out from around her like a halo MC imagined to be some type of poetic justice.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
Another pause.
"...Why are you in the middle of nowhere?" He asked quietly.
MC suddenly glanced up. Saeran.
She didn't answer for a long time and Saeyoung didn't rush her for an explanation. She wondered if she could tell him what she was doing, but she didn't think he'd be as understanding as his brother had been. It was a long moment before Saeyoung finally sighed and on the other end of the line, she imagined him shaking his head before the sound of wheels alerted MC to the fact that he was pushing himself away from his computer.
"Give me a half hour. I'll pick you up."
And before she could say anything, the line went dead and she slowly lowered the phone. He had sounded resigned, defeated, like he knew exactly what she'd been doing out in the middle of nowhere. Of course he had tracked her phone. She had stupidly left it on. MC sighed before looking down at the gun in her head and then back up at the lifeless body on the bed.
She had come here to do exactly what she had done and now it was over. Even if Saeyoung didn't understand, it was finished. She had done this for her own selfish reasons and for that, she wouldn't apologize. Perhaps that was how Rika had saw it, as well.
No one would miss her or mourn her. They'd done so far longer than they cared to repeat. As far as anyone was concerned, Rika was dead. Had been for a long time now.
Pursing her lips, MC grabbed the sheet under her arms and pulled it over her head. The blood immediately stained the off-white sheets and she looked down at her for a moment longer before putting the gun back in her bag and walking out the door.
True to Saeyoung's word, he'd made it to her location with five minutes to spare and as he saw her sitting on the broken porch with a solemn look, Saeyoung felt the weight of something unseen being lift off of his shoulders. Exhaling slowly, the eldest Choi brother grabbed two gallons of gas out of his trunk and started up the walkway.
MC watched him in earnest, unmoving. He walked past her, quietly shooing her back to his car, and set about his business. She had known he hadn't loitered too long upstairs, fore he was back outside with her several minutes later, the house engulfed in a sea of flames that she could have sworn had touched the clouds above. Saeyoung had wrapped an arm around her shoulders, their gaze meeting each others for a moment before being directed back to the fire, the flames dancing in their eyes. It was warm, she could feel it from where she stood. And for a brief, unsupervised moment, she wondered if Rika was finally warm now.
"Let's go home." Saeyoung murmured, turning and helping her into the car.
She moved without resistance and together, they both drove away from the burning house and towards a future that was much brighter than the flames in the rear view mirror.