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Chapter Text

She sauntered through the busy streets, paw after paw after paw after paw. She could hear the people around her; her ears would flick when someone would point her out. But she kept moving. She had a destination to get to, and only so much time to take her place and set the scene. The nice thing about being a cat was that no one would bother her so long as she kept moving. And so, she kept moving.

Her ears flicked. She could hear the sound a train in the distance. A good sign. She was close. So, she kept walking forward, paw after paw after paw after paw. She reached the train tracks and walked alongside them. They would take her to where she needed to be.

She reached the platform and took in her surroundings. The platform was empty; the train had just gone by. If she was correct, the tracks would be empty for a little while. No one would be around to disturb her observation. She lay down in a nice ray of sun and waited. She could feel the heat permeate her fur, and she felt comfortable. She had her mind, but her instincts were still feline. She stretched her back, letting the heat soothe her.

Minutes passed before she heard footsteps. She stretched out towards the noise. She could hear them, two sets of feet coming towards her. Her ears flicked, she could hear their laughter. This was good. They came right when they were supposed to.

She listened as they complained about missing the train, and how they were going to have to walk. She stretched and purred, waiting for them to come over. Any second now she would be spotted, and she could see their faces. The footsteps grew closer. A good sign.

A hand reached out and touched her head. She looked up into warm eyes and allowed her body to relax. It was a quick touch, nothing more. She was able to look at her face. Able to see the hint of green hidden within her left eye. She could feel the energy from her hand, but she couldn’t tell if it felt malicious or not. She would require more research. The other girl called out, and she took in the brassy, loud voice.

The girl got up and left her. She went back to lounging in the sun. She still had some time left in the day, before she had to leave. So, she thought about the girls. She basked in their familiarity. She faltered at the unknown sensation, one that fell between black and white, good and evil, yin and yang.

Not virtue. But not quite sin. Not quite yet.

“Haseul,” she thought, “What sins are you going to commit?”

The other girls’ voice echoed in her ear,

“Yeojin, where are you going to go? Where does she lead you?” her heart panged with emotion, “How are you going find your way home?”

The clock ticked. She got up and stretched her back, revelling in the curvature of her feline spine. Then the light came, and sent her back.

Chapter Text

Hyunjin sat at the kitchen table, paper and pen in front of her. She was trying to find her words. She wanted to be clear, concise, and persuasive. She had to be. She needed her meaning to come through. Her desire to be accepted was that large. Her anxiety over her words beat at her heart with every click of her pen.

She was going to see him today. He was going to cut her hair and tell her that she’s so nice and wonderful. A perfect client. Hyunjin didn’t want to hear those words. She wanted to her how beautiful she was, how much he desired her. She wanted that fantasy to become a reality. Her head screamed that she was just being a fool. And yet she desired this. And her words would help.

A pile of postcards sat next to her on the table. She had collected them over the years, but it was only in the last few months she had started writing on them. Hyunjin wrote about him and how lovely he was, how special she made her feel. The postcards were all cheap and replicable, but her emotions towards him were rich and steadfast. The letter she was writing would be her final letter. He would either accept her or he wouldn’t. The anxiety burned through her.

She was trying to focus on the strokes of her pen when a new emotion seemed to wave through the room, like a presence watching her. Hyunjin looked across the room and saw nothing, no one. She looked back down, only to look back up again. A surge of electricity went up her arm. She went warm. She closed her eyes, trying to internalize the feeling, hoping it would go away if she acknowledged it. The feeling was familiar, familial. Like she had felt it before.

Hyunjin was beginning to feel like she had control over the situation when she heard the sound of shattering glass. Her eyes slowly opened, and she turned her head towards the noise. The electrifying presence was gone, a new feeling in its place. It was calling for her. Hyunjin slowly got out of her chair and, step by step, walked towards the window.

In between shards of glass she saw a hint of colour. Slowly bending down, careful to not touch any glass, she picked the object up. It sent a wave of ice through her. She stared down at the coloured beads in her hand. It was a bracelet, the perfect size for her wrist. And it was calling to her, beckoning to her that she should wear it. And so, she did.

