I open my eyes to black walls all around me, the color seeming to swallow everything in the space, making it seem small and endless all at the same time. I drop to the floor, crossing my legs in front of me, much like I did when I came here before, back when I first died. And just like the first time I came here, a swarm of voices all merging into one fill the room, echoing all around me.

"Min Yoongi."

"Wassup guys?" I ask, raising my hand in a mock greeting. I'm not sure whether they can see it or not, but it makes me feel better to do it. As if making a joke of the situation would make it less severe.

"We do not have time for your silly chit chat, Yoongi. We have called you here to talk about your assignment."

"You mean Hoseok?"

"Guardian Min Yoongi, assigned to case number 3993-21894, Jung Hoseok." I roll my eyes as they recite the speil, already bored. I had never seen the need for all this formality. To me, he isn't just a case number, and I bet it's that way for other Guardian's. At least, if there are other ones beside me. I'd never met another Guardian before, but there has to be more right? If I was in charge of all this, I definitely wouldn't choose me to be the first one. I play with a loose string on my jacket, twirling the white fabric around my finger as they continue their speech. "Mission start: five weeks ago. Number of incidents while on watch: one, occurring two weeks ago. What have you to say about this incident, Min Yoongi?"

I whip my head up, unprepared for the question. "Are you talking to me?" Silence answers me, and I take that as a queue to do as they asked. "Two weeks ago, Hoseok was injured when he fell into the street, resulting in him being hit by a car," I explain, trying to keep the images of that day out of my mind, but they came regardless. Hoseok had been happily chatting with his friend, but I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and I tried to relay that feeling to him. He had mentioned to his friend that he felt like something was wrong, and so I assumed it was working. And then all of sudden he was in the road, staring as a car barrelled towards him, and I just stood by, wishing that I could reach out and pull him back. But it doesn't work that way and I had never cursed my status as a Guardian more than in that moment.

"Do you believe that this was a freak accident?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe that Hoseok merely stumbled into the street?"

"I mean, yeah." I narrow my eyes, sitting up straighter. "Are you telling me that this wasn't an accident?" I ask, my voice as hard as ice.

"No, Min Yoongi, it was not an accident."

I jump to my feet, throwing my hands in the air. "I've been with him for five weeks and you're just now telling me that someone's trying to kill him?" I couldn't believe that they didn't tell me this the first time I came here, when they first told me that I was to be Hoseok's Guardian. "Don't you think that's something you should tell me in the beginning?"

"We do not have to explain ourselves to you, Min Yoongi."

"No, of course not. It's not like I'm trying to keep Hoseok alive or anything," I say, rolling my eyes.

"You would be wise to watch your tone with us, boy. You may be a Guardian, but that is an honor we have bestowed upon you and we can take it away just as quickly."

"What if I don't want to be a Guardian? It's not like I chose this path anyway."

"You would leave Hoseok defenseless? Abandon him to suffer for something that isn't his fault?"

Their words cause me to freeze, my earlier attitude forgotten. "What do you mean?" I tilt my head up, looking into the endless blackness above me. "What is he suffering for? Whose fault is it?"

"There are things we can't tell you yet, Yoongi. But they will become apparent in time."

"Always in time," I groan. I take a deep breath, steadying myself. "Okay, fine then. I'll be patient. Can I go now? I should be with Hoseok."

"Hoseok is safe, he will not require you for the rest of the night."

"Well what if I just want to go back?" I look around the room, a sneer on my face. "It's sure as hell way better than here."

"Hoseok's incident is not the only reason we called you here, Yoongi."

I perk up, their words interesting me. "Oh really?"

"Do not think we haven't noticed the closeness between you and the boy." I freeze. "You would be wise to remember what we told you in the beginning."

"I remember," I say quietly.

And boy did I remember.


2 Months and 5 Weeks Ago

I bolt up, my breath leaving me in a ragged gasp. I take in the blackness around me, confused. I had just been in my studio, working, and then-

And then I died.

When the realization hits me I, surprisingly, don't panic. Instead, I'm filled with a strange feeling of peace. I never had a strong desire to live anyway, so being dead didn't exactly hit me as some sort of tragedy. My life had been hard: my parents disowned me, I had been broke for a while, barely having enough money to eat. The only downside was that I had just gotten a job in a recording studio as a producer.

"Welcome, Min Yoongi," A voice booms from the ceiling. Wait-not just one voice. Multiple voices, layered over until they sound like one voice. I listen, intrigued by the strange voice. "Min Yoongi, age 25. Time of death: 2 AM. Cause of death: Murdered." I stand silent. "Does this news not bother you, Min Yoongi?" The voice asks, almost sounding curious.