Standing up to fetch the broom, Hyunjin looked at the time. It was nearly noon. Her train would come at one in the afternoon. Her appointment to get her hair cut, her moment of confession, would happen at half past the hour. She hurried her slow pace, determined to clean the mess and finish her letter as quickly as possible. The bracelet seemed to call to her, seemed to tell her that the mess was bigger than shattered glass. She tried to shake away the voice in her head.

And then she was hurrying, moving as fast as possible to catch her train. She clutched her letter and her postcards. Her final destination was him. When she came close to the tracks, the object on her wrist seemed to react. She could feel it freeze against her skin. But Hyunjin couldn’t bring herself to take it off. She looked at the train tracks, hearing hers fly down the track. She looked at the track, and the voice in her head told her of all the places she could go. She tried to shake it away as she got on the train.

She sat in silence until it was her stop. And then she began walking. The streets to her destination were familiar. She knew her way. She had walked them many times. She could envision her path as she closed her eyes. She was halfway to her destination when her heart began beating faster, and a familiar sensation washed over her. As if the presence that haunted her earlier had followed her out of her home.

Hyunjin kept walking, trying to outpace her own fears, but the beckoning of the presence caused her to stop and look down an alley. She found herself staring into the eyes of a cat. She knelt down, trying to catch the attention of the creature. It was mesmerizing; something about this cat felt supernatural. Its orange fur glowed in the sunlight. She moved slightly closer. And then closer. And then closer. And then suddenly the cat was close enough to touch. Slowly, so slowly, Hyunjin reached out her hand. The tips of her fingers grazed the fur on the cat’s head, barely a touch. And the cat turned and ran.

Hyunjin stood up, suddenly aware of the time she had wasted. She turned around and continued down the familiar paths until she reached her destination. She looked at the stairs up to the hair salon and breathed deeply. Her hands clutched her postcards and her letter like lifeline. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. Step by step she went up and up and up, until she was at the door. Trying to calm herself, Hyunjin walked into the room.

In the end, she couldn’t find her courage. Through the entire appointment, her hands clutched her emotions. She told him she would be mailing them after her appointment. She tried to steady her heart every time his fingers touched her hair, gently snipping off the dead ends. In her heart, she knew that she had always known that her feelings would never reach their destination. He would never know the truth of her heart.

Quickly paying, Hyunjin slipped out the door.  She sat at the top of the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t look out the door; it was too close for her comfort but she couldn’t bring herself to leave just yet. She flipped the postcards in her hands, and was shocked to find that there was one that she didn’t recognize. She looked closer. It was old, for some hotel she had never heard of. It was advertising twelve new rooms. She flipped it over, wondering what she had written on it. Her eyes widened in surprise when the writing wasn’t hers.

“Find Me,” were the only words written on the back.

Hyunjin’s blood felt cold in her body. She couldn’t think about where she had found this postcard, couldn’t figure out if it was meant to her. The presence washed over her again like the tinkling of bells. She looked down the stairs, the yellow eyes of an orange cat staring up at her. She held her breath; it was the same cat she had seen in the alley.

Slowly, Hyunjin stood up. Step by step she went down and down and down. The cat didn’t wander away from her. The bracelet felt like ice on her wrist. She knelt in front of the cat. Slowly, so slowly, Hyunjin reached out her hand. The tops of her fingers grazed the fur of the cat’s head, barely a touch. The cat stretched its neck into her open palm.

And Hyunjin saw everything.

Her mind was racing wildly. A burn seared through her right eye, and then her left. She closed them in pain, but it felt like her irises were spinning. Flashes of yellow blinded her. She felt dizzy and nauseous and the cat was still rubbing its head into her palm. And then it was calm. And Hyunjin opened her eyes.

And Hyunjin was the cat.

She blinked, and her position changed. She blinked as her mind went from place to place. She saw cities. She saw gardens. She saw laughing girls in a European manor. She saw herself from years ago. She saw her future self. She felt weightless as she saw everything that has been, everything that would be. She saw train tracks and, in her heart, she knew that was a good sign.

She stopped her wandering in a park and Hyunjin steadied her mind to stay there. In front of her was a very pretty girl, sitting on a park bench. There was a book in her hand. Paw by paw by paw by paw she walked towards this mysterious girl, hopping on the bench. The girl turned, and brown eyes met Hyunjin’s yellow ones.

The power that overtook the situation was incredible. The tension was so palpable that Hyunjin felt herself fall out of control. Her powers were too new, she didn’t know how to utilize them without faltering. Hyunjin saw a flash of bright pink, and felt her form change for mere seconds. The book fell from the girl’s hand, and Hyunjin ran.

She blinked, and found herself back outside the salon, and the cat was gone. The presence that had haunted Hyunjin now lived inside her. She started walking back to the train, and when she heard it approaching she couldn’t help but think that the sound was calming. On the train, she tried to focus on her eyes, and she felt her mind move multiple places at once. It was alarming and terrifying and new, but Hyunjin felt oddly at peace.

She got off the train, and sprinted home. The image of the girl on the bench was at the forefront of her mind, on the tip of her tongue. She ran into the kitchen, flinging herself into her chair. She thanked God that her parents weren’t home to see her in such a state. She stared at the post card and looked at the words “Find Me” until her version blurred over. The number twelve seemed to radiate at her.

Who was she supposed to find? Was it just one person? Or twelve? Or maybe even eleven? Hyunjin had no idea. She looked at the wrist on her bracelet. She counted each bead. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. She counted again. One. Two. Three. Four. Fie. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. In her mind, she had expected twelve.

“Am I the twelfth?” Hyunjin murmured to herself.

Looking around, Hyunjin grabbed a pen from the table. She rolled it between her fingers. She envisioned the girl on the bench, trying to put a name to the face. She couldn’t think of any. She recognized that this girl was important, but she couldn’t say how. Was she part of the eleven, part of a whole twelve.

She sat and sat as she thought, pen tapping the table. The clock struck three.  It seemed to Hyunjin that this girl, that flash of bright pink, was the first piece in a puzzle she didn’t know how to solve. Her fingers trembled and the pen dropped to the floor. She had a was now to find out. It should have scared her, but the spectre of power had woven its way into her DNA. The puzzle was solvable, if she was smart enough.

Hyunjin shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her eyes to burn and spin. To her delight they did, and she allowed herself to be drawn into the sensation. She searched through time to find her answer. She saw running. She saw flying. She saw the faces of many, unrecognizable to her for now. She searched and searched until she found her answer.

Being a cat was still unreasonable, and felt strange. Hyunjin contorted her mind into the fluidity of her new body. Or bodies, as she was beginning to understand. With this new body, she was able to fully comprehend the answer. She let the name ring through her ears. She burned it into her brain.

She opened her eyes, and she was still at the table. She glanced at the clock and noticed no time had passed. It was still three, on the cusp of a new minute. She leaned over to pick the pen off the floor. Slowly, she brought the nib of the ben to the postcard. With a smile, she wrote under the written words. She had her answer.

“Heejin,” Hyunjin whispered into the afternoon.

Chapter Text

Hyunjin climbed the steps to the top of the tower. She climbed up and up and up. This city was still strange to her, but she longed to explore. As if fate had taken hold, her parents had announced a move. School had just started up again, and Hyunjin was sad to leave her friends behind. There was something about this city, however, that called to her.

The door to the building had been easy to lock-pick, a skill Hyunjin didn’t know she had. It seemed to her that being a cat had its advantages; she found it easy to sneak into places than ever before. Perhaps the skill was a little illegal, but she assumed that since she was a cat she wouldn’t be caught. It was a risky way to think, but it was the only thing that satisfied her heart.

So here she was, climbing the stairs in an office building she broke into. She slowly took each step up and up and up. The aura of the building screamed promises and futures and new beginnings. The twinging of her eyes told her so. They never stopped hurting, but Hyunjin had learned how to decipher the different burns and stabs she experienced. And tonight, in this office building, they were telling her that something was going to happen.