"What's the point of being upset about it?" I ask, shrugging my shoulders. "So I was murdered. So what? Everyone dies."

"I wonder if you would keep that view if you knew that your soulmate was going to die soon as well."

"I don't have a soulmate."

"Everyone has a soulmate, Yoongi. And had you not been murdered, you would have met yours."

"And tell me, Oh Great One, just who is my soulmate?" I ask sarcastically. I didn't give a crap about some stranger's fate, I barely even cared about my own.

"His name is Jung Hoseok."

My chest tightens at the name, a strange feeling filling me. Was it nostalgia? Longing? I'm not sure, but I know that I don't like that it's caused by some stranger. I swallow, trying to push the feelings away. "That name means nothing to me," I say, trying to hide my discomfort.

"You cannot hide your feelings from us, young one. We are well accustomed to the soul's response to it's other half here."

"My soul?"

"Since your body has perished, all that is left if your soul, free to pass on to the afterlife and wait to be reincarnated."

"Cool, cool. So how do I pass on?" I ask, impatient. I wasn't sure what the term "after-life" entitled, but hopefully it just meant being asleep.

"You will not pass on yet."

"What?" I puff out my cheeks, frustrated. "Why not?"

"You will become a Guardian."

"What the hell is a Guardian?"

"When a person dies, they can pass on. Unless their soulmate is still alive and is in danger of their fate being snatched from them. In that case, the soul is made into a Guardian. Someone who will stay by their soulmates side, making sure that they reach their ultimate fate."

"So like a Guardian Angel?"

"Exactly."

"Well count me out," I say, shaking my head. I cross my legs in front of me, resting my elbows on my knees. "I have no desire to babysit my soulmate for the rest of my life."

"Even if he is in danger? Would you leave him to suffer like you did?"

The words stir up the memories of my last moments: the pain in my skull as the bat collides with the side of my head, the blood staining my hair, the vacant look in my eyes as my life left me. I try to think of that happening to someone else and shudder at the thought. I cross my arms, "Fine. I'll do it."

A piece of paper floats in front of me, a quill pen appearing in my hand. "Sign this then, please." I look at the paper skeptically, unsure whether I should sign it or not. Sighing, I shrug my shoulders. I mean really, I'm already only a soul. What's the worst that could happen? The pen glides over the paper as I sign my name. As soon as I lift the pen, it and the paper vanish as if they never existed. "Min Yoongi. Soul Status: Guardian. Case number: 3993-21894. Mate: Jung Hoseok. Mission Goal: Protect your mate. Mission Commencing."

I feel my body growing lighter, the feeling a bit unsettling. I look down, surprised to see my limbs slowly disappearing. I lift my hand, watching in awe as inch by inch it fades away, becoming transparent before disappearing entirely.

"Before you go," the voice says, interrupting my gawking. "You would be wise to not grow too attached to your soulmate, Yoongi. Don't forget where you two stand. The dead and the living shouldn't mingle together."

"Nothing to worry about there," I scoff. "It's not like he'll be able to see me anyway."

"I hope you remember those words in the future."


"Everything was so different then," I say absently.

"Different or not, you would still be wise to heed our warnings. Growing closer will only make things harder in the end."

I sit quietly for a moment, my mind telling me that they're right. When this was all done and over with, I would leave Hoseok and pass on and he would continue living. In no version of this story do we end up together, so why get attached and just hurt us both more in the end? I know I should listen, but then I remember Hoseok's face when he came to his senses in the In-Between. I had been so desperate then, afraid that he would succumb to his injuries and die that I had accidentally entered his mind, something that I wasn't sure how I did and couldn't figure out how to do again.

"Yoongi!" Hoseok's frightened voice fills my mind, the hairs on the back of my neck raising at his tone.

I stand abruptly, my brows furrowing in concern. "Something's wrong," I whisper.

"Hoseok is fine."

"The hell he is!"

"Yoongi!" Hoseok's panic ridden voice once again hits me. I feel a tugging in my chest and a familiar lightness fills me as my limbs start to disappear.

"What are you doing, Yoongi?"

"I'm- I'm not doing anything." I watch my limbs fade slowly, wishing they would go faster. As if responding to my prayers, the speed doubles. "But I have to go. Hoseok's calling for me."

Everything goes dark as I'm swept away, Hoseok's cries playing on repeat in my head.

I'm coming, Hoseok. Just wait for me.