When she reached the top, to a small landing, Hyunjin was greeted with cool, autumn air. She breathed it in. It felt crisp and fresh in her lungs. She looked down over the streets, eyes following the cars. Hyunjin wondered about the people who drove them. How did they see the world?

She followed one car intently. She allowed her eyes to twist and turn as she focused in on it. It was a dark SUV, but the aura of light pink that surrounded it was undeniable. Hyunjin made a conscious effort to memorize the aura, to burn it onto her brain. It would be a useful feeling to investigate later on.

Hyunjin averted her eyes as the SUV drove into the distance, and turned them instead towards the Ferris wheel. She had always loved Ferris wheels. Ever since she was small, she found something enthralling about looking out onto the world from the sky. Everyone below her would become insignificant, and she was larger than life. Hyunjin chuckled at the knowledge that that would be exactly how a cat would view the world.

She turned her eyes back onto the street. They were still twisting and turning from examining the pink aura. She scanned the streets once more, until her eyes glanced slightly upwards. There, on a lower landing of a building down the street, was another girl. Watching Hyunjin watching her. Hyunjin could see her brown hair blowing in the wind, could almost feel the green aura of malice. Had Hyunjin been closer she surely would have been overwhelmed by it.

Then a twitching in her eyes brought Hyunjin back to street level. Her eyes locked onto a girl below. Before Hyunjin could even react, the girl had started running towards the open door of the building. Hyunjin started to panic, and was sure the racing beats of her heart were in time with the girl’s footsteps going up the stairs. Hyunjin glanced around. She was a cat, she could hide.

She went for the oldest trick in the book and hid behind the door. She prayed to God that the girl wouldn’t look for her further. She barely had time to situate herself when the footsteps became overpoweringly loud. Hyunjin held her breath and prayed. The bright pink aura of the girl, even though Hyunjin wasn’t looking at her, could have been blinding.

Hyunjin heard her stop, and she was sure that the girl was staring down at the street as she was mere moments ago. Hyunjin saw her chance, and peaked around the corner of the door. In between the flashes of pink, Hyunjin saw the girl looking towards the Ferris wheel, not paying attention to anything behind her.

Slowly, carefully, Hyunjin pulled herself out from behind the door. She stared at the back of the girl, eyes burning and turning. She knew this girl. She had seen this girl. This girl was deeply etched into Hyunjin’s DNA. Hyunjin smiled.

“Hello Heejin,” Hyunjin whispered into the cool, crisp autumn wind.

Then she snuck down the stairs, as quietly and slippery as a cat.

Chapter Text

The world was bright, bright, bright as Hyunjin opened her eyes. She calmly took in her surroundings; the overexposed lighting, the smooth floor, the skates that overtook her feet. She had seen too much, when she was a cat, to believe that this was just a dream. Bracing herself against the wall, she pulled herself up.

The room struck a chord with her, like it was a place buried deep within the depths of her memories. Although she felt oddly at east, Hyunjin could not help but feel that the room was somehow off; like it had been modified or changed. Her eye spun as she looked for inconsistencies, but the illusion was tightly sealed.

Laughter bubbled from around her. A small girl zoomed by her, followed closely by a girl with long brown hair. Hyunjin smiled softly. She knew these girls, knew their faces. She locked eyes with both of them. The bold aura of Yeojin hit her, until the quiet, sinister feeling of Haseul overwhelmed her. Haseul side-eyed her as she skated away, coming back with a pink haired girl. Hyunjin wracked her memory for a name, until the name “Vivi” came to her.

They began moving forward in the room; Vivi strayed behind them, almost timid and afraid. As they moved, the back of another girl became visible. Yeojin and Haseul grabbed this new girl’s hands, and as Hyunjin saw her face she recognized the visage of Heejin. Hyunjin could barely bring herself to stop staring at her. Since that day on the roof, Hyunjin couldn’t stop watching over Heejin. The other girl was magnetic in a way; her whole aura was different.

As Vivi slowly entered and grabbed Haseul by the hand, Hyunjin linked her arms with Heejin. She counted the girls in the room. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. There were five of them in this world between dimensions, in this dreamlike state. They were five out of twelve. Or four of the twelve were there and Hyunjin was the outlier. She couldn’t yet decide what her role in all this was. Her eyes twitched at all the possibilities.

As a boy rolled into the world, taking Vivi from Haseul, Hyunjin was overwhelmed with the colour of wine. As the world turned darker, and the boy turned into a girl, Hyunjin tightened her grip on Heejin. Another girl. Was she the fifth? The sixth? A decoy in Hyunjin’s quest for twelve? This new girl smiled at Vivi, a smile that rivalled Haseul in sinister nature.

As the world went back to normal and the girl – a boy once more – skated off, the five girls fell to the floor, laughing and out of breath. Hyunjin’s laugh was half-hearted; she knew she had just witnessed something both terrible and great. She didn’t know how to react. Carefully, in her head, she tried to formulate a plan to find this new girl.

Before that, there was the matter of Heejin. While the other girls seemed perfectly comfortable in this world-between-worlds, Heejin’s aura felt out of place. Perhaps she didn’t know where she was or who she was with? Perhaps she didn’t realize the enormity of this event? Perhaps she didn’t even know that she was different? Carefully, moving slowly, she drew herself closer to Heejin, placed a hand on her leg, and whispered,

“Do you know what you are yet?”

Heejin’s response was both terrifying and unexpected. As Hyuynjin drew herself away from Heejin, the other girl pulled her legs into herself. She could hear Heejin muttering that she was normal. She was normal. She was normal. She was normal. Hyunjin turned away from Heejin; she didn’t know how to deal with this change in events.

Yeojin said something that Hyunjin couldn’t quite hear, but she leaned over Heejin to laugh with Haseul and Vivi anyways. Heejin tensed up beneath her, the muttering continuing. Hyunjin tried to ignore her, but with every passing second it was harder. She laughed harder in order to contain herself. This was new territory; she had never actually interacted with the others before, only observed.

“I am normal,” Heejin said, lifting her head from between her knees. The atmosphere changed. Hyunjin held her breath. Yeojin stood. Vivi gasped.

Hyunjin watched as Haseul dutifully stretched her hand out towards Yeojin, but Hyunjin could feel the resentment radiating off of her. There was no emotion in Haseul’s eyes, and the air around her turned more sinister than ever before. Yeojin gave a smile, and turned towards the fog that Hyunjin only now noticed. She walked deeper and deeper in the fog, and Hyunjin felt herself start to cry.

Hyunjin’s eyes spun as she felt Yeojin disappear from her. She had long since known that Yeojin was somewhere, lost and hidden from her after a certain point in time, but now that time felt more uncertain. How long had Yeojin been lost? Was this just a spectre showing herself to them? Hyunjin could hear Vivi sobbing.

“She’s been gone for ages you, know,” Haseul answered Hyunjin’s question for her, “No need to cry for someone who wanders off so easily,”

Hyunjin felt her rage build inside her. Yeojin was part of this team, part of the twelve. They needed to know where she was. How she related to them.

“She is missing!” Hyunjin screamed at Haseul, “We need to find her! Don’t you remember?”

Hyunjin locked eyes with Haseul, feeling nothing but apathy from the other girl. She heard Heejin’s breathing grow heavier and heavier. Vivi’s sobs grew louder and louder. Hyunjin and Haseul kept staring at each other, and Heejin disappeared.

Hyunjin wondered when Haseul had become so hateful as she too faded to black.

Chapter Text

Hyunjin woke to hands on her shoulders, to a world that was bright, bright, bright. In the light, Haseul’s face came into view. Hyunjin sat up on the cold, smooth floor, taking in the room. She took note of the billowing curtains and plants, until her eyes settled on a white sofa. Pulling herself up, Hyunjin walked over and sat on it. Something in her eye was telling her to, and she was happy to have a soft place to sit.

She could feel Haseul’s gaze on her with every step; her eyes were cold and sharp and made Hyunjin uneasy. She met the other girl’s eye anyways, and felt a shiver go down her spine. There was something sinister in Haseul that Hyunjin couldn’t quite place, something dark and angry. This Haseul was different than any Haseul she met while as a cat, as if something in the past had turned her to sin. Hyunjin held her breath, and blinked.

Her eyes opened, and a figure lay on the floor where she had just been. Hyunjin stared at the body of the girl, and eventually placed it as Heejin. Haseul was also looking at Heejin’s form, unblinking. Hyunjin thought she could see something in her eyes, some sort of emotion that Hyunjin couldn’t quite place.

They waited for Heejin to wake up. They waited in silence with only their thoughts. Hyunjin contemplated the world she found herself in. It wasn’t quite a dream, it was far too material for that. It wasn’t quite a memory either; Hyunjin had become well acquainted with those, in the moments she was a cat. There was something not quite right with it.

Heejin began to stir, and Hyunjin watched the other girl blink in the bright lights, clearly disoriented, starting to stand. The site of Heejin, looking lost in the eyes, made Hyunjin smile. Without thinking, she giggled. Haseul stared at her; the moment was broken. Hyunjin struggled to compose herself in the seconds before Heejin looked at her.

“You finally woke up?” Hyunjin managed to say, “It’s about time. We’ve been waiting for you,”

“We?” Heejin blinked, “Who’s we? Where is this?”

“We’re your friends. Don’t you remember us? You’re here, at home, with your friends,” the words came naturally to Hyunjin, and somehow this room almost did feel at home. Before she could intervene, however, Haseul was next to Heejin. Slowly, very slowly, Haseul placed her head on Heejin’s shoulder. Hyunjin shuddered alongside Heejin.

“We’ve known each other forever,” Haseul laughed into Heejin’s ear, “Why are you being like this?” Haseul grabbed Heejin’s hand, turning her away from Hyunjin. It was only then that she noticed the door, leading to the pitch-black darkness. All Hyunjin could do was follow, as Haseul lead Heejin outside, their hands firmly interlocked.

“Looks like the sun went down,” Hyunjin could hear Haseul say. She opened her mouth to speak, to say that Haseul was pointing out the obvious, when a small hum stopped her in her tracks. Vivi had appeared next to Haseul; Hyunjin hadn’t seen her before. Hyunjin couldn’t decide if she was getting worse at analyzing her surroundings, or if the world was actively changing around her.

Heejin pulled away from Haseul, and began turning around and around, looking at her new environment. Hyunjin wanted to join her, because the new setting filled Hyunjin with a sense of dread. There was nothing but a thick, dark forest surrounding them. Hyunjin shivered with the feeling of déjà vu, like she had been here before. She couldn’t quite place it though, it was on the tip of her tongue.

“It’s only a dream,” Heejin whispered softly. Cautiously, like a cat, Hyunjin stepped forward towards the other girl.

“You’re almost right,” Heejin trembled as Hyunjin’s lips grazed her ear, “This probably feels too real for this to be a true dream of yours, am I correct?”

Heejin shook her off, walking towards the forest. Hyunjin held her breath. She could hear that Haseul and Vivi had done the same. Heejin was a wild card here, for whatever reason. Hyunjin’s eyes shuddered at the possibility; the other girl was more important than Hyunjin ever realized.

“Where’s the other girl?” Heejin suddenly asked.

“Who?” Vivi responded, speaking for the first time.

“The smallest one. The loud one? Where did she go?”

“It’s only ever been the four of us. Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember us?” Vivi asked, a sad smile on her face.

“You don’t need to worry about someone like that,” Haseul sounded agitated, “You don’t need someone who breaks promises and wanders off,”

“What do you know about her?” Heejin screamed at Haseul, “What do you know about me?” Haseul smiled back at her, white teeth shining in the dark forest. Hyunjin ran forward, holding Heejin’s hand.

“Do you remember what you are?”

Heejin shook herself free, marching farther and farther into the forest. She let her go. They all let her go. All they could do was watch. Hyunjin could hear Vivi start to softly sob.

“The forest takes them all in the end,” Haseul was smiling her sinister smile. Hyunjin wished she could find the moment where Haseul turned from virtue to sin. Perhaps then everything would become clear.

Vivi sank down to the ground, holding her head. The world faded away until Hyunjin was back in her bedroom.

And she understood